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I've been working on my suspension for about 6 months now, here's some pics of the original to the progress so far.
Here was the stock stance. You can see it with my first modded exhaust system (wrap around tips)
A couple years later (after I learned a thing or two) I decided to get this car road course and auto-x ready. Needless to say, 16 year old suspension and steering components were far from track worthy. First thing was to redo the entire steering up front. Next were the Monroe SS shocks on all four corners (stiffest on market, other than coilovers). Last step was to install the PPM 1" DD series coil springs. Chose these because they have a linear spring rate, and had a stiff spring rate in the rear (most springs are generally soft in rear for this car).
This was the look I had:
As you can see, the level in the front of the car was much higher in the rear. As it turned out, the rear settled ~2" lower then stock. The front settled to the claimed 1". This called for some customization on my part. After talking to some custom car shops and gathering some opinions from people who have dabbled in this kind of customization, I decided to get about 3/4 of a coil of the bottom two coil springs in the front. The stance I ended up with was this:
^As you can see in the photos above, the wrap around exhaust tips are now gone. But more on that later...
Unfortunately for me, I still wasn't satisfied with the stance. While the gap between the front and rear wheels looked equal, the car still had the look of a sagging rear end (common with boats
). So through a few more cuts and changes in the front, I am finally settled with the ride height in the front.
Being that it's my daily, I don't want to go too low just yet. I have a complete suspension overhaul in the future, but I need to plan it out a little more before I can make that happen. Planning on upgrading my four link in the rear to a 5 link suspension. I'm going to do this by adding a panhard rod. This is the reason I can't run an over the axle exhaust anymore. I just won't have room with the 5 link in the car. Unfortunately there isn't a kit out there because most people don't recommend this mod on this particular car. The main reason being, the frame is like a wet noodle. It really needs to be reinforced. This is what I'm currently planning out. All input and suggestions are welcome.
While my suspension upgrades have looks considered, the primary goal is performance. I still have a lot of work to go before I can take this big ole boat out on the road course, but so far it has performed beyond expectations at all auto-x's (especially with such crappy tires). Here's a video of the SS at one:
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dhy452BGdTE&feature=plcp"]Grissom Aeroplex Auto-X | 1996 Impala SS | Run 4 (Best Run of Day) - YouTube[/ame]
Here was the stock stance. You can see it with my first modded exhaust system (wrap around tips)
A couple years later (after I learned a thing or two) I decided to get this car road course and auto-x ready. Needless to say, 16 year old suspension and steering components were far from track worthy. First thing was to redo the entire steering up front. Next were the Monroe SS shocks on all four corners (stiffest on market, other than coilovers). Last step was to install the PPM 1" DD series coil springs. Chose these because they have a linear spring rate, and had a stiff spring rate in the rear (most springs are generally soft in rear for this car).
This was the look I had:
As you can see, the level in the front of the car was much higher in the rear. As it turned out, the rear settled ~2" lower then stock. The front settled to the claimed 1". This called for some customization on my part. After talking to some custom car shops and gathering some opinions from people who have dabbled in this kind of customization, I decided to get about 3/4 of a coil of the bottom two coil springs in the front. The stance I ended up with was this:
^As you can see in the photos above, the wrap around exhaust tips are now gone. But more on that later...
Unfortunately for me, I still wasn't satisfied with the stance. While the gap between the front and rear wheels looked equal, the car still had the look of a sagging rear end (common with boats
). So through a few more cuts and changes in the front, I am finally settled with the ride height in the front.Being that it's my daily, I don't want to go too low just yet. I have a complete suspension overhaul in the future, but I need to plan it out a little more before I can make that happen. Planning on upgrading my four link in the rear to a 5 link suspension. I'm going to do this by adding a panhard rod. This is the reason I can't run an over the axle exhaust anymore. I just won't have room with the 5 link in the car. Unfortunately there isn't a kit out there because most people don't recommend this mod on this particular car. The main reason being, the frame is like a wet noodle. It really needs to be reinforced. This is what I'm currently planning out. All input and suggestions are welcome.
While my suspension upgrades have looks considered, the primary goal is performance. I still have a lot of work to go before I can take this big ole boat out on the road course, but so far it has performed beyond expectations at all auto-x's (especially with such crappy tires). Here's a video of the SS at one:
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dhy452BGdTE&feature=plcp"]Grissom Aeroplex Auto-X | 1996 Impala SS | Run 4 (Best Run of Day) - YouTube[/ame]
Your car look ridiculously clean. Looking forward to seeing where you go with it from here!
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