I was planning on doing suspension mods to my 89 2.8 but after reading your posts it seems like all the things BMR sells are for the V8. If I am wrong please let me know. I would like to do rear control arms, panhard rod, sway bars so if there is a site that has this for the V6 let me know. Also, I was wondering if it is a good idea to put a jet chip on the car with my mods being a K&N, headers and 180* thermostat.

 

All the arms and stuff will fit a 2.8 no problem, it's the springs and sway bars that are different.

first thing I would say is to re-install the original 195* T-Stat, the car stays in closed loop that way and doesn't fall out. people have had VERY mixed emotions on the jet chip. The best I can tell you is that for what it actually does, I THINK it's a waste. All it does is bump up the timing and fuel curves, but with a K&N being the only "mod" that you have, it probably won't be worth it, but that's for you to spend the money on and decide for yourself.

I would say to bump the base timing up to about 14* and see if it pings, if it doesn't, bump it up in 2* increments untill you find the ping, then back it off to the last setting. It's the same idea that the JET chips run on, but be prepared to be able to only run 91 octane or better if you set the timing to 16* or higher.

 

The spring rates are different and the swaybars are (usually) larger on a V8 car, but they will directly interchange with the V6 stuff. I wouldn't recommend new V8 springs unless they have been cut, but any of the swaybars from V8s will work fine. You don't have to buy aftermarket swaybars, just grab some off of a Z28, TA, or Formula in the boneyard. Even the Wonderbar from the IROC models will bolt up. Anything else...panhard bars, LCAs, torque arms, etc...is all the same, so the BMR, Spohn, Granatelli etc pieces you see will work fine on your car.

 

Ok thanks for the information. Why is having a 180* T-Stat a bad idea i thought it made the engine run cooler. So the Sway Bars will work they will just be bigger is what I gather? What kind of mods do y'all have on your cars and what kind of power are you getting?

 

Also I was thinking about changing the rear brakes from drums to discs how expensive of a switch is this.

 

The ECM needs a certain temperature to stay in closed loop. a 180* T-Stat is too low for it to stay in closed loop reliably and it oten reverts back to open loop.

Bigger sway bars will make it hadle much stiffer, but you have to make sure that you set up the rest of the suspension to match or else it'll make the car handle worse than before.

To upgrade to rear disc isn't all that expensive IF you can find the parts in a junkyard off of a thirdgen that has them. Just remember that you have to change the proportioning valve too.

 

I always thought the 160 was too low and the 180 was ok. I put a 180 in mine and it does ok.

The first 2 years I had the car the temp read around 170 I think. Took it to germany, had to replace temp sensor, and it ended up running 200+. Got it back home after a few years and it still ran 200+ until one day it started getting higher so I replaced it with a 180. Now it runs 180-200.

I haven't even seen my car since Aug though, so I might be wrong on the temp numbers. I need a pic of the temp gauge.

 

As a SMog tech, I see a lot of cars that people install 180 'stats in and have a problem passing smog because the car falls out of closed loop, it doesn't happen to all cars, but if you have that with a combination of a slow O2 sensor then the computer figures that it's too cold to remain in closed loop so it'll revert back to open loop.

Notice that I said "reliably" in my previous post. It's just something that I see and for the most part, that extra 15* of engine coolant temp doesn't do anything to affect power anyway. I mean at the most you'r gonna see 1 HP @ the flwwheel, which will be easily offset by a "custom cold air intake" that really just sucks in warm underhood air. Cone style filters under the hood are such a joke...lol

 

That reminds me, I gotta get around to sealing off that corner of the engine bay so my custom intake will actually be a 'cold air intake' instead of 'high flow intake' which I've been calling it.

I suppose this summer I'll do some mileage tests, then switch back to the 195 t-stat and see if it makes a difference.

 

i can atest to the fact about the 180 stat its not really a good idea if u live in a place were it tends to get really cold outside , but the one good thing about it is u can add a lil more timing then u could with the hoter stat, the best near free mod u can do is gut the air box, i like to take this one step further by building ducting out of aluminum sheet metal that runs to the front grill( replacing the rs grill with an iroc grill helps with this mod) if u do the ducting corectly u will get a true ram air system out of it