pillagenburn

Trying to eliminate roll and increase steering responsiveness... here's what i've done so far...

BMR 32mm/21mm front/rear swaybars, subframe connectors, BMR chromoly shock tower brace and 17x9" SSR Integral rims all aroud with 275/40/17 tires. This is a street car and I would LIKE a

I've got stock springs and (for now) stock shocks but I've got a pair of Bilstein HD's ready to go in....

my question is will the HD's help with roll? or will the car require lowering/higher rate springs with the HD's? I don't want to have to get a re-align if i can help it (i JUST got it aligned, plus ground clearance could come into question). Are there higher rate springs that keep stock ride height available?

Also, I do notice some tail wag on corner exiting acceleration... not flooring it obviously, but this is relatively light acceleration. Is there anything i can do to help this? I have stock LCA's and stock panhard rod... I'd think the panhard rod upgrade would help that quite a bit but i'm not sure (i don't want poly bushings, going to stick with higher durometer rubber over stock)

I was recommended the 35mm front hollow swaybar from Strano parts, but that seems like a lot of bar for stock springs/HD's. Seems like the front is under-sprung anyway.... suggestions?

also, on my LS1 front brake upgrade... the passenger side brake line (stock LT1 brake lines, just swapped over calipers etc.) while it does seem to stretch OK with some slack left in the line, it seems to be near the limit of how far it can actually stretch - should i be alarmed about this? its seemed to work fine thus far, i just don't want to find out a month later that i don't have any brakes :-\

thanks guys, i really appreciate your input!

Z06Z28

I would think that once you put your shocks in that you'll fix any issues that your experiencing. Looks like you already have front/rear sway, SFC's etc...and all you need now is some shocks.

*EDIT: Hey, I just noticed something! You have two threads going dude...delete this one since you already have the other one going well with responses.

Sam Strano

So you have a front bar that's not all that stiff (SS's and such have 32's on them stock), and stock shocks too.

Let me assure you a 35mm bar is in no way too much bar for the car. The fact you have stock springs is even more reason for the bar. Your rear end is moving around (it's oversteering) in large part because you stiffened the rear by some 33%, but the front by 22% or so. The car is too stiff in the back relative to the front, which makes for oversteer. This is why I will not sell a 32/21 or 32/22 kit. The front bars are not large enough, period. Jumping to a 35mm front will lessen the roll quite a lot compared to what you have as a 35 is some 40% stiffer than a 32mm bar. Also your response will get quicker, as well as maintaining a better contact patch with the front tires. The other effect is the tail will remain more inline as the inside wheel will not be unloaded as much, not spin as easily and not make the car as loose.

The other thing you need to do is get you shocks on. The stock shocks suck in the biggest way. Because you opted for shocks that aren't exactly highly damped, you still want more bar on the car. But the shocks will help the way the car drives, but only change the oversteer out of corners if it's bumpy. Otherwise the shocks have little to do with it.

pillagenburn

Sam, what about the rear panhard rod and rear LCA's? I thought the fbody 3-link susp. needed to either have rubber or rod-end bushings in order to function properly. Hell i don't even know where to get rubber bushings, all everyone sells is poly.... strange

but will the PHB help the rear coming out of corners? I know the LCA's prolly wont do much, but will more than likely help for straight-line accel. Next will be a lighter/stronger torque arm... i guess its part of my whole weight reduction process....


oh, and going from a heavy rim/245 tire to a light rim/275 tire helped a LOT ... and i do mean a LOT..... street tires of course

edit: oh yea, and one other thing, i know i dont necessarily need the strongest LCA i can find so i may very well spend $20 and get my stockers boxed and some higher-durometer rubber bushings... what do you think?

94Z28/SSw

To stop that roll, you need to get different springs, get that car flat and lower to the ground. the Bilstein will help, but your still going to get roll. Stock springs have a pretty high ride height and not too stiff. I suggest Eibach pro (1 in) drop or sportline (2 in) drop kit, or if you don't want to lose your ride height, go with the 1LE springs. Comparable to Eibach stiffness, but you don't lose your ride height. With the lowering kits, you will need an adj panhard rod to pull your chasi over.

94Z28/SSw

OH yeah, advanced auto parts, or autozone does sell rubber bushings, thats where I got mine. I didn't want polly, with an already pretty stiff suspension.

pillagenburn

where can i get 1LE springs? i dont want to have to get another alignment haha

94Z28/SSw

you can order them from GM, they still have some left over. I have the part numbers that I can get for you. My buddy has them on his T/A, and with his gound effects he didn't want to lower his car. I was going to go with 1LE's but I decided to lower my car plus get stiffness. Both my buddy and are running Bilstein HDs , front and rear sway, just different springs and they handle about the same. I think the 1LE's would be perfect to stop that roll your talking about and maintain that ride height.

pillagenburn

yea, get part numbers ... i hope they don't cost too much, that'd suck....

94Z28/SSw

I"m pretty sure when I priced them, all together it was between $200-$250. That really isn't too bad thou.

pillagenburn

is that just bare springs? or does it include mounts etc. ?

94Z28/SSw

What do you mean by mounts?, it's just for the springs, Are you talking about the plastic pieces that the springs sit in, if you are , you use the stock ones. You shouldn't need anything when doing springs, just the springs itself. You'll need to go to autozone to rent a spring compressor , but thats about it. The fronts are the hardest of the two, the rears are so easy to do.

pillagenburn

ok cool... i found on www.gyrhead.com they seem to have the rear 1LE springs but not the fronts... where can i get the fronts do you think?

94Z28/SSw

I can get you the part numbers, but it won't be until tomrrow. You can forsure get them from GM.

pillagenburn

yah that's true.... i plugged some stuff into google and got some part numbers up ... but GMpartsdirect.com didn't have anything under those part numbers...

strange....