Cammed95Z28

Hello Everyone,

I'm a bit of a suspension newbie, but I have spent the last few days reading up on this subject and wasn't able to find my answers... So here is my attempt at my own thread.

A little background... I just completed an LS1 swap into my 95 Camaro Z28. The powertrain on the car runs GREAT, however the car feels very floaty and makes all of the noises that scream a suspension refresh is needed (the car sat for almost 10 years and the chassis has 100,000 miles on it).

Realizing you can't provide guidance without goals... I'm looking to build a car that can perform at the drag strip while still maintaining some streetability. That being said, this is NOT my daily driver, so I am willing to sacrifice SOME comfort for performance if needed. It should be noted that I will be adding a decent size H/C/I combo right after I get this suspension figured out, which should net me somewhere in the 450rwhp area.

My own research has led to the debate of whether or not I should do coil overs, like a Viking setup, or just upgrade the stock setup and go with the SLP Bilstein/Eibach package. I like the idea of having a fully adjustable height and shock setup, although I'm not super stoked about having to drill holes for the rear mounts. I'm willing to spend the $1,500 or so on a nice coil over setup if it makes sense, just need some advice here...

Open to any thoughts or suggestions, and thanks in advance to any and all gurus that respond!

UMI Sales

iTrader: (1)

The "BIGGEST" advantage to the Vikings regarding a straight line application is that you can adjust the compression and rebound individually on the double adjustable Viking set-up.

The other advantage to the coil-over setup is that you have a lot of choice in spring rates. This can be a huge advantage in the tuning department.

If you choose the viking route, take into consideration viking manufactures the warrior series and Crusader series. The crusader series shocks have custom valving in them for either a drag application or a pro-touring type application. There are about 4 different valving options depending on your application and HP.


Drilling (2) 3/8" holes isn't much of a task if your building a "Hotrod".
Basically if your gonna put some power to these cars you need to do some modifications to get the suspension up to par to handle it.

Craig

Cammed95Z28

Thanks Craig. I've actually been poking around y'alls website because I've seen some great advice from you guys. Based on my first post, what Viking offering would you recommend? I see there is only one option for the rears, so I guess we would be deciding between the front options. Also, are there any F-Body specific "How-To" installation videos on these?

UMI Sales

iTrader: (1)

There's options for both front and rear.

It really comes down to your current build and what modifications you plan in the future.

Many street/strip guys will run the crusader "AM" valving on the rear and the warrior on the front. The "AM" Valved shocks have approx. 4X's the amount of rebound force that is needed at some point depending on HP.

With 450 to the wheels it's possible the warriors would work fine for you, like I said it all depends on what you currently run -vs- future plans for the car.

Feel free to call me here at the shop and we can discuss anything you have questions about and I can give you some pricing.

The installation process is pretty simple, we can discuss that as well

Craig

MidwestChassis2

iTrader: (1)

Great advice has been given so far, one thing I would add to the conversation is shock mounting options. You could stay with the typical stud upper configuration or we have the option to do bearing upper on the front and rear.

Going to the bearing instead of the stud is a benefit for many reasons. One the front rubber upper is generally in pretty bad shape on older vehicles and secondly it eliminates the bind you can get from a stud style mounting option.

Now deciding between the Warrior or Crusader line, both options work rather well but we have multiple customers running Warrior front and rear 60' in the teens. We give suspension advice to all our customers to help them set their goals from your weekend warrior to some of the fastest F-Body's out there today.

JD_AMG

Eibach/bilstien is totally different than something like vikings, that is more of a street/handling setup where as the vikings would be street/strip.
This is one of those cases that Vikings would work for you, you don't care about ride or handling and the dragshocks will help you launch at the dragstrip. However you may still have a floaty, loose feel due to how the shocks are designed.

UMI Tech

Viking now has road race oriented valving in their Crusader series.

They have new products now.

ramey

Sam Strano

iTrader: (41)

Allow me to interject a little as this is something I'm asked a lot.

What is the difference between "coilovers" and shocks and springs. Not as much as you might think. Both are shocks and both are springs. And in stock form the fronts are already technically "coilover" where the spring coil is over the shock in front.

