4th gen autocrossers - NJFBOA - Home of New Jersey's Camaros and Firebirds

qwikz28 · 02-25-2007, 05:47 PM

what springs are you running? i want new springs but i dont want something too harsh, nor do i want progressive springs. what do you guys have?

EchoMirage · 02-25-2007, 06:04 PM

i havent ordered them yet, but im going with Strano springs, shocks, and eventually sway bars, maybe PHB too. sam strano runs an 02 Z28 in SCCA soloI or II or whatever....hes a bigtime national champion, and really knows alot about 4th gens. (wish he knew more about 2nd gens, but we cant all be perfect). id hit his site, call and talk to him, and trust what he says. he wont steer you wrong.

NJSPEEDER · 02-25-2007, 07:40 PM

do you have subframe connectors yet? the stiffer the chassis is the softer the spring rate you can run and still get equal handling. another consideration is that a lot of ride harshness has to do with the shocks. maybe adjustables would be a good choice for your application if you want all the handling whenit is called for and a good ride for cruising/travel.

EchoMirage · 02-25-2007, 10:55 PM

sam himself said you dont really need SFC. his car doesnt have them, and hes the one winning races

qwikz28 · 02-26-2007, 10:58 AM

i know about strano, and i read his posts about SFCs. he says you dont NEED them, but they do help. my car, having been beat up and will continue to be beat up, i chose to do them. had my car been a hardtop car, a DD, or just a drag car, i wouldn't run them. but my car is just about a daily driver with t-tops that drags and will soon auto-x, i decided to do them.

as for the springs, i'm leaning towards strano's combo. i am getting konis and strano bars, but i'm still uncertain about springs. i want a more aggressive stance then strano's springs. i like the H&R springs but supposedly they are ridiculously stiff. i'm hoping Rich gets his H&Rs put in soon so i can take a ride in his car and decide. if not, im just gona go with strano springs and do the rear hose mod.

NJSPEEDER · 02-26-2007, 02:31 PM

if you have access to different sets of bars to try before you spend a ton of cash on strano bars, i would suggest doing so. i experimented with several different sway bars and combinations front to rear of a bunch of brands before i was satisfied with how teh car turned in.
sway bars are prolly the most important thing to tayor to your driving style. mismatch the bars to the driver and a very grippy car can turn very tough to drive.

qwikz28 · 02-26-2007, 07:25 PM

i wish i had access to such cars tim.... i'm gonna go with what seems to be the popular opinion and what make an educated guess. i know strano likes his car to have a little play in the rear. i might experiment with a stiffer rear sway bar later in the future if i dont like his setup. but for now, this will have to do

NJSPEEDER · 02-26-2007, 09:07 PM

sam likes the car a little on the tight side, it helps that he is has some of the best throttle control of anyone i have ever met. he can make the car rotate at will with the gas peddle, no need to have the suspension do it.
i always liked a car that wanted to turn in hard, have the rear rotate easily under throttle transition or trail braking.
likei said, it is all about how you like to drive the car.

man this thread is making me wanna go racing again. lol

p.s. remember 4th gen owners, 3rd gen sway bars bolt right up to your car. so that opens up some other flavors of rear bar to experiment with

qwikz28 · 02-26-2007, 10:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by NJSPEEDER

sam likes the car a little on the tight side, it helps that he is has some of the best throttle control of anyone i have ever met. he can make the car rotate at will with the gas peddle, no need to have the suspension do it.
i always liked a car that wanted to turn in hard, have the rear rotate easily under throttle transition or trail braking.
likei said, it is all about how you like to drive the car.

man this thread is making me wanna go racing again. lol

p.s. remember 4th gen owners, 3rd gen sway bars bolt right up to your car. so that opens up some other flavors of rear bar to experiment with

tim- from my understanding, its actually quite the opposite. he runs a very stiff front spring/sway bar setup and a very loose rear spring/bar setup. granted this and the fact that his car weighs over 3400# should make for a very forgiving rear end. i don't like that. i like a very stiff car that is tail-happy and can swing the rear end out at will. thats why i expect to be swapping out that rear sway bar of his eventually.

198esp1 · 03-01-2007, 10:53 PM

I have the strano set up 500lbs front 150lbs rear 35 hollow front 1le rear bar
If you go with a bigger rear bar the car will be very loose and you wont be able to get on the gas as soon. Stiff rear springs and the car wont put the power down. thats why drag guys run 95lbs springs. I would recomend putting a proven setup under the car, and just worry about the driving, at first you have your hands full. no need to be second quessing your set up. and untill you can drive the same every run you wont be able to really evaluate any changes a part makes. bottom line is sams setup is very fast. and he has done more r@d than anybody on 4thgens

qwikz28 · 03-02-2007, 08:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 198esp1

I have the strano set up 500lbs front 150lbs rear 35 hollow front 1le rear bar
If you go with a bigger rear bar the car will be very loose and you wont be able to get on the gas as soon. Stiff rear springs and the car wont put the power down. thats why drag guys run 95lbs springs. I would recomend putting a proven setup under the car, and just worry about the driving, at first you have your hands full. no need to be second quessing your set up. and untill you can drive the same every run you wont be able to really evaluate any changes a part makes. bottom line is sams setup is very fast. and he has done more r@d than anybody on 4thgens

thats what i was thinking as well... worst comes to worst i can always change it. i'm not too worried about my auto-x times as my car is mostly street. its just that if i don't specify auto-x i get people recommending QA1 setups. auto-x will mostly be for fun. thanks though

NJSPEEDER · 03-03-2007, 12:47 PM

coil overs are not a bad plan for a multi use car. with the wider variety of springs rates readily available for coil overs at much lower prices, you can fine tune the ride+handling+ launch charactoristics you want in the car.

qwikz28 · 03-03-2007, 04:12 PM

yeah but what if you're lazy like me?