[chiphead]

What are some good shock absorbers for a street driven LeMans? Street driving, no race.

I'm doing the first shakedown drives in my 67 LeMans. It rides like a sailing ship, it's all over the place pitching and rolling. The front suspension has some sort of lowered aftermarket coil spring and a set of comp engineering drag shocks. The rear has stock type springs and a set of worn-out shocks. Shocks so old they say "radial tuned shock" on them. Car has 205/75/15 on front and 275 drag radials on back. Weld Prostar skinny/fatty rims. So it does have the nose down look. What shocks can I throw on, so it calms down on the street?

[78w72]

if its just a street cruiser and you want stock OEM type shocks, i have used monroe sensatrack, gabriel or KYB shocks with good results, they are a budget priced shock and wont handle as well as some of the better brands. if price is not a concern koni gets good reviews. for OEM type shocks rock auto will usually have the best prices.

[66sprint6]

I've gone with the Bilsteins and they seem to be the best. Also some of the most expensive. But to me, the car just feels more planted. Very happy with the results.

[shaker455]

Belltech street performance 55 mm shocks

https://www.belltech.com/oem-replace...ormance-shocks

[Vid]

Adjustable shocks might be something to consider. If you don’t like one setting, try another. Several of them on the market to investigate.


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[JLMounce]

The Gabriel VST's are a decent shock without spending a lot. If you have a bit more budget, I'd go with the Koni Classic (red) which will allow you to fine tune the suspension a bit, especially with having a mix-matched spring setup.

[Charlie Brengun]

I really like the way my car feels with bilsteins but I also have matching hotchkis lowering springs and anti-sway bars..

[Kenth]

Hard to go wrong with ACDelco OEM gas-charged shocks.

[64speed]

I used AC Delco

[Metrocs]

I went with Bilstein, have them on my 71 vette and really like them

[1968GTO421]

Bilsteins here too. Great shocks.

[SRR]

Do you have stock sway bars? If not I would suggest adding one to the rear.

[Schurkey]

Originally Posted by chiphead

What are some good shock absorbers for a street driven LeMans? Street driving, no race.

I'm doing the first shakedown drives in my 67 LeMans. It rides like a sailing ship, it's all over the place pitching and rolling. The front suspension has some sort of lowered aftermarket coil spring and a set of comp engineering drag shocks. The rear has stock type springs and a set of worn-out shocks.

Shocks are only half your problem. They ARE a problem, but you also need springs.

A given ride-height can be had with short, stiff springs, or tall, soft springs. The car will look the same when parked. There will be a night-and-day difference when driving.

The domestic OEMs used to use tall, soft springs. Even in the "sporty" cars, they were too tall, and too soft. They've gotten away from that in modern times.

For street use, you'd do well to get PROPER aftermarket springs in a shorter, stiffer configuration.

My next set of shocks will likely be KYB; but I've heard REALLY good things about Bilstein also.

My "A-body" also has bigass sway bars front and rear, and Polyurethane bushings front and rear. Someday, it's getting a Jeep Grand Cherokee steering box...but I've been promising that for years.

Skinny front tires sacrifice braking power as well as cornering power. DON'T get into a collision with someone who'll pay attention to your vehicle afterward.

[Charlie Brengun]

Originally Posted by Schurkey

Someday, it's getting a Jeep Grand Cherokee steering box...but I've been promising that for years.
.

Do yourself that favour, I have a 12:1 AGR box and it really makes the car feel different.

[Sirrotica]

Increasing sway bar diameter will still give you a good ride without body sway, the sway bars on a 67 A body are woefully inadequate to keep the car from wallowing through turns.

1 1/8"-1 1/4" inch on the front, and a 1 inch rear bar will make a night and day difference. Of course good shocks will also complement the sway bar increase in size.

Herb Adams (Engineer of the Trans Am suspension) always tried to keep the spring rates down, and then control body roll with oversized sway bars. He felt that the lesser rate springs allowed the tire to follow the unevenness of the racing surface better than a stiff spring does. As already mentioned quickening the steering box also helps to keep the car under control, and headed in the correct direction.

My 67 GTO dirt car (middle picture in my signature pictures) was lowered and stiffer springs along with a 1 1/8 inch front bar, and a 1 inch rear bar, the car handled impeccably with that combination. I also stiffened the shocks to compliment all the other changes. After those modifications the car completely changed it's handling characteristics.

[Schurkey]

Originally Posted by Sirrotica

Increasing sway bar diameter will still give you a good ride without body sway, the sway bars on a 67 A body are woefully inadequate to keep the car from wallowing through turns.

Yes. The suspension geometry has an effect as well--the roll center is too low, and the center-of-gravity is too high. Lots of leverage to roll the body in corners. Any weight that can be removed from "high and forward" is a big blessing. Lookin' at you, iron manifolds and iron cylinder heads. The H-O "Tall Spindle" disc conversion moderated the roll center depth--it's actually below ground level on stock A-bodies--so that there's less leverage arm between the CG and the RC. That alone reduces body roll.

