GTP_MuNkYs Suspension Upgrade Thread *Update Pg 13, New struts and sleeves*

[CSI_MuNkY]

When I'm done I can lend you the tool. Jason is going to be needing it soon again too, he is in the process of ordering coil overs himself.

 

Jamie

[CanadianRegal]

Do you think that there is anything besides stock I can replace them with?

[CSI_MuNkY]

KYBs seem to be popular, thats what I am using, they are a bit stiffer than stock. Aside from that you would be looking at also doing lowering springs and/or coil overs.

 

Jamie

[CanadianRegal]

Hmmm, now where would I find these struts?? Canadian Tire, Part Source?

[CSI_MuNkY]

Hmmm, now where would I find these struts?? Canadian Tire, Part Source?

 

You might be able to get them at NAPA, I'm not sure. If you have a speed shop you can go to they will likely carry them. I bought the ones off of Dicostudd. I know there are some websites that sell them, but don't really know which ones are best for shipping to Canada.

 

Jamie

[CanadianRegal]

I will have to check out NAPA

[AWeb80]

i'm a little late on this thread..but i'm pretty sure that the addco bar is the revised bar....infact...i'm positive.

[CSI_MuNkY]

YAY!!! MORE GOODIES!!!

 

Energy Suspension front sway bar bushings and Moog Inner tie rod ends!

 

ES part # 9.5167G and 9.5160G (The G stands for black) These were a bit of a pain in the arse... everything I read on here suggested that they came in packages of 2, yet the place I got them from talked to their supplier and they were quite insistant that they were sold individually. I decided to take the risk and only buy one of each, sure enough, I got 2 sets, not just 2 parts. Now just if it was the same story about the Torque strut bushings.

 

The MOOG tie rod ends. I'm glad I chose these ones. The girl that took my order said they had 2 compareable ones, the MOOG and TRW. She had one of the TRW ones in stock so regardless I was going to have to order at least one of them. I decided to go with the MOOG ones simply because I haven't heard much of this TRW company. Turns out, by the looks of the MOOG ones I got, the TRW parts could fit inside the MOOG housing!

 

All I'm waiting on now is my coil overs and rear arms, and the struts, then I'm all set!

 

i'm a little late on this thread..but i'm pretty sure that the addco bar is the revised bar....infact...i'm positive.

 

So are you saying that I likely will have issues with the fit of this bar?

 

Jamie

[AWeb80]

 

So are you saying that I likely will have issues with the fit of this bar?

 

Jamie

 

 

no, i should fit better.

[CSI_MuNkY]

Sweet! thats good to hear! I don't know if I'm going to have time for things like that. I'm now trying to find a new job and may have to start before I had hoped to. We'll see though.

 

Jamie

[CSI_MuNkY]

Well, more parts arrived the other day! I just didn't have time over the weekend to post about them.

I bought the set of KYBs off Discostudd.

So now all I'm waiting on is the coil over kits and arms from Held Motorsports. Hopefully they will be here in the next week or so.

 

Jamie

[CanadianRegal]

Thats awesome Jamie, glad to see everything is coming together

[CSI_MuNkY]

MORE PARTS!

Well, this is the last of the parts to show up, all I have to get now is the POR15.

Yesterday UPS came buy with the coil over kits and rear arms.

 

Rears on the right, fronts on the left

Spring rate will be 350# up front and 300# in the rear

 

Here is the rear upper spring mount

The red isolator is Polyurethane

 

I don't know why, but the rears were shipped with 2 threaded sleeves, A regular one, and a cut down section. I'm going to have to e-mail him about this, but I think the cut down one is meant to act as a spacer...

 

Here are the front upper mounts. Unfortunately Lee forgot to put the instructions in with my shipment, he is going to e-mail it to me instead. In the meantime he told me via e-mail how these are supposed to work, I think I get it... First the pics, then I will try and describe it...

 

Spring goes in this end; Notice the bearing plate in there

 

Existing upper mount interlocks with this end;

Lee says this end should be glued or screwed to the existing plate. Some use adhesive others have used Metal screws going into the stock mount. The reasoning is to keep this cup from falling out of place in the event of the spring coming unloaded.

