So I contacted Shox.com for a quote on a set of Eibach Pro-Kit springs. Their prices are very good. Anyway, they also sent me info on other suspension components and competitors to Eibach. I see that Tokico has a suspension kit (adjustable Illumina's and 1.25" drop springs) for our cars for $590, hmmm ... I have always like the ride of Tokico (shocks) equipt cars and now I am wondering if this kit would a better solution to my needs? So what are you opinions on Tokico springs, anyone ever rode in a car equipt with them? If I get this kit I'll have a full set of KYB (GR-2 front, Gas-A-Just rears) for sale. Nick, Glenn any input?

 

I like the sound of 1.25" drop. What's an "adjustable Illumina's"?

What does the Tokico kit come with?

What was the price of the Eibach kit?

 

Adjustable Illumina is the name of their 5 way adjustable shock absorber. Illumina. The kit comes with the four shocks (front struts, rear shocks) and four springs. Eibachs Pro-Kit cost $209.

 

And the Eibach pro kit is springs only?

 

Eibach is only the springs. Still a good price for them.

 

Assuming the springs are equal it's almost $400 more for shocks in the Tokico kit.

Are these shock THAT good?
I like adjustable but how much of a difference could there be?

 

I have heard that a lot of people are very satisfied with the ride of Tokico shocks. Though I honestly haven't heard of anyone using their springs. I replaced the shocks and springs on the RS the same KYB shocks & struts you already have, however I added Hotchkis springs LCAs, & adjustable PHB. The ride is definitely much better still some flex but I hope after a wonder bar, 1LE sway bars, and SFCs I will clear that up Now on the IROC I just have the Hotchkis SFCs & Koni adjustables. The ride is much stiffer than the RS (from what I remember LOL) but seriously 5 way adjustable sound like a great high performance street maybe even auto cross shock but I don't know if that's going to give you the kind of hole shot you want coming out of the gates

 

Well, I guess I should advise you guys that this (the 1984 Z28) will be more for auto-X and road racing than drag racing. That is the primary function, second would be driving on the street, third is drag racing. As I said, I like the ride of the shocks, but never experienced the springs. At $400 for the shocks, it somewhat compares to the Konis (IMHO).

Oh, on a side note: I might get in on a GP for PA Racing (tubular, mild steel) K-member and A-Arm assemblies.

 

I wouldn't go with the Tokiko's. THey adjust bump and rebound simultaneously, which makes it a pain to tune the car. Bump and rebound settings do different things to the car.

I would go with a shock that lets you independently adjust bump and rebound. Koni's do this and are probably the best bang for the buck shock. If you want the best, be prepared to shell out $1000+ for a Penske or Olin. So, with taht said, get a set of rear Koni shocks fom a '96 1LE car from your friendly mailorder GM dealer for $376. These are the double adjustables and GM has the best price on them ( including shox.com the last time I checked, but if I'm wrong, please let me know as I'm ordering another pair for the '94 this week).

Koni does not make a double adjustable for the front of the 3rd gen so you have two choices, you can put a pair of the yellow single adjustable sport shocks on the front, or you can buy a set of those (or any front Koni shock for a 3rd gen) and send them to Koni and for about $200 a shock, they'll convert them to doubles. I'm still running singles up front as I haven't had time to pull them off and send them over to Koni yet.

As for springs, I can tell you what I'm running in the '92. I bought them from a Circle track place for $40 each. They may be a bit much for the street though, but they have rates in 50lbs increments. Let me know if you want to go that route and I'll dig up the info for ya.

I haven't heard about that K-member yet. What are the specs on it? Does it convert to coilovers? Is it setup for road racing (eg - really really really strong)?

Oh, while we're talking about this, you are going to put weight jacks in too right? Those are a Good Thing (tm).

- Nick

 

I am glad I waited for a response from a pro. Nick, if you could dig that up for me (the spring info and maybe some recommendations), I'd really appriciated. What are weight jacks? Thanks Nick.

About the K-Member: Look at www.PAracing.net , They can either come in Chrome Moly (for race use only) or mild steel for street duty (which I will be getting). They have options for using coil overs, in fact their K-member kit comes with coil overs for ~$930.

 

I agree with Nick I run with the Koni's and use the T-bird rears from Koni. A little softer than regulars. Shox has them and are cheaper too. Just tell them you want the T-bird rears for a 3rd gen. They'll know the part number.

 

As a "heads up", attatched is a posting about a local club member's unfortunate experience while "testing" out his car. He had the PA racing crossmember with tubular rod end a-arms.

If you go this route, be sure to check the depth of thread engagement for the rod end into the a-arm.

