I'm having a problem with the lack of traction. Be my stock sized crappy KDWs or my 70k miles stock suspension.

I was thinking on investing on suspension before adding more power.

TQ Arm
Shocks
Springs
LCAs
Relocation Brackets for LCAs
Drag Rear Swaybar
New bushings all around
Missing something?

I will be buying this items two by two each month, in which order should i buy them?

TIA

 

I'd buy subframe connectors first if you don't have them. Then rear lower control arms, and then a torque arm.

 

Suspension is the greatest thing in the wolrd! I love suspension!!!!!!

Sorry, anyway.....Subframe, Lower Control Arms (rear), Torque Arm, Sway Bar (Rear), Panhard Rod, Tunnel Brace, Upper and Lower Control Arms (front), K-member.

This is a good list on how to go in order.....or at least to me. I will be going that way too. BTW Torque Arm = $$$$$ U/L Control Arms = $$$$$ and last but most expensive, K-member = $$$$$

 

nice, will do that..

About springs and shocks, is there any spring for a drag application that lowers the car?

my car is a lot higher than other stock cars around, i don't know why...

 

If you are worried about lowering, do not worry about drag racing....you won't be doing much. When you lower your car, you have less weight to transfer to the rear because you are lower to the ground. Keep stock height as long as you can. If you get QA1 shocks for the front you will be able to lower the front a bit (still not recomended for drag racing) and you will keep stock height in the rear. It can give the car a bit of stance. I personaly have the car where the wheels fit the fender....I like the way that looks and I didn't buy a lowering kit.

Stick to stock height for performance benefit on weight transfer.
Now for road racing, lower is better. You can get a 2 inch drop, and corner better, and look awesome. I say get the QA1a, lower the front a bit, and fill the rest in with an ET Street 28" :yup:

 

i was asking that because my car sits a lot higher than other camaros.. but well i guess a big rear tire will fill the gap, thanks man..

 

It would be wise to figure out what you want overall for the car. If you plan on drag racing, then you might consider other options. For road racing, then the obvious choice will be what was listed above. Since you mention that you'll be adding larger tires in rear, take that into consideration as that will certainly aid you in one area, and possibly severely limit you in another.

If you add a larger wheel with a lower profile in the rear, then you will dramatically change it's cornering characteristics. If your sidewall tire profile gets very small, then the tire will have very little lateral stress to the point that it will cause you to drift in sharp corners at high speed.

 

What I listed was for about average drag performance, and teh front suspension was to take roughly 70-80 lbs of the front end and make it stronger.

If you are SERIOUS about drag racing, look at the upgraded versions to what I listed, some torque arms only support a certain amount...etc.

~Kevin

 

Go to http://ls1.com/forums/showthread.php?t=572027 and then click on the link on that page. It's pretty interesting. 400rwhp+full suspension=Low 11's to High 10's. I may have to try that.

 

The car is mostly my Strip car, i only use it on fridays for club meeting, and driving it to the track.

Problem with my car right now is wheel hop and lack of traction, i dont know why, but when i removed the front swaybar wheel hop was a lot worse.

Then a friend with a stock 98 parked right next to my car and my car was a lot higher than his, both stock suspension.

 

I'm in the same situation, looking for suspension mods. Definitely getting SFC's and LCA's first. Car is weekend ride, just looking to tighten it up.

For the LCA's, should I get the spherical rod end, or poly bushings on both ends?

 

I still have stock suspension. When I drive over uneven expansion joint on the highway, the rear of the car feels like it shifts around or does something awkward. Would rear control arms correct this?

 

If your just looking for straight line traction then wider softer compound tires seem to be what you want. I'm not sure if subframe connectors help with traction. I think the lower control arms will help you keep the tire planted. Then the torque arm, doesn't that just help keep your rear end from going sideways on you when you step on it?

 

wider tires for straight line traction? geee u think

 

I'd have to say LCA, Panhard Rod, Subframes, TQ Arm, good shocks on all four corners with matching spring rates to your application, sway bars (if you want to handle), then do you're Upper/Lower A-arms and K-member.

The steel stamped stock LCAs are meant to flex and eat up bumps. That's great for a car that's daily driven like a stocker but it isn't the best for performance, straight or twisties. Not only are they supposed to help the rear stay square and go up and down, but they also need to let it twist on the driveshaft axis (in other words, say the right rear goes over a bump but the left rear doesn't). The structure of the stock LCAs and their rubber bushings allow for this to happen. Aftermarket LCAs are a bit better than that with the polybusings, and rod ended ones, though noisy and wear more, do it even better. It's all about letting the rear stay in contact with the surface, yet minimizing bump travel, and putting it back to the pavement quicker and harder.

Reason I said PHR 2nd is that this helps locate the rear left to right. Very important! Like the lca, the stocker phr flexes some too to eat up the "felt" road noise and vibration, but this allows the rear to slap back and forth (though slight it still happens). A good aftermarket phr will keep this from happening, and upsetting the handeling of the car while cornering, or even when you're trying to plant and go straight. Basically a NASCAR car uses this to adjust track and wedge to get the weight transfered around for handeling.

Subframes help stiffen the chassis, I know duh! That will help with weight transfer and making you put a more even contact patch to each rear tire. Makes sense.

TQ Arm will help set pinion angles and keep the rear planted better. This is basically what drives the car. It's the 3rd link in the "semi" 3 link suspension. The rear end pushes on it and the LCAs to move the car, but the TQ Arm gets most of the force, which you want. I remember reading about truck arm suspensions that are used on NASCAR chassis and they are long (probably about 3~5' as a rough guess) and where they are located is to the middle of the chassis, getting real close to where the bellhousing is. In other words, the more force you put at the center of the car to drive it forward the better off you are. Also, a TQ Arm will better plant the rear tires from weight transfer on launch and on heavy breaking.


Now that you have better weight transfer, make sure you get shocks that will more specifically control it better. Shocks are key as they and your tire are what really keep the rubber to the road the most. All those great components up there ^, do you no good if the compression is to loose and the rebound to slow. Besides, when you launch, you don't want those front wheels bouncing on the shocks going down the track for 300 feet.


Then hit you're sway bars, A Arms, K-member and make sure you get it all ALLIGNED!!!! Yes that last tip will cost some money, but it's well worth it as you definately want it all to work in perfect harmony!

GL, have fun.

 

Wow thank you! that was some good explanation