 

Trailing arms and Lateral links;

This is where you folks that forked out the extra cash for BMR parts might kick yourselves in the arse!

 

BMR parts HT Motor sports parts

Lateral links = $209/pr (x2 = $418) $130/pr (x2 = $260)

Trailing arms = $129/pr $130/pr

Package cost = $499 $350

 

Now, why the comparison you ask? the only argument I have seen suggesting that the BMR parts are better, is the lack of a grease fitting on the Held Parts.... its optional, the arms come with the holes threaded already, all you have to do is buy separate grease fittings and put them in yourself... viola... fully greasable arms! Now, the picture on BOTH websites show the lateral links as being adjustable, but I think thats because they are showing a picture of the second Gen units, which need to be adjustable for alignment purposes I think.

 

Lateral links;

 

Trailing arms;

 

All the Poly bushings for the arms, along with the bushings for the rear C/O kits in the bag on the far right

 

Now before someone says "why didn't you get the GMPP trailing arms for less"...

A) I'm in Canada, getting them costs more here, pretty sure Jason paid $100+ for his

I got these in a package deal for $350 (works out to $116 for each set of arms)

C) I wasn't sure if the GMPP came with poly bushings, but I knew the Held ones did

D) Now that I've got the Held ones... Their greasable!

 

 

The only complaint I have about these parts... the springs are blue...

 

Stay tuned for more.... All the work starts in 1 week tomorrow!

 

Jamie

[pwmin]

sweet. im pretty sure the bmr lat links are the same part for 2nd gen vs. 1/1.5. we probably dont need the adjustable bmr ones, but it would be nice to have that. i need to figure out how to make a mount for front coilovers after i get the rears and exhaust done.

[Andrew]

damn!!!your GP is gonna ride on rails once you are done.

 

simply awesome.

[GOT2B GM]

So your gonna bring them over on Sunday so I can look at them right? ......Fancy schmancy

[19Cutlass94]

atleast BMR comes with everything already installed! But yeah get those instructions and see how they work. Im really interested to know! Especially as your working on the car as well!

[CSI_MuNkY]

atleast BMR comes with everything already installed! But yeah get those instructions and see how they work. Im really interested to know! Especially as your working on the car as well!

 

Meh, with the kind of money I'm saving on them for basically the same thing, I'll suck it up and put the pieces together myself.

 

You can count on pictures and stories as I go through it, I hope it goes smoothly, but it is a w-body, so I've budgeted 10 days for the job, lol.

 

Jamie

[19Cutlass94]

yeah depending on how the front goes I just might be buying those fronts for myself!

[CanadianRegal]

Looks good Jamie

[xtremerevolution]

so I'm a bit new to some of this stuff, but I wanted to ask everyone real quick, what benefit do newer aftermarket trailing arms and lateral links provide?

[19Cutlass94]

stronger and dont flex durign hard cornering. Helps provide more stable cornering..

[CSI_MuNkY]

Like Jay said, they are stronger. The stock trailing arms are channels, the stock lateral links are rectangular tubes or for some, rectangular channels, whereas the after market ones are round tubular, which is much stronger. In addition to that you get Polyurethane bushings rather than the OEM rubber, the advantage there is the hardness of the material, poly doesn't have near as much flex to it.

 

Jamie

[CanadianRegal]

Ya what they said....

[xtremerevolution]

Like Jay said, they are stronger. The stock trailing arms are channels, the stock lateral links are rectangular tubes or for some, rectangular channels, whereas the after market ones are round tubular, which is much stronger. In addition to that you get Polyurethane bushings rather than the OEM rubber, the advantage there is the hardness of the material, poly doesn't have near as much flex to it.

 

Jamie

 

Ah ok. I'll have to think about that then. I know how polyurethane works, lol. I upgraded the front sway bar bushings with the energy suspension bushings and noticed an incredible difference.

 

Is it really worth it spending that much cash on these lateral links and trailing arms though? Is the difference that noticeable? I noticed a huge difference from the ADDCO rear sway bar and I'll be buying a rear STB soon which I hear also makes a huge difference. How does this upgrade compare to the RSTB and Sway bar?