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rear end & suspension DONE! (PICS)
finally finished up work on the camaro today. took us the whole weekend and today to get it done but i couldn't be happier with how things turned out. in the rear i swapped over from: stock rear end with drum brakes, 3.23 gears, 17mm sway bar, stock shocks, stock springs, and a two-piece steel driveshaft. i upgraded to a 1996 Firebird Formula rear end with disc brakes, 3.42 gears, LSD, 19mm sway bar, and also got a 1-piece aluminum driveshaft. on the front we changed out the stock spring/strut assemblies with new bilstein struts and eibach springs and threw on a 32mm sway bar. the car handles GREAT! its raining pretty bad here so i didn't have the chance to reall open it up and take some curves to see how it handles but i can definitely tell the difference and the 1.25" drop gives it a great stance. here is the accelerated break-down of what we did:
started out friday night cleaning and prepping the rear end itself. we pressure washed what we could then degreased and sanded. finally threw on a coat of flat black paint to make it look just a little better before the install.
saturday was a long day. got there and first thing we did was raise it up on the lift and rip out the old rear end. the links for the rear sway bar just snapped and we had some trouble with a few other nuts and bolts but it all came off pretty easily and only took a few hours. we then hopped right to the new rear end and popped it, the new bilstein shocks, sway bar, and eibach springs on there. the whole swap took maybe 3 or 4 hours. then we hit a snag with the brakes. we finally gave up for the day and went home.
sunday we started work on the front springs and struts. didn't have too much trouble getting them out, but the real pain was getting them apart. the top nut on both was rusted to nothing so we had no solution till monday. we also got the brakes fixed by opening them up and flaring them to fit the t-fitting. last thing we did was bleed the brake system and put the wheels back on.
final day was monday. i spent the majority of my morning compressing and decompressing springs on the passenger side strut. that one took me about 3 hours to get the seats off the stock and put the new strut and spring together. we had to have the nut on the top cut out due to the rust siutation. now the second one i did was a breeze. i knew what i was doing this time and it came apart quick! then i took it to have the top nut cut off like the first one and then put the new spring/strut assembly together in about 40 mintues. finally got back out to the shop and popped the new assemblies in then dropped her down and got to see her sit for the first time!
i'm ecstatic with the results. the stance is great, the car handles great, and it jumps off the line great as well. can't wait for a good day to take her out to some open road and see how she handles and runs! but i can already feel the differences! here is an album of a few pics i snapped during the install: http://s54.photobucket.com/albums/g9...End%20Install/. i'll have pics of the car itself and the stance up as soon as i get her all washed up and clean! i think headers and cat are next on the list followed by some other engine mods then i'll be done with the performance...maybe. any info on any kind of tuning available for 3.4s?
my advice to anyone who does this swap or install...make sure you get everything you need beforehand (you can always take/send stuff back and it'll save you time) and be sure that you research it and know what to expect. i did some research on the subject before i attempted mine but i wish i had done more cause i ended up coming back to look more things up and ask questions here and there. it wasn't a bad install at all but i had a lot of help and access to a hydraulic lift and tools. btw...thanks to all those that had a hand in helping with this install! all the help on the forum was greatly appreciated!
started out friday night cleaning and prepping the rear end itself. we pressure washed what we could then degreased and sanded. finally threw on a coat of flat black paint to make it look just a little better before the install.
saturday was a long day. got there and first thing we did was raise it up on the lift and rip out the old rear end. the links for the rear sway bar just snapped and we had some trouble with a few other nuts and bolts but it all came off pretty easily and only took a few hours. we then hopped right to the new rear end and popped it, the new bilstein shocks, sway bar, and eibach springs on there. the whole swap took maybe 3 or 4 hours. then we hit a snag with the brakes. we finally gave up for the day and went home.
sunday we started work on the front springs and struts. didn't have too much trouble getting them out, but the real pain was getting them apart. the top nut on both was rusted to nothing so we had no solution till monday. we also got the brakes fixed by opening them up and flaring them to fit the t-fitting. last thing we did was bleed the brake system and put the wheels back on.
final day was monday. i spent the majority of my morning compressing and decompressing springs on the passenger side strut. that one took me about 3 hours to get the seats off the stock and put the new strut and spring together. we had to have the nut on the top cut out due to the rust siutation. now the second one i did was a breeze. i knew what i was doing this time and it came apart quick! then i took it to have the top nut cut off like the first one and then put the new spring/strut assembly together in about 40 mintues. finally got back out to the shop and popped the new assemblies in then dropped her down and got to see her sit for the first time!
i'm ecstatic with the results. the stance is great, the car handles great, and it jumps off the line great as well. can't wait for a good day to take her out to some open road and see how she handles and runs! but i can already feel the differences! here is an album of a few pics i snapped during the install: http://s54.photobucket.com/albums/g9...End%20Install/. i'll have pics of the car itself and the stance up as soon as i get her all washed up and clean! i think headers and cat are next on the list followed by some other engine mods then i'll be done with the performance...maybe. any info on any kind of tuning available for 3.4s?
my advice to anyone who does this swap or install...make sure you get everything you need beforehand (you can always take/send stuff back and it'll save you time) and be sure that you research it and know what to expect. i did some research on the subject before i attempted mine but i wish i had done more cause i ended up coming back to look more things up and ask questions here and there. it wasn't a bad install at all but i had a lot of help and access to a hydraulic lift and tools. btw...thanks to all those that had a hand in helping with this install! all the help on the forum was greatly appreciated!
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