Okay right now I have a 2.8L v6 Carb'd bone stock firebird that I want to slowly upgrade. I plan on going to a 3.4 Carb'd engine in the next year or two.
To prepare for this I wish to do suspension work. What I want to know, for a daily driver, IE alot of cornering. What should be replaced on the stock 300K mile suspension? I allready know to get SFC's, those will be top of the list, but what else? Should I do poly or rubber on the bushings throughout? Remember this car will never be on a track, its a daily driver that I like pushing round corners.
For those who say to go with a STB, PLEASE show me one that works on a carborated V6!!


Thanks for any help!
Jurrel

 

Stock 300k mile suspension?

EVERYTHING.

Just start at the front, and work your way back...

Poly everything, springs, struts, shocks, rebuild the front end, bigger sway bars, sfc, and lca's!

 

Um do I NEED bigger sway bars for a street car/daily driver?

Also arent the poly's considered to stiff for all the potholes on the street? Yes in california there are alot of them.

 

Well, no, you don't NEED bigger swaybars - but you said you'd be doing a lot of cornering. Sway bars are mandatory for good cornering! Same with the poly mounts.

If you're worried about ride quality, then you're not going to be building a corner carver... honestly, the better the car handles, the worse the ride, in general...

 

Okay I guess Im your normal spoiled american, I want the best of both worlds
Also I was spoiled by the active suspension in my 87 turbo supra it hugged the corners, but offered a very smooth ride all the time, BUT it was expensive to repair all the time..

I will check the search function to find the best sway bars as well as places to find everything.


Thank you again for your help.

 

strut tower brace, torque arm, panhard rod, traction bars on the back, and as u said sfc's and lca's, shocks, struts

 

the stb has a bar from the strut tower to the firewall and another on the other side, also it does the same around your air cleaner. i would post a pic but i forgot, u can look on this site though

http://store.summitracing.com/

 

Can you provide me a link to the site with the V6 carb'd STB? The ones I have seen are for V8's and they dont have to deal with AC and alternater in the spot they are on the V6. Which means I can not use a carb'd v8 STB on the V6 as far as I know.

 

I would go poly bushings on the swaybars, and torqe arm.

The front a-arms, and rear LCA's, if you want to spend the green on poly, go for it. But for street use, I would stick with rubber. IMHO.

Swaybars, since your a carb v6, you got the smallest of all (unless special order something else). I have installed a 34mm hollow front, and 24mm solid rear. Great even feel. Can snag these from local salvage yards, I got mine off evil-bay.

TDS wonder bar, great way to spend 50 bux.

Check your strut mounts, very possibly cracked. Replace with stock style, or spend the 350 for billet ones.

SFC's already know.

Drop springs, suspension max off ebay, or dropzones, or full custom setup. These seem to be only ones out for v6

Good struts, my KYB's are quite stiff, which bang for the buck, seem to be the best. If you got green, go koni or bilstine (sp?)

Honestly, anything a v8 can upgrade, we can too. Only difference is coil spring rate, and swaybar size. Everything else is same.

 

Well due to the engine Size/Weight difference I was thinking there might be suspension differences as well. You know I totally forgot bout the wonder bar, as well as the strut mount, though when I replaced the struts with OEM I did not notice any cracks in them.

 

very few differences.

1. Spring rate, and only the front ones really
2. sway bar sizes, again, mainly front.
3. a arms are diff on the iroc/z's, and thats only the turn stopper for 16" wheels.
4. rear lcas, only diff is thickness of metal used (stock wise)
5. torqe arm v6 vs v8, i havent gotten ahold of a v8 one, so not sure on it yet, I assume thickness again, or maybe hole location for the angle of the axle because supp the v8s sit lower
6. Panhard, assumtption is the v8 sits lower, so it needs to be shorter.

 

Keep in mind, too, that you're driving an f-body. I didn't notice any extra harshness in my ride when I went to poly bushings and lowering springs- the car already had a rough ride! In fact I'd go as far as to say that the ride actually got better, because instead of "falling into" bumps and holes, the car handles "over" the bumpers and holes. With the worn out suspension, it seemed like I was slamming into every rut there was.

The shocks/struts you pick out will also affect the harshness of the ride. If you go for a full out set of Konis or Bilsteins that are set for super-firm, you're gonna feel it in your butt And your wallet. I went with the KYB gas-a-just rear shocks and KYB gr2 struts, just because of the decent pricetag.

If I wanted a smooth ride, I'd have a luxo-barge instead of a pony car.

 

I'd get Del-A-Lum bushings for the front A-Arms, and get Spherical Rod ends on both sides for the LCA's. I'm going w/ Koni Yellow's and Eibach kit. Good deal for $699.

 

Thanks, plenty there to look at and buy !