SlowmaroJackson

Hi everyone,
I'm new to the world of cars and I am looking to create a street/strip car. I have ideas for what to do about drive train but I'm stuck on what to do with the chassis. I want to put sub frame connectors on it (weld on) and i'm getting a 10 point chromoly cage put in by a friend who works at a local race shop. So what my question basically is is what should i do for suspension upgrades and what would i have to do to fit a 28-10.5 tire in the rear? I'm in college and have a limited budget but what have you guys found gives you good bang for your buck in terms of suspension components compatible with stock mounting locations? I hope I'm asking the right questions here and any advice or assistance will be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

AlkyIROC

Third gen suspension is a lot different than many other types of cars. The torque arm suspension makes it difficult and expensive to change or adapt to something different. The diff also sits higher up in the body than other cars.

Do the very minimal basics.

Remove the front sway bar if equipped. This isn't needed for drag racing and is just added weight.
Install some weld in SFC. They will help unibody cars more than anything else.

The 10 point cage is nice but will add a lot of weight to the car. If you don't go below 9.99 in the 1/4 mile then a full cage isn't required. If you don't go below 11.50 in the 1/4 mile then a 6 point roll bar isn't required. If you're not building a full out race car, chances are you'll run 12 seconds or slower for a while so a roll bar/cage isn't required yet. Not sure how much your friend is going to charge you but basic roll bar/cage installation is around $100-$150 per point not including the cost of material.

Changes to the suspension to make it better really depend on your budget. The majority of the suspension changes will increase consistency and not performance.

Aftermarket adjustable torque arm with front mount removed from tailshaft housing and onto trans crossmember. Look through TGO sponsor links. Spohn is very popular but others work just as well.
Adjustable lower control arms with relocation brackets.
Adjustable panhard bar.

The faster you go, the more you can upgrade. I ran stock rear shocks into the 11 second range. I use Koni SPA1 front struts but for a more street/strip application some 70/30 or 90/10 struts will work fine. With the car back halved now, my rear coil over shocks are 12 way double adjustable.

Eventually, you'll need to upgrade the diff but on a limited budged, that's not something you can afford at this time. The tiny 7.5" diff may survive for a little while but it will fail eventually. With the torque arm suspension, that means a junkyard replacement isn't possible. Options are aftermarket 9", 12 bolt or Dana 60 and none of these options are inexpensive. Expect to spend a minimum of $2000 for a much better replacement diff.

boosted chicken

Yeah i just snapped my 7.5 at the track for the first time with the procharger. Rite out of the water box, didnt even get a pass. At the strip atleast. Got a few st passes in, spinning tho so doesnt really count

SlowmaroJackson

Thanks!, i was planning on running a ford 9 in it eventually, they come set up for mounting in the car for like 900 on summit (just the housing, the internals will drive up the price) so thats either next year or the following year depending on my post graduation job situation. as for the suspension i need to replace it pretty much all the way around because the shocks and struts are starting to show their age (they are still the original ones from the factory). should i replace with stock from napa or go with like a lower end competition engineering solution? sorry if these questions are redundant I'm still in the learning process.

boosted chicken

I run eibach drag launch springs, with Lakewood 90-10 fronts 50-50 rears no cmplaints. Car worked great before adding power adder and snapping the axel. The way i look at it change it once ifu can. If not go with something that will work for awhile before being over powered

Night rider327

iTrader: (13)

Mine is a street/strip build. Last time out (been a couple of years due to life) I was running 11.40's @ 118 mph, with 1.60's 60' times. New combo should go 10.60's @ 123 or so, and looking to put a 50-300 hp NX nitrous system on it.

My suspension/chassis is...
Spohn weld in SFC
S&W 10 pt. cage
Spohn rear adj. lower control arms
Spohn LCA relocation brackets
Spohn adj. panhard rod
Jegster adj. saddle mount torque arm
KYB AXG adj. rear shocks
Moog Iroc replacement rear springs
Air lift drag bags in rear springs
V6 front springs
Worn stock type front struts
Moser ford 9" housing and axle package
Ford iron third member, motive gears, nascar take out detroit locker
Nitto 275/60-15 drag radials mounted on 1978 15x8 trans am wheels.
Had to hammer the wheel well just a little to fit the tires.
Front sway bar end links un-bolted at track.
Battery moved to the rear

Nuke82

So did you cut the Moog springs on your car? My TA sits nice rn with its worn out 33 year old springs, I ordered new springs and they are 1.5" taller, think I'm going to cut 1/4" off