I was wanting to stiffin up my suspension. I have a 97 bonniville se. What i was thinking of doing was getting some adjustable coilover shocks. probably from qa1 http://www.qa1.net/qa1_ms2005_drag.pdf. and making all new mounting brackets for it. The bennifts of this would be an almost unlimited aftermaket for spring rates. and could go for the dual adustable shocks. never really played with struts don't think i've even really looked at the set up but from my research there is a strut bearing that i would have to keep. Just a guess here but the strut must pivot when the front wheels turn. Does that make for less unspung weight? Due to the different mounting point over a normal shock set up? I have access to the tools and the experience to fab up all the parts i would need. What are your opions on it?

I don't think the suspension design will give you the most out of coilovers.

Bump steer seems to affect me a lot on the hill i live halfway up on. When my rear tires clip a manhole recess in the asphalt, i get some bumpsteer, it may be due to the weight loading on the steep grade, but it is present.

Stiffer spring rates are also not the correct way to really get the car going left to right IMO. Proper damping (very possible with CO) and god sway bar loading are key I believe. I would definetly try SSEi sway bars (FE2/F41 suspension) on your car, I found them to help immensely in the corners. Pair this with new energy suspension poly-urethane endlinks, and see how you feel about it then.

I understand that to stiff of a spring rates isn't the key but the adjustable rebound and dapening on the shocks would be the big plus. I'm going to give the sway bar and poly bushing a try i know they would make a big