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So I actually considered getting a shop to weld them in but then I thought I'd just be giving up. My Z28 hasn't been to a shop yet to get work done on it. So I braved it up and welded the SFC's in.
It's by far not a pro job but I have to say I'm happy with the way it turned out. I have a few blotches in some of the welds but that's because I was upside down trying to weld and gravity plays a part in where the pooling metal goes. LOL It's solid though and I'm good with that.
After the exhaust was back in place, everything tucked up nice and I have 4" clearance at my lowest point!
Last edited by Sleeper Z; 04-22-2018 at 09:39 PM.
Reason: missed a word
It's been a while since I've posted and just to update that the car is out of the shop, tuned and insured for the summer season with a fresh alignment.
It's a totally different car with all the upgrades done over the winter. It handles like it's on rails, no body roll at all. All the creeks and rattles went away. Impressive!
It's going to take a bit to get used to the firmness of the ride but I think I can get used to it. Love the stance! Sits nicely with very little wheel gap. Polished it up and took it to a weekly gathering.
It's been a while since I've posted and just to update that the car is out of the shop, tuned and insured for the summer season with a fresh alignment.
It's a totally different car with all the upgrades done over the winter. It handles like it's on rails, no body roll at all. All the creeks and rattles went away. Impressive!
It's going to take a bit to get used to the firmness of the ride but I think I can get used to it. Love the stance! Sits nicely with very little wheel gap. Polished it up and took it to a weekly gathering.
Niic work looks good!! Need to get mine inspected so I can start driving it.
Well after driving now a few times cruising, performance and in regular situations, I've decided to put the stock springs back in. Don't get me wrong, I love the stance and the handling but it handled pretty good before with a way more comfortable ride.
The Issues I'm having is when I put people in the back such as my daughter and her friends, which is not a lot of weight, I start to bottom out the suspension. It's good with just 2 in the car but no more. Also because of the firmness I'm having problems getting traction. I've tried adjusting the shocks to a softer setting to try to get the car to squat on a launch but I just get a bouncy ride and the tires still just spin. The springs are too firm for that to happen. Can't seem to get traction.
I'm pretty sure I can improve my handling with the stock springs with all the work I've done to the car with the SFC's and the rest of the suspension components but the ride is more important than the stance. Bottom line is the Eibach Pro Kit springs are coming out.
Lowering springs aren't exactly plush riding but.... The harsh ride and loss of traction is probably because you have almost no travel left in the rear before hitting the bump stops. Need to install shorter bump stops with a lowered car to get back some of the travel. UMI sells the Jeep rubber mounts that are 1" shorter.
I don't think you're using the shock adjustments correctly. Your shocks are only adjustable in "rebound" which is the damping when springs are expanding (not compressing). You have stiff springs so it needs more rebound damping than stock springs. You're probably causing the bouncy ride by adjusting the shocks too soft. Drive over some bumps and feel how the wheel settles after the bump. Keep adjusting rebound until the wheel is controlled and the ride is a smooth as possible. If the bouncy ride is because of a lack of proper compression damping then you just have the wrong shocks.
I've tried different settings on the shocks and I can balance out the ride but suffer in traction or if I adjust for traction then the ride suffers. On a few bigger bumps I've hit, I've hit my 3' exhaust pipe on the axle so by reducing the bump stops by 1" it may be more dramatic.
The QA1 adjustable shocks I have, adjust both compression and rebound simultaneously.
I've only played with a few settings though, more extreme adjustments from middle to high to low. I plan to take the summer to try different adjustment regarding maybe a firmer up front and softer in the rear set up. I currently have only a 2 setting difference between the front and rear. The bottoming out with passengers is more my concern. My kids enjoy the cruising as well so I gotta find a happy medium.
Well QwkTrip after further investigating about these being the right shocks, you are correct. The QA1 single adjustable struts and shocks are designed for stock spring set ups. Not meant for a spring with a higher spring rate such as the Eibach Pro Kit lowering springs.
I do like the adjustability of the QA1 but they require 2 to 3 inches of travel for proper dampening where the Eibach pro kit springs only offer 1 to 1.5 inches of travel. I'll try to play with it a bit more and see what I can come up with but it's not looking like they will be a compatible combination.
Beautiful car. Those springs make it look amazing but I understand completely. I put eibachs on a 96 gt i use to have. I didn't keep them in there long.
Well QwkTrip after further investigating about these being the right shocks, you are correct. The QA1 single adjustable struts and shocks are designed for stock spring set ups.
Ya, I've had the same problem with my car using Bilstein struts and Koni red shocks. My car rode horrible. Harsh, very jarring at times, and lousy traction especially from a stop. I always blamed the really stiff springs (Ground Control weight jacks) but just recently have come to realize a large part of the reason is the shocks and bump stops.
