please help with suspension
please help with suspension o, i am building a 408 stroker lt1 with converted brodix heads. what all do i need to get it to hook up, and hook hard. i never had a car with power like this so i dont know much about all the upgrades i need. i was thinking k member with upper and lower a arms. q1 or viking struts with a good spring. 3 point sub frame ,10 point cage, 12 bolt rear, drag bar, adjustable lower control ares, panhard adjustible bar, rear shocks or coil overs, not sure with i would need shock wise. i will be using a vender from this sight , any info you could tell me would be great. or tell me what dont need as well. thanks for your time
You're looking pretty good with your thoughts so far. That stroker lt1 is going to shove you back into your seat nice!! To hook though, rear lower control arms AND the relocation brackets are a must. Adj panhard bar for centering the rear if you plan on lowering, especially if you run wide tires, it'll even out the offset on each side. More than likely a nice torque arm that's mounted to the tranny crossmember and not the tailshaft(to prevent stress on the tranny tailshaft) I know Spohn has a good design with extra bars between the top and bottom of their torque arm reinforcing itself, the stock torque arm might flex on you. Subframe connectors would also help with the torque torquing the chassis and quarter panels. Drag bar like you said, depending on how serious you are with this build, there's some different ones out there, some that weld in, others bolt in.
As far as shocks and springs go, many people like QA1's or Viking's for a drag setup, or adj Strange's. I don't know much about that though.
As far as the front upper and lower control arms, those are mainly replaced for weight reduction off the front end, I'd worry about those last. A K member will reduce a lot of front end weight, I'd do that before the front control arms. Slap some 4.10s in the rear end and that thing will hit a beautiful 60' time! Good luck with the build tho
As far as shocks and springs go, many people like QA1's or Viking's for a drag setup, or adj Strange's. I don't know much about that though.
As far as the front upper and lower control arms, those are mainly replaced for weight reduction off the front end, I'd worry about those last. A K member will reduce a lot of front end weight, I'd do that before the front control arms. Slap some 4.10s in the rear end and that thing will hit a beautiful 60' time! Good luck with the build tho
thanks for the imput. yea i forgot to list adjustible torque mounted to the body. it has a 4400 stall built trans. 9 in reared. plan on spraying 200-300 shot on top of that 408. depending on whats left on budget i want to do a fast system so i can rev the motor higher, and a single plan intake victor e with nitrous express n/a elbow, mono blade. but that prob will have to wait till next year. i would like to get into the tens on motor, nines on spray.. i want to spend the money on the suspension because what good is all that power if you cant hook. i forgot i also want to do a nano nitrogen kit on my nitrous set up to keep constant pressure at 1050 and dont have to run a bottle heater.
Your best bet would be to give us a call and speak to myself or Kyle. We can make recommendations based on your setup and put you a package together that will make it work well. There are a lot of variables to consider when choosing a complete suspension. There is no "one size fits all" when it comes to making these cars work. That is why we like to actually talk to our customers and get a feel for what they are doing and how the car is setup.
