Quote:
Originally Posted by PeteKz
David: If you have read through the other similar threads, you have certainly seen Bill V's comments, and probably mine. You have described what you want as a "sporty street car." That's what I have.
Here's the most important question: How much d'ya wanna spend? You can easily lose $6,000 if you want the latest and greatest (Vons or KW multi-adjustable shocks and struts with raised spindles, etc.). Or you can spend a lot less than half that and have a real nice street car.
Another question: How many miles on the car? If it sat for 25 years, the suspension may not be as worn as you think. How much have you driven it since getting it back on the road?
Ditto Silverlock and others on keeping the suspension compliant, and jwolfe about making changes one at a time. Yes, there are some things you want to do at the same time "while you're in there," but most of the changes you can make independently.
Look at my signature line to see what I have. One thing I wouldn't do again is the RSR solid bushings--I'd stay with rubber suspension bushings for a street car. The solid or poly bushings DO increase noise and harshness in the cabin, unless you live in some dream world where all the roads are smooth! They are also a PITA to install. Turbo tierods: Meh. If your old tierods are not loose, leave them in for now. Easy to change later.
Answer the budget question and we'll go from there.
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$6000 doesn't really bother me, but I'd obviously like to save some money where I can on it. Generally speaking, I'd like it to be turn-key for under $5000, including the corner balance and alignment, lowering, etc. Obviously me doing or not doing the work myself -- or parts of it -- will make a difference on how much I could do in terms of actual parts. The big ticket items seem to be the shocks and spring plates, with torsion bars not too far behind. So if I did stick to stock bars, that would help the budget.
I don't need
the best and newest innovations/equipment. Just imagine, for instance, I shipped the car to Europe and wanted to tackle a 1000 mile road trip, covering highway to Alpine passes like Stelvio and Furka along the way. I want it to be comfortable on the trip, but I want the car to be safe and capable on those passes. And those roads aren't glass. Same idea in the US; the roads aren't going to be perfect, so building the car as though they will be isn't what I'm going for. That's kind of the goal, ultimately.
The car has about 60k on it, maybe a bit more. The odometer stopped on it at some point, but the records I have on it date to around the time it was parked. It was parked from around 1995 until 2024, when I got it out of storage and had a lot of work done to it. The shop did some work underneath on it (new CVs, etc.) but didn't otherwise touch the suspension. It's my suspicion that all the rubber on the car is original, and that even the shocks are original. They're not showing visible signs of leaking, and they seem to dampen ok, but I'm sure they're not 100%. They are, after all, 45 years old.
Regarding the tie rods, the steering feels pretty tight. There is sort of a squeaking noise that comes through the steering rack that I haven't been poked around to look for yet. I replaced the steering bushing at the steering wheel itself, so that's not it. Not sure if it has anything to do with the tie rods, but I'll inspect those when I come to actually working on the car. As you said, they're an easy thing to add.
Regarding the bushings, yeah I wasn't really planning on going with anything but rubber. It really comes down to whether there's a better option than OE at this point that still is compliant and quiet, but a better performing compound.
My real concern was something like the torsion bars. I can't see myself getting a year down the line, regretting I hadn't tried something different, and having to take that whole spring plate assembly and everything apart on the rear, and the whole front assembly again, and then have it aligned and corner balanced again. I think that whatever I do, leaving it stock or replacing, I don't really want to mess with it again for 10 years. So leaving them stock is fine (I'm sure the bars are in good shape), but I didn't know if going to thicker bars was an obvious thing to do at this point.