Well i bought my black 94 hardtop nearly 4 years ago, with 99k miles on the body. The car has 125k on the body now. When I got the car it had a STB, Hotchkis front sway bar, Prokit lowering springs, Car Quest shocks (which is made by gabrial (sp)), Edelbrock boxed LCA's, and a Non-Adjustable PHR. Shew with that said Im the third owner of the car, the second owner did nothing but drive it and the first owner did all the work within the first 50k miles. I now have put subframes on and it feels really "loose" in the back. What can I do to tighten her up? It has a stock rear sway bar on it. Any suggetions?

 

check all your bushings. If you've got poly/poly boxed lcas you might have busted one of the bushings (they don't provide enough flex for the suspension to work properly), or your panhard rod bushings might be shot.

 

Mine is like that now, car feels squirrly in the back, found out it is my panhard bar bushings bad, can move the back of the car side by side and see the bushings worn out, starting to make a clunk when I go around corners now, have aftermarket panhard bar coming from ebay for 70.00 after shipping, should fix that...you might want to check out the panhard bar bushings....

 

Gabrial shocks with lowering springs is probably part of the problem.
Think about it, non-performance shocks with higher rate springs.

But I agree, check all your bushings and bolt tightness. A larger rear sway bar would probably make things worse. Also make sure you have good tires. Because they wear out, tires have to be the most overlooked and yet most important piece of suspension.

 

Hey I know the shocks arent a good choice, but i didnt put them in. I think i will change the PHB and LCA bushings, My tires are 275/40/17's all the way around, Good year gs-d3's up front and m/t et radials out back. Maby new shocks, and bushings fix me up then?

 

Your rear tires are a big part of the problem. They are designed for straight line performance and aren't optimal for good handeling. Other than that, if everything is up to snuff, I can't see anything wrong with your set-up. SFCs will stiffen up the chassis and actually make the rear a little loose by not letting the car twist as much. You could try a stiffer rear sway bay, but I imagine it will make the problem worse. Try installing a stock sway bay bar on the front. It will tighten up the car a little by letting it roll into the corner more.

I'm running stock springs cut down an inch with SLP take-off shocks and stock sway bars. With the same size tires you have the car has mind bending handleing with little lean in the corners. At this point I see no reason to install stiffer bars.

 

Im going to change LCA bushings, PHB bushings, and Sway bar endlinks if that doesnt help then oh well. The car is more str8 line anyhow. I love the twisties but if it comes between str8 line and twisties its str8 line.

 

I've got a set of poly LCA bushings I'd sell for cheap.

Re'

 

Hmm might have to check into yours. Is all bushings the same reguardless of aftermarket or stock?? Like if i went to by bushings can i order just any off the shelf for my edelbrock box LCA's?

 

Don't know. I would have assumed your Edelbrock LCAs would have used poly bushings. Kind of a waste to buy them if they didn't. Only reason I have the bushings is because I bought a Energy Suspension full kit and didn't use them because I have aftermarket LCAs with poly bushings already. If your LCAs have normal press in bushings, measure them and compare the diameter to stock bushings.

Re'

 

Poly bushings will bind in turns. If you're running bushings instead of rod ends and want to handle better try poly/rubber.

But since straight line is more important for you stick with poly/poly

 

Ok so im confused now. I want poly all the way around for str8 line, and factory rubber all the way around for handling? Im going to change PHB bushing to which is best there? Im looking for the best of both worlds st8 and curves. I dont mind to sacrific a lil str8 line to keep the twisties. But if getting rid of the looseness is gonna cause wheel hop under accelleration, i will live with being loose.

 

I don't understand what your talking about. Poly is better in all conditions. It allows free movement or joints that rubber dosen't and lasts near forever. Most stock bushings are going to it.

Explain if I'm wrong.

 

Poly is stiff. When you turn you need something that will give or flex which poly won't do well. So, for handling you are better off with spherical rod ends or rubber.

 

Poly is good depending on the suspension design. 4th gen LCA's need to have some angular compliance for proper suspension operation in cornering. I once saw a video online of someone with poly/poly bushings visually showing what happens under corning... basically you turn your bushings into another spring constant in your suspension, something they're not supposed to be. If you want rigid lca you need to insure that there is a rotational degree of freedom built in somewhere... either using a rod end or some other way.