Suspension advice

[crow]

I have beren wanting to improve my suspension. Every year I take my GN out on the open road and open her up to get the carbon buildup from "dailly" driving out of the engine. One of things that I don't like doing this is, how light the front end feels.
My car was bone stock till a few months ago. My exhaust rusted out so I decided to upgrade. Installed a 2.5 SS cat back with a 3.5 SS DP, TT 93 octane chip and 3" cold ait intake. This gave me more HP. Now I feel I need better handling to go with it. BTW, I redid my brake system completly as well. I want to feel safe in this car.
Mostly I find lots of more HP info. Not much attention is given to suspension and brakes. I therefore did some research at Suspension Tuning
It is rather Technical and vaig, at the same time informative. It left me with which springs rate and swaybar size to get. I have always felt suspension configurations to be tricky. Konis are great shocks but which ones to get? My goal is to keep the car on the road at high speeds, like at WOT. Not that I drve that fast normally. Normally I drive (***** foot) around town occasionally and for pleasure visiting shows and cruise ins.
Any suggestions????

 

[scot w.]

I have beren wanting to improve my suspension. Every year I take my GN out on the open road and open her up to get the carbon buildup from "dailly" driving out of the engine. One of things that I don't like doing this is, how light the front end feels.
My car was bone stock till a few months ago. My exhaust rusted out so I decided to upgrade. Installed a 2.5 SS cat back with a 3.5 SS DP, TT 93 octane chip and 3" cold ait intake. This gave me more HP. Now I feel I need better handling to go with it. BTW, I redid my brake system completly as well. I want to feel safe in this car.
Mostly I find lots of more HP info. Not much attention is given to suspension and brakes. I therefore did some research at Suspension Tuning
It is rather Technical and vaig, at the same time informative. It left me with which springs rate and swaybar size to get. I have always felt suspension configurations to be tricky. Konis are great shocks but which ones to get? My goal is to keep the car on the road at high speeds, like at WOT. Not that I drve that fast normally. Normally I drive (***** foot) around town occasionally and for pleasure visiting shows and cruise ins.
Any suggestions????

In that link you posted the information is pretty old but most of the information is still useful.

There are many ways you can upgrade your suspension now a days. It's just a matter of what you can afford and what you want! Some go the cheap route, some go the expensive route but in the end they are all better than the stock suspension!!

I done a whole rite up on the install of my suspension and also tested it 2 day's later on an Autocross track and the results were amazing! Click here.> http://www.turbobuick.com/forums/br...els/329141-complete-dse-suspension-build.html


Scot W.

 

[crow]

Scott, That was outstanding. Nice car.
It reminded me of my GN when I first got it. It tracked very well and stopping was impressive. It just squated and never dipped forward.
I have fairly new shocks and new brakes now and it stops well with a slight dip. After so many years I guess new springs are in order.
What you showed me looks good.
What you are proposing is something I may need to experience to know if it is exactly what I'm looking for. I imagine it is a nice ivestment and I'd better be sure. I'm located in Central Florida. Do you know of anyone here with that setup?
Thanks for taking the time to respond to my query.

 

[scot w.]

Scott, That was outstanding. Nice car.
It reminded me of my GN when I first got it. It tracked very well and stopping was impressive. It just squated and never dipped forward.
I have fairly new shocks and new brakes now and it stops well with a slight dip. After so many years I guess new springs are in order.
What you showed me looks good.
What you are proposing is something I may need to experience to know if it is exactly what I'm looking for. I imagine it is a nice ivestment and I'd better be sure. I'm located in Central Florida. Do you know of anyone here with that setup?
Thanks for taking the time to respond to my query.

I don't think anyone in Florida has my complete set up yet that I know of. If you have any questions on mine feel free to ask...


Scot W.

 

[Silver Fox]

Scott's stuff is very nice. I put mine together (see my sig) before there was a bolt on kit for the G-Body's. I am very happy with how mine handles now, and have yet to even address the rear suspension. I'd be happy to talk to you about my suspension.

Rob

 

[charlief1]

Scott has some really nice parts available and if I had the cash I'd probaly get parts from him. The parts are easily put on if you're willing to do the work yourself or you can get a shop to do the work. The key here is the alignment after wards. Make sure to follow their direction on setting everything up and you will be happy with it.

 

[crow]

Scott, what I'm after is a good handling road car. I want to feel safe on the road under any conditions. I have never been to a dragstrip but I might some day. If I go to one it would be to share a day with friends and learn about how it is done.
My idea of an outing is to leave my home and follow my nose onto nice country roads with lots of scenery and no particular destination in mind. I once made a 6,000 mile long trip without getting on a turnpike or 4 lane. So safety, handling and ride is my goal.
Went to your website. You show your product line well. Ideally One should do it all at the same time. However, if one wants to make changes in stages, where should I start? Front? Rear? Shocks? Springs? swaybar? I'm also looking at improving my break system. I think I have gone as far as I need with the engine. I' have been trying to have it dynoed for weeks now but the shop has been too busy.
Thanks once again.

 

[charlief1]

First you need to decide where you want to start. Brakes are an easy upgrade if you want to go cheap and use the front spindles off the lats gen Blazer. You can get them in a salvage yard and I think I paid around $60 for the knuckles, calipers, and rotors. You will need to buy some hub bearing assemblies for it and then just bolt it on. This give you a twin piston caliper and 11" rotors. Then you can go from there. Just remember the best rule out there. KISS! Keep it simple stupid, and this will keep you fro getting in over your head.

If you decide to go after market then you can get after market brakes. Either way I'd honestly say ge the car to stop better first so you can control it before you get it to handle, then worry about the handling.

 

[motorhead]

As it has been stated you really can accomplish a great deal of improvements without resorting to an expensive kit. Some folks lack the interest to cobble together a solution, and that is fine, for the rest of us we enjoy scrounging for parts and saving some money.

Like Silver Fox I built my suspension long before the aftermarket jumped on board with these cars (10 years ago). It just seems way too easy IMO now... LOL. Specs below.

 

[scot w.]

Scott, what I'm after is a good handling road car. I want to feel safe on the road under any conditions. I have never been to a dragstrip but I might some day. If I go to one it would be to share a day with friends and learn about how it is done.
My idea of an outing is to leave my home and follow my nose onto nice country roads with lots of scenery and no particular destination in mind. I once made a 6,000 mile long trip without getting on a turnpike or 4 lane. So safety, handling and ride is my goal.
Went to your website. You show your product line well. Ideally One should do it all at the same time. However, if one wants to make changes in stages, where should I start? Front? Rear? Shocks? Springs? swaybar? I'm also looking at improving my break system. I think I have gone as far as I need with the engine. I' have been trying to have it dynoed for weeks now but the shop has been too busy.
Thanks once again.

Well, I have customers buying this suspension in many ways right now. If you can buy the whole package that is always the best in terms of out of the box feel once finished but you certainly can buy the Front or Rear first and then save back up for the rest later. Say you buy the Front set up first you will get Everything needed for the complete front end...I/E Upper & Lower tubular A-arms, Sway bar, Shocks, Springs and front frame braces ALL for $2,100 then later the rear set up will run $1,500 for Everything! Then your suspension is complete..

Brakes? You can either do them before or after the suspension, it's just up to you on how you want to do things. Everyone is different when it comes to the steps in modifying there cars. We are an authorized dealer for BAER brakes and they have great bolt in kits that also come with everything needed to make your install nice and easy, and they make a WORLD of difference too!

Scot W.