I redid the entire rear suspension. Edelbrock panhard bar, lakewood rear control arms, intrax springs, kyb gas adjust shocks, and a new fuel pump while I was down there. The set up is really nice and I will post pics tomorrow! The tourque arm is in the mail and i should get it and install it on thursday. I also wirewheeled the entire rear and gave it 3 coats of POR 15 Black ( i love that stuff). The rear dropped about 2 inches from the springs and the stance is really nice. The @$$ of the car is nice and stiff!

 

You will love the feel your car has with those new parts. Suspension upgrades on these cars are great. Now what about the front

 

I am in the process of doing the exhaust and then i will do the front suspension. I have the front Intrax springs already because the front and rear came together in a set. i need to get the camber kit for them though. I need to order the shock absorbers too. I would like to get the tubular arms, but I think they are a little expensive, no? Can I get the top and bottoom? and do they bolt right in? What do I gain from the tubular a arms?

 

i'd stay away from tubular a arms, too many breakages reported for my liking

 

So i should stick with the stock arms top and bottom and just get the polly bushings? what else can I do to the front? I know they make that K Member, but Will that work if I swapped out the motor for something else in the future?

 

Ok Mlanzo, a couple things before I answer your questions.

Thridgens def don't have 2 sets of A-arms. We only have lower. Take a look under there.

As for things bolting in later, like into your K-member. EVERYTHING will allways bolt in. Just about 100 % of aftermarket proiduct have to be able to bolt to all other stock things. So there is a base line of mounting locations that everyhitng has to accomodate to. People can not design parts that will only work with 1 motor or with all other parts of the suspention bought from them. They would never sell. Anyways, go ehaed with the A-arms, and K-member. There are some super fast cars running them. Kills a ton of wieght up front. Check my car out if you wanna see what it looks like installed.

Don't wanna sound like I know everything, cuz I don't, but take a look at your car a little more before you start asking about upper A-arms Just a piece of advice.

if you really wanna know everything aobut Camaro's get a chilton manual from pepboys, i read mine 3 times. Makes you be able to ask very informed and precise questions.

Good luck with the buildup.

 

DOHH!!!

Dumb question! Thanks for the help!

 

By the way, Iv'e seen your car on cardomain before This post! I love it. Nice job. It's all about time, dedication and unfortunatlly money!

 

Thanks man, I am ordering the motor tomorrow!!


Gonna be crazy.

Best addvice on parts, CHECK EBAY. But be 100% sure you know what you are looking for. Also look here and camaroz28.com forums. I got great set of used Viper tires for 240 bucks shipped. Totally crazy. Saved over 500 bucks.

Just keep posting, these forums kick ***.

One last thing, I am gonna update my cardomain site this week, check back soon.

 

Here are some shots of the new rear suspension. You can see the springs, struts, lower control arms, panhard bar, and the nice POR 15 paint!!! The Tourque arm is in the mail!

 

and the full pic of the rear. You cant see it too well because the car is on ramps!

 

Don't wanna hijack this thread but, I am going to redo my rear suspension now that I have finished the front..new Yoko ES100's, new Eibach Sprotline springs, struts, ball joints, bushings..sway bar, idler arm, control arm.

My question..I am going to order an adjustable Panhard bar and LCA relocation brackets........ Do I need to install a Panhard bar relocation bracket too ? or can I use the stock one ?

This car is a daily driver and will see alot of stop light to stop light action and the ocassional strip.

 

Hmmmm, do you wanna link a site that sells this relocation braket for the panhard bar. I have never seen one.

I have seen plenty of guys with the LCA brackets and they are all fine, this is with normal adj. panhard bars.

 

JEGS sells them

 

true, my bad.

Looks like a good idea. Now I think I need one. hehe.

Or at least I want one. I am positive you don't NEED one.

 

OK, now that my thread was offically hijacked, WHAT DO U GUYS THINK OF MY SUSPENSION???? By the way, my tourque arm arrived 2 minutes ago!

