View Poll Results: What should my 1st suspension mod be?
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First Suspension Mod Poll
Originally Posted by jlaw
Originally Posted by trackbird
(Itemized verbal bitchslap of joblo)
(Itemized verbal bitchslap of joblo)
Having said that, back on topic:
It seems to be a well kept secret that Koni SA shocks are the one best handling improvement you can make to an fbody. And since they are adjustable, you can back them off for a day at the drag strip.
Originally Posted by trackbird
As was stated, 1LE springs with Koni SA's would be an excellent place to start (as long as you are not worried about lowering the car).
I should clarify this.
You can use the lower front perch on Koni SA's and do the "heater hose mod" in the rear to lower the car with the 1LE springs. It won't be real low, but it's a very functional and practical setup. Those springs don't lower the car on their own, but you can do it with the Koni SA's (not the DA's, they are lacking the lower front perch, just the SA's can do this).
Thread Starter
TECH Enthusiast
Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 611
Likes: 0
From: Fairfield, CA
Wheewww!!! Now that that is all over.....
Lowering the car slightly is the reason I was going to go with the Koni SAs. After much research and long thought, I figured it would be necessary to buy an adjustable PHB to recenter the rear after lowering it slightly. A relocation bracket would also be necessary I believe. This should be a good place for me to start and I think it is the direction I want to go.
Lowering the car slightly is the reason I was going to go with the Koni SAs. After much research and long thought, I figured it would be necessary to buy an adjustable PHB to recenter the rear after lowering it slightly. A relocation bracket would also be necessary I believe. This should be a good place for me to start and I think it is the direction I want to go.
Originally Posted by Nick D
Wheewww!!! Now that that is all over.....
Originally Posted by Nick D
Lowering the car slightly is the reason I was going to go with the Koni SAs. After much research and long thought, I figured it would be necessary to buy an adjustable PHB to recenter the rear after lowering it slightly. A relocation bracket would also be necessary I believe. This should be a good place for me to start and I think it is the direction I want to go.
I recently lowered a car with SLP/Eibach springs which will probably lower the rear slightly more than the heater hose mod will (and, with those springs, the front didn't come down at all....) and the rear came down about an inch. We installed relocation brackets at the same time and found that the geometry is not far enough off to need the relocation brackets at that ride height. I'm not saying that you can't use them, just that it's very likely not necessary to buy them to do the Koni SA/heater hose lowering. I'm actually not running relocation brackets on my car and it's much lower than that (I just haven't found them to be necessary for my use). Your results may vary.
Staging Lane
Joined: Feb 2005
Posts: 65
Likes: 0
Originally Posted by absolut_speed
Whatever you choose to do, just don't listen to this advice.
Shortstuff
Originally Posted by Shortstuff4104
BMR is fine. SPOHN is great too. However, LG makes an even better if not the best product. I personally have the entire BMR set up on my 02 WS6. It all depends on what you are really trying to accomplish. Take my TA for instance. It was my daily driver and now is my track car. I have a 85 Datsun P/U truck that I drive everyday to work. If it is your daily driver, I would do the LCA's, Relocation Brackets, and if you intend on dropping it, do the ADJ PHB simply for traction purposes. Don't drop it unless you are totally willing to lose your ride comfort. To be honest the stiff ride on my car gets annoying sometimes i.e. potholes, speedbumps, etc when driving to the track. The LCA's and Relocation Brackets will eliminate that annoying wheel hop on take off. Hope this helps.
Shortstuff
Shortstuff
Staging Lane
Joined: Feb 2005
Posts: 65
Likes: 0
Originally Posted by absolut_speed
My objection to the advice given had more to do with the ordered priority of recommendations than the vendor or makers of the suggested products. But thanks for making sure this topic doesn't die.
Lowered or not, you are going to suffer from wheel hop if you try to get on it right off the line. That's my thought process. Get the rear end to hook up before you go getting it lowered. BTW, I may have been misunderstood in a previous quote. The Adjustable PHB simply recenters the rearend under the chassis. It really doesn't do much other than replace the cheap OEM stamped metal PHB.
Originally Posted by trackbird
For someone who doesn't understand what I'm talking about, you sure talk a lot. I'm going to suggest that you do some more reading, learn a little about sway bars and such and then come see me. It's hard to take advice from someone who already admitted that they don't really understand sway bars.
Sway bars are one of the more basic components of our suspension. There is very little black magic involved with them. If you understand anything about suspension, I'd think sway bars would be it. They are not terribly complicated. So, I begin to question what else you don't know.....
