What are some good products I could get?

 

It really depends on personal information like ...
1) what's your budget
2) Whats your intentions (baiscally your driving needs and overall comfort level expectations)
3)what is your future (short term) budget (Meaning within the next year). In other words, money you do not have now but espect to be spending real soon on the next go round of modifications- If any.
4) How long do you anticipate owning this car.
5) Is it daily driver?How many miles does it see a year.

Anybody can just throw out manufacturer names and products, But lets help you help yourself in answering what best fits you particularly. WHat kind of car, what kind of maintinace shape is it in, what current modifications are done to it from fastory specs, how many miles are on it.

 

Good could equal Monroe,

then again, good could equal Penske

then again, good could equal factory replacement. Everyone has specific needs.

just food for thought before anyone else starts suggesting this brand or that.

 

Duracell is right, what modifications you do is dependent on what you want the car to do and what your expectations are.

 

Good shocks/struts, bilstiens or revalved if you are changing springs, koni's are probably the best. But as mentioned, just depends on what your budget is and what you want to do with the car.

 

First........WELCOME to the board

Your question give lots of room for interpretation.

It really does depend on what you want to do with your car.

If you just start putting parts on the car without thinkning you really are just wasting your money.

To give a better ride and stiffen up the car, I would suggest first look at a set of subframe connectors (sfc). UMI makes a good product for this.

If you want to just freshen up the ride then a new set of shocks might do the job. KYB if you are on a budget, KONI or bilstein if you have a bit more $$.

Your choices are endless....panahard rod (adjustable), lower control arms (lca), lca relocation brackets (for lowered cars), sway bars, strut tower brace (stb), lowering springs, A arms, tubular K member. The list is endless as is the cost.

 

You may already have the biggest sway bar combo GM made on both your 86 and 89, a hollow 36 mm front and a solid 24 rear.

JamesC

 

1) right now it is $600-700
2) daily driver with once a month beat the hell out of the car time (autocross)
3) another $1500-2000 by the end of next year
4) until the engine kicks teh bucket... and then ill probably swap for 5.7L (5L currently)
5) daily driver getting few miles every year. uhm... maybe 20-30 miles a day and its not driven in the winter so about 3000-4000 miles a year

Car is in good shape and is complete factory stock. 137,000 current miles. 87 IROC-Z. Any ideas or advice would be great to get me started.

 

Racing Geek, If you are serious about having a true Sports car, not a glorified performace car look designed for the average joe like these cars were originally suspension engineered, then you will need good monotube shocks and struts to contol the wheels and chassis and give that perfomance feel to the seat. I would recommend if you are serious into spriited driving and what results- BUy the Koni Yellows with all of the 600-700 current budget.

THis is assuming you have the rest of the car up to par maintinace wise- Balljoints, bushings, tierods, wheelbearings, brakes decent, good safe tires, etc..... The car is in good physical maintinace and is worthy of performance upgrades. If anything is in poor shape, it is pointless to start adding perfromance parts elsewhere. It REALLY depends on the condition of your perticular car. For instance, just adding Koni yellows on really bad worn out strut mounts will basically be useless. If this is the case, then save your dollars till you can buy both Koni's AND new strut mounts and install them together.

 

I love to read Dean's posts.

 

I bought the car maybe 2 months ago and the guy said all the brakes were just redone, the engine just got a tune up, and the tires are brand new. The only bad thing about the car are the "clunk" noises when I turn the wheel all the way to the left or right, but from what Ive read it is fairly common. I autocrossed it twice this year and plan on continuing so I want the thing to really hug the road.

Koni yellows were on my list of things to get but I was wondering if I would need the rear to be adjustable since that isn't offered. Also, how do I know if my strut mounts are bad? I would also like to lower my car but then I'm afraid I wont make it up my driveway. UMI sfc's and Spohn's chrome moly sway bars were also on my list of things to get. To get the car better balanced I was thinking I would put chrome moly stuff on the front and mild steel on the back. Good or bad idea?

I just checked and I actually have about $1000-1400 to spend.

 

First you'd better get that cluck checked. THat sounds like the notorious frame cracking behind the steering brace. If so, then that is dangerous and you could loose steering if it breaks further. Get it fixed and then get a wonderbar on there. GM put them on the IROC specifically to brace the frame in that spot from the factory when they added the performace IROC tire and suspension package for spirited driving. GM knew it was a problem when these cars were sold. Modern tire tech has yeilded greater grip and thus more of a problem- get that frame fixed and a wonderbar on there.

Koni rears 'are' rebound adjustable, you just have to dismount the bottom mount to spin them. The fronts adjust without dismounting.

Checking the strut mounts for wear:

Pop off the dust caps on the mounts and get a big screw driver or medium size prybar. you will see the strut shaft and bolts holding it on and below that is the large circumferance area of rubber bushing material inside the strut mount. Take the prybar and insert it in between the metal mount wall and the strut shaft and try to carefully but briskly bend the strut saft off center. If it is very hard then the strut is still decent. If this moves rather easy then the rubber is giving. Next, just simply watch the top of that strut shaft in relation to the top of the strut mount opening- bounce the car up and down and see if there is slop movement vertically between the two. SOmetimes this is not bad BECAUSE the shocks are not very good valivng quality. THEN, once you put a good quality shock in there that yeilds no jounce/rebound play you will inmmediately see slop in the strut mount bushing.
This slop in the rubber bushing is what renders a STB (strut tower brace) USELESS. AND it cause deflection on corner entrance and changes the caster/camber angles in relation to the chassis. It will cause a delayed reaction of the chassis rotation into a corner (a momentary push). AND it renders the strut useless for bump/rebound & rebound/bump transistions for about 1/2" or greater wheel travel undampered. This is why the strut replacement is so beneficial. Solid mounts are best like the ones Spohn sells.I really should update my priority list and tell people it is in fact best to buy a wonderbar first- Not for any perfomance gains, but to firm up the safety and integrity of the steering box area of the frame just as GM did before they did modifications to the IROC. Then get tires and shocks, and 4th get strut mounts. SFC's can come later, they are not needed for safety and chassis control in swerving conditions like shocks and tires are needed. SFC's are an asset, but come much lower in priority.
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First you'd better get that cluck checked. THat sounds like the notorious frame cracking behind the steering brace. If so, then that is dangerous and you could loose steering if it breaks further. Get it fixed and then get a wonderbar on there. GM put them on the IROC specifically to brace the frame in that spot from the factory when they added the performace IROC tire and suspension package for spirited driving. GM knew it was a problem when these cars were sold. Modern tire tech has yeilded greater grip and thus more of a problem- get that frame fixed and a wonderbar on there.

