66 GTO - stock suspension or ladder bars?

Suspension Tuning, Troubleshooting, Design and Discussion

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Tom Syron
Posts: 12
Joined: Sat Mar 15, 2008 3:33 pm
Location: Plainfield IL.

66 GTO - stock suspension or ladder bars?

#1 Post by Tom Syron » Sun Jan 20, 2013 6:55 pm

I'm at a crossroad here. I'm going to be buying a new rear end housing in the near future and I'm debating whether to stay with stock style suspension or just go to a ladder bar set up with DA coil overs. Any thoughts? I'm looking for more consistent launches.

Old combo was...
3650lb 66 GTO
700 HP + - NA
T400
10.0s @ 132
1.39 60'
Adjustable upper control arms with an ARB
Traction was always an issue.

New combo is....same as above except
900 HP + - NA

Thanks,
Tom Syron

DOTracer
Posts: 466
Joined: Tue May 24, 2005 11:12 pm
Location: Westminster, MD

Re: 66 GTO - stock suspension or ladder bars?

#2 Post by DOTracer » Mon Jan 21, 2013 9:30 pm

Tom Syron wrote:I'm at a crossroad here. I'm going to be buying a new rear end housing in the near future and I'm debating whether to stay with stock style suspension or just go to a ladder bar set up with DA coil overs. Any thoughts? I'm looking for more consistent launches.

Old combo was...
3650lb 66 GTO
700 HP + - NA
T400
10.0s @ 132
1.39 60'
Adjustable upper control arms with an ARB
Traction was always an issue.

New combo is....same as above except
900 HP + - NA

Thanks,
Tom Syron
I think the decision is in large part your intended usage and any potential classed you may wish to run.

I myself favor stock style suspension over ladder bars.

Ladder bars won't fix a car that won't hook if neither was set up properly. I see it way too often a car owner has a car that won't hook and they change to ladder bars thinking it will magically correct the problem.

What really needs to be done is completely go over the chassis and driveline setup to determine if something is damaged, setup incorrectly, or lacking proper adjustability.

Good shocks are high on my priority list. The more power you have, the more important good double adjustable shocks are. Proper spring selection, scaling the chassis, anti-roll setup, tire selection, tire pressure, rear gear, trans gearing, converter selection, even proper staging (left to right in relation to the groove) is critical if track prep is questionable. Then comes power management which also needs to be considered.

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Mike Peters
Posts: 930
Joined: Wed Oct 12, 2005 1:48 pm
Location: Wichita, KS

Re: 66 GTO - stock suspension or ladder bars?

#3 Post by Mike Peters » Tue Jan 22, 2013 9:33 am

DOTracer wrote:I think the decision is in large part your intended usage and any potential classed you may wish to run.

I myself favor stock style suspension over ladder bars.

Ladder bars won't fix a car that won't hook if neither was set up properly. I see it way too often a car owner has a car that won't hook and they change to ladder bars thinking it will magically correct the problem.

What really needs to be done is completely go over the chassis and driveline setup to determine if something is damaged, setup incorrectly, or lacking proper adjustability.

Good shocks are high on my priority list. The more power you have, the more important good double adjustable shocks are. Proper spring selection, scaling the chassis, anti-roll setup, tire selection, tire pressure, rear gear, trans gearing, converter selection, even proper staging (left to right in relation to the groove) is critical if track prep is questionable. Then comes power management which also needs to be considered.
^^^^^THIS^^^^^

If you're switching housings, you're probably jumping on the Ford 9" bandwagon. If you buy a 9" with the welded ears on top of the housing for the factory GM 4 link, IMO the 9" housing center is too tall and the welded ears raise the rear of the upper links too high for the proper instant center. With 900 HP, you'll want to look for a 9" housing that has been properly built (notched center section) to lower the mounting ears to the more desirable location. If you've got a 12 bolt, have it built to handle what you throw at it and keep the proper geometry.
"If winning was easy, losers would be doing it"

Tom Syron
Posts: 12
Joined: Sat Mar 15, 2008 3:33 pm
Location: Plainfield IL.

Re: 66 GTO - stock suspension or ladder bars?

#4 Post by Tom Syron » Tue Jan 22, 2013 9:53 pm

Thanks for the replies. I think I'm staying with the stok suspension.

Tom Syron

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