Low dollar verses high dollar susp upgrade

[64skylarkls1]

Originally Posted by gearheads78

Welcome to the site. I wonder where you heard about this place

Yup!!! It's me!!! Here's to ya!

[rogue]

You can spend all the money you want on your car. In the end, its the driver that makes the car go fast. My own car is setup with modified stock subframe, hotchkiss leafs, iron big block, carb, no power steering. Old school technology compared to some of the cars in the community. It puts down lap times comparable with some of the top dollar cars on this site.

Fancy parts are nice and I'm glad we have access to all the great aftermarket support. In the end, it doesnt matter how many go-fast parts or how much money you throw into a car. Its how its driven. I've been lapped by a miata with 130whp. Anyways. Build your car how you want it. Theres nothing wrong with keeping a car semi-traditional when it comes down to the suspension and build. Can they keep up with a high dollar build? Yes.

The best go-fast part you can buy is track time/seat time. And driving instruction at events.

[Vegas69]

Bring it into the 21st century with some basic suspension parts, alignment, and most importantly a sticky set of tires and you'll be amazed.

[64skylarkls1]

Originally Posted by Vegas69

Bring it into the 21st century with some basic suspension parts, alignment, and most importantly a sticky set of tires and you'll be amazed.

Meaning.. It already has "basic suspension parts" on it What would make a BIG improvement for the money over a freshened lowered stock set up like I mentioned

[Vegas69]

Improved camber gain, more positive caster, more negative static camber, lower ride height, more sway bar, larger tire contact patch, lower tread wear tire.... I'm no Buick guy so you'll have to source the parts...

[rogue]

Originally Posted by Vegas69

I'm no Buick guy so you'll have to source the parts...

I'm not even sure whats out there for Buicks. I'd assume some height adjustable coilovers, some lowering leafs, and some sway bars/tires is all he would need to feel much improvement and on a decent budget as well.

[rogue]

I also just noticed you're interested in building a 60s styled custom. I think you might not find much info here in regards to that. You might want to check out the traditional rod and custom forums like the HAMB.

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=5

They cater to and specialize in traditional cars, just be sure not to mention the LSX powerplant as they can be sticklers over there about tradition

[Vegas69]

Originally Posted by rogue

I'm not even sure whats out there for Buicks. I'd assume some height adjustable coilovers, some lowering leafs, and some sway bars/tires is all he would need to feel much improvement and on a decent budget as well.

That would be a great start.....only thing I would add is a modern alignment.

[rogue]

Originally Posted by 64skylarkls1

Meaning.. It already has "basic suspension parts" on it What would make a BIG improvement for the money over a freshened lowered stock set up like I mentioned

Some adjustable QA1 Coilovers, find out who makes some aftermarket leafs, add some sway bars, some 17" wheels and some quality tires will make a HUGE difference.

No need for aftermarket subframes, control arms, 4 links or 3 links.

Avoid cutting coils. Find out who makes some adjustable coilovers.

[Norm Peterson]

Originally Posted by 64skylarkls1

Meaning.. It already has "basic suspension parts" on it What would make a BIG improvement for the money over a freshened lowered stock set up like I mentioned

Let's just say that the devil is in the details. The "basic suspension parts" that are on the car now were chosen and geometrically arranged to suit the mass market demands of the early 1960's, with all of the cornering performance limitations that are implied by that statement. What I'm getting at is that it isn't as much about the presence of some basic suspension part as it is about how well it is tuned for what you're going after. Just having a front sta-bar (as opposed to not having one at all) doesn't really mean much, and having a "SLA" (aka A-arm) suspension does not mean that it has to be in the best-handling geometric arrangement possible. Or even in a good one.

I'm a little curious as to what sort of engineering you work with, as suspension (re)design is only an example of an engineering field that's partly mechanical and partly structural.

I recommend that you start with some reading - Fred Puhn's "How To Make Your Car Handle" is a decent place to start, as it provides more than a simplified overview without dragging in an overload of math. Read it for the formulas and the discussion rather than for details of specific manufacturer's cars and parts data.

Don't confuse the appearance of better cornering/handling performance with having the real thing. Some of the consequences from lowering may not be favorable, again depending on the specifics of your suspension. For example, running a ball joint out of angular travel in either bump or rebound (because the lowering has used almost all of it up) is clearly something to avoid. The relation of front vs rear roll center height will likely change, which will have some effect on the way the car "feels", not only in a steady-state corner such as a 270° Interstate on-ramp, but also during the transient period time that it takes to get to that steady cornering state from straight ahead. This might affect what you end up with in terms of springs and sta-bars.

Drop "spindles" might limit your wheel choice, as interference between the outer tierod ends and the wheel/tire happens sooner. This may or may not be an issue in any given case, but you should at least be aware of it. My '79 Malibu wears 15 x 8.5 front wheels that have less than 1/32" clearance to the outer tierods, just to throw out a real-world example. Yes, I knew it was going to be tight . . . did LOTS of measuring.


BTW, don't overlook the circle track supply houses for suspension bits. You can, for example, get springs in a wide range of rates, rather than spending to go the coil-over route.


Norm