'86 350

Hi. I have an '86 Camaro that is fairly stock suspension and brake wise. It was originally a 2.8L FI Berlinetta, but it now has a 350 backed by a Doug Nash 5 speed. It has a 10 bolt limited slip out of another car. I bought it this was from the original owner.

It has the stock brakes, and as far as I can tell, the stock suspension. It handles actually pretty decent right now and brakes pretty well too, but just like any f-body nut, I want to upgrade.

Can anynoe tell me what brakes will bolt up to my car? I have disc front/drum rear and I'd like to go with Discs front and rear. I'd go with upgraded 2 or more piston calipers also.

Suspension, I'm not really sure where to go. I know Hotchiks (or however it's spelled!) makes good stuff, but I'm kinda on a budget so they;re out of the question. I'd like to do springs and basically everything else suspension realted (bushings, shocks, swaybars, strut tower braces, etc.) I'd also like to get adjustable shocks, but I don't know where to start.

Thanks for any help you guys can provide me with. Also, keep in mind I'm kinda on a budget, so if you can, try to avoid the absolutely highest priced parts. I'm only about 15 and I'd like to spend no more then $1,500 on these parts if possible.

Thanks.

respectirocz

$1500 budget?

poly bushing kit for
a-arms, lca's, tq arm,endlinks and swaybar bracket bushings

4th gen disc brake rear
disc/disc proportioning valve

new set of rotors and pads up front

u'll end up with a couple hundred left over that u coould use from maybe bigger sway bars, or tubular control arms, or some engine mods

Sam Strano

$1500?

Struts and shocks, good bushings, properly sized bars are the top of the list.
My first SCCA National Championship was in a 3rd gen, and I owned a '91 1LE for years.

The nice part about 3rd gens is you can get a lot of very good parts off of wrecked '90-92 cars (like bar/springs and such). That can leave you more money for ithe dampers, the brakes and stuff like that.

Stock springs work very, very well if they are the right ones (there are a lot of OEM springs over the years). A number of the OEM bars are very good as well (some aren't).

Brakes you can do a lot with what you have. I agree that a late PBR disc rear is a good idea. Maybe a 1LE, Baer, SSBC, etc. on the front too. However, a good set of brake lines and some REAL pads and fluid vs. what you get @ Napa will make the brakes a lot better than most.

'86 350

I've been shopping around summit and jegs, and I've found a few things. It's hard to post links form summit, so I'll just give you guys the part #'s:

Lower rear control arms: LAK-20140 or GRN-500000 (Lakewood: $90 and Granatellie: $160) Which is better, tubular style or boxed?

Panhard rods: HSS-1501R or LAK-20440 (Hotchkis: $126 and Lakewood: $110) Which one is better?

Sway bar(s): STQ-52075 (Suspension Techniques: $236)

Traction Bars: LAK-21700 (Lakewood: $220) Are these better then sub-frame connectors, or should I get those instead?

Strut tower brace: EDL-5226 (Edelbrock: $160)

Shocks/struts: Unsure???



That's about it for suspension. I just need the questions answered above. If you see any better parts you can think of for about the same pirce, then just let me know. Also, I know that there are some other bushings I'll still need for the suspension, could someone give me a link or tell me what other bushings I'll need? Thanks.

Sam Strano

Struts and shocks you should be looking for Koni or Bilstein as the best two. Tokico and certain KYB's (not all of them) as cheaper options. You get what you pay for with shocks.

I don't think you need LCA's at all. None of the cars I run have them, but if want stronger arms, just box the stockers and use better bushings. As for the Panhard bars, you can do better than either of those easily. Hell, for $159 you can get a chrome-moly rod-ended PHB from me.

ST bars are very nice, but 25mm rear bar is too large (and that's what the kit has), plus you can pull a hollow 36mm bar off a late Z28 and save about 14 pounds with the same stiffness. Notice that I'm into recommending workable options that work, not just pushing parts.

The STB is a good idea, and the Edelbrock is a good one.... but the price isn't anything special, I do that STB for that kinda price all the time.

I have recommend you call folks who's life it is making cars, and specifically 3rd and 4th gen f-cars handle better. But just catalog shopping will get you in trouble because most parts aren't meant for optimum handling. Some are drag oriented, and some are just poorly thought out.

'86 350

I wasn't just ordering from catalogs, it just seemed like the easiest way I could show you guys what I'm looking at getting. I persoanlly am really into cars to and I love building them up.