In the GM world, there's the "Guldstrand Modification" that accomplishes the same thing as the taller steering knuckle of the H-O disc brake upgrade, but also adds positive caster. It was a "cheat" on the '60s Trans Am Camaros; Ford was doing the same thing on the Mustang and no doubt Shelby "invented" it in the Ford world. This "Guldstrand Mod" can be applied to A-bodies or--really--most any vehicle with an upper control arm.
http://pozziracing.com/first_gen_suspension_geome.htm

We're in a position where GM and the other domestic manufacturers DELIBERATELY sabotaged the cornering power of the "stock" vehicles they built by intentionally screwing-up the suspension geometry. Then we're trying to undo that damage by playing with spring rates and sway bars. The better/more sophisticated/more inclusive fix is to sharpen the suspension geometry in addition to tuning the spring rate and bar diameter. A proper "alignment" can help, but it's not nearly enough. The "alignment" is not the only geometry that's been sabotaged.

Originally Posted by Sirrotica

1 1/8"-1 1/4" inch on the front, and a 1 inch rear bar will make a night and day difference. Of course good shocks will also complement the sway bar increase in size.

The old "H-O Racing" A-body sway bars were 1 3/8 front and rear. Maybe that's overkill. But that's what I have.

Originally Posted by Sirrotica

Herb Adams (Engineer of the Trans Am suspension) always tried to keep the spring rates down, and then control body roll with oversized sway bars. He felt that the lesser rate springs allowed the tire to follow the unevenness of the racing surface better than a stiff spring does. As already mentioned quickening the steering box also helps to keep the car under control, and headed in the correct direction.

I have Adam's Chassis Engineering book. Gonna have to dig it out and re-read it.

https://www.amazon.com/Chassis-Engin...=3NWQDW0KE1VPO

I was fairly certain he advocated really-stiff springs and bushings, and no or minimal sway bars. The logic was the sway bar interferes with "independent" front suspension by tying the two sides together. Maybe I misunderstood. My thinking is that too-stiff springs make for "no" suspension; I'd rather have the sway bars and more-moderate springs--but still stiffer/shorter than stock.

Colin Chapman (Lotus) was a big fan of long suspension travel, soft-ish springs, and big sway bars. But again, "soft" springs is a relative term--the spring rate was softer than "competition" springs other folks were using.

[Sirrotica]

Originally Posted by Schurkey

Yes. The suspension geometry has an effect as well--the roll center is too low, and the center-of-gravity is too high. Lots of leverage to roll the body in corners. Any weight that can be removed from "high and forward" is a big blessing. Lookin' at you, iron manifolds and iron cylinder heads. The H-O "Tall Spindle" disc conversion moderated the roll center depth--it's actually below ground level on stock A-bodies--so that there's less leverage arm between the CG and the RC. That alone reduces body roll.

We're in a position where GM and the other domestic manufacturers DELIBERATELY sabotaged the cornering power of the vehicles they built by intentionally screwing-up the suspension geometry; and then we're trying to undo that damage by playing with spring rates and sway bars when the better fix is to sharpen the suspension geometry. A proper "alignment" can help, but it's not nearly enough. The "alignment" is not the only geometry that's been sabotaged.


The old "H-O Performance" A-body sway bars were 1 3/8 front and rear. Maybe that's overkill. But that's what I have.


I have Adam's Chassis Engineering book. Gonna have to dig it out and re-read it.

https://www.amazon.com/Chassis-Engin...=3NWQDW0KE1VPO

I was fairly certain he advocated really-stiff springs and no or minimal sway bars. The logic was the sway bar interferes with "independent" front suspension by tying the two sides together. My thinking is that too-stiff springs make for "no" suspension; I'd rather have the sway bars and more-moderate springs--but still stiffer/shorter than stock.

Colin Chapman (Lotus) was a big fan of long suspension travel, soft-ish springs, and big sway bars. But again, "soft" springs is a relative term--the spring rate was softer than "competition" springs other folks were using.

Actually Dick Gulstrand was an advocate for stiff springs, with softer sway bars. There was a magazine article in late 70s early 80s where they matched a Gulstrand prepped car against a VSE (Herb Adams) equipped car on a skid pad. The VSE car registered a higher g rating than the Gulstrand car did, that was proof enough for me that the thicker bars, with more compliant springs worked better.

My dirt track car was sponsored by an auto wrecking yard, so all my parts came right out of the wrecking yard, zero cost to me. Front bar from a 73 GTO, 1 1/8", 1" rear bar, and lower control arms from a 70 GTO. I shortened, and rewelded the spindle arms 1", and got the lock to lock turns down to 2 1/2 turns. That was the old school way of quickening the steering when we didn't have access to quick ratio boxes. I didn't have much money, but I had more time to make modifications in lieu of spending money.

After a whole winter of hard work, I had a car that even a novice could drive well. Case in point, one week I let a friend of mine, that was a drag racer (zero dirt track experience) drive it. He came from the last row, to third in 10 laps. Passed about 17 cars, in 10 laps .....:thumbup

[Schurkey]

Guess I was wrong about Adams and spring rates. I wonder where I got that impression.

[chiphead]

Took a closer look at the rear suspension. There are 2" coil spring spacers above the rear springs. This is how the PO kept it from dragging on the 275 DRs. How does that affect the suspension behavior? I'm guessing the koni adjustable shock is called for instead of a Bilstein, because of the non stock spring rates??

Is there a front and rear sway bar set that you guys would recommend? Will a rear bar for a 10 bolt fit a Ford 9"? I assume the lower control arm mounted ones would fit? I'm going to swap in the 9" from my old street/strip car.

[geeteeohguy]

To answer the OP's original question, I've had great luck with KYB's on my '67. For decades. Excellent shocks.