I believe that everyone here has been trying to answer his questions. He has received lots of great information during the course of this thread, at least until you came along. If "nobody" needs this "****", then why do you find so much of it on the cars that are truly fast through the twisty bits? It can't be a fluke that most everyone who has set up a car for performance handling have decided on the same parts.
The problem with a forum environment is that anyone can drop into a thread, regardless of their level of knowledge or their credentials, and start spouting off information.
Setting up a car is a series of tradeoffs. You need to determine your goals, look at your budget and decide if a soft ride is more or less important than your level of grip through the corners. Once all of the parts have been suggested, the reasons for using them explained and the prices tabulated, you have to make a decision based on what you've learned. This would be a boring world if we all ran your exact setup. It wouldn't take long for everyone else to go out of business and we'd be stuck with very few choices. He doesn't have to follow any advice he gets in this thread, or, he can choose to follow parts of it. He can buy "the whole package" or "none of it" or something in between. That's the beauty of our country, you can do whatever the hell you want to do (up to a point).
I hardly equate someone suggesting parts that will work very well for his goals to a mechanic who wants to change my blinker fluid. That's got to be a stretch, even for you. You are quickly crossing from potentially uninformed to just plain irrational.
I don't think anyone told him he needed an autocross setup. I don't think anyone here has been telling him to autocross. If he were actually going to autocross, he'd have likely been told to drive the car stock and learn how it handles. Once he knows what he doesn't like, we'd help him fix it. Throwing a bunch of mods at a car will usually just move you into a class where you'll get your butt kicked constantly. That often runs new members out of the sport. Nobody likes to be so uncompetitive that it's "not worth showing up". So, he's not getting advice for an autocross car, at least not advice given to someone who is new to autocrossing.
At this point, I'm going to apologize to both the original poster and the moderators for thoroughly hijacking this thread. If you wish to continue down this path, you are free to do so, but I'm going to allow this thread to return to the discussion at hand. I'm also quite certain that Too Z Maxx (sorry Brian) is not interested in letting this continue, and thus, waste valuable bandwidth in his forum.
Have a good day.
Sway bars are one of the more basic components of our suspension. There is very little black magic involved with them. If you understand anything about suspension, I'd think sway bars would be it. They are not terribly complicated. So, I begin to question what else you don't know.....
I believe that everyone here has been trying to answer his questions. He has received lots of great information during the course of this thread, at least until you came along. If "nobody" needs this "****", then why do you find so much of it on the cars that are truly fast through the twisty bits? It can't be a fluke that most everyone who has set up a car for performance handling have decided on the same parts.
The problem with a forum environment is that anyone can drop into a thread, regardless of their level of knowledge or their credentials, and start spouting off information.
Setting up a car is a series of tradeoffs. You need to determine your goals, look at your budget and decide if a soft ride is more or less important than your level of grip through the corners. Once all of the parts have been suggested, the reasons for using them explained and the prices tabulated, you have to make a decision based on what you've learned. This would be a boring world if we all ran your exact setup. It wouldn't take long for everyone else to go out of business and we'd be stuck with very few choices. He doesn't have to follow any advice he gets in this thread, or, he can choose to follow parts of it. He can buy "the whole package" or "none of it" or something in between. That's the beauty of our country, you can do whatever the hell you want to do (up to a point).
I hardly equate someone suggesting parts that will work very well for his goals to a mechanic who wants to change my blinker fluid. That's got to be a stretch, even for you. You are quickly crossing from potentially uninformed to just plain irrational.
I don't think anyone told him he needed an autocross setup. I don't think anyone here has been telling him to autocross. If he were actually going to autocross, he'd have likely been told to drive the car stock and learn how it handles. Once he knows what he doesn't like, we'd help him fix it. Throwing a bunch of mods at a car will usually just move you into a class where you'll get your butt kicked constantly. That often runs new members out of the sport. Nobody likes to be so uncompetitive that it's "not worth showing up". So, he's not getting advice for an autocross car, at least not advice given to someone who is new to autocrossing.
At this point, I'm going to apologize to both the original poster and the moderators for thoroughly hijacking this thread. If you wish to continue down this path, you are free to do so, but I'm going to allow this thread to return to the discussion at hand. I'm also quite certain that Too Z Maxx (sorry Brian) is not interested in letting this continue, and thus, waste valuable bandwidth in his forum.
Have a good day.
I just think you're trying to get this guy to go overboard. Just because two cars handle what one would call "good", which is opinionated and not factual, doesn't mean they're being used in the same manner and driven by the same person. The dude wants what I've got and I'm simply telling him one way to get there and not break the bank. He is on a budget remember? I think most of you have forgotten the original post. You don't know me or what I know so stop trying to psychoanalyze me, all of you. Your little "Pned" replies mean nothing to me.
