92CamaroLS1

Well I installed my coilovers last weekend along with some Lakewood 70/30's and I thought that the installation went very well. Not only was it easy to install, but it actually came with directions and every single piece of hardware. The only things that had to modify were the struts a small amount (took 10 min) and one of the 1/4" spacer plates needed to be modified a little bit. Install was 100x easier than a conventional spring, and has the height adjustability on top of it. On the how well it performs catagory I cant comment too much yet because I was only able to drive around the block a few times...but from what I can tell they handle the turns fine. I need an alignment first so i will be able to comment on that once I get everything finished. Honestly, so far, I think it was definatly worth the money. If anybody has any questions, feel free to ask. I was too excited to get them installed to take any pictures so I dont have any right now.

Chris

ThirdGenLS1

I'm happy with mine, and you're right install is so much easier.

Neil

You guys are the ones I need to talk to! I am considering Spohn's coil overs in the front and rear OR going with the Shockwave's from Air Ride Tech. How is the ride with the coil overs? Is it harsh, jaw-breaking etc.? Do you have single or dual adj shocks in the rear and can you adjust them to get a somewhat smooth, comfortable ride and a stifffer ride for handling?

I think I would rather go with coil overs for $$$$ and ease of install'n and less crap to mess with i.e., compresor, tank, air lines, etc....

Thanks guys!
Neil

blyth18md

Id like to pictures of the coil-overs at max settings, both highest and lowest.

crazyjim

Now... you can adjust height and stiffness independently correct?

xplane

your gonna need to do something to stringthen the Strut towers ro there gonna deform if ya run your car hard. your putting all the weight of your car on that piece of sheetmetal where as using the stock placement all it held was the rebound forces. there was a member who had pics of how his fenders buckled and warped cause the strut towers bent.

jtmiller92

iTrader: (42)

Hey, Just wondering what spring rate you used with the LS1 engine. I bought the #325 but am starting to think maybe i should have gone with #300 due to the weight reduction of the LS1 plus deleting all the AC parts.

Kat

iTrader: (4)

Yup, just change the springs out for another set and the "stiffness" is changed. . Couple that with a set of adjustable struts and there you go.

I "should" be picking up my coil over kit and a-arms this weekend, so for the gent that was asking about how high and low you can go I'll snap a few pics.

FWIW I got the 325# springs.

crazyjim

awesome, you mind me asking what you ended up paying for your struts? And who you went through/ brand?

Joez88Camaro

I'm with xplane on this one. The strut towers are simply not designed to handle the load of the entire front end on them. I not gonna badmouth spohn or his product here, I'd never install a kit like that without some kind of reinforcement to the frame.

ThirdGenLS1

well spohn did a little more reinforement then the other companys by running a plate to spread the load out more. I have been running them on some pretty bad roads with now problem yet. But i'm not going to say that its just as strong as stock either.

92CamaroLS1

The ride so far is pretty nice actually! Its much better than with Eibach springs and KYB shock up front. To adjust stiffness of ride you have to swap springs, but thats a sinch, and I dont think the springs are very expensive.

I would but i dont have time with college and everything...but there is plenty of height adjustability.

Yes, height is adjusted with the spanner wrench, stiffness with swapping springs which is 1000x easier than changing stock springs.

The car is street/strip and I take it real easy on the street. If I was doing a lot of road racing or driving the car hard I probably not do coilovers. But I should be ok, right?

I went with #300...I was thinking about going even lower, but I figure I want it to be nice on the street. So far I am happy with the #300.

KagA152

iTrader: (5)

ive got them on my car, but ive yet to drive it, motors not even in it. anyways, the car is built for road racing, and ive been 2nd thinking, either going back to stock setup, or heres the idea. an 8 point was definite, still debating 10, but i figure if i go 10, ill go 12, have the bars come through the firewall as close to the fender as possible, and have the follow the contour of the wheel well and running into the frame right behind the radiator. then taking some tubing, have one piece in the front, and one in the back, and then have a large piece of 1/4 steel run between the roll bar and the supports. possibly cutting out the stock strut tower area so theres more adjustability, because right now i dont have much because the spring runs into the sheet metal. i havent had a chance to have it on a rack obviously, so i dont know just how much ive lost

xplane

It may have a plate but that wont stop the shock mount trying to bend to where it hangs strait over the frame rail rather than at an angle. if your gonna run those at the very least install a STB to keep them from bending in. just look at the geometry of the car.

https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/susp...onversion.html

Look at the red firebirds fenders right above the wheels.

