Budget front suspension upgrades for 91 Sonoma?

[stonebreaker]

I've got the rear end figured out, but I need help figuring out the best setup for the front. I'm thinking about doing the b-body spindle swap along with Robert Adams' upper control arms and camaro 1LE brakes. Will use b-body drop spindles instead of the stock ones.

What do you guys think? Any different suggestions?

The truck will be used for both drag racing and autocrossing. Engine will be an LT1 with aluminum heads ported by Lloyd Elliot, which should make the front end slightly lighter than the stock 4.3.

[HectorM52]

From what I hear the B-Body spindles cause some "undesired" bump-steer. And I can live with some crappy ride qualities - but these are the ones that I hear you can't live with!!

Again, I haven't personally experienced it so this is all hearsay. But the people that have done that swap are few and far between - and that seems to be the reason why.


I did see where someone cut up a center-link and apparently it helped with bump steer - not sure what the application was but I would imagine it would work similarly if you WERE to do this swap. Just something to think about, I guess.


Budget upgrades? Ummm, there's several guys out there making C5 swap spindles & brackets. You just need to source the calipers & rotors. And add on a set of tall lower ball joints and you've got a budget front end.

Get some nice Hotchkis springs. G-bodyparts.com UCA's. Ummm...

I think you're still on a budget...

GOOD LUCK!


And here's some motivation...

[stonebreaker]

What are tall ball joints? Haven't heard of that one. Please understand, I'm coming from a drag racing background, so I understand the drivetrain inside and out, but I'm just learning about suspensions. I've read Herb Adams' Chassis Engineering book so I have a good grasp of the basic theory, but not the practical side of the s10/g-body setup.

The engine I'm dropping into the sonoma drove a 4100 lb impala ss to an 11.45 @ 118 mph on pump gas. I'm guessing the truck is going to have a race weight of about 3200 lbs, so it ought to be pretty quick. However, I want to branch out into autocrossing, so I want to make sure I can turn and stop as well as the engine is going to make the car go.

I'm going to set up a 3-link rear suspension with a panahard bar. I'm tracking down a set of scales so I can get a front/rear weight bias with the LT1 in the truck, as well as figure out the center of gravity using the techniques on this website so I can set up the trailing arm angles to get a decent amount of anti-squat without overdoing it.

Anyway, thanks for the help, I need all I can get!

[andrewmp6]

Yes the b body spindles on a g body will bump steer bad since the g body is close to a s10/s15 forget the b body spindles.Baer tracker tie rod ends will fix the bump steer if they make them for the s10/s15 im not sure.

[796spdbu]

You may want to start a thread in the suspension forum.I have been into the pro-touring for awhile now.I know that the b-body spindle swap is a no-no go over and read some past threads about the swap and since you have the herb adams book you will be able to follow. There are better swaps out there.Check with marcus from sc&c.just start a thread saying ."Paging sc&c" they have a ton of suspension upgrades for the g-body cars.These cars share every thing with the s-10 trucks.The tall ball joints are availble for the upper and lower c/a's.They are like swapping in a taller spindle,They are taller than the stock ball joints in hieght.So if you want to get a budget swap look to marcus. Hope this helps you out!

[Aeroking]

for steering, i use a newer style ZQ8 quick ratio box, and a solid steering shaft out of a Jeep.

[stonebreaker]

What's the difference in steering ratios? I was thinking about using the steering box from my impala, but I'm not sure it will fit.