Control Arms For A 68 Firebird
 

Hello to all. I have been reading a lot of threads and looking at people's rides. Awesome site here!
Now, on to my question.

I have a 68 Firebird that I am in the process of restoring/modifying. The car will be a street/strip car with 75-80% being street driving. I like drag racing the car but that gets expensive quick. Maybe not as expensive as a pro-touring car though! :D Eventually it will be a pro-touring car but I want to see how fast I can go.

Anyway, I will be picking up a rebuilt factory subframe and was wondering what would be the best mod per dollar to do on the front suspension? Upper control arms, upper and lower control arms, coil overs? Which brand would work better for me than another? There are so many options now for the early F-Bodies.

I already have disc brakes, a new sway bar, close ratio steering box and there will be all new bushings on it. The car will not be a canyon carver, mostly because there aren't many canyons around Baltimore, but I would like it to handle BETTER on the street. (Meaning not on rails but better than a tug boat ;) ) I would also like it to transfer weight to the rear at the track.

I know this might not be the best forum for advice on a street/1/4 mile car but I haven't gotten anything but 1/4 mile setup suggestions at other sites. I'm trying to find the best compromise for my car. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated as I'm close to getting it back on the road.

Thanks,
Steve

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a1.../Firebird1.jpg

Well, you cannot beat the Speed Tech arms, High dollar quality equal to any others at low prices. We can do uppers $430 shipped, and uppers and lowers for $950 shipped. Although the lowers of any brand are purely for bling factor

Camaros.net is your best bet for first gen F body drag racing setups. Drag Fabricator, among others, knows what he's talking about.

It`s not about brands,it`s about function and what you want from the car. If you just want to have "cool tooby arms" just about anyones will work fine,select the color you like best and go for it. Don`t expect them to do much for the performance of the car though because arms don`t physically have the ability to to much besides alter static alignment a little despite advertising hype to the contrary. Consult any 1st year geometry text book for proof. ;)
Now if you want the car to walk the walk you should consider making some actual serious improvements to the front end geometry. These cars have very poor factory geometry and that`s a lousy basis for a car that`s supposed to corner. Do things right and it`ll work really well on the strip too. In order to make a serious difference you need to move pivot or pickup points in the suspension and in this case you need to move them mostly vertically. The good old G Mod is a good example how SCCA TransAm teams did this back in the day. Penske also had Chevy make a few sets of taller spindles for them. These ultimately evolved into the tall aluminum AFX spindles made by ATS. We can also make significant vertical changes with our modular tall ball joints as used in out Street Comp packages. Either of these will correct the camber curves (which increased grip),greatly reduce lateral roll center migration (which makes the car much more predictable),raise the roll center (which reduced body roll) and correct the factory bumpsteer (which makes the car dart or wander). This gives you a solid foundation to build on. Spring and shock selection is also very important,depending on how you intend to use the car and your budget they could vary from stock Z28 springs through Hotchkis or DSE or GW springs to fully adjustable coilovers and rear 4 link. Shocks range from Edelbrocks to Bilstein to adj. aluminum shocks like Alston Varishocks. We`ve been working with Alston on a new direct fit front coilover for 1st Gens that should be available soon. If you select your parts carefully you can even do it as a modular approach and kick it up another notch whenever it suits you. Some parts lend themselves to that and others don`t. Careful planning will save you time Ebaying almost new parts. :thumbsup: Tubular lowers are traditionally just for looks or easier coilover mounting with no geometry or performance gains at all,they`re usually heavier than stock too. If you like them because they look cool,there`s nothing wrong with that but try to select something with other than poly bushings and proper mounting points for the swaybar,bumpstops etc. There is a new tubular LCA on the way that does have geometry benefits,adj. ride height,same weight as stock but much stronger/more rigid,greasable delrin bushings std. etc. etc. but I`m not at liberty to say much more about it just yet. Suffice to say we`ll be the first to have them. :cool: Mark SC&C