Original poster, just do whatever you want. Listen to me, someone else, some homeless guy on the street who doesn't even know the first thing about cars, you're going to do whatever you want in the end and have to be either happy or unhappy with it. The world is your oyster.
The only way to truly find what you want is to buy everything. Buy every brand of spring, shocks from every manufacturer, buy every suspension part from every single sponsor. Then you can mix and match and test and tune to your hearts content. Then you too can sit here and tell everyone what the best suspension setup for them would be without even knowing them. Good luck!
Last edited by joblo1978; Jul 27, 2005 at 07:37 PM.
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Originally Posted by joblo1978
You don't know me or what I know so stop trying to psychoanalyze me, all of you. Your little "Pned" replies mean nothing to me.
I think you have captured exactly what was being said to you.
If you consider yourself "informed", then maybe you should let everyone in on how you got there so that a little credibility could be read into your opinions.
Until then, I agree ... your replies me nothing ...
TECH Fanatic
Joined: Feb 2003
Posts: 1,586
Likes: 0
From: Columbus, OH
Originally Posted by joblo1978
I just think you're trying to get this guy to go overboard. Just because two cars handle what one would call "good", which is opinionated and not factual, doesn't mean they're being used in the same manner and driven by the same person. The dude wants what I've got and I'm simply telling him one way to get there and not break the bank. He is on a budget remember? I think most of you have forgotten the original post. You don't know me or what I know so stop trying to psychoanalyze me, all of you. Your little "Pned" replies mean nothing to me.
First off, cars handle well. They don't handle good. Good should be used as an adjective with linking verbs, not as an adverb with other verbs. Now how well one perceives a car to handle is definitely opinionated. HOWEVER, you can apply numbers, such as skidpad numbers, to factually determine the amount of grip that vehicle is capable of making. My point is that opinion only goes so far.
Now saying, "the dude wants what I've got..." doesn't lend you much crediblility. If he wants your setup, he would have asked you what parts you used instead of asking for the opinions of the many people found on this forum. Many of the people you're butting heads with have lots of experience in chassis and suspension setups that is not limited to their current setup. How many different suspension setups have you had the pleasure of experimenting with? If you've only driven a car with the stock suspension and your current suspension, then that is precisely your world view in that regard.
Beyond this, I agree with Mitch.
Good day.
Originally Posted by joblo1978
Fine then, agree with Mitch, agree with whoever you want. Opinons are like ********..............
TECH Apprentice
Joined: Nov 2001
Posts: 303
Likes: 0
From: Stockton, California
Originally Posted by stang killer
Look im tired of seeing you post in this thread with your limited experience with suspension. You have your opinion on what Nick should do, great, but stop talking **** to people who also give an opinion. Stop stiring **** up in my section, consider this your first warning.
Administrator
Joined: Nov 2001
Posts: 29,404
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From: Houston, TX
Originally Posted by joblo1978
Yo knucklehead!...
Originally Posted by joblo1978
Fine then, agree with Mitch, agree with whoever you want. Opinons are like ********..............
Man, chill out there buddy! I think you need to switch to "decaf" or you might end up with a vacation from here!
Peace,
Craig.
I thought this was a forum on Handling, but I've obviously wondered into a Sorority Bitch-Slap Session! 
Hell, I want everyone to get the F back on track!
Im lookin to pickup my first Fcar (a 99 SS M6) and while I know a little bit, Im dumbfounded as to WTF to do w/ a suspension. Im wanting something similar to Nick. Works well on the twisties, with occasional drag racing.
So springs & shocks are a good start. SFCs are good, but not always necessary. STB is good for looks, and not entirely a great support mod (Im adding one anyway lol). What next...?
Im lookin to pickup my first Fcar (a 99 SS M6) and while I know a little bit, Im dumbfounded as to WTF to do w/ a suspension. Im wanting something similar to Nick. Works well on the twisties, with occasional drag racing.
So springs & shocks are a good start. SFCs are good, but not always necessary. STB is good for looks, and not entirely a great support mod (Im adding one anyway lol). What next...?
Thread Starter
TECH Enthusiast
Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 611
Likes: 0
From: Fairfield, CA
SFCs are a must!!! They will really tighten up the car. I went with BMRs and wish I had gone with the KBDD or SLP DDs. Oh well, the roll bar should tighten it up later on down the road. I have slightly changed my mind though. I still want the Koni SAs, but what springs would pair up nicely with those with NO MORE than a 1 inch drop?