awilson82

I was looking at subframe connectors on Competition engineerings website and they make two different ones one for stock exhaust and a beefier one that takes up room where the stock cat goes. Since I have no cat I am looking at the non cat connectors and it says you can buy a bolt in ladder bar setup that bolts to the new connectors but i searched their website and couldnt find it. I did find a site that sells the ladder bars but they have no info on them http://www.partsamerica.com/productd...goryCode=3435L . Does anyone use this setup or know anything about it?

AlkyIROC

I ran generic ladder bars for a few years. The problem with a third gen is that the diff sits high up in the chassis. There's still pictures on my web site showing the ladder bars. To make them work, the front mount needed to be inside the car. I sectioned the floor to allow the ladder bars to pass through the floor and allowed room for adjustments. My SFC were custom installed and I put the front ladder bar mounts onto a crossmember that I welded between the SFC.

I have no idea what third gen specific ladder bars look like but I would have to assume they're designed to run under the floor pan. With the mount that low, I can't see how you can have many front mount IC points to pick from.

I now have my car completely back halfed and use a 4 link system.

Here's the ladder bars from CE. As I expected, they offer no adjustments.
http://www.jegs.com/webapp/wcs/store...0002_160090_-1

As with any brand of SFC. Even if you get a bolt in style, have it welded in.

awilson82

Yeah they will defintly be welded in for sure. I wondered how well they would work Im just looking for something better than stock control arms and the way that CE's instructions on their website seemed with the new sfcs you they have a little more adjustment.

Shagwell

It should also be said that ladder bars shouldn't be used for a street car, as they don't allow any body roll around corners.

Unless you're planning on building a car solely for race use, I'd highly reccomend sticking with the factory style suspension. It works very well with the right aftermarket pieces and doesn't require extensive fabrication/modification to install.

As for the sfc's, the CE units tend to be more difficult to install and less thought out than others such as UMI, Spohn, or Alston's.

brnrubr4ever

I found a set of 3rd gen specific ladder bars and sfc from South side machine. The company doesnt exist anymore. But the bars are built really well. The cross member the the bars connect to is welded onto the sfc's. The bars themselves are welded to the axle tubes. The bars sit about 1.5" under the lowest point of the shock mount. Everything works out so the bars are parallel to your LCA's, to prevent suspension bind. Its a pretty nice only problem is it's LOW with the eibach drag launch kit my lowest point is about 3.5-4" to the ground, Also as they stated above it will practically eliminate body roll and stock handling characteristics. Anyways go for some better LCA's and a relocation bracket.

AlkyIROC

Do a search in the forums about SSM bars. They're not very popular.

Shagwell

Also, the SSM bars are intended to be run w/o any of the factory suspension parts. - They still have the inherent problems that Stephen was talking about. The front mount point is too low compared to the diff height, thus they don't work very well. A lowered vehicle makes this situation even worse. No matter the distance from axle centerline, a fixed arm will still react the same as though it were inline with the axle tube.

- if you want a good suspension for a street driven vehicle, get aftermarket components for what you have. If you want a good drag race suspension, back-half the car and four-link it.

brnrubr4ever

I get what your saying about the bars. I actually have no idea how the car handles since I've never driven the car, I just bought it a few month ago, with everything disassembled, and im piecing it back together. I did some research on the suspension was going to go with LCA relocation brackets..etc. Then found the bars. Talked to some people who have them and they seem to like them. In looking at it I figured It would basically do the same thing as the relocation brackets since the lowest point of the bar is about where the brackets would be. Again im not sure