Mean Green z28

iTrader: (17)

Done with Drag racing, in with handling!!!!

- Koni adjustables front and back (4/4 kit from Strano)
- Strano front and rear sway bars
- Ground Control Coil over kit (550 in front, 175 in back)

This thing handles like it's on rails!!!! Feels a bit shaky going over bad surfaces, so subframe connectors are next! (I seriously can't belive I still don't have subframe connectors)

Sorry no pics of before after right now but I'll post some later when I get the car cleaned up and the ride height adjusted after the springs settle, but here's pics from the install :grin:

SIK02SS

iTrader: (11)

you dont need SFCs


and get some more pics!!

unSStoppable

iTrader: (1)

sweet, been lookin at those shocks forever... just cant get myself to pull the trigger. Get some pics up of the cars stnace!

Alt

iTrader: (6)

Tuan, you still working at FBC? Car looks great man, I remember when you had the LT1 in it. I need to get a set of Koni's for my rear.

z28bryan

iTrader: (7)

Subframe connectors definitely won't fix that. But nice setup

Bow94z

iTrader: (3)

yea I love my Strano spring/Sway bars/Koni setup...

Mean Green z28

iTrader: (17)

Yeah, I have a couple projects going on there and go in nights/weekends, but I work full time now as a Design Engineer at a company in Baltimore.

Sam Strano

iTrader: (41)

Not knowing where the shocks are set, the tire pressues and a lot else....
The fact you have boxed/poly LCA's, and 175 rear springs is part of the issue IMHO. I know 150-175 doesn't sound like much difference, but it's 15%. And the LCA's you have don't let the axle articulate particularly over one-wheel impacts, which is what we want the supsenison to do.

Again, maybe you have the shocks full stiff. Maybe you have 35+ psi in the tires, I'm not sure.

Mean Green z28

iTrader: (17)

Yeah, I couldn't call you 'cos it was Sunday when I put them on. I set the fronts at 4.5 sweeps down from firm and the rears 1 turn from soft (kinda did a search here to see what some people started with). Also, 175 wasn't what I was going for either but things turned out that way. Maybe a shock setting can offset some of that? I'm new to this handling stuff and I'm in no way gonna act like I know anything ... lol ... right now, I'm a clean sheet with a few bad scratches here and there.

So the LCAs I have aren't that good for my setup? Tubular/stock LCA? Rod ends? rod/poly combo?

Greggy

Might want to go up on the fronts one sweep firmer, and down on the rears 1/2 turn (1/2 turn from full soft). After the shocks break in that is what work best for me, although I have rubber 1LE bushed LCA's. The front get a bit harsh if the rebound is set too low and the rear will loose contact with the ground over bumps if its set to firm.

Ow and as Sam mentioned, definately make sure the cold (70 deg.) pressures are aoround 32 psi front and 29 rear. Any higher make the ride to firm and does not allow enough tire compliance which is needed for maximum grip.

Sam Strano

iTrader: (41)

Might want to play with the settings a bit on the shocks, particularly the rear.

As for the LCA's. Basically what you have is good for axle hop becaue the bushings don't want to deflect much, and the arms don't flex. That's great when you are going straight. But what we want is the lack of bushing and arm deflection, but with some ability to articulate. When the car rolls, or you hit a bump, the axle has to pivot. With arms like you have, they don't want to let it. Basically it's a bit of a binding situation. The solution I use: http://www.stranoparts.com/partdetai...D=10&ModelID=2

Bushing on the body end to insulate possible rod-end noise, but a rod-end on the back that allows the axle to move and articulate freely without bushing wind-up and flex.

White.Lightning

iTrader: (53)

Are the spherical ends good for the street? I guess they dont make noise, like you said the body side (poly bushing) will insulate noise. If you suggest these over a non adjustable tubular LCA, I will go with that.

I was going to go with the Strano sway bars, Strano springs, Koni 4/3, BMR tubular- non adjustable LCAs, and the BMR boxed weld-in SFC's. Input?

Also, are LCA relocation brackets a good idea? They are currently installed on the car.

Thanks
Andy

Sam Strano

iTrader: (41)

I'm no fan of boxed or tubular non-adjustable LCA's with poly bushings. They all bind and that hurts both ride and stability at the back of the car. Rod-ends can make a little noise. Not always, not generally bad if they do, but by bolting the rod-end at the axle, the poly bushing acts as a damper to keep any noise trasmitted from the rod-end, up the LCA, to the bushing out of the floorpan of the car.

The only input I'd add, is you can do some one stop shopping if you would consider UMI products, which is what I use and carry. The setup you wanted, with the changes I'd make would be:

http://www.stranoparts.com/partdetai...D=18&ModelID=7

http://www.stranoparts.com/partdetai...D=22&ModelID=7 If you want 2-pt. boxed welded.
*or*
http://www.stranoparts.com/partdetai...D=22&ModelID=7 Which are 3-pt welded, but tubular for a tighter fit.

http://www.stranoparts.com/partdetai...D=18&ModelID=7 The bars.

http://www.stranoparts.com/partdetai...D=20&ModelID=7 The Koni 4/3's.

White.Lightning

iTrader: (53)

Thanks for the reply Sam. What do you think about the springs? Would they be more for a stance upgrade more-so than a performance handling aspect?

Also, are LCA relocation brackets a good idea? They are currently installed on the car.

Andy

Sam Strano

iTrader: (41)

My springs are first and foremost about handling. They do look pretty good too, but they are not, and were never intended to be "looks" springs.

LCA brackets: have their place, for what I like from a car, I tend to not use them. Or, if they are there and/or the car is dragged a lot of has wheelhop issues, we'll use them, but move the adjustment for street vs. strip use.

JD_AMG

Haha, definitely a handling upgrade. I did one thing at a time, and went from having the Koni SAs and Strano sway bars, then the springs. Huge difference, before the springs, with just the shocks and bars, the car was like a very well tuned street car, now its like a race car with street tires in the handling department...

White.Lightning

iTrader: (53)

I figure I want to do the springs and shocks at the same time since you need to take the strut assembly apart. Then I can always slap the sway bars on at a another time.

I want to do the SFCs and LCAs at the same time too, since you need to pull the LCA bolt for both to install.

Andy

Sam Strano

iTrader: (41)

Nothing wrong with that plan, I think it's smart when folks do things in steps and not all at once so they can see what happens and assess the changes. The shocks and springs are certainly the bigger change for ride and handling than the SFC's and LCA's.

White.Lightning

iTrader: (53)

The reason why I want to replace them is the SLP bolt in SFCs that are on the car are rusted pretty bad. I guess I could clean them up and weld them in to save some cash. There is a "clunk" in my rear suspension. I am taking a educated guess and blaming it on the LCAs (stock- loose?) and PHR (UMI ? w/ spherical rod end- plain old noisy?). I couldnt tighten the LCA bolts with the car on jackstands in my driveway. I might have a local shop tighten the whole rear suspension for me before I begin buying parts to slap on there. The LCA's are cheap enough and the UMI tubular adjustable ones are probably twice as good as the stockers. Another guess is maybe a rear shock is bad. Who knows.

So maybe for Christmas I can buy myself Koni shocks and Strano springs?!?! Hehe

Andy

JD_AMG

thats a good idea and wish I would have done that, but I didnt know if I wanted to lower the car at first, so I just went with the Konis for starters. Either way those alone make a huge difference.