LCA's: If I don't need anything there then I won't get it. So basically, I can drop the LCA's.

PHB: What exactly is the Panhard bar? What does it do?

Sway bars: So your suggesting that I just get the ST bar for the front of my car and pull the rear sway bar off of a 4th gen Z?

STB: So the Edelbrock is a good one, the price is just average right? can you reccomend another good one for a good price?

Shocks/struts: So I should look for some Bilstein or Koni shocks for my car right? Will do.

I assume you make your own parts or something? I noticed you mentined a few times about you could get me a PHB and that you sell STB's for that price all the time. Is this true?

'86 350

ttt

'86 350

I've kinda got a new list. It's pretty cheap to so tell me what you guys think:

Bushing kit: http://www.jegs.com/cgi-bin/ncommerc...18&prmenbr=361

Front sway bar: http://www.jegs.com/cgi-bin/ncommerc...77&prmenbr=361

Rear sway bar: I plan on using one off of a 4th gen Z. That'll work right? Will one off of a 98+ V6 Camaro be the same or no?

Springs: I'll keep what I have (stock from an '86).

Shocks/struts front: http://www.jegs.com/cgi-bin/ncommerc...56&prmenbr=361

Rear shocks: http://www.jegs.com/cgi-bin/ncommerc...26&prmenbr=361

Brakes: For NOW I'm just going to get some Hawk Pads for the front and if I can find some, then I'll get some high perfromance barake shoes on (if someone could tell me where to get these it'd be great). I may just try to find a 3rd gen with rear discs and I could put them on my car.

So how does that sound to you guys? Are there any uneccesary things in there that I should get rid of or anything I should add.

Also, could you tell me where a subframe connector would go on a 3rd gen? I was under my car tonight and I noticed something that didn't look stock but it looked like a sub-frame connector. If you guys could tell what they connect to then that'd be great.

Thanks.

'86 350

Guys, I was thinking, instead of spending a ton of money on a ST sway bar, would I be better off going with an Iroc sway bar? Weren't they better then the sway bars from the other Camaros?

respectirocz

a panhard bar, panhard rod, track bar, etc etc

is a bar the connects on one end to the axle and the other to the chassis, its purpose is to keep the axle centered

the subfram connectors on 3rd and 4th gen's run from the front subframe to the rear subframes (where the lca's mount) the only differance is if u have a convertible, they came from the factory with stiffer bracing (still not as strong as a hard top or t-top)

to be honest i've never heard of performance brake shoes
if u are going to switch to rear discs you will notice a very small improvement, unless u install a rear disc proportioning valve, then u will have a significant improvment

some high performance pads in the front is a good idea and not very expensive

is you're 86 350 a z28? or an iroc?
if so keep the springs, the irocs were made for handling

'86 350

Mines actually a V6 originallly. It had a 350 and a 5 speed swapped into it, and now I'm looking to upgrading the suspension and brakes, probably something I should have done first.... I guess that other then what I have right now, I'll go with a perfromace bushing kit, Iroc front sway bar, late model Z rear sway bar, Iroc-Z springs, and some Bilstein shokcs/struts. That sounds good right?

respectirocz

sounds very good to me

actually sounds close to my setup
305 4bbl 5 speed
87 iroc
bilstein struts
tubular k-member, a-arms lca's panhard rod, torque arm
ls1 front brake upgrade
a/c smog pump delete

'86 350

Also, not that it matters but I noticed another similarity between our cars with the ac/smog delete. Anyways, I can get all these parts for pretty cheap. I'm starting to really get into autocross although I can't even really drive yet. My dad an I are traveling up to the SCCA race up in Mass. and he's gonna race my car there as it is right now and see how it does. Then over the fall and winer I'll do these upgrades and see how it does at the track in the spring.

How much does a sub-frame connector actually help?

Tru2Chevy

I would get a set of WS6 sway bars from a thirdgen bird (36mm front/24mm rear), a poly bushing kit for the front, box the stock LCA's, and look into something like bilstein shocks and eibach pro-kit springs.

Poly Kit from PST = $150ish
Sways (used) = $50-$100
Boxed stock LCAs = cheap
Talk to Mr. Strano about getting you shocks/springs. Tell him exactly what you want with the car, and he can get a good shock spring combo for you.

- Justin

'86 350

Sounds good. Two questions though. First of all, what do you mean by "boxed" stock LCA's, and who is Mr. Strano?