I'd like to start upgrading the performance of my '91 GTA 350. So, I figured i'd begin with the handling of my car. My car came with WS6 (I assume, because the centercaps say WS6, and the dash says performance suspension).

I was surfing the Top-Down solutions website and noticed that a couple of upgrades are actually on the WS6 package.

What exactly do I have with WS6 that other 3rd gens don't? What should I start upgrading? I was thinking of giving the Wonderbar a shot

http://www.top-downsolutions.com/pro...products_id=45

It's not terribly expensive, it has great reviews, and it claims to be the best on the market.

What do you guys think?
Bill

P.S. Are there any mods that will get in the way of a pontential LSx/383 or T56 swap down the line?

 

I was in your exact situation about 2 months ago. Refreshing the factory suspension on my WS6. I've been upgrading stuff right and left, so most of this is fresh in my head still....in fact, I've still got the box of rusty old parts sitting in my apartment that were replaced in the last few weeks.

Your WS6 should have a 36mm hollow sway bar up front, and a 24mm bar out back. These are the largest factory 3rd gen sway bars. Your car also will have very stiff factory springs, and performance shocks from the factory (which are pretty much guaranteed to be bad, unless your car has <45k miles on it). Those are the main things that makes your car different from non-WS6 3rd gens. There may be others, but I don't know what they are...

How much $$ do you have to spend on upgrades? At a bare minimum, you'll want to get greasable polyurethane front / rear sway bar bushings w/brackets, new poly endlinks, and new quality shocks/struts. The bushings and endlinks are cheap, and make LOTS of difference - my bushings had egg-shaped holes when I removed them, and the sway bars were slopping around inside. My car also has 141k miles on it, and was riding on the original shocks + struts - I could compress them very easily by hand, and they took forever to come back out. I was essentially riding on just the springs!

A wonderbar is a VERY good idea also, as these cars tend to stress crack behind the steering box - the wonderbar takes the stress off of this area. I got the TDS piece that you're looking at, and I love it. Very easy bolt-on, and looks great - not to mention, my steering felt a bit more responsive after I installed it. In fact, that was the very first thing I did.

Check your upper strut mounts and see if your bearings are bad (they usually are). If so, get those too. I actually got new ones, but when I took the old ones out, the bearings still spun very freely (although mine may have been replaced at some point). New springs wouldn' t be a bad idea - mine were still pretty good up front, but the rear was sagging, so I replaced them.

While you're in there, new ball joints are relatively cheap and not hard to replace with the press you can rent from Autozone. You have to detach the LCA from the joint to get the springs out, so you might as well do the BJs if you can't remember the last time they were done. Perfect time to replace front pads, wheel bearings, or rotors too (if needed), since you have to take all of that stuff off to get the bolts out of the struts anyway.

You can do a minor refresh (bushings, endlinks, shocks+struts), or go all-out. This should be a good starting point.

 

I have under 50k, and I'm clueless mechanically. My dad never spent any time with me on cars, so I'm learning stuff now... and paying mechanics and DEALERS (ARG) to do all the work. I dont mind spending a pretty penny if the parts are quality.

 

if you want to know how to do soemthing your self you should get a haynes or chiltons manual. The cover just about everything.

 

Don't worry about that - I didn't turn a wrench on a car until I was 16 or 17 (I'm 25 now), when the car I had needed a tune-up and I had no money to do it. I mean, I love my dad of course, but cars are not his thing at all - he knows nothing about them, and is actually quite inept with tools . I was getting sick of taking my car in to be worked on and having the shops rip me off and do a crappy job - I almost always had to go back and have them fix their mistakes, or found something missing out of my car when I got it back...etc. I taught myself everything I know, through trial and error, and lots of reading.

I would agree with the poster who said to get a shop manual - but instead of a Chilton's or Haynes, I'd get the factory manual for your car. I got mine off Ebay for $40 a few years back. It's 3x as thick as a Haynes, and is specific to your year car - the haynes and chiltons cover all 10 years, and are not very in-depth.

Just take your time, and read up on a task before doing it. Also, search this board before you tackle something - there's a wealth of first-hand experience based information on here that you won't find in any manual.

Good luck!

 

I have tds first desing wonderbar. It was basically a replica of the gm one. It was quite nice, and his new one should be even better. Even if your car has one, I say get his.

The swaybar bushings, endlinks are a must. And VERY simple to replace. Will help to have someone around to hold the bar for you, but can be done by yourself.

Shocks, struts are not hard at all on these cars. Does require some larger tools.

Upper strut mounts, very easy. Almost promised to be bad.

Might want to invest in an adjustable panhard bar. Guessing the suspension has saged a bit, and rear end may be off center.

After that, you really start getting deep and needing some specific tools and more then basic knowledge on cars.

The WS6 should have come with about "the works" on your suspension, and other then just replacing whats worn, not to many upgrades you can do w/o spending a fortune, or drastically changing ride quality.

I have the gm manual, damn nice! However, sometimes finding basic stuff is easier in the chiltons/haynes. If haynes/chiltons doesnt fix me, then out comes the beast!

 

The GTA WS6 springs are desired by everyone for the lighter Camaro's and such. The GTA is the heaviest 3rd gen made thus they had to put heavy rate springs on it to compensate for decent handling. Ws6 springs on a heavy GTA are nothing special in the way of racing the car, you'll need to go much heavier aftermarket racing springs even for autox.

If you want to retain a decent ricde and have a bit better than stock performance that definately put on some Koni yellows and up the rebound settings to further control the heavy chassis so it slows the roll in corners.