What folks to tend to think about with coilovers is the height adjustment. And that is and of itself the biggest single difference between those and shocks/springs.

But it doesn't address the differences in the dampers (shocks) which is the really big lynchpin in this game. Shocks are the foundation the suspension is built on, period. And there are coilovers with shocks that aren't so good.

So, you have to ask yourself what you are after from your shock/spring setup, and prioritize your wants and needs. Those include but aren't limited to your use, the budget, and your understanding of how dampers work. Trust me on this, not all adjustable dampers are close to the same. They can be, and some are VASTLY different in how they work, how stable they are, and what they are adjusting (and when).

I am not going to sit here and beat down this shock and that. Frankly it's not something I have the time to do. I'd rather talk about why I feel the way I feel about the shocks that I think work, and work well. In the course of conversation with my customers some of the details of what doesn't work as well will inevitably come up. But I really don't need to do that here, nor do I want to.

AINT SKEERED

iTrader: (2)

I'm interested in same information. setting the car up for quickest on motor shooting for 10.9s as 11.23 is best so far but also a 100 to 150 shot , will that usually require a different adjustment?

Sam Strano

iTrader: (41)

Shock and springs you'd use for a primary drag car would be different than what you'd use for handling, yes. There are compromises to be made, you have to decide if how the car drives down the road is important to you, how it handles at the big end of the track, or just how it leaves.

Drag cars make bad street cars. Can you imagine those things they run on Street Outlaws are much fun to do anything else with? I don't

You aren't that far away from the 10's with your current setup, and I have no idea what that is. So it's possible that you don't need to go nuts at all.

AINT SKEERED

iTrader: (2)

Thanks Sam. I do have a bmr bold in anti roll bar on back but poly bushing lca's and tq arm. stock front shocks and summit 3 way adjustable rear shocks set at 50 / 50. rides pretty good still and don't want to lose that by to much.

Sam Strano

iTrader: (41)

One of those big drag bars? That alone is not very good for street/handling manners. Stock shocks launch well in front as they lack rebound, which is exactly what you want to have for weight transfer. But the problem is the same lack of rebound makes the car rolly and floaty and not very planted feeling when driving the car on the road.

What you have is a not good driving setup to be honest, and it's a very very basic drag setup too. I think there is nothing we couldn't do better, but the question is which way do you want to lean?

AINT SKEERED

iTrader: (2)

for the amount I drive it, it drives great. no front sway bar but rear bar keeps roll in check enough. I'm not into curves so straight line performance without beating my wife up on highway from bumps is what I'm after most.

Sam Strano

iTrader: (41)

Honestly then coil-overs for any sort of handling use isn't in the picture. Having shocks that adjust to help launching and such would be the benefit there. This is one time I think I'd actually recommend something like Viking or QA1 because the handling demands aren't there.

I do have both of those as well.

blackandgold

iTrader: (2)

What's the price point on the crusaders? I don't see any definitive mention of them on your website just bearing vs stud mount.

UMI Sales

iTrader: (1)

Upgrading to the Crusaders add right about $75/shock regardless of which valving you choose.

If you need pricing give me a call at the shop monday. I can give you good pricing on the kits with our brackets in it.

Craig

blackandgold

iTrader: (2)

Oh I'm already running the UMI/Strano setup, I was curious you bring them up a lot, but it doesn't look like they're on your page.

So that'd be around $1650ish for a set of 4 crusaders, that gets you pretty close to some other options as well. Are the crusaders gas charged?

Launch

KYB adjustable shocks are a good option. I have them front and rear and with no front swaybar I can still corner and manouver the car like people wouldn't want to believe. And with skinny 185 tires on the front too.

My car is LIGHT though. Which helps a lot. (gutted 94 hardtop/ ls1 converted)

AINT SKEERED

iTrader: (2)

This is an option i was interested in

UMI Tech

The Crusaders are twin-tube gas bag. So they aren't gas charged like a monotube.

The difference between them and the UMI/Strano's, damping wise, is the Crusaders can be purchased with either drag or road race valving whereas the UMI/Strano's are intended to dominate auto-x and road race.

ramey