IRS convertion in LS1 Camaro
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Strano offers a setup that is well adjusted to most peoples needs/wants. you might consider trying out one of his shock/spring/swaybar combos before trying out any other solutions.
unbalanced engineering offers a lowered panhard rod set up that will improve the predictability of the rear significantly. to run it at it's lower settings you need to upgrade shocks and springs as well. in the end this ends up being a bit more of a track direction. I DD the car for a few years in TX before retiring it to joyride status when I moved to the NYC area... your local roads make a huge difference in what is acceptable.
An IRS conversion is very involved and may be unnecessary for your needs.
unbalanced engineering offers a lowered panhard rod set up that will improve the predictability of the rear significantly. to run it at it's lower settings you need to upgrade shocks and springs as well. in the end this ends up being a bit more of a track direction. I DD the car for a few years in TX before retiring it to joyride status when I moved to the NYC area... your local roads make a huge difference in what is acceptable.
An IRS conversion is very involved and may be unnecessary for your needs.
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Well thats another thing I was considering. But my Camaro is paid off and ide have to get a loan in order to sell my car (if anyone was buying) and then buy a Vette. Plus the C5 has a nicer interior IMO, but the C6 body is far superior.
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Call for Jay at Zues Motorsports. He has done one on his own F-Body and it looks/drives great. I want to say he was trying to put a kit together for it but I'm not 100% sure on that.
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Yea ive seen that one before. Its an LT1 correct? My real reason for asking about IRS is because i just really want to get my Camaro to handle. The things i have now arent cutting it, but it has been brought to my attention that somethings such as the huge rear swaybar have been detrimental to its handling.
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Do you do any type of autocross? Just trying to get a feel for why you need the car to handle better than it does? Are you taking the curves off the freeway at 100 MPH? What are the handling problems that you are having?
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I dont do autoxing. All of my friends have great handling cars and Im just tired of being the stereotypical muscle car that only goes in straight lines. If i got my car to handle well, then i would be the best of BOTH worlds, and therefore...THE MASTER.
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I have done just about everything possible to my suspention and chassis except struts. Yes it does handle a lot better now, but its still not where i want it to be. I know my next upgrade is going to be tires, I have some fairly cheap tires on there now and ive heard only good things about splurging on good tires.
But ive never heard of that Watt's link? Anyone have anymore info on it?
But ive never heard of that Watt's link? Anyone have anymore info on it?
I mean, even if you do go IRS you are still going to need good tires all around and good shocks up front. An IRS out back with crappy tires and DeCarbon shocks up front is still going to handle horrible.
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Well said. Although these cars can handle extremely well with the live rear axle.
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Yea Ive changed my mind from the title. Ive learned a lot since i started it. Right now I have cheap tires and the factory struts with 74k miles. From what im learning, now all of the suspention work ive done has been benificial, such as my large rear sway bar.
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Why is it that anytime someone asks about fitting IRS all they get is "stick with the beam, it's better for drag racing" or "buy a 'vette/GTO" I know that the standard setup is pretty good and it's a lot of hassle to fit IRS, but IRS IS better for road use, don't you guys modify your cars? I have an 88 GTA that I am planning a LSx for, should I just buy something that already has an LSx in it? I have been trying to research the C4 IRS swap, and these are the main responses that I see, how about we point out that it is a hard swap, then start talking about how we could go about it and what the main hurdles are, rather than just saying it's bad idea. That zues swap is very nice, there was some more pics of that one here somewhere. As for third-gen swaps, I haven't been able to find pics of one yet, but as someone said earlier it would be the same as forth-gen anyway. What are the track widths of C4 rear ends, I read somewhere that there are 2 different ones, the early ones are narrower I think
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Yeah, any thread like this is going to get the people that suggest just going with their solution. It is also going to get the suggestions, as it sounds like the op is pondering, to make sure everything is upgraded and matched as an interim step.
The ultimate test and final answer to an IRS vs a finely tuned solid axle 4th gen F body setup has not to my knowledge been shown. That would be having a known skilled & talented driver with a properly set up solid axle car at a road course with a pair of similarly set up F bodies, 1 with a solid axle setup and 1 with an IRS. Maybe a day of testing and tweaking for each to make sure the driver is confident in both. Then, on a different day, do 1 heat with each car.
Would be nice to have an unlimited budget to do such things.
Until this is done I can't help but pay attention to how well even the hpde guys are doing with a properly tuned solid axle.
Now on the C4 setups...all I really remember is the width of the ZR1 is greater. Don't know if that was in wider wheels with different backspacing or suspension. Another reason I try to avoid thoughts like a 4th gen F body IRS is I would be wanting to go full-bore insane and try a C5 or C6 torque tube/transmission/axle setup.
The ultimate test and final answer to an IRS vs a finely tuned solid axle 4th gen F body setup has not to my knowledge been shown. That would be having a known skilled & talented driver with a properly set up solid axle car at a road course with a pair of similarly set up F bodies, 1 with a solid axle setup and 1 with an IRS. Maybe a day of testing and tweaking for each to make sure the driver is confident in both. Then, on a different day, do 1 heat with each car.
Would be nice to have an unlimited budget to do such things.
Until this is done I can't help but pay attention to how well even the hpde guys are doing with a properly tuned solid axle.
Now on the C4 setups...all I really remember is the width of the ZR1 is greater. Don't know if that was in wider wheels with different backspacing or suspension. Another reason I try to avoid thoughts like a 4th gen F body IRS is I would be wanting to go full-bore insane and try a C5 or C6 torque tube/transmission/axle setup.
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Why is it that anytime someone asks about fitting IRS all they get is "stick with the beam, it's better for drag racing" or "buy a 'vette/GTO" I know that the standard setup is pretty good and it's a lot of hassle to fit IRS, but IRS IS better for road use, don't you guys modify your cars? I have an 88 GTA that I am planning a LSx for, should I just buy something that already has an LSx in it? I have been trying to research the C4 IRS swap, and these are the main responses that I see, how about we point out that it is a hard swap, then start talking about how we could go about it and what the main hurdles are, rather than just saying it's bad idea. That zues swap is very nice, there was some more pics of that one here somewhere. As for third-gen swaps, I haven't been able to find pics of one yet, but as someone said earlier it would be the same as forth-gen anyway. What are the track widths of C4 rear ends, I read somewhere that there are 2 different ones, the early ones are narrower I think
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Last edited by lees02WS6; 03-19-2011 at 08:45 AM.