Originally Posted by J-Train

Well I decided to throw a little cash at the CETA a few months ago, to enchance my drving experience, lol.
I want to do some suspension work, mind you I want to be able to undo anything I do to perserve the collector/value of the car if put back to stock.

Heres what I am thinking for a start, if I am off base or you guys think something else needs to be adressed first, let me know, thats what I am after, basicly what needs should I adress first? This is a Street/Strip build btw, no road racing or handling mods.
Suspension is all stock as it sits.


The first thing what are your goals for ET and speed, and your definition of streetabilty.
My goals are for a 9sec drag car and to run 200MPH in the Texas Mile. The car will be driven to and from the tracks. With these stated I can live with alot of NVH(noise vibration and harshness) from my car. The car has run a 10.40 on drag radials. i have been to the mile twice with some of these mods that I'll list.

I am thinking a set of Offset Spohn LCA's in ChRomo, with sperical ends, I need the offsets for tire clearance, my 325's are very close to the stock LCA's


These would be a good start. The rod ends will transmit noise and ride harshness to the chassis. So be perpared. Running a delrin or poly bushing on one end helps quiet this some. The C- Moly will save some weight. Make sure you get adjustable ones, not the type that adjust in the middle but on the ends.


Then I need a Panhard Bar, thinking UMI adjustable with Spherical ends, as my car sits now even stock the rear end is off center

Do the control arms and the panhard bar at the same time. The both of them will allow you to center the rear fore,aft and side to side. I did mine and its now only a 1/16" off side to side and fron to rear. My arms are C-Moly and double adjustable , the pan hard bar is alum. and again adjustable.

Next I am going to go with the UMI Bolt in 3 point SFC's. How much am I giving up by going with bolt in SFC's? I really don't want to weld on the car.


I bolted in frame connectors 10 years ago and they don't rattle and are holding up well. You can still weld them in if you want. In fact I jumped a curb and high centered on 1 connector it bent some but is still ok.(it saved the body of the car.)

This is probly all I can afford for Phase one, Phase two would inclue the Drag Bar setup, Torque arm, shaft loop/brace, Drag Shocks

I have an adjustable torque arm. Its still a long type, but the mount is taken off the trans tail shaft. It is mild steel. The torque arm made the most difference in how the car handled under power. The arm kept the rear from dancing around. The car tracked straighter and didn't get side ways on the shifts. It helps the tranny by not adding stress to the tail shaft.
The short T-arms will hurt handling. They don't control brake dive as well(from what I've read) They do move the I/C (instant center) back towards the rear of the car. This allows you to hit (shock) the tires more at launch. It will require a cross member to be welded in. If you go this route get the Fr. conn. that go with the arm. (Mad Man has the best) Thats all I know about them. They should be a lot lighter then stock. My I/C is about the location of the gear shift **** and about 8-12 " high. With the short arm it will be behind the drivers seat some where.
The loop you can do any time, but is required when you run slicks at the track or at a certain ET #
The drag bar again will hurt streetabilty ( handling) its not made to take corners. It also requires weldin on tabs to the chassis. I've run an air bag in the right rear spring and I run the stock sway bar to keep the car launching straight. Again its up to you and your goals

Phase 3 would be the front k member, upper and lower tube arms and front shocks and motor mounts.

The K-member will be great for adding large tube headers and doing Maint. on the car. They drop some weight. I've had mine for a year no problems so far. I went with a Sphonn mild steel one. I liked the way the steering rack , brake lines and motor mount stands bolted to the K-mem. Do the arms at the same time it saves alot of work. I went with the adjustable type with delrin bushings. The stock arms had 80k miles and the bushings where trashed.
I did the shocks next to last. I finally got to where the shocks and front springs could't transfer the weight to the back and they were difficult to adjust.


Anyone see any gaping holes in my plans so far? I dont want to lower the car, its my daily driver and the roads around La are horrible, I scrape valence all the time and dont want to scrape up my pricey SLP exhaust setup.