Hi guys,

My friends 82 Trans Am rattles and wallows around like most 3rd gens, its all stock underneath, not much has been done on it and hes ready to throw some money at it to make it ride a lot better and more comfortably.

I immediately said he should go for some sub frame connectors, poly bushes, new springs and shocks and probably some tubular control arms and a panhard bar ?

now ive got eibachs on my car which gives it a great stance but my car feels really stiff and crashes over the bumps which he doesnt really want, he wants it to just drive nice

what do you guys recommend for comfort.

 

Almost nothing you listed? Lol except shocks and struts.

New shocks and struts, buy good stuff, not whatever on sale cheapest.

Go over all the steering components, fix as needed.
Check the strut mounts, replace as needed, the stock style ones will be most comfortable.

If there is money left, subframe connectors will probably help with some of the squeeks and rsttles.

Don't use anything poly anywhere. They are noisy, hard and transfer noise, which is counter productive for comfort. Poly in general is an awful material for most things, but it's one of those things that got hyped up and people think it help the car perform better.

Last but no least, how are the tires? Low profile tires will ride hard, old tires will also ride hard. So, replace if needed and or old.

 

Comfort is a lot about using really good shocks.

 

Is handling the ultimate goal here or do want it to ride more like a luxury car?

(And that isn't to initiate a discussion about how luxury cars can handle.)

 

SFCs is the first "mod" to do to these cars.

"Mod" of course comes AFTER fixing all the broken stuff that goes with 35 yrs and untold miles... control arm bushings, ball joints, springs, shocks & struts, sway bar end links & bushings, strut tower bushings, alignment specs (stock ones are DEATH), tires, the little weenie pizza-cutter wheels these cars all came with, tie rod ends, idler arm, center link, steering column rubber disc thing I can't remember its formal name, cracked spot welds EVERYWHERE in the chassis (there's several hundred that I've personally fixed at one time or another and probably at least as many more that I haven't dug deep enough to get to)... maybe a few other wore-out used-up stock garbage things that were already COMPLETELY NON-EXISTENT TOAST by the time the car had 10,000 miles on it but they now have 200,000 miles... they're SMOKED, you need to FIX THE BROKE STUFF before worrying about "mods". Or at least, at the same time. No "mod" is going to make a wobbly old skeleton with slop and play in every moving part, act like a tight new race car.

If "ride comfort" is his overriding goal, he should AVOID any parts labelled "performance", with only a certain few exceptions. Sway bar parts being among the exceptions. Poly end links and bushings (buy end links that make the bars sit level which is usually in the 2¼ - 2½" range on these cars both front and rear), measure the bars w a wrench (choose the NEXT SIZE SMALLER bushings than the measured diameter, and GREASE THEM liberally and OFTEN) don't make a car ride harsh, but they DO make it feel responsive and "live". A larger rear bar in certain situations can work wonders but don't do that indiscriminately, bars & springs both front & rear need to be chosen as a SYSTEM and MATCHED for best results, as opposed to just "bigger is better".

An aftermarket Panhard bar will only accomplish anything if his existing one is fornicated somehow. Generally, not on the 1st page of necessary "mods", let alone "repairs". Unless of course, if it's efffed up, such as, bent from hitting curbs at some point in its life. Which actually, is surprisingly common and easy; I've tore up my own PHB that way, without even realizing it until later, when I looked at it up on a rack and it looked like I could open a REALLY BIG wine bottle with it (except I didn't have a big enough wine bottle to use it that way), instead of it being a nice STRAIGHT line like it's supposed to be.

But, the FIRST THING TO DO is, fix the old wore-out broke used-up damaged efffffed-up stock garbage. Identify particular damage/defects like bent Panhard bars or broken chassis welds or steering parts that move ½" on the drive side before the driven side starts to move or ball joints that you can jack the car up by the control arms and just grab the tire and waller it around however you want with just your hands. Then go from there.

 

At over thirty years old and probably most of the suspension is stock, I agree, replace parts then MOD unless you know what direction you want to go. I have a car that has the luxury ride and that's not my third gen.