posted by
someone claiming to be John H.
on
Mon Mar 11 08:37 CST 2002 [ RELATED]
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I would like to know if any c70 owners have been able to increase the road handling characteristics of their vehicle at high speeds (80+ MPH), and still be able to maintain the soft cruising feel in the city? Is this possible?, if so how?
I want to decrease body roll at high speeds, and decrease nose drive in high speed braking. I'm willing to upgrade shocks, struts, springs and suspension, but I'm not willing to increase the road bumpyness. I still want the cruising feel in the city and open highway. Any suggestions would be appreciated.
Thanks in advance.
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John,
I did all of the IPD modifications to my 98 C70, Bilstien struts, lowering springs, big sway bars, tower braces, chip, exhaust, K&N, etc. The car is very stiff, to the point it makes the CD player skip on moderate bumps. IT REALLY HANDLES, though. The other benefit to the stiff suspension is that my wife refuses to drive it. I have driven it in several track events and it will run with the M3s. I'm afraid you have a decision to make. Better handling OR the cushy ride. The eternal delimna: The Town Car or the race car. IPD had an OLIN adjustable suspension system on thier C70. They could adjust the suspension settings from the drivers seat. It was an attempt to produce the dream. Soft around town and with the flick of a switch.... race car. It was spectacularly expensive and didn't work very well. They never offered it for sale.
Lee
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If you haven't already done shocks/struts, springs, anti-roll bars, polyurethane bushings, no wonder you are complaining. Next, if you REALLY want to improve high speed driving characteristics, I'd suggest underbody work. In particular, having aluminum or carbon fibre, or fibreglass, or sheet metal plates made to cover the entire bottom of your car, with a diffuser rear end. This will both decrease your cd, as well as increasing your downforce. This will provide a higher speed limit, if you are power limited, better highway mileage, better high speed stability, better handling at high speeds.
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posted by
someone claiming to be John H.
on
Mon Mar 11 14:18 CST 2002 [ RELATED]
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Any recommendations on which brands of springs, struts, and anti-roll bars to purchase? What do I look for when shopping for these? Keep in mind that I want to keep the luxury feel, but have the sport suspension without looking like a "rice-rocket" rocking back and forth on the freeway going while going over the expansion joints.
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It all depends on how extreme you want to go. How low is too low? How stiff is too stiff? I am running H&R springs, Koni adjustable shocks and struts, iPd anti-roll bars, Powerflex polyurethane bushings. I liked the H&R's because they are progressive, while also giving me the drop and handling I was looking for, with a very livable stiffness. I liked the Koni's because they are just as good as any other shock/strut out there, but are adjustable. I didn't have much choice with the iPd anti-roll bars, but boy oh boy are they nice. The poly bushings did wonders for initial turn in, and quick changes in steering angle.
To get a better description of the setup I'm running, check the archives. I did an entire review on my suspension shortly after modifying it.
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Sin,
What can you tell me about the poly bushings over stock? What will poly bushings contribute? I have a '98 C70 hpt and I would like to improve the handling without major mods.
Is there a BIG difference with the IPD roll bars from stock?
I am due for rear shocks in 4K, any recommendations?
One last question, I am going to do a transmission flush, what ATF would you recommend to use? The car has 42K on it.
Thanks for your knowledge.
Butchman
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Didn't you read the post you replied to?
The poly bushings primarily make initial turn in and quick steering changes quicker. Because it takes the slop out of the system by replacing the rubber bushings with polyurethane, any steering changes, and even hard acceleration and braking are made better. I know for a fact that my high speed, hard braking has become much more predicatble (less steering deflection), and invites you to dip deeper into scrubbing speed.
What do you consider a "major mod"? I don't consider things like shocks/struts, springs, anti-roll bars, bushings, to be major mods. If you really want to stay low dollar, and ease of install, I'd start with a good strut tower brace such as the OMP.
There is a night and day difference with the iPd anti-roll bars.
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Sin,
Thanks for the reply.
I have a Volvo OEM strut tower brace installed.
Where you recommend to purchase the poly bushings? Is an alignment necessary after installing them? Are they easy to install?
Any other "low dollar" improvements you would suggest?
Thanks for the help.
Butchman
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I only know of one place to get the bushings I used, but I'm sure there are other bushing manufacturers out there. In fact, it isn't very hard at all to fabricate your own from poly mixes. That way, you can even fine tune just how stiff you want them. I got mine from a place in IN called SPA Technique, that distributes the Powerflex bushings that I bought.
If you are doing the bushings alone, you shouldn't need an allignment after wards, but it's not really worth doing unless you do struts/springs, spring seats, etc, at the same time. Plus, you'll probably need a press to remove them. The oe bushings are damn near impossible to remove without damaging the control arm, without a proper press and the proper cups to press them out.
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posted by
someone claiming to be cargusjo
on
Mon Mar 11 15:51 CST 2002 [ RELATED]
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Hi Sin,
Can you elaborate on the under body work? Have you had this done? Are there standard parts you know of, or just custom jobs?Interested in possibl same tpe of upgrade. Love the ride, but at high speed little loosey.
Carl (Now cargusjo for uniqueness...)
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It'll be entirely custom. I had aluminum sheets made for my car at the Engineering Department at U of T a couple years ago. I had the ENTIRE underbody covered, and even had deflectors for the control arms and rear suspension. It really wasn't noticeable until you reached about 150km/h. In fact, I challenge any 850/_70 owner to do so. To be honest, the 850 underbody is already very well designed, and really only suffers in the rear sections.
What really got to me was that when I got to about 200km/h, the car started getting light, and there was HEAVY understeer. But when I had the underbody with diffusers put on, at 200km/h, the car was more stable then it was at 150km/h without the underbody work. In fact, I got the car past the 260km/h mark with the power mods, suspension mods, and underbody work. Honestly, once you get up to the 200km/h area, you REALLY feel it. It's as if the car is simply just slicing through the air.
Total cost of materials was about $75 Canadian, and took about 2-3 hours to make and install with proper cutting tools, bending machine and a lift. About the only negative side to the mod was decreased accessibility to things like oil filter, drain plug, etc. Also, due to the way I attached it, it wasn't practical to remove it every time I needed an oil change. Yes, I could've added holes added in key places, but that really would've ruined it because the air would literally get sucked into those holes, and probably ruin the decrease in cd. Also, the aluminum corroded rapidly after one winter. There was a lot of whitish powder after one salty Toronto winter. The next time I do it, I'm going to use some underbody material whereever the materal touches the underbody, and along the entire bottom. It's a great mod for someone willing to live with added work required for basic maintenance.
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