After I installed the softer rear coil springs it lowered the rear of the truck down about 2".. This changed the way the 4 link reacted, specifically under hard throttle.. So before today's SCCA autocross event I bumped the front of the lower bar up another notch on the 4 link and it's back to planting the rear end! I'm really impressed with how this all works, I know theres even more gains to be had once I learn all of the adjustments.
Anyhow, today started off cold, overnight we had about an inch of snow here in Western TN. I started the truck up and headed south to Grenada MS for the first points event of the calendar. The day turned out to be a sunny and warmer day when it was all said and done, a great day for autocrossing !
I accumulated a total of 6 runs, but forgot to reset the camera on 2 of these runs. The first two runs I DNF'd, it was a very large course and I'll admit that even though I walked it twice I still got lost. I managed to get it together on the 3rd thru 6th runs.. At the end of the day, I finished within 9 seconds of the fastest car, a well prepped Honda S2000 running on R-comps.. Not too shabby for a 4WD Silveardo on street tires..
At the beginning of this project I admitted to myself that I had a snowball's chance in hell of finishing 'on the podium' at one of these events in the class that I would be put in. Significant suspension mods immediately put you in a cut throat class with SCCA classing. Anyhow, today I was lumped in with the other CAM cars (I run CAM-C, they were in CAM-T and CAM-S). So I ran against 2 Factory Five Cobra replicas on race rubber (one a small block, the other a 610hp 427 car), a very well prepped 72 Buick GS that was running on 315 rubber all the way around, and a Pontiac Fiero with a supercharged 3800 swap making 300hp, and I still finished reasonably close to them with this setup. I'm literally running against cars that have twice the horsepower, half the weight and race rubber !
I'm convinced that the truck has more in it, it really needs a driver improvement, a bigger swaybar and better brakes.. All to come at a later date.
Here's is one video that was the best of my runs today, there's three other ones on the channel if you want to hear me wringing the 4.8L's neck out !
The stiffer front springs are exactly what it needed, the softer rears helped also, just need to get the stiffer swaybar to help it more now.. Still undecided on that. The first mod for the brakes will be the Brembo 1G CTS-V 4 piston calipers and the big 14" rotors.. I'll get to the hydroboost and SUV rears eventually but still need to allocate these parts from the scrapyard. All I need for the Brembo/CTS-V swap is the fluid lines, once I get those they will be going on and I already own the expensive bits.