ralf

Would appreciate your input on what could be done with car to make it more worthy for roadracing, I want to keep it drivable on street as well as street legal - roadracing is just for fun.

List of current mods:

Chassis Engineering SFC's
Lakewood adjustable panhard rod
ES sway bar bushing kit front/rear
550/150lbs Strano springs, 1.25" drop
Koni shocks
1LE front sway bar
ES poly bushings everywhere
Spohn LCA relocation brackets
17x9 wheels with 275/40 tires
Front brakes 13'' Movits

There's a feeling that for roadracing current spring/shock setup is somehow too soft, for street the ride is pretty hard.

Ohz28buicksky72IOsta

Roll Cage

Bud M

Visit FRRAX.com

Chewbacca

My suggestions...

You don't need SFCs. They won't hurt but you honestly don't need them. Really. I cut mine off two years ago and can't tell the difference.

Forget the Lakewood panhard and go with a double rod end piece.

Forget the Energy Suspension bushings. The only place you can get away with them is the front camber location. They don't last long in the front caster location and bind in the rear control arms. Moog bushings have held up well for me in all locations.

You'll definitely want a bigger front sway bar than the 1LE 32mm. Get Sam's 35mm, the Suspension Techniques 35mm or the Hotchkis 36mm.

You'll be wishing you didn't install those relocation brackets the first time you enter a corner at speed and get roll oversteer. You don't need them. At Pro Solos I pull 2.0 60' times on unprepped, bare surfaces with a fairly conservative launch. I haven't a hint of wheelhop on stock rear arms and I make no other changes to the car.

If you can afford it, think about more tire at both ends. 315s make you feel like Superman.

Don't forget a more aggressive (more neg camber) alignment.

TobyZ28

I think the general consensus from Sam is that the Hotchkis is way to much bar for our cars. I'm still very very satisfied with my front sway bar (35mm strano) so I trust his opinion

With the relocation brackets you should still be able to adjust them between 3 positions, with one of them being stock still.

Chewbacca

The rear bar of the Hotchkis set, yes. But I'm fairly certain he doesn't feel that way about the front. Not at all. He sells them after all.

The only thing that's wrong with the front Hotchkis is that it is so expensive and it uses those greasable bushings which can be prone to splitting.

Honestly there's not a big difference between Sam's bar (which I have now), the ST bar (which I had before Sam's) and the Hotchkis. Can't really go wrong with any of them.

TobyZ28

Yes your absolutly right, it was the rear bars. I read a few posts saying that too stiff in the rear makes the car (almost?) dangerous in hard turns.

ralf

Roll cage not street legal here..

ralf

Current settings:

Camber (dgr) Caster (dgr) Toe (dgr)

Modified -0.4 +3.5 0


How far negative I should go on camber?

Chewbacca

Stock control arms right? As much as you can get.

FWIW when setting my alignment I use a rather large pry bar to squash the camber bushings. Even after I installed Sam's offset upper bushings, I don't have more than 1.5° - 1.7°

Remember that LT1 cars can't get as much camber as LS1s. I suspect they lengthened the slots in the LS1 cars when they raised the ride height (in comparison to LT1 cars).

ralf

What about rear brakes? I think I'm getting Brembo rotors instead of that shattered PowerStop but is there any need to change calipers as well or original stuff will do? Movits ask only usd 6k for full rear system

Chewbacca

Are there brake parts / systems out there that are better than stock? Sure.
Could the stock brake parts / system be improved? Sure.
Do lots of people track their cars using only better pads and fluid? Sure.

Remember that the CMC guys have to roadrace competitively with the stock system and can change only pads and fluid.

It's your call and your money I guess.

ralf

What I meant is will I notice any difference if I use better rotors/pads/system - its all clear with front brakes but rear brakes are more passive so to say..? Anybody has had a chance to compare stock rear brakes with improved on roadracing?

slomarao

Of course better brakes will help on the road course. You will for sure notice the difference also.
Its been known around here the best 2 setups to upgrade to as far as costis concerned would be ls1 f body brakes. They are far better than LT1's.

Next would be a vette setup, but it would require you to run a 17 inch rim in the front. Also with either of the 2 upgrades there are a lot more choices as far as pads and rotors. So your choices arent so limited.

So if you go with the better vette setup and than pick out some high quality pads and rotors your going to notice a night and day difference.
If you go with just the ls1 f body setup and pick out cheap pads and rotors your not going to be getting the same gain in braking.

This make sense??

Sam Strano

Wow, Korry has learned well.... his post from 7/4 is pretty much exactly what I told Ralf by e-mail (or maybe PM, I don't remember).

FWIW, I do sell the Hotchkis front bar if folks want it, but given the cost most don't considering my costs less.