nitroheadz28

iTrader: (3)

As the title suggests, I'd like some opinions on where to go with my car. What I'm most concerned about is torque arms at the moment. A little history-

I bought the car this august, 95 T/A with almost 200k. Has a Strange 12 bolt on Bilsteins, BMR non adj arms and panhard bar. Also rolling on ZR1 wheels, 275 fronts 315 rears. Its got a poly trans mount with stock rubber engine mounts and the vibration is too much!! Will have to revert to stock. I want to build a DD/street friendly car that several times a year sees hard canyon carving and the occasional track day/ autox session.

I got a great deal on a set of lightly used weld in BMR boxed SFCs, and looking to complete my setup to have a well balanced car.

Springs and swaybars I plan on going Strano, they're the lightest with excellent reviews.

Torque arm- I want to remove stress from the tail shaft, but I don't want anything thats going to clunk/ vibrate like crazy.

Brakes- Buying CTS-V calipers and all associated parts soon, rears will be left stock. Whats a reasonable price for LS1 front spindles?

Should I switch out my panhard bar for an adjustable one with the springs I plan to buy?

In the long run I also plan to buy a strut tower brace.

Anything else you would do?

lees02WS6

iTrader: (5)

What are the front shocks? Get rid of the poly based rear LCA's they're not going to help you with handling. Either go back to stock arms with rubber bushings or get arms with roto-joints. Adjustable phb depends on the alignment of the rear side to side, and whether you plan to lower the car.

If your bilstein shocks are in good shape, and your tires also, then adding the sway bars, and deleting the polybindathane from your rear suspension will improve the handling of your car.

nitroheadz28

iTrader: (3)

Actually I just remembered that they're stock decarbons in the front (they ride perfectly fine surprisingly, but I plan to swap them out when I do springs). I'll read up some more on the LCAs.

I only plan to lower as much as the Strano springs will take me, I think its about a 1.5" drop.

Bilsteins in rear are great, I just bought a set of Nitto 555s for the rear and still have good tread on the Sumis I bought the car with in the front. Regardless by the time I get all the parts and put it together I'll have all wheels wrapped in 555s.

SparkyJJO

iTrader: (11)

Heh, you THINK they ride perfectly fine, but wait until you get a real shock up there

2000TransAmWS6

iTrader: (12)

I've got single adjustable QA1 coil overs on all 4 corners and my car and the car rides GREAT and really carves the corners.
I would suggest starting with a good set of shocks. For the strut tower brace and PHB check out Founders Performance, I just ordered a few things from them and was very impressed with the quality

lees02WS6

iTrader: (5)

The guy wants to build something for autox eventaully, QA1's are the wrong choice. They make drag/circle track shocks that can also be used on the street. The Bilsteins he's got are a much better choice then QA1 for what he has planned.

nitroheadz28

iTrader: (3)

As far as shocks go, when I buy the rest of the parts I'll put Bilsteins up front.

Thanks for the link! Great prices and excellent reviews, too bad they don't offer more products.

Looks like I'll be ordering the LCA relocation brackets, strut tower brace, and possibly an adj panhard bar from Founders.

When I go over slightly more steep driveways at an angle, I'm getting some rubbing with my 315s. Not sure if its normal/ a PB issue or I need to take a BFH to it.

99Bluz28

iTrader: (35)

IMO, get the STB last(if at all), there's very little improvement by adding one. I'd consider it more of a appearance modification. I'd recommend putting that STB money towards either a UMI or BMR TA relocation transmission cross-member. I've had my UMI one for years with NO additional noise.

nitroheadz28

iTrader: (3)

Thats the plan, STB is definitely last on the list..

The torque arm situation is what I'm trying to get clear on now. Theres a member selling a BMR Xtreme arm for a great price in the classifieds, but I read that its pretty much for a track only car. Lots of noise and a bit rough. Also ground clearance severely compromised.

The relocation crossmembers, also read about clunking and lots of ground clearance loss.

SuperSport01

Lose the poly trans mount and get a torque arm relocation trans crossmember. That way you can launch hard and not break trans mounts + no vibrations.

maxplusten

iTrader: (4)

cant say i agree on the STB... alot of people dont relize what a diffrence they actually make and i didnt for the longest time either...but try taking it off and cornering your car hard after youve gotten use to it being there.... diffrence is night and day

nitroheadz28

iTrader: (3)

I'm not going to be launching much. My launching consists of the very rare street race, and possibly running the 1/4 once every year or 2. I don't like beating on my ride.

