F-Body Europe

With most of you guys here drivin' V8's, I guess there's not too much experience in that area, but ...
I was thinking about getting some improvements on the handling of my litte Camaro. When I occasionally get into higher speeds (like 100 and up), I do have to watch out quite a bit to stay on the road ... especially with the car being a Convertible, the stiffness does lack quite a bit ...
I've read the Conv. should have subframe connectors from factory (didn't check yet), which would be at least one main improvement were they not there ...
What else should be done (without going overboard ...), like pan-hard, sway bar or the likes? Guess I'm a bit spoiled from the 3-series Beamer ... 217km/h max, and still feels like you're sitting on your couch watching TV ... (though the Bird's leather seats on my Camaro are a bit better than the Beamer's)

Garry....... Check on the sub frame connector issue. I have seen the aftermarket companies sell SFC's for convertible cars, so it makes me wonder about the quality of the stock ones. Shocks and struts will definately be on the list for a good suspension setup. You could just get replacement shocks and struts with different valving or go all out and get the adjustable coil overs which will lower your stance as well as improve the ride. Strut Tower Brace will firm up the front end so that it will stay tight in a turn. These are used on all types of cars, so it must be a good thing. I know I noticed the difference in mine(plus I was told it helped minimize damage in my wreck)

The panhard would be a if I had the money mod. Unless you need to center your axle to make room for wider tires an adjustable one is not needed.

Once again this is just what I would do. Hope it helps...

Looking into SFCs, I've been pointed towards Kenny Brown SFC (http://www.thunderracing.com/v6suspension.htm#SFC) - would the $269 be worth it?

I have the same ones that Jack has. They are less than $100 They are solid and I see no faults. The ones you are looking at are rumored to be a bit noisy as the center piece hits on metal. I believe the tansmission Cross member.

Will they fit a Convertible? Every SFC I've seen on the Net had two different types - hardtop/t-top and Convertible ...
What's their name?

Go to http://www.Hotpart.com. G and I both bought ours on Ebay, though, so on their website, they're like $180, so you might want to go with the ones from BMR!! http://www.bmrfabrication.com

Garry
Your best bang for the buck in that you will notice the most is
1. A performance wheel alignment, specs should be
a. Camber -30 to -60 minutes of camber (go for as much camber as possible)
b. caster + 240 minutes
c. toein keep it stock

2. Will be the tires, once your old ones wear out buy the best tire you can afford.

3. Once your shocks reach the end of your usefulness , replace them with either SLP SS decarbon takeoffs ( is a good shock)or buy the Bilsteins over here( there a lot cheaper here than in the states.
Also you can pick up the SLP SS take offs springs to firm up your ride . Thes take off items are a tremendous value plus they hve less than 10 mils racked up on them. If you need An APO Just holler And you can use mine . Ask Sergio

4. Bushings : Go with Polyeurathane for the swaybars and 1le bushings for the rest of the suspension , they will not bind like Polyeurathane when cornering hard .

5. If you are gonna do sway bars try the front 32 mm Solid from ADDCO and do the sway bar bushings too.
then do the rear no greater than 21 mm or you might have a twitchy over steering Fbody.

Then if you want to do Subframe connectors and tower braces and LCA s Go ahead . But 1 and 2 will make the car more responsive than tower braces , subframe connectors and LCA's
.
Trust me a little on this and Log in on the SCCA board and get wealth of info over.
This info here was given to my by a couple of former SCCA champs.
Does any body care to challenge me ?

Guess I'll have to find out what those are called in german ...


At the amount of driving I'm doing, that won't be for another 3 years or so ... the ones on there now are at most 2 years and ~10000mi old ... maybe even only a year and ~5000 miles ...


APO will probably make it easier and cheaper to get them ... unless the very improbable trip to the States should happen ...


The stock SS/Z28 should be somewhere in that league, or?


I guess they got a couple of autocross guys there, and they ought to know how to get the handling of a car to a decent level ...

Tnx ...

Garry
Caster is Nachlauf
Camber is Sturz
Toe is spur

Not to challenge you, Roy, but a huge difference will be noticed with a strut tower brace and subframe connectors, a HUGE difference!!

and dont foget a whole back window full of every suspension maker stickers

Jack
I won't disagree they will make a difference . But you will get more for the buck from what i posted.

If anyone knows, it's surely you, Roy!! You're the profi fahrer among us!!!

Nah Not really
Its just Ive been doing this since 83 and I still ask a lot of questions. Now if I could learn some good driving skills
.

DID YOU READ THAT EVERYONE, OH MY GOODNESS!!!! LOL!!

I have the KB SFC welded in I like them, I have not had a problem with noise. I did what Roy said with the camber/caster and it worked no more door handles on the road and alot more neutral and flat in the corners I took it to a tire wheel tuning place.

OK, I'm waiting for the quote on the delivery costs from BMR to APO right now ... if that's halfway acceptable, I guess I'm going with a handling-package from BMR ... STB, pan hard and SFC ... @ $270, it's an affordable thing, and should do quite some good ... and I can still get the 1LE sway bars later if it's still not enough (from what I've been told, these three parts should make a world's difference each ...)
Already checked with my friend, he's pretty good at welding, so the SFC shouldn't be too big a problem ...

Garry, it will make a HUUUUGE difference, especially with a 'vert!!

hm ... still waiting for the quote ... After all - want the mods done till the September meeting still got to see how I get the stuff ordered, too ... oh well ...

Btw, what do you think, what color STB and pan hard should I get? BMR has red, black, yellow, navy blue, silver, hugger orange and white - I thought either yellow or black should look best... ?