johns84bird

I was at the boneyard yesterday, and I pulled a 24mm rear sway bar, and both coil springs off a GTA with ws6. I was wondering if these are the only differences between ws6 and regular rear suspensions, or should I have picked up something else too, to make the swap. I left the end links because I was going to buy new ones w/polygraphite bushings. Thanks,
John

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84 Firebird with Trans am ground effects- 350 4bbl GM crate motor (LM1), T-Tops, automatic, K&N filter, 180* thermostat, ram-air hood scoop, flowmaster muffler, Accel cap & rotor, MSD Super Conductor Wires. Coming soon: new interior (grey), rear end work, subframe connectors, polyurethane bushings

Justins86bird

Yep, plus stiffer shocks and 16" rims. Now if it was a 1LE, it would have had stiffer bushinged LCAs and panhard bar.

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-Justin-
T-Top '86 5.0L LG4 700R4 WS6 Now Bilstein equipped!
T-Top '92 5.0L TBI 700R4
My '86 Firebird Homepage
The F-body Model Kit Pictoral Archive (updated 9/18/00)

There can be only one!!

[This message has been edited by Justins86bird (edited October 22, 2000).]

johns84bird

will my stock rims be ok? or will this adversly affect my suspension geometry? Also, I can order aftermarket shocks with the same specs as the orignal ws6 can't I? any recomendations?

TomP

John, what about upgrading the front suspension too? The newer the f-body, the front bar got thicker... that might've been a 36mm front bar as opposed to your (guessing) 32mm front bar.

Oh- shoot- I forgot about the steering box! Check the casting # on the steering box. If it's "26000525" with a "Z", then that's the quick-ratio steering box, 2.25 turns lock-to-lock instead of 2.5. There might also be a "Wonderbar", aka "steering box brace", tying the front anti-sway-bar mounting bushings together.

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-Tom P (Hot rodded 1986 Firebird 2.8l) from http://www.f-body.net/mailbag/3rd/3rd_mailbag.html message boards

[This message has been edited by TomP (edited October 23, 2000).]

Godti

can you give me any pictures of the "steering box brace" to give me an idea of what it looks like and the set up.

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Godti
'89 Trans Am (Red)
305 TBI 5spd

Mkos1980

iTrader: (8)

On my 89 WS6 I have a 36mm front sway bar. Sucker is huge.

johns84bird

About the front suspension: the car I pulled this rear stuff off, was CUT IN HALF! (right after the dash & windsheild, and it looks like they pulled the tranny first) I know it was a gta because of the RPO in the half a console it had. I was SO mad, this car had the aluminum drive shaft and they just cut it about 4-6 inches from its end! How stupid are these people. Im sure whoever did this just wanted the motor and the VIN but damn. the console was in otherwise perfect cond. but it was also unusable along w/ many other parts. Im on a quest to find a matching fron sway bar from a car that was hit in the back. Is there anything else from the front I need? Thanks.

Get Blown ?

For the guy who wanted to know what the Steering Brace aka IROC Wonder Bar looks like, here's a pic of my bars after I had just refinished them. BTW the bar resides right above the front anti-sway bar.


BTW After 1986 IROCs came with a solid 34mm front anti-sway bar and WS6s came with a hollow 36mm front anti-sway bar. And both came with 24mm rear anti-sway bars. oh and 1LE Camaros came with the 36mm WS6 anti-sway.


Now it's time for my stupid question of the day. To get the close ratio steering box do I need the whole thing or di I just need the gear?

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1989 Camaro RS LO3 WCT5 "The Hose Queen" 0-60' 2.34 1/4 15.8@87mph
http://350.StreetRacing.org
ICQ: 61342629 AOL IM: BlackSunshineZ28

[This message has been edited by Get Blown ? (edited October 24, 2000).]

TomP

GetBlown, thanks for the pic!

Everyone I know has taken the whole gearbox. I'm sure there's other parts inside that thing that have been changed besides the gear.


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-Tom P (Hot rodded 1986 Firebird 2.8l) from http://www.f-body.net/mailbag/3rd/3rd_mailbag.html message boards

Get Blown ?

no prob. Looks like I'll be checking out the IROC I got my Wonderbar off. I think it still had the steering box.

TomP

Cool. The junkyards near me have to get some IROCs or newer T/A's in... there's never anything good suspension-wise besides rear bars.

There's a rumor (as far as I know unproven) that some of the boxes have different internal stops, depending on the wheel package that came with the car. The stops changed because the larger 16" wheels would rub the inner fenders when turned all the way to one side. To fix it, GM changed the stops. This would only affect low-speed parking lot & K-turns, though. Hm, why did I bring this up again? Oh well. Time for some more coffee.


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-Tom P (Hot rodded 1986 Firebird 2.8l) from http://www.f-body.net/mailbag/3rd/3rd_mailbag.html message boards

Get Blown ?

From what I hear it's not a rumor, but fact.

Alex (TheWraith) went from a 88 SC with 15x7" wheels, then eventually sold it and got his 87 IROC with 16x8" wheels. Anyway back to the story at hand he told me the turning radius of the SC was way better then his IROC and told me about them making stops on the 16x8" wheel cars to prevent wheel rubbing.

RussMan

So is the conventional wisdom that the 2.25 gearbox with the stops for 16" wheels is preferred for road racing and aggressive driving applications?

88irocz28

Sweet I didn't know my IROC had a 36mm front sway bar. I recognized it from the picture. I guess having a rebuilt wreck does have a few benefits.

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'88 IROC 305 TPI
Gutted airboxes
160 degree T-stat
Advanced base TPS voltage
Relocated IAT sensor
Momo steering wheel
Ram-air setup coming soon
Flowmaster muffler
Taylor SpiroPro wires
Accel cap and rotor

Hunter Motorsports

36mm front bar was available in 86 up WS-6 T.As and in 89 up Z-28 Camaros. So was the 24mm rear bar.

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Karl Hunter
Hunter Motorsports
Vancouver, B.C. CANADA