pro-touring leanring curve

[406 Q-ship]

I recommend you get off the site now. Put the crack pipe down! Its only downhill from here! Don't listen to people telling you how much fun that downhill slide is...



Ok back to spending money on my car.

Ok whos turn is it to give Chad the little white pills?


Set a goal of what you really want the car to do and try to avoid "scope drift" (good luck with that!). If you want a fun daily driver, then a good set of wheels/Tires and a solid rebuilt suspension......the suspension is rebuilt, right? Always start by rebuilding the suspension to get the most results from the parts you will install, you would be suprised how many will put expensive parts on a wore out car and get agree when it doesn't work (or tears up worn out pieces). Then a mild spring drop all four corners, with a good set of shocks. The swaybars (1 1/4" front) on your F-body should be about the best that is available (don't believe the hipe from the manufactures). This will give you a very nice driver that can be run on a twisty road or a auto-X. If you want a more track or serious handling Trans Am (it will scrafice some ride quality...no free lunch), then go for a much higher rate of springs, aggressive alignment, adjustable shocks, subframe connectors (this would be a get addition to the driver too), and stickier tires that push the limits of the wheelwells. I would not necessarily go for tubular control arms for the 2nd gen F-body, the geometry is excellent in that chassis and there is little to be gained without going with something like the DSE subframe clip.

When I worked at Guldstands back in the late 1980's, we would put in 650-700 front spring (with a 1" drop from stock height), rear spring was a WS6 (175 lbs if I remember correctly) the had a 1" drop too, a set of Bilsteins, we REMOVED the stock rear swaybar, and installed the 1 1/4" Trans Am front swaybar (your car should have that already). Then a set of 16 X 8 wheels with Gatorbacks (it was the 1980's). Alignment specs were -1/4° camber, +3.5° Caster, and 1/8 - 3/16 toe in on a street driver. For a someone who would push the suspension hard the Camber would go up as high as -3/4°, you learn to read the tires to see what the car and driver want.

[LeighP]

How does your car run with the GT kit? . One thing I can agree to as suggested already to the OP is buy stuff once! Don't be cheap (if you dont have to)...trying to save a few bucks is how I got burned. The important thing is we have fun, but doing like you have (watching videos/reading post), the majority that have wicked cars run DSE/Hotchkis/Heidts/ etc..that says something...it works.

Car is getting ready to send for exhaust and paint...so it'll probalby be early next year before I know personally how it handles....had lots of feedback from other 2nd gen owners who really like the GT kit, though.

I'm running stock A arms with tall ball joints to increase the neg camber gain in compression....I haven't switched to tubular arms for two reasons (budget and local registration laws - don't want any hassles getting a roadworth inpsection done), but if you go tubular arms, I'd stick to a package of upper and lower arms designed to give you more initial caster without moving the wheel centreline forward as it would if you use just a lower arm to give you more caster.
I'd love to run the BMR torque arm rear kit, but I'll stick with the PTFB leafs for a while and drive it...see how it feels. The BMR rear is an upgrade that can be added relatively easily and the good leafs sold to recoupe some of the outlay...so its not a total loss situation with initiall running leaf springs from PTFB or Hotchkiss etc. Something like the DSE quaralink is flat out beautiful engineering, but the install and purchase cost etc is higher than the BMR would be by a long shot...again, use and budget should be your guideline, not necessarily the name brand or the stuff that the BIG dollar cars are running.

[Ripped]

Read read read, goto shows and events. Talk to owners, and get an idea, what is right for you.

You've got a lot of good advise here already.

Street car? Track? The more extreme you go, the more you risk breaking parts. The more you try and squeeze out of your engine, could make it a PITA on the street.

You need to check out the vintage race guys. Rules often limit moderinzation of the car chassis or suspension, but often there are some real good inexpensive mods, you can make, and adapt to your ride.

Good luck

[badazz81z28]

Car is getting ready to send for exhaust and paint...so it'll probalby be early next year before I know personally how it handles....had lots of feedback from other 2nd gen owners who really like the GT kit, though.

I'm running stock A arms with tall ball joints to increase the neg camber gain in compression....I haven't switched to tubular arms for two reasons (budget and local registration laws - don't want any hassles getting a roadworth inpsection done), but if you go tubular arms, I'd stick to a package of upper and lower arms designed to give you more initial caster without moving the wheel centreline forward as it would if you use just a lower arm to give you more caster.
I'd love to run the BMR torque arm rear kit, but I'll stick with the PTFB leafs for a while and drive it...see how it feels. The BMR rear is an upgrade that can be added relatively easily and the good leafs sold to recoupe some of the outlay...so its not a total loss situation with initiall running leaf springs from PTFB or Hotchkiss etc. Something like the DSE quaralink is flat out beautiful engineering, but the install and purchase cost etc is higher than the BMR would be by a long shot...again, [bold]use and budget should be your guideline, not necessarily the name brand or the stuff that the BIG dollar cars are running [/bold].

Oh yes! If money was only limitless we would all have $100K cars ;)

[79-TA]

It's been said before, but I'll reiterate. Before you jump the gun and start ordering parts, take your car out to an autocross to get an idea of what it (and you) can do.

The front subframe braces or "G bars" from Pro-Touring F body will likely do more to stiffen your car than subframe connectors. (though you should eventually get both)

[Hotchkis]

Hey all - Thanks for the great words about our products.


Yellow1098 - Mary Pozzi and Carl Casanova have proven that Hotchkis suspension components (including leaf springs) will allow you to be very competitive with a few wins under their belts. With mostly simple bolt-on products you can out-handle the competition.

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As a few have pointed out, it wouldn't hurt one bit to go get some driver instruction and experience out at an autocross event or on a track day. The education will do wonders!

[yellow1098Greg]

wow thanks everyone for all the great info and ideas...... and Hotchkis suspension components are definitley something i plan on doing asap