Any specific part recommendations for my T/A? Heres where I'm at now.

Torque arm/ crossmember:

http://www.bmrsuspension.com/?page=p...&productid=332

http://www.bmrsuspension.com/?page=p...&productid=315

OR

http://www.bmrsuspension.com/?page=p...&productid=320

I have to make sure if they'll work with my Strange 12 bolt.

Front shocks: Bilstein

Swaybars: Strano Hollow

Springs: Strano 1.2"

LCA Relocation Brackets: Founders

Strut bar: founders

Panhard bar (if necessary): Founders adjustable

I'll look into the LCA poly binding issue some more.

99Bluz28

iTrader: (35)

As far as your BMR LCAs you should be able to get rubber bushings for them from BMR. That will get rid of the poly bushings binding, as long as the rubber bushings are softer, or you could go with the Founders LCA with the poly ball bushings which look identical to the J&Ms which have been out a lot longer. The J&M or Founders LCAs with the poly-ball type bushings will have no binding.

Sam Strano

iTrader: (41)

I carry the full line of UMI stuff, including things like Torque Arms and the TA Relocation brackets.

In fact we can discuss all this stuff if you want. But I'll be honest... I have lots of Bilstein's in the building, if you want the best suspension you want Koni's on there instead.

nitroheadz28

iTrader: (3)

Next time I get the car on the lift (its going to be a while, opti is dead and no time+ freezing temps= no work) I'll check out the LCAs.

Yes Mr. Strano I've been through your site more than once

Price does play a factor, me= graduating college student doing a budget build and Founders appears to have excellent quality parts for much less when it comes to the LCA relo brackets.

Swaybars and springs no question you will be hearing from me, possibly for Bilsteins too. No rush as I wont be able to install anything until May.

I know there is nothing better than Konis for the track, but this car wont see enough track time to justify them. Also from my Fiero experience I know they ride harsh no matter how you adjust them, maybe its different on fbodies- I know my T/A rides much smoother than my Fiero ever did.

Sam Strano

iTrader: (41)

You are much better off with Koni's and leaving some of this other stuff be than putting on things that aren't as critical and leaving room on the table in shocks. Shocks matter, they are the foundation for how the car will drive and work... and NOT just "on the track"

More than a few times folk rode with me in my Camaro when it was running in stock category (shocks, front bar, alignment only) and thought I had a lot more done to it. Fast forward to when I did have more done, folks could not believe how well it rode and drove, and it's without a lot of the things you are looking at getting.

Need is a word that gets tossed around a lot. To me needing something means you have an issue that is fixed by a particular part... you NEED that. If you think about how big and ponderous the car drives, now it rides, won't settle down your biggest NEED are the best shocks you can muster.

I'm not trying to sell you more stuff. I'm trying to sell you the right stuff... if we can move money around from stuff that isn't as critical and you spend the same amount, that's a win!

nitroheadz28

iTrader: (3)

That would be a win, so what are your recommendations Sam? Like I said its more of a budget build, I already went all out on my Fiero and I got tboned and totaled the day I finished bleeding the brakes and having it 100% after my build to give you an example of my luck

(This car is going to put me into the hole so badly lol)

nitroheadz28

iTrader: (3)

How about building my own coilovers for the front?

I did this on my Fiero, took a set of sensatracs/ cut the perches off and installed AFCO springs with adjustable A1 racing collars. This way I can play with different spring rates/ lengths if need be and adjust my ride height.

I haven't seen anything like that on here so far.

z28bryan

iTrader: (7)

I tried it.. no difference. I autox and do a circle track type event. Bottom line is STB does next to nothing compared to other modifications you can do to the suspension.

z28bryan

iTrader: (7)

Since you want something daily driveable, would leaving the stock tq arm in there be out of the question? I had mine on since forever. I just replaced with a UE decoupled torque arm. In any case you dont want to switch to a typical short torque arm because braking will pick the rear tires up and make you more likely to induce brake hop. Brake hop is bad and unnatural in every way you can think of.

In my opinion, I would also go back to stock LCAs with solid rubber bushings if you are talking daily driveable. I think the whole aftermarket LCA idea is overhyped and the target audience for them is realistically a smaller group than most think.