Koni rears 'are' rebound adjustable, you just have to dismount the bottom mount to spin them. The fronts adjust without dismounting.

Checking the strut mounts for wear:

Pop off the dust caps on the mounts and get a big screw driver or medium size prybar. you will see the strut shaft and bolts holding it on and below that is the large circumferance area of rubber bushing material inside the strut mount. Take the prybar and insert it in between the metal mount wall and the strut shaft and try to carefully but briskly bend the strut saft off center. If it is very hard then the strut is still decent. If this moves rather easy then the rubber is giving. Next, just simply watch the top of that strut shaft in relation to the top of the strut mount opening- bounce the car up and down and see if there is slop movement vertically between the two. SOmetimes this is not bad BECAUSE the shocks are not very good valivng quality. THEN, once you put a good quality shock in there that yeilds no jounce/rebound play you will inmmediately see slop in the strut mount bushing.

This slop in the rubber bushing is what renders a STB (strut tower brace) USELESS. AND it cause deflection on corner entrance and changes the caster/camber angles in relation to the chassis. It will cause a delayed reaction of the chassis rotation into a corner (a momentary push). AND it renders the strut useless for bump/rebound & rebound/bump transistions for about 1/2" or greater wheel travel undampered. This is why the strut replacement is so beneficial. Solid mounts are best like the ones Spohn sells.

I really should update my priority list and tell people it is in fact best to buy a wonderbar first- Not for any perfomance gains, but to firm up the safety and integrity of the steering box area of the frame just as GM did before they did modifications to the IROC. Then get tires and shocks, and 4th get strut mounts. SFC's can come later, they are not needed for safety and chassis control in swerving conditions like shocks and tires are needed. SFC's are an asset, but come much lower in priority.

 

I've been reading some threads and sometimes its as simple as a crossmember bolt missing. I OWN AN IROC AND IT HAS A WONDER BAR but it still makes that noise. Can I see this frame cracking by sticking my head under the car?

How difficult is it to adjust the rear shocks? About how long does it take? What tools are needed?

I cant find just the mount that Spohn supposedly sells. What do you think about swapping my stock wonderbar for a UMI wonderbar... it looks a little more rigid (no 90* bends). I was thinking about getting a set of DOT R-compound tires for autocross and the Koni yellows. What makes the 4th gen strut mounts better? Do they bolt directly on?

 

Any frame noise is not good, you need to check it out thoroughly. No way for me to tell you specifically over the internet- you need to do that in person.

Keep the stock woderbar, it works great.

Rear Koni yellow adjustment tools? A 19mm wrench, a jack, and a jack stand or two. Pull the bottom mount screw and rotate the body with the adjuster vavle depressed.

Spohn strut solid bushing strut mount:

http://www.spohn.net/product.cfm?productid=1542

Shocks and tires are your best investment. Spend as much as you can on those two and you can not go wrong buying quality.

I said nothing about 4th GEN struts, I said 4th on the list is replace strut mounts.
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And for the love of g()d, everybody stay away from the crappy BFG KDW tires. I drove that car last night and dam near slid it right off the margin. I try to always leave a safety marging for the unexpected and I used every bit of it on one turn last night. I missed the damn curb on the freeway cloverleaf entrance by about 6 inches at about 45mph. These tires are getting worse and worse as the days go and they wear and age. Pieces of crap. They have become more and more unpredictable- I know that corner very well.

 

I like my KYB AGX's. Got them in the front. They have four adjustments (sing adjustable - rebound and compression in one). You can feel the difference when you adjust them. They are about the cheapest adjustables i could find, so check em out.

 

Sorry about the misunderstanding with the strut mounts. Wouldn't the extra inch in Spohn's strut mounts lower the car an inch in the front or am I not thinking clearly?
I have the BFG G-Force KDW's and in the rain my car has absolutely no grip. There is a turn near my house that I can take my mom's 4x4 durango through at 30 and I tried it at 30 in my car and ended up spinning almost completely around. I agree... those tires are sh**. If I wasn't on a tight budget i'd toast the tires away just for an excuse to get a different set.


I heard that the AGX's wear out quickly but I never really did any research into them so I cant really say if they are/are not better than Koni's.

Cheap isnt always good.

 

the shocks/struts have little to nothing to do with rideheight

i have the same tires, and they are not that bad in the rain, unless you are pushing the car too hard for the road conditions

 

"rubber bushing material inside the strut mount"
Thank you for that, I found the right side rubber shot to hell. And when I put pressure on the shaft I get a clunking sound. I think it is the source of the sound I have been trying to find and get rid of for a long time.
I replaced my steering box last month, cleaned up and looked all over for cracks around the steering box once I removed it. I found no trace of any cracks. Also I have a factory wonder bar.

So what should I do about getting new strut mounts?

 

You might take note of the following link:

https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/susp...elp-quick.html

JamesC