Hotchkis Leafs or 4 Link

[bret]

Bret,

Not to hijack the thread, but I am interested in the Streetgrip for my 73 Trans Am because of the lighter weight. I plan on mostly street driving, the occasional autocross and the occasional roadcourse (including OUSCI). I know the 4-link would be better, but will the StreetGrip work? I have people suggesting the Hotchkiss set-up, but I hate the ride height and heavy springs.

Also, why doesn't ridetech have a rear sway bar for 2nd gens? Are they not recommended?

Mike

The StreetGrip system would work very nicely for your application. A coilover/tubular control arm/4 link system would have more tunability for ride height and spring rates, but many times that aspect is lost on the casual driver. Here are the items in the StreetGrip package that I think would be most valuable in a competitive driving event:

1. dual rate coilsprings - the intial spring rate during the first 1" of suspension travel is quite tame to offer a great ride quality. When you hit a large bump or corner the car hard enough to compress the spring beyond that first inch, you transition into a much former spring rate that will resist body roll...and offer better handling.
2. tall upper ball joint - GM musclecars suffer from poor front suspension geometry...the loaded tire goes into positive camber on compression [tire leans away from the turn]. By installing a taller upper ball joint we change the camber geometry so the loaded tire leans INTO to turn...greatly improving the cornering power and overall feel of the car.
3. composite leafsprings - in addition to being 60-80 lbs lighter than traditional leafs, they offer a more appropriate spring rate for better road manners and handling.
4. delrin bushings - as far as I know, we are the only people to offer a delrin bushing system for the oem control arms. Delrin allows free rotational movement of the control arms and eliminates any unpredictable movement of the control arms during cornering. We also use Delrin in the leafspring busings for the same reasons.
5. larger swaybar with Delrin bushings - many companies offer larger swaybars to control body roll, but our use of Delrin bushings eliminates the sticktion that compromises ride quality and predictable handling.
6. adjustable shocks - our HQ Series rebound adjustable shocks can be tuned to optimum ride quality AND then turned up for optimum handling.

As far as ride height, we have images and fender height dimension published here : http://www.ridetech.com/info/streetgrip-dimensions/

We don't offer a rear swaybar for the leafspring applications because we have determined that it is not needed. The car is better balanced without a rear swaybar.

[eurotoys]

Thanks Bret. I noticed that the streetgrip front sway bar is different than the Muscle bar, is that because of the end links, or is the bar also different? Right now I am leaning towards most of the streetgrip kit (no front bushings) and getting different spindles & front control arms.

Mike

[bret]

The streetgrip bar is a bit softer than the Musclebar in anticipation of more street oriented tires and driving.

[yellow1098Greg]

I am also trying to make the decision between a good leaf setup like your streetgrip or the 4link. What I'm not sure of is what the adjustability of the 4link will provide for me in my mostly street driven car, with some track time at the strip and auto cross. The lower ride height is important to me but I don't need it to be crazy low either. However I do plan on having about 600-650 hp with lots of torque, and I was thinking the 4link would handle this kinda of power much better than the leaf setup. I was hoping you could educate me on that aspect and also how much of a difference in price are the 2 full kits? Thanks as always!

[Skip Fix]

I have a Nova set up for drag racing that I built to be a sleeper so aside from drag shocks on their stiffest setting out back there's no other rear traction devices. I use 90/10s and Moroso drag springs up front to transfer weight on launch. The car spends a lot of time wrapping up springs and dropping the body over the axle causing the slicks to rub for all of 1st gear until it settles down. It works but isn't as efficient as it could be. It would seem in our cone dodging genre results would be similar?

I've had the multi leafs out of my Nova and they're not real light either. I'm not sure how much a leaf system including shackles and all weighs, but the weight of a complete Speedtech Torque arm system including the brackets you weld to the axle is a little over 100lbs. That includes a crossmember that the panhard bar and shocks bolt too, which when installed strengthens the rear frame rails. Consider that the main weight of the torque arm system is all low in the car and a good portion of it towards the middle. Relocating the weight and strengthening the chassis can all be an advantage when slinging the car around corners.

Our center arm is engineered with the strength built inside the arm so it's compact and fairly friendly to exhaust systems. We typically do 3" tailpipes out the back on the cars we build in the shop. On my Pro Touring G body, a factory 4 link car like a Chevelle, the exhaust builder had a time of it working the 3" system through the limited space of the lowered 4 link system.

Ron Sutton told us once in a meeting with him that between leafs, a 4 link, and a Torque arm, the Torque arm will allow the most amount of suspension travel before binding up and can be considered the best system available next to a race engineered 3 link, and it doesn't have the packaging and fitment issues a 3-link incurs.

Some thoughts to consider when deciding on a rear suspension.

Saw this thread and thought a few comments -Ben not sure the HP or 60 fts your drag Nova is putting out but you can get a leaf spring not to wrap up. Of course old school slapper bars,Cal tracs are the hot setup now or Mopar Super Stock style springs with the second leaf all the way to the spring eye and clamps on the front half. Some aftermarket springs come with the second leaf like that I think Global West's are more biased. For a drag car before CalTracs the Tri-City "Launcher" springs were the hot ticket for Ford and GMs that copied the Mopar engineering for them on the front pack bias. They helped me 60 ft 1.5s on just a 9" slick in my TA.