I have a 2000 TA with 6sp and am looking to modify the suspension for road holding. My goal is to have a .95 or better lateral G car. I have researched mods and am starting my plan...I am looking for suggestions/recommendations for the best order and for any additional suspension work I should look to do.

1. SFC's
2. Eibach Pro-kit
3. Stiffened sway bars
4. Koni or Bilstein shocks

The wheels that I have are 17x9.5 fronts and 17x11 rears (torque thrust II's) with Sumitomo tire currently mounted on them. I currently have FTRA, whisper lid and GMMG catback, planned are hooker headers with catted y-pipe and electronic cutouts, long term will be heads/cam. Any additional suggestions are appreciated. Thanks.

 

Some sticky tires will put you up and over the .95 g mark without any other changes.

Lateral grip isn't the problem with car. There is grip, then there is how well the car drives, goes where it's pointed, stays on that heading, and general stability. G numbers are simply a measure of how much grip the car will make around a skidpad. That's fine, but we have no skidpads in the real world, and when we do get to a steady state situation it's inevitabily got some bumps or other imperfection in it where a skidpad doesn't.

In short I'm saying don't get hung up on G numbers because they don't mean much in terms of how fast you can drive your car. I'd rather drive a car that I can place where I want, trust and is easy to drive but will pull .89 than a car that is skittery and all over the place and pull .95.

Shocks are the big enchilada. They give you the most improvement in stability, actually help the ride, and get rid of most if not all the floating/disconnected feel the car has stock. There is a big difference beween Bilstein HD's, SLP Bilstein's, our Revalves and Koni's. So you want to do you research here. Bars are IMHO the 2nd most important thing because they lessen body roll much more effectively than do lowering springs, they do it without causing you a harder or harsh ride, and greatly crisp up the response of the car as well. Then springs are 3. Never a bad idea to drop the Cg, you gain some negative camber too. You also lose travel, and make the car work not as well on cobbled up surfaces. There is a Pro/Con thing with springs.....

SFC's are #4 on this list, and frankly would be lower if there were more than 4 things on it like an adjustable PHB, performance alignment and so on. The car's don't require SFC's. Not a bad thing to have, especially if you drag race, but not a must have by any means. They help cars with crappy dampers a lot because they help stiffen the structure from impacts that aren't damped by the shocks. However, most impacts *SHOULD* be damped by the shocks, and when you use a quality shock vs. a cheap one the folks who think they need SFC's is dropped greatly. You want to add them, that's fine. We sell a few different versions so it's not like I am steering you away because we don't carry them, it's simply because you have much more important things to deal with first.

 

Thanks Sam, I had put SFC's on the list because I have rattling t-tops and I read from numerous people that would be the best way to fix it.

I am more interested in an autocross for local SCCA stuff than I am in drag setup, but it is my daily driver so it needs to retain streetability.

Basically what you are saying is go for shocks, swaybars, springs, and adjustable arms and disregard the SFC's. What about panhard bars, torque arms, etc...are those necessary to be changed from stock for a good handling setup or are those more drag setup items?

 

2000kcta Hello my name is Michael. I have 98 z28 w/ t-tops and 6spd. I live in Lees Summit. I have several of Sam's parts in my car. I have taken it to the Heartland park road race coarse twice and to mid american motorplex in Omaha road coarse as well. Sam knows what he is talking about. I put in the Konis adjustables on all 4 corners, Hotckis lowering springs, Sam's hollow front and rear antisway bars and his solid rod end chromemoly rod end phb then an Edlebrock torque arm. Maybe we can meet and compare notes. Good luck

 

Thanks Michael. That would be really cool. Are you on Mofbody? That is where I go for local stuff. But I have quickly seen how good Sam is...I haven't seen any negative feedback on him, I think in a few paychecks I am going to go through him for some swaybars and other suspension goodies.