[1967Tempest]

One of the easiest and cheapest upgrades that I did was install the 1 1/4" front sway bar. Man, can take a nice turn. Can't push the front end down enough to get twist.

When I did the front end rebuild I went cheap and got the 20$ front shocks from Napa. Monroe shocks I believe.

Will going to a High Performance front shock make that much of a difference?? Meaning is the juice worth the squeeze??

I have heard good things about the Edelbrock IAS shocks. The ones I removed were KYB Gas-A-Just. But I could move the rod with my pinky finger so they were shot.

Thoughts??

ADD PICTURES!!!! or Part numbers.

Dave

[b-man]

Bilstein Heavy-Duty gas shocks.

These are supposed to be one of the best riding and handling non-adjustable shocks available for a reasonable price.

Part # F4-BE3-2972-HO front and AK2080 rear, I bought these at Summit Racing for about $300.

A good set of shocks is worth spending a little extra money on, if you drive the car hard you'll notice the difference.



More Tempest suspension stuff with lots of pics:
http://forums.maxperformanceinc.com/...d.php?t=610357

[Sammy B]

Yeah, what Bart said. Currently running them on my '67. MUCH better than the KYB junk that was on there.

[1967Tempest]

B-man,
Holy TEMPEST!!!! That is awesome!!!!!! Who says the Tempest isn't as good as a GTO!!! That must handle like it is on rails!!!!

I will order the fronts here soon. The rears, I will wait until i swap out the rear

Thanks
Dave

[67 Lamnas]

How do Koni's stack up against the ones mentioned?

[Sammy B]

I ran Konis on my first Lemans about 14 years ago. With just a fatter front sway bar and those shocks, I remember it handled pretty good. It was too long ago for me to make an accurate comparison against the Bilsteins. Unless there's a major price difference, I would just go with the Bilsteins.

[1967Tempest]

Koni's are more expensive.

[Z Code 400]

David,

I like both Koni and Bilstein. I have used both and find little, if any difference between the two, once you get the adjustments correct. To that end, on a STREET car, I would buy whichever one was cheaper. Keep in mind that every car will require a slightly different adjustment, depending on what you want the car to do and I will try to offer you a detailed explanation herein.

Since getting back into Autocrossing, I find myself leaning towards shocks that are adjustble for both rebound and compression. Most of the performance shocks on the market only allow you to adjust rebound and not compression. More on this later.

When I am down at Bakersfield Raceway (Famoso) you see a lot of guys eliminating the front sway bar and adding 90/10 shocks up front, to promote weight transfer under launch. However, this isn't a safe combination to drive on the street because it has a very negative effect on handling. It's downright unsafe on a street car.

Your wheel/tire combination will also have a bearing on shock selection and adjustment. The tires and wheels on your car are not optimum for handling, so shock selection will not be quite as critical on your car. I have two sets of wheels and tires; one set for running around town and another set for serious Autocross work, or when I use the Formula as the 'bad guy's car' during pursuit driving courses. However, I can tell you a little about what I learned from oval track and road racing, then you can make an informed decision.

Compression is the shock’s resistance to being pushed in or compressed, and rebound is the shocks resistance to being extended. When the car accelerates, weight is transferred to the rear, which results in the front wheels trying to lift off the ground. The front shocks are being extended while the rear shocks are getting compressed. Hence, during acceleration, the car is mainly affected by front rebound and rear compression. The opposite is true for deceleration. During deceleration, handling is affected by front compression and rear rebound.

If your car is understeering on corner entry, you need to decrease front compression and/or increase rear rebound. If it is over steering on corner entry, increase front compression and/or decrease rear rebound. With single-adjustable shocks, you cannot adjust for both compression and rebound, so you have to compromise.

IMHO, changing your shock settings on the street is pointless. Shock adjustment is most effective at the limit of the car's braking, cornering and acceleration forces, but not as critical when you're driving down some deserted backroad. If you're car has only been driven on the street, it is quite likely you will never push the suspension to its limit, and certainly not enough to start tuning shocks.

Having said that, a good set of shocks is a nice addition to a street car and any adjustable shock is better than the old non-adjustable, Autozone vareity. The problems usually arise when guys take the adjustments to the extreme with no thought as to what affect this will impart to the rest of the suspension system in general, or, expect the shock to make up for a poor tire and wheel choice.

On your car, I would start with front shocks set on the 'medium' setting front and rear. Your addition of a bigger front swap bar seems to be working and I would recommend urethane bushings on the bar and end links, along with urethane 'wafers' on the shocks themselves too.

At the track, we run Nitrogen in the tires for more thermal stability, but that's not important on a street car. We also determine optimum tire pressure by taking tire temperature readings, but you can get some good results just from playing around with your car on some backroads. For a dedicated street car, like your Tempest, start with the cold sidewall limit (-) 6 psi and drive the car though some corners enough to get the tires warm to the touch. Now, drive the car through the corners at a consat speed and gradually increase that speed, by about 5 mph each time, and see how the car handles.

If you experience understeer (front end pushes instead of turning) decrease front tire pressure by 2-3 psi, increase rear tire pressure by 2-3 psi and retest. If you encounter oversteer (rear end swinging around) then reverse the pressure differential and retest.

If the understeer condition persists after changing pressures, you can go with a softer setting on the front shock and a proportionately stiffer setting on the rear, as previously outlined above. Make small changes and record your progress in a notebook.

On your car, medium shock settings and about 4 psi less on the steering axle than on the drive axle will likely prove to make you very, very happy with the car's road handling.

I hope this helps...Robert

[1967Tempest]

Robert:

This does help. I think that B-Man has given me the shock that I will upgrade to. I do have urethane bushings on the front sway bar.

What are the wafers that you speak of??

Dave

[Z Code 400]

David,

Know how the shock stems go through the frame and have a rubber wafer on each side??? Just replace them with urethane...Robert

[1967Tempest]

Oh, I didn't know that was called a wafer. Good to know. I would imagine that the Bilstein ones come with it since they are like 90$. But who knows.

B-Man. chime in. Did the shocks come with urethane "wafers"?

[guccieng]

bilsteins come with rubber wafers.

[67 Lamnas]

Originally Posted by 1967Tempest

Koni's are more expensive.

I meant WRT performance

[1967Tempest]

Originally Posted by 67 Lamnas

I meant WRT performance

Can you elaborate? I am having an issue trying to find them on the web.

Thanks
Dave

[b-man]

Originally Posted by 1967Tempest

Oh, I didn't know that was called a wafer. Good to know. I would imagine that the Bilstein ones come with it since they are like 90$. But who knows.

B-Man. chime in. Did the shocks come with urethane "wafers"?

The shock bushings are either a somewhat pliable urethane or some sort of hard durometer rubber, kind of hard to tell.

Either way, there's no need to replace them with anything else.

[1967Tempest]

Originally Posted by b-man

The shock bushings are either a somewhat pliable urethane or some sort of hard durometer rubber, kind of hard to tell.

Either way, there's no need to replace them with anything else.

You are the man!! I recently replaced the rear springs. The line from the air shocks melted and the air was let out. Found that the springs are not strong enough for the car. So I am replacing the rearend. I am going to ad the Bilsteins and stronger springs. Without the air shocks it looked like Tony Soprano had some "Friends" in the trunk!!!