GT & ST Suspension Comparison, similarities/differences Options

[ConeTrouble]

I was wondering how similar or different the GT and ST suspensions are. I know they probably have different spring rates and shock valvling, but was curious if the mounting points were the same. The sway bars are of different diameters, but I know they interchange fine. Tie rods? End links? Anything or everything swaps fine?

For instance... say I picked up a nice set of aftermarket springs/coilovers, would they be interchangable between the GT and an ST? Assuming that the mounting points are the same, it seems that a nice upgrade to an ST might be a set of struts from a GT (could likely find them cheap in a junkyard).

[SpedToe169]

Ahhh, you're exactly right, I forgot about the 'vert struts. You're probably right about the GT valving as well.

Yeah, the GCs will for sure work.

STS is going to be expensive, but you're doign the shocks anyway, so you might as well go STS because thats the major cost. I'm convinced that the car can be competitive in STS, or at least could have been a couple years ago...I'm not quite as up on the scene now. You'll have to find a way to drop some weight. Get your spring package sorted out, which could take a couple sets, and get your shock valving right. I'd go with the ST swaybars if you can still find them, they work pretty well.

I'm running 450/375. If I was going with custom valving, I'd probably go higher. Maybe 550-600 in the front and 400-500 in the rear. Its going to be rough on the street like this, but not unbearable. Having the shocks right will help a lot.

Just to give you an idea what it really takes to get the shock valving right...

I just had to do this for our ITA car. You need to know the following things:

-unsprung weight front and rear
-motion ratios front and rear (they're not 1:1 like you might think!!!!)
-swaybar motion ratios front and rear
-swabar rates front and rear

None of the stuff is that hard to measure, just really time consuming. It took me 3 full days to do it all. I ended up with an excel file thats about 15 sheets of data and graphs. You'll need two dial indicators, a jack, an accurate scale, and a few other odds and ends to test the swaybars. The Shock Shop in Portland is doing our shocks. Talk to Chris, he really knows his stuff.