Coilover conversion question
#16
Racer
Thread Starter
#17
Race Director
T-bars!
Seriously you can upgrade the t-bars and get the car stiffer than you need to for the street and track. I run 30 mm t-bars in my race car, but 28's will probably be fine a street car that sees track time. Going to 30 makes it more track only, but can be used on the street. Depends on how far you want to go.
Coil overs in front are a good move however.
Seriously you can upgrade the t-bars and get the car stiffer than you need to for the street and track. I run 30 mm t-bars in my race car, but 28's will probably be fine a street car that sees track time. Going to 30 makes it more track only, but can be used on the street. Depends on how far you want to go.
Coil overs in front are a good move however.
#18
Race Director
Wrong... The aluminum trailing arm won't fit on the sping plate that steel arm uses. I tried it and had to change the spring plate which mean doing the t-bars. Plus you need to get the 85-86 trailing arms not the 87 and later. The 87 and up use a different offset so the wheels won't work. Oh.. you need to change the half shafts if you change the aluminim arms as well since you need the longer shafts for any aluminum trailing arm.
#19
Race Director
Guys... changing out the rear suspension to the aluminum type is a lot work just to spend money on coil overs. Just do the t-bars and call it good. Cheaper and easier.
#20
Drifting
I just did exactly what Joe said on my 83- converted to 86 rear suspension+coilovers. You need a lot more than you think. Brake rotors are also different.
And unless I'm missing a part or doing something wrong, the ebrake cable is different too. And man, that's a blast to take out...
The performance impact of aluminum rear suspension is substantial though. I don't remember the exact weights, and I don't have the paper I recorded them on. But versus steel arms the difference was ~9 lbs if i had to guess. Which equates to a huge reduction in unsprung mass. The steel arms are about 30 each, so percent-wise the difference is drastic.
And unless I'm missing a part or doing something wrong, the ebrake cable is different too. And man, that's a blast to take out...
The performance impact of aluminum rear suspension is substantial though. I don't remember the exact weights, and I don't have the paper I recorded them on. But versus steel arms the difference was ~9 lbs if i had to guess. Which equates to a huge reduction in unsprung mass. The steel arms are about 30 each, so percent-wise the difference is drastic.