 

Looks fine, I went with adjustable LCAs and a 12 bolt, but that is cuz my build up is a little different. I will post pics soon. Oh yeah, disk brakes back there would be good too.

good work.

 

I think you bought a bunch of over-priced, over-built, under-engineered parts because they were in a catalog.

Let me guess, it's an Edelbrock torque arm?

 

Damn ^^^^. What you said is so true, but still sounds mean. haha.

Word of the wise, DON"T BUY EDEL-crap. REALLY REALLY REALLY not worth the $. And def allways crappier than other options. i.e. weaker.

 

ok, I dont have a ton of money to dump into the car and I am sure I will get by just fine! I did the entire job myself and I am proud of it!

 

 

This is a site dedicated to the 3rd Gen because we have them and love them! Stop bashing because I wont buy $600 springs!!

 

I hope that wasn't directed at me. That thumbs up was not a sarcastic one.

 

I know, the other guy agravated me! Def Not u!! Thanks for the backing up!

 

If you don't have a ton of money to dump into the car, why did you buy parts that do nothing other then look nice? The Edelbrock panhard bar isn't adjustable, so it's really just for looks. The stock panhard bar doesn't flex a ton even if you were out on a road/auto-x course where you could put enough Gs on it. As far as the Lakewood LCAs go, if you're trying to make the car handle better, a poly bushing is not the way to do it. Poly will actually bind up and make the car less predictable.

As far as the springs and shocks go, they'll probably be fine for a street car, enjoy them. I won't fight your thought about $600 springs either, that's just lining someone's pocket with a ludicrous mark-up.

Good job on doing the all the work yourself, definitely a cool endeavor. However, you don't need to buy every part a manufacturer makes to go fast/handle well. The reason I'm stating my opinion, is that I've been where you are and I've bought the bull**** parts that weigh more then stock, don't work as well, and cost money that you'll now have to spend twice. If you want to put parts on the car because they look cool, that's your right. Don't put just open the catalog and thing you're going to go faster because they're aftermarket though. Also, don't be offended by my opinion. We all know that opinions are like a$$holes, everyone has one.

I'd guess that over 75% of the parts that are bought and installed by people on this site are done because they look cool, not because they're proven to go faster/work better.

 

Mlanzo,

Don't let anyone discourage you... It's your car, have some fun with it. I just recently did my entire suspension and I had a blast. I've never heard of $600.00 Coil Springs (maybe coilovers). My car is about 15 years old and it was time to replace some things, yeah I don't autoX or run it at the track, but I wanted it to really handle when I needed it. I don't necessarily agree with 'the original parts not flexing that much' my car handles like a dream now with the new parts (SHE is tight ). I also went with poly bushings and I haven't experienced any binding, as a matter of fact the bushings are now greasable. I did go with the Delrin bushings for my tubular A-arms, they will probably out last my car... I went with the Spohn Performance parts and the Moog steering linkage (also purchased through Spohn). Very nice parts and awesome customer service...

 

l98-tpi-guy, Thanks Man! I agree with you about the old parts. I was actually able to twist the panhard bar with my hands. Obvioslly very little though.

 

Now imagine what your 3500 lb car will do to it as it is torsionally loaded. The stock panhard rod needs to go. It doesn't matter if you got a non-adjustable one. The edelbrock one will be fine.

 

Yeah, people's opinions are just that, nad nothing else.

I redid my rear suspention, and front and everything else. Litterally over 2000 hours of work so far, and she is not done. Just to try and get 335's under my car I have done at least 20-30 hours of work, including reading, buying, cutting, welding, and a good amount of sitting around being confused. haha. And I posted stuff about it and people alllllllll hate hated how it looks lke so far. But whatever, i know someday i will get them to tuck.

Anyways, just saying to keep up the work and screw what people's opinions are.

oh yeah and the stock PHR is a POS. def needs to be changed.