ThirdGenLS1

Yea i have read that, right now i'm runing spohns upper strut mounts, and a BMR 3 point STB, so that should help, plus i've pulled close to 200 lbs. off the front end.

xplane

I dont think they will make a difference enough to be worth the crap you have to go through to make them work properly.

ThirdGenLS1

I agree, for the average user a normal set-up would be the best, but i had to go coil overs. The hawks k-member i used for my ls1 swap was set up to run my eibachs and bilsteins but found out when i installed them they made the spring pockets to small for the eibach springs.

So only option then was to run coil overs, thats the same reason why "92camaroLS1" is running the coil over set up as well.

Kat

iTrader: (4)

I have Koni Red's and ummm I worked a deal with a friend, strip his car and I got to keep the shock/struts .

jtmiller92

iTrader: (42)

I understand the issues that some have had with coil overs but you cant compare one company to another, nor can you take one members problems and say that it will happen to everyone that uses coil overs. The spohn unit is alittle better built and does not pinpoint the pressure to just the upper strut mount area. There is a large plate that is placed underneath the strut tower then you use a much stronger upper strut mount which sandwiches the upper strut tower in bewteen them. It spreads the stress area out for alittle less direct force to just the upper strut tower. Everyone knows the cars were not designed to use coilovers so to just repeat that time and time again by people who dont use coil overs is crap. I am not pro Spohn but i do like his products, just wish his business practices were a little better as i am still waiting on a K-member from hawks in which he is the main hold up.

crazyjim

What if you tried something like this to prevent the distortion of the fenders. Obviously not EXACTLY this, it's not a very good design IMO. But if you ran off a knee bar in the cage, down to frame in front of the fender well. And also brought a support down behind it, then mounted the coil overs the same way his shocks are mounted... plus the added support of an obviously custom made strut tower brace.

KagA152

iTrader: (5)

thats basically what my idea is but im still not sure what im going to do, unless somebody wants to buy a spohn kit with 325#, got a profab k member and a arms too. i could just throw my stock stuff back on that would be money towards the trans, and its almost done

crazyjim

Hrmmmm, if the price is right I may be interested

xplane

jtmiller92: Thats not where the problem is. it is that the WHOLE STRUT TOWER FROM THE FRAME RAILS UP WILL SHIFT. that is what you have to prevent.
crazyjim: You could co that route but i know that when i convert over i dont want to go that far.

92CamaroLS1

Well ideally, Id like to have something to prevent any damage, but really I wouldnt even know where to start. Maybe I will just put a 3pt strut tower brace. My front end is pretty light as well though.

greezemonkey

iTrader: (14)

well my front end is heavy with a iron BBC just under 2000 pounds on the front tires for close to 2 years now with coil overs and I have no problems, using the spohn mounts and pa coil overs on 90/10 lakewoods...street and strip and the roads around here are about as bad as they get!

92CamaroLS1

Good to know!

xplane

It could and probably does depend a lot on how new a car and how badly it was abused before you got it that will make a difference to. but as easy as it would be to add some sort of extra braceing to the car why not? your not loosing much if any weight by moveing the spring but mabe a better suspention geometry for cornering so you should already have extra braceing in place.

92CamaroLS1

What kind of bracing are you talking about that would be easy to do? STB? My car was pretty well taken care of, so that might help out too.

xplane

thats mostly what i was refering to. but i dont think it would be that hard to make a plate that covers the bottom portion of the strut tower under the Strut mount and bend 2 pieces of tubing to run down the side of the fender well to the K member. then either weld on a bracket to the kmember and bolt the brace to it or just weld it on. i have looked at my car and have it planned out for when i get the money to switch over. esentially i will be extending the Kmember up the strut tower.

92CamaroLS1

Hmm, thats out of my league for me to do...no welder or tubing bender or knowledge of how to use those tools. Might just have to do the STB and see how it works out. **Should I install a STB before or after an alignment, or does it not matter?

xplane

probably afterwards. another thing to think about is that your need a solid strutmout rather than a rubber one cause those will fail under the weight of the car. heck i had one tear on me just doin some hard cornering with out even a STB.

Edit ignore that i didnt realize that then Spon kit included them.

hell the more i look at the spohn kit the easier it looks like it would be to add a brace just weld the tubing to spohns bottom brace and then to the K-member.

92CamaroLS1

So basically a brace from the plate along the inner fender area then to the K-member? I think im going to get an alignment, get a STB, then when I go to get my subframes welded, Ill ask my fabricating guy what he thinks about it.

xplane

Cool let me know how it turns out.