| My suspension is finally starting to come around.
The front is still pretty lightly modified. I'm going to have the
Griggs K-member, tubular A-arms and coil overs done eventually, but for
now BBK springs and Koni reds control the ups and downs.
Suspension Techniques sway bars are installed in the front as well, and
keep the car flat in the turns. Camber/caster plates allow more room for
the suspension to be adjusted for better handling, but with the Vortech Power
Cooler they touch the vacuum lines for the throttle position sensor.

In the rear I started with Griggs subframe connectors, then installed BBK lowering
springs and Koni reds. This made a difference, mostly in looks,
but the Suspension Techniques sway bars I added next helped the car lean less in the turns. The Griggs panhard bar and torque arm
were installed later, which help lower the roll center and give the car better
bite. With the torque arm and panhard bar installed, you remove the upper control arms and quad
shocks. The stock parts perform the same function, although they don't do nearly as
good a job. The
panhard bar eliminates most of the side to side movement by positively locating
the chassis to the differential. Since the upper control arms
bind as the car leans, they act almost like a spring, providing resistance and
adding to the spring rate. With the torque arm and the upper control arms
removed, you have to use a stiffer spring rate to compensate, so I replaced the BBK rear springs
with stiffer Griggs springs. I just updated the rear suspension to Maximum
Motorsports Bilstein coil-over kit and I love it! My car always sat a
little uneven, and it also had a problem bottoming out with Griggs' stiffest
rear spring set (350 lbs/in). I used 225 lb/in coil-over springs, which are
actually stiffer due to the mechanics of where the springs sit on the suspension arc. It
feels better, and I was able to raise the rear just enough to be comfortable, to
sit evenly and to look better. Plus, the Bilstein shocks are top of the line and have
excellent ride quality. Check out
the new pictures of the torque arm and the panhard bar, they really make
the rear end feel rock solid! You can feel the difference the most in the
turns, since the power of my car overwhelms the
street tires even with the torque arm off the line. For pictures of the coil-over
installation with before and after pictures, click here.

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