-Matt

BECcruice@aol.com wrote:
>
> << Whoa Brian, what is the story here? Suspension ripped off at 120? Is the
> << on the car you just put back together?
>
> Yep, read the story here...
>
> Well so much for driving the Camaro from Chico to Sac, cruising and
> then drag racing, running low 11's and a high 10 and driving to
> Vacaville and then home to Chico. I made it about 30 miles from Chico.
> Inbetween Willows (T-Hill) and Chico is where it happened.
>
> I was so bewildered at the track on Sat I didn't pay attention to finish line
> rpm to see if the car was geared/tire correctly. So on Road 39 about 2 miles
> from Highway 45 I decided to find out what my rpm was at finish line speed.
> So I get up to 120 mph (this is a backroad with no side streets at this point
> and no cars in sight) and find my rpms to be in an acceptable range. When
> all of a sudden I find a nice bump in the road...
>
> Well the front of the car comes off the ground and smacks down nice and hard
> leaving a trail of long lasting sparks. Then I feel a loud pop/bang and the
> steering wheel is pointing to the left and the car is shooting to the right.
> I thought I had smacked it out of allignment... oh if only!!! So now I'm
> fighting a car with complete drag suspension and skinny bias plys up front
> from going off the road into a 6 foot ditch. I go off the road and manage to
> bring it back on the road. Then I think the tire blew out or the shock
> snapped (it flat spotted and has a slash in it) and I went back off the road
> this time aimed at a guardrail guarding an irridation ditch. So I fight it
> back on the road and am slowing down enough to figure it's time to put this
> thing on the shoulder for good. So I fight it off the road and manage to
> keep it out of another 6 foot ditch. I finally come to a rest and take a
> breather.
>
> Pull the pin for the driver side door bar and step out of the car. Grab my
> flashlight (this is about 9:00pm Sunday night) and go check out the damage.
> This is what I saw...
>
> http://members.aol.com/BECcruice/WreckedCamaro1.jpg
>
> I was shocked to know that I kept this thing under control and didn't do a
> single bit of body damage.
>
> So I called AAA and got a tow truck sent out. The guy gets there in about 45
> minutes (30 minutes or less my ***) and goes about figuring out how to get my
> POS onto his truck. He looks under the car and just glares at me and asks
> who put this crap on my car for me (he was referring to my tubular K-member
> and tubular A-arms with heim joints.) I stated that I did. So he had to dig
> a hole under the pass side to get a jack under the car to jack the car up to
> put wood under the tire so we didn't just drag my car up the flatbed. As he
> is doing that a CHP pulls up :/ I say out loud, "Oh ****, I'm F*cked!" The
> two truck driver knew the cop and said, "Don't worry, he wont say ****." The
> CHP was cool. He did look at my rear 1/4 panels and asked if I had been
> racing (street racing that is) the night before. I told him I was just
> coming from Vacaville and had been at Sacramento Raceway the day before.
> Told him I didn't street race cause I could get in trouble, it wasn't safe
> and nobody was in my league. He laughed and then we started to BS. He
> finally took off before I had to fire the car up. So we got the car onto the
> flatbed and got on our way home.
>
> Now this gets interesting... Some of you may know of my '85 Chevy mud truck.
> Well I needed new tires to sell it and found a set of 36x14-16.5 Swampers
> with nice rims for $1200 in the local Wheels and Deals. I just never got
> around to calling about them. This towtruck driver is the guy with the
> rims/tires. We struck a deal for $1,000 and I'm gonna go pick them up, to
> help sell the truck. Although we might make a deal for my 12,000# Warn winch
> or my big block. Just funny how things work out. And about him giving me
> crap about the mods to my car. Once he found out how far I drove it and what
> it ran he gave proper respect. Turns out he races circle track cars and has
> built about 25 TALL lifted trucks. We were good ol friends before too long
>
>
> So we get the car into my garage and I start to tear it apart. Here are the
> rest of the pics...
>
> http://members.aol.com/BECcruice/WreckedCamaro2.jpg
> http://members.aol.com/BECcruice/WreckedCamaro3.jpg
> http://members.aol.com/BECcruice/WreckedCamaro4.jpg
> http://members.aol.com/BECcruice/WreckedCamaro4.jpg
> http://members.aol.com/BECcruice/WreckedCamaro6.jpg
>
> Turns out that a Camaro that sits that low in the front end with 90/10 shocks
> doesn't like to get air and then bottom out. Seems that there was too much
> force and the heim joint pulled out of the A-arm, then the tire blew or the
> shock snapped...
>
> So total damage now is:
>
> 1 SLP Bilstein revalved to 90/10
> 1 Weld Pro Star 15x3.5
> 1 ET Front 26x4.5-15 (will replace both with Sportsman Fronts)
> 1 PA Racing tubular A-arm
> 1 tie rod
> 1 steering rack (possibly ruined)
> 1 PA Racing K-member (possibly ruined, but not sure)
> 2 Hooker Long Tubes
> 1 front bumper from tow truck (some black paint that might buff out)
>
> Total damage estimate if all is bad and needs replacing: ~$2450... :/
> ouch, first time I added it all up, and that doesn't include the front bumper.
>
> I was thinking of using insurance to cover this, but then realized that I
> can't take it to a shop torn apart and it wasn't able to drive there so they
> would probably send an adjuster out to look at the car and they would flip
> out seeing it's modified state and illegal front tires.
>
> Moral of the story... don't drive faster than your guardian angel. I'm just
> glad I outfitted mine with N2O
>
> Brian (stressing if I can get it repaired and sorted out before B-Field...)

 

And that's why I am not going with any race specific parts on my street car. Sorry to hear about your friend's misfortune, but geez what was he thinking doing 120 on a street with race only components! I am not going to go with the rod ends, I have seen them fail previous to your post. But I am sure someone can benefit from this and I appreciate you posting this warning to those.

Glenn, you are using Thunderbird rear Konis in your 3rd gen?

 

Yeah I know. Strange to run a F*rd part but 90% of autoxers run these. They're great and bolt right in. They're not as stiff and gives better traction. A lot of RR used them also.

 

You're smart to stay away from the rod ends George. Rod ends in the A-arms of a street car make no sense. Unless you like tearing apart your front end on regular basis. Rod ends tend to wear pretty quickly under street conditions. They are strictly race only.

The other crazy thing that guy did was going 120 mph on a highway with skinnies up front! He's soooo lucky he didn't wrap his car around something.

 

800 296 3760
TC race car parts
12" tall on the fronts
10" tall pigtails on the rear

Weight jacks are a trheaded collar that let you raise and lower the ride height of the car at each spring mount point. That lets you adjust the amount of weight each tire in the car takes by changing the ride height of each corner of the car. Its used for suspension setup. If you are going to be setting the car up for road course and autox, they are problably a good thing (tm) to add to the list..

-N