 

I wouldn't go that far. Any tubular panhard (adjustable or not) is a definate upgrade over the stock stamped piece. The stocker definately DOES flex, and that is not good. All the adjustable option give you is the ability to properly center the rear.

 

Wow, now that is what I call some meat. You are making me feel real inadequate with my little 245's...

 

If it's good enough for a Grand Am cup car, I think it'll work on a street car...

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1996-...QQcmdZViewItem

 

OMG!!!! He's got the stock Panhard bar on that car!!!!!

 

good job on the install and paint.

you should be proud of you progress.

glad to see the level of pride you have in you car.

keep us posted

 

I am guessing it is probably required by the rule book.

 

anyone know what rear shocks he's running that allow them to be mounted upside down?

 

huh, looks like penske's?

 

You can run pretty much any shock upside down. You have to get adapters that allow the eyelet end to bolt in to the shaft style mount. Jeep guys do it all the time. I know places like rubiconexprees sells them.

 

"Penske 8100 dampers with remote reservoirs, adjustable bump and rebound, bump rubbers, custom valving"



Mlanzo, good job on the rear!!

Remember to take everything you read here with a grain of salt. Also, spend some time and do a couple searches on products you're interested in getting. It's amazing how much is on this board, and how many members have taken the time to post the results (good or bad) after installing someone's products.

 

Actually, most designs that you’ll see on a car are rather unhappy upside down…, for that matter, why would you want to mount them body side of the damper to the suspension if you didn’t have to?

 

Good job Mlanzo!

I dont know what you are trying to prove Nape, but I think you got it all wrong. Aside from looks and word-of-mouth, how are people supposed to know what parts are "better"? Are you telling us that you knew from the start how much better or worse certain parts are compared to stock? Of course not, its impossible. None of us are engineers, and how are we to compare parts if we dont have them in our hands? You yourself stated that you learned through experience. And you know what, its the same for me, and probably everyone else on this forum. So what are you trying to prove aside from trying to make this guy look bad?

Just because a panhard bar is non-adjustable does not make it a "just for looks" piece. What matters is that it is the proper length to certer the rearend for your given ride height. And if its tubular, even better. The stock panhard bar sucks. I dont care if certain racing classes out there that require cars to run stock suspension parts, and thus have cars racing with stock suspension stuff. It means nothing to me. What matters is that I have pushed the car hard with both stock and aftermarket tubular panhard bars, and I know the aftermarket one makes the car more stable.

 

Yeah, I think someone pissed in my Wheaties that day.

I did congratulate him on doing the work himself though. It's cool and one of the big reasons I have this hobby, getting my hands dirty.

The main reason I get pissed is because of the crap that's out there and unfortunately people didn't search/the info wasn't readily available to help them make a better decision. I spent the money, but that doesn't mean someone else has to do it just to learn. Break the cycle and hopefully someone will make an informed purchase. I can't tell you how many garbage cars I see driving around that just bought crap from Jegs/Summit because it had a name on it and it made them slower and their wallet lighter. I hate 'catalog' cars.

That and I'd rather see someone support the little guy [aka a sponsor] rather then Lakewood or Edelbrock via Jegs.

 

OK, but where else is there to order from? SLP? GM? All of their stuff is tripple the price. Granted, they may be better products, but can you actually feel a differance? And are they worth it for triple the price? I don't think so. All I did was upgrade my stock, s*itty, worn, suspension!

 

http://www.spohn.net/
http://www.bmrfabrication.com/
http://www.umiperformance.com/
http://www.billingsleyracing.com/
http://www.thunderracing.com/

And smaller vendors do group buys all the time.

Now, there are other vendors out there that I know about, but I would rather not post because I don't trust their products. BMR is still questionable IMO even though I put them on the list as they've had some A-arm and K-member failures on 4th gens.

 

You can also check out:

http://www.globalwest.net/camaro93.htm