Suspension question

by JF74chevelle Fri Oct 13, 2017 8:36 pm

I wouldn't say my goal for my car is protouring but I definitely want it to handle well and to ride stiffer.
Planning on getting UMI Viking coilovers up front and some kind of four piston caliper set up. With the new engine it raises my front end up almost an inch because it's so light.

In the rear I was planning to run two Inch lowering springs and bilstien shocks. I already have a beefy sway at front and rear. I know I'll probably have to trim the lip on the rear inners for the 295s and up front they'll probably rub if i drop it another two inches.

Let me know what you guys run for your suspensions even if they aren't what I'm looking for I am INTERESTED!!!

by Dinomyte Mon Oct 16, 2017 7:46 am

I've got the following setup which rides much nicer than stock did, no more cornering like you're on a sofa.

First new Shocks (kyb), isolators (rubber) and bushings all around (stock rubber ones)

up front 1.25" swaybar from a Trans Am (it bolts right in)

in the back a 1" sway bar from a late '90 Impala SS (again bolts right in - provided you have the inserts for the LCA's to bolt it to)

Tires are
255/65/15 BFGs up front
255/70/15 BFGs out back

no issues with rubbing, and I don't think you'll have issues out back even lowered, up front maybe.

Bucket seats also help to keep passengers in place when cornering Smile

Everything else suspension / steering wise is stock. Even my wife noticed a difference in the ride after all this was done. It also corrected a funny lean to the passenger side which had warn bushings.

Hope this helps.

by black eyes Tue Oct 17, 2017 8:37 am

do you have a big block or small block?you'll need to keep that in mind with coil overs i am going with a globelwest set up.you can call them and talk to a tec who will give you the correct spring set up.But there going to be a bit pricey.make sure you upper and lowers are set up to run a coil over shock big block spring rate start at 550 psi and go up from there.hope that helps from what i have learned so far. upper arms part #cta-37a lowers you can pick witch ones you like 3 different bushing types also forgot to say there are smooth- single and double adjustable shocks price will go up depending on how far you wanna go..

by Podor Tue Oct 17, 2017 9:48 am

Coil-overs are a pretty aggressive add on that you may not need. The main thing they provide is the ability to control the dampening of the shock. Unless you need precise control at the track, you don’t need a coil-overs. My plan is to upgrade the springs and bushings, lower the suspension with a drop spindle up front, upgrade the sway bars, get a 12:1 gear box and a offset upper control arm mount to add positive caster. I’ll keep the stock control arms. Believe it or not, the geometry on the G3 cars is way better than the older Chevy cars. Our cars are practically the same as the B bodies. I had an Impala SS that handled great with basically bigger sway bars and better Springs and shocks.

by JF74chevelle Tue Oct 17, 2017 4:12 pm

I have a small block. And I want the coilovers because in the future I'll probably track the car just for fun. And honestly the price difference is not too big and I really want the adjustability

by bracketchev1221 Tue Oct 17, 2017 7:47 pm

JF74chevelle wrote:I have a small block. And I want the coilovers because in the future I'll probably track the car just for fun. And honestly the price difference is not too big and I really want the adjustability

What kind of racing? Autocross?

by fasrnur Tue Oct 17, 2017 8:52 pm

I've added the 1 1/4" front sway bar and 1" off a 96 Impala SS as well as springs that I got from Damon from an Impala SS. I now handles rather well for an almost stock suspension. My goal is to use as many production parts as possible to see what it handles like and what the factory could have done with these cars if they had taken their time and did some testing.

Good luck on your build sir.
Jeff....

by Dinomyte Wed Oct 18, 2017 11:01 am

fasrnur wrote:I've added the 1 1/4" front sway bar and 1" off a 96 Impala SS as well as springs that I got from Damon from an Impala SS. I now handles rather well for an almost stock suspension. My goal is to use as many production parts as possible to see what it handles like and what the factory could have done with these cars if they had taken their time and did some testing.

What springs did you use? Or what year / part number etc.

by JF74chevelle Wed Oct 18, 2017 11:09 am

Way back the first thing I ever did to the car was 2" drop spindles in he front and stock springs with a big sway bar front a rear and the car handled pretty good but now the shocks and springs are blown and can't handle any hits. It's way too soft and spongy

by fasrnur Thu Oct 19, 2017 12:53 am

I can't give you the exact year or part numbers of the springs I used Dinomyte.
I'm pretty sure the springs came from a 94-96 Impala SS. Hopefully Damon23 chimes in on this and clears it up. He's the one I got them from.

by bracketchev1221 Thu Oct 19, 2017 7:58 am

Is this for autocross or drag racing?

by Dinomyte Thu Oct 19, 2017 9:12 am

My car doesn't get raced, at best I might take off hard at a light. I just wanted something that would provide a little more of a sportier ride rather than the sofa ride it was born with, not to mention that rear springs are so easy to change it would be nice to compare.

Sorry if we've deviated from the original thread / thread owners question.

Dino

by JF74chevelle Thu Oct 19, 2017 11:19 am

bracketchev1221 wrote:Is this for autocross or drag racing?

Most likely be auto crossing. I may drag race it a few times

by bracketchev1221 Thu Oct 19, 2017 7:55 pm

A coil over may not be the best for a manual transmission car to get any traction from a dead stop.

by JF74chevelle Thu Oct 19, 2017 11:04 pm

How is that? Every competitive autoX car I've seen uses coilovers and most likely has a t56 or some manual trans

by bigredlaguna Fri Oct 20, 2017 12:24 am

JF74chevelle wrote:How is that? Every competitive autoX car I've seen uses coilovers and most likely has a t56 or some manual trans

He is talking about drag racing.

by JF74chevelle Fri Oct 20, 2017 12:46 am

Oh, haha yeah this car won't be strictly a race car of either drag or auto cross mainly street driven

by Damon23 Fri Oct 20, 2017 6:30 pm

fasrnur wrote:I can't give you the exact year or part numbers of the springs I used Dinomyte.
I'm pretty sure the springs came from a 94-96 Impala SS. Hopefully Damon23 chimes in on this and clears it up. He's the one I got them from.

Jeff, your springs are from a 96.

by Damon23 Fri Oct 20, 2017 6:41 pm

JF74chevelle wrote:Oh, haha yeah this car won't be strictly a race car of either drag or auto cross mainly street driven

Sounds like you are set on the coil overs. I too am aiming for a set but I can see boxing the rear control arms and just installing new bushings, shafts and beefier ball joints up front. Right now with just the 2.5 inch springs, WS6 front sway bar, 9C1 rear sway bar, belltech street performance shocks and the wheel/tire set up this ole boat can hang the curves. I had a blast during cruisin the coast. It was a 1150 mile round trip and while there I got to run some of the backroads from venue to venue and the car stayed flat. To boot the interstate drive was very nice. I missed the autocross event by a couple hours (shouldn't have went to eat a early dinner but fried alligator is good). I will have to see how it handles a autocross course on Powertour this summer but from the drives i've done so far I'm impressed at what a set of good shocks, wide meats an lowering it a little have done.

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