The eye opener is when I tried 3 different sets of lowering springs that I had laying around from over the years. All the springs were softer and the rear had variable rates. To my surprise, the ride and handling actually got worse! And the rear began to fishtail when spinning at speed.
I'd stay away from adjustable drag shocks. The valving isn't proper for street or autocross and they ride like junk.
Now you got me thinking that I've been thinking the wrong way by softening the shocks for smoother ride. Due to the stiffer springs maybe going to a much firmer setting on the front and a bit more softer than a 2 position setting in the rear.
Like I said I'll try playing with them a bit more this summer. If that doesn't work then since the shocks were way more money and the stock springs I have still, I'll swap them out first before buying new shocks. Suspension mods are generally trial and error.
I'm really pleased with my Koni yellow front struts. It seems to have fantastic valving for street and handling. I'm not talking about the adjustments, I'm talking about how the strut is valved which determines overall characteristics.
I just put some Viking double adjustable shocks on the rear (Warrior series) and still in the process of learning the ropes how to set them up. I'm honing in on some good settings but a bit worried that the valving just isn't quite as good as the Koni yellows and never will ride as nice as the front. I just got these shocks installed so I probably shouldn't pass judgement yet, especially since I haven't quite got them dialed in for peak performance. Once I get the ride as good as possible then I will refine the settings with some testing under heavy throttle.
With a few more adjustments and trying a few different settings I think it's coming around with the ride. I adjusted the struts in the front pretty firm and kept the rear softer and it seems to be getting better. The handling is good and the car seems to be squatting on the launch. I guess one shouldn't be so quick to judge a product till you've tried different things.
I'm still going to play with it a bit more and do some simple improvements to the car but the majority of the build is done. I've gone now from one extreme to the other with my cars and going to start a new project. Something a little more laid back. Just picked this cruiser up cheap and decided to do another build. LOL
My Z28 is still my favorite and have a good line up of shows to take it to this year.
Looking good!! Finally figured things out was almost having to sell my car but thankfully things worked out! Looks like another cool project ahead of you!!
It's been quite a while since I last posted but it has been a busy summer with projects, building a new garage to store and show off the toys, getting my work shop ready for the Oldsmobile to be restored and trying to get my 3rd Gen dialed in. I drove the Camaro lots this summer and took a lot of time trying different set ups with the suspension, testing stock and performance parts, mixing and matching to find the best set up for my driving needs. What I discovered is that some times not all performance parts are compatible. Sometime to many performance parts can hinder rather than help. I had new stock replacement springs, new stock replacement shocks and struts, QA1 adjustable shocks and struts and Eibach Pro kit lowering springs. I'll do my best to break down each combo I tested and what I discovered.
First of all I'll just state that the SFC's I manufactured and installed, stiffened the car up more than what I expected and has a definite impact on the set up with the suspension. So By installing a full performance package with the QA1"s and the Eibach springs it was way to much rigidity, the car felt like a go-cart on solid axels. Even with the QA1's dialed to 0. I Did not like the ride at all, so I started to mix and match.
I started by replacing the struts a shocks to factory new and left the Eibach's in. The ride smoothed out a bit but found I was still bottoming out on the spoiler on the front at every driveway and the ride was still to firm. Loved the stance with the lowering springs but this 3rd Gen I like to drive, so I want some comfort and I wasn't able to find it with the Eibach's.
I replaced the springs with the stock replacements, left the stock struts and shocks in and drove it for a while. It was definitely better for comfort and with the SFC's it firmed it up enough however with the SFC's installed the rear wanted to kick out way easier under hard cornering. I'm beginning to think that the flex in the body played a role in the matching of the factory suspension set up.
I then decided to now leave the stock springs in and replace the stock strut's and shocks with the QA1's, hoping the adjustability will help tighten up the car in cornering. And did it ever! With the stock replacement springs and the QA1's, trying different adjustments I could get the comfort in the ride I was looking for and the performance I was hoping for. I could also soften up the ride for a long trip, which I took, then firm it up for cornering and cruising. A different set up if I want to launch to make the car squat. I may not have that lowered stance look but I can sure drive the hell out of her, which this car was built for!
It was a bit of a pain pulling apart the suspension a few times but managed to get it the way I wanted it to be. I think I just went a bit over board at first with the stiffening of it all. The strut tower mounts, strut tower bracing, SFC's, LCA's are all contributing factors without even touching the shocks, struts and coils. In some ways, stiffening the body does a lot all on its own for performance. As you can see the stock stance is pretty good especially with the way the car handles now.
Another thing to look into with the rear shocks are these UMI shock relocation brackets. http://umiperformance.com/catalog/in...roducts_id=808
it's probably not as bad with the factory rear end but after I put the Moser 9" in my car the rear shocks would bind bad enough that I could adjust the ***** from full stiff to full soft (QA1 double adjustables) and it wouldn't change the way the car rode. It was stiff and harsh no matter what. Now with the brackets 2-3 clicks either way on the shocks you can feel a difference in the way it rides.
Another thing to look into with the rear shocks are these UMI shock relocation brackets. http://umiperformance.com/catalog/in...roducts_id=808
it's probably not as bad with the factory rear end but after I put the Moser 9" in my car the rear shocks would bind bad enough that I could adjust the ***** from full stiff to full soft (QA1 double adjustables) and it wouldn't change the way the car rode. It was stiff and harsh no matter what. Now with the brackets 2-3 clicks either way on the shocks you can feel a difference in the way it rides.
In the process of changing out the suspension several times I did notice the limited shock and strut travel associated with the Eibach springs. That 1 - 1.5" lower makes a big difference in shock travel difference and possibly that the valving doesn't work as well if the shocks are compressed that far. However even if I could put those parts on the back to give the shock more length there is nothing I could find for the front other than to raise the front strut mounts up.
Well it’s been a long time since I’ve posted. I’ve been concentrating on my olds delta 88 covertable. It’s coming along nicely. From the tranny forward has been fully restored. I even took ideas from my camaro with regards to the intake and filled that massive engine bay. If interested you can check out that build on this link. https://classicoldsmobile.com/forums...begins-130781/
None the less I’m on 3rd gen because of the camaro. I slowed down this last winter with the cars because I was spending a bit much so I was just helping out friends and cleaning up the toys for this driving year. That’s when I noticed, god forbid, a drop of oil from under the camaro Lol. I traced the leak back to the rear of the valve cover so I decided to replace the gasket.
The sad thing is once I get started I always find more I would like to do. I think I have a problem that way. Anyways I ended up refinishing the valve covers and changed it up a bit. The orange covers wet cool but I ended up going with black and did the lettering in gold. I think is looks better, it was to much orange before. It breaks it up a bit more. I had them sand blasted and powder coated then painted the letters myself.
Yes I’m very partial to the black and gold. The gold is the same color of the trim on the car. I probably should have posted a before pic. The orange was I think a bit too bright. I was looking forward to the car show season coming up and was considering doing some auto cross but it looks like that won’t be happening this year. However I can still enjoy driving the camaro and get some thrills!
First time seeing this thread...
Man, that build came out sweet!!! I enjoyed reading the whole journey.
Only one question remains: where did you get the rims redone?? I have the same rims on my IROC, and am in the process of doing her resto.
Cheers!
Thanks guys. A lot of blood, sweat and money went into this build. I’m around 17K into it. Not sure if I could get the money back out if it (labor not included) if I sold. Might be close but it’s not about the money. I dreamed about having a 3rd gen when I was 16 and always wanted one. Now I have one and the passion for making it better is strong. I probably won’t stop. I get a fair amount of attention at car shows. Almost everyone had one at some point in their life or wanted one. Lol a couple pics from last years car shows.
Fun times
I even met up with a camaro club at one out of town and they asked me to join them for the show. I kinda felt honoured and had a great time.
Looks great!
Curious how you routed your fuel line and how close they are to your headers?
Also, what did you use in place of the AC/power steering bracket?
Looks great!
Curious how you routed your fuel line and how close they are to your headers?
Also, what did you use in place of the AC/power steering bracket?
I used the existing fuel line and it runs pretty close to the header. I haven’t had any problems with it so far. My pressure is good on the gauge. I used a longer stud and cut a spacer out of some square tubing.
First time seeing this thread...
Man, that build came out sweet!!! I enjoyed reading the whole journey.
Only one question remains: where did you get the rims redone?? I have the same rims on my IROC, and am in the process of doing her resto.
Cheers!
Thanks again, IMO the Iroc rim are iconic! It’s what made these cars stand out. I got the rims done at a local shop in my home town. They sand blasted, prepped, painted, then resurfaced them on a lathe then cleared them. The shine from the cut of the lathe stands out more than if they were just polished. It wasn’t cheap though. About $250 a wheel. You should have a shop somewhere close by that can do this for insurance companies don’t want to pay for new rims when they can be repaired. Ask a body shop where they would get rims repaired and they should be able to refinish them for you.
Very clean, very nicely done! I love the intake setup, and the strut tower brace...i'm considering making my own, but with the drop base air cleaner on mine, i'm not sure that i'll have the clearance to go under it.
04-22-2018, 09:23 PM
