I am going away from the drag racing stuff and I need new rear springs. Now is the time to do it right for handling. Currently I have hotchkis 650lb/in 2" drop front springs, 1 1/4" front swaybar, poly bushings, quickratio steering box, solid SF bushings. What I need in the back now are new springs and sway bar. I only have a tiny 5/8" rear sway bar now which Id guess needs to be upgraded? I run on street tires. Any suggestions on rear springs/sway bar size? I am also going to have to buy some bigger rims but not right away. (15" on there now, I was trying to keep SOME traction off the line with some sidewall).
I am not concerned in the slightest about staying within any classes so any mod is good. I will likely end up with tube front a-arms soon as well to lose some weight. The whole car is about to go on a diet. Also do I want 50/50 front and rear shocks or? This cornering stuff is pretty new to me. If there are some really good autocross/roadracing forums or books please let me know as well. Thanks for any help guys.
CoryM

 

Guess you're in the same boat as me.....researching all on your own.....guess we'll write our own books when we get there...lol.

 

Well I was just trying to avoid learning things that others already knew and being able to put my mind and money to better things. The camaro has since been sold. I got sick of breaking stuff and the way the car handled. I am now planning a car that makes the camaro look like a absolute turd.
The camaro did teach me some good things though. SOme of the ones I can think of off the top of my head are:

Poly bushings suck ***!!!! I will never again use them. They will start to bind bad enough that you can feel it while driving after only about 6months. maybe if you made it so you can grease them constantly (nipples) they would be OK but at that point you may as well go steel.

Wheel travel is super important to a street car. The 2" drop springs only left me with 1.5" of bump travel. Totally unacceptable for the street. Camaros barely have enough bump at stock height. You need at least 3" of bump and 3" of jounce for the street.

Street cars/canyon carvers etc are more like ralley cars than RR cars. With the wheeltravel they require and the speeds/forces involved they very similar in needs as a ralley car.

Front tires must be as wide as possible. rip out those stock inner fenders and stuff the widest front tires you can fit.

SFC are an absolute must. I ripped my drivers door striker out and stress cracked the RR 1/2 panel. Do it BEFORE the suspension/engine mods.

If I were to do the camaro again it would have dirt track control arms (tubular with steel bushings) allowing for 3" of wheel travel, Large driver adjustable swaybar on the front, widest tires I could fit, chassis properly triangulated etc etc. Besically, a race car with 2 seats and a stereo. THe main thing, above all else the camaro taught me was to not go half assed. Either a slow POS daily driver OR a fun weekend toy. Not both. The $20/day in fuel (94 octane @ 9mpg) and the constant breaking of my camaro drained my bank account. Now I drive a bone stock 70 C10 and am saving up and planning the build up up my weekend toy. Something likeTHIS