1meanGTA

im about to start on my rear suspension, its basically all stock ws-6 gear. its my daily car but only gets driven 6 or 7 times a week. it runs 12.7-8 on motor and 11.5-6's on spray. i only run it at the track 2 or 3 times a year, so im not overly concerned with that, but i do want it to hook well on the street, and handle well.

thing is, im not loaded and want to do it in stages. my rear shocks are pretty much shot, so i was going to replace those with bilstein mono tubes, leaving the stock springs on. i dont really want to do stiffer, lower springs until im ready to relocate the lca, and buy an adjustable panhard rod. i've also got a set of poly rear sway bar bushings i never got around to installing.

anything else i might want to buy and do at the same time as the shocks? does the bilstein sound like its a good match for the usage my car sees? what would be a good spring to match it with? my stereo has some pretty heavy duty equipment, so theres about 100 pounds in the well of my car for daily, so i want the rear suspension a bit higher to level it out with the system in. any thoughts appreciated

1meanGTA

wow, i just checked out some shocks and struts on spohns website, and they're showing the rear bilsteins at 90 a piece and the fronts at 270 a piece. whats the crack? i was expecting 180 a piece for the struts but 270? hell, theres a rear coil over kit on there for 550, about the same price as the 2 front struts.

will it actually end up being about the same to do a coil-over setup as opposed to replacing the stock shocks struts and springs with high quality parts? the labor isnt a big deal, i can turn a wrench, and my neighbor owns his own welding business.

what are the pros and cons of a coil over setup compared to something like an eibach pro-kit/bilstein hd combo?

coolram62

iTrader: (2)

Have you changed your LCA's to aftermarket;TDS,Spohn,Hotchkiss Lakewood etc.Thses would be easy to do while you have the car on jacks to do the shocks and ploy bushings for the rear sway bar.SFC's seem to be at the top of everyone's suspension list.As you well know the flex you get from the car being a unibody.SFC will tighten up the body giving the chassis a better chance for quicker reaction off the line.

Jade Grey

iTrader: (1)

Shop around; www.shox.com has the Bilsteins for $619 for a front and rear set. They are even cheaper at www.shockwarehouse.com at $182 and $80 each. The shockwarehouse's price includes free shipping.

1meanGTA

sweet, that i can deal with. what about the ride height? its a good inch and a half to 2 inches lower in the back with the system installed, about even front and back without it, so i dont think i'll even be able to use a matched pair of springs.

so are the coilovers probably more than i want or need?

like i said, its basically a stock GTA suspension apart from a few poly bushings. i was planning on just replacing the shocks and the sway bar bushings at this time, then waiting until i have the spohn subframe connectors, adjustable lca's, relocation brackets, adjustable panhard rod, springs, and the rest of the bushings to do the next step. after that, i'll start work on the front, probably keep it pretty simple though, wonderbar, struts and springs, bushings, not much else.

does it sound like a solid plan i've got laid out?

edit - and a strut tower brace

1meanGTA

bump for more opinions

Shagwell

your plan sounds good. Make sure you do the sway bar end-links as well.
- if you do the coil-over kit, you have to realize that its a coil-over conversion kit, meaning it still utilizes your struts. They just improve the upper mount and slide a threaded sleeve over your strut to put the spring on. - (I haven't checked Spohn's kit, but I believe it's the same as others)
- As for your height difference, check into the spring companies. Many will sell you just the fronts as a set, so you could even out your ride height.

SDIF

Do you want the car to handle well or will it be used for the drag strip?

Souseless

When it comes to getting the right ride height there is no simpler choice than weight jackers. They allow each corner to be adjusted individualy. For a given spring you have about 2 inches of adjustment and the spring choices are wide open. You choose the rate and you choose the static length.

1meanGTA

mostly looking for good handling. i only take it to the strip a couple of times a year. the car is my daily driver, so i definitely dont want 90/10's or anything like that.

could you explain a bit more about the weight jackers, i've never heard of them? are you saying they compress the spring to adjust ride height? how is the rate adjustable?

Souseless

The weight jackers are adjustable spring perches. You buy springs that are the length that you want and the spring rate that you want. With that spring you will have about two inches of adjustment. As an example I have 8 inch front springs and these are too short so I will be ordering a new pair that are 9.5" long and a rate of 850#. This will allow me to adjust from about stock to around 2 inches lower than stock. If you search for sthreads from crazyhawaian there is a thread that includes pictures of the ground control weight jackers.

Souseless

here is the thread I was talking about.
https://www.thirdgen.org/techbb2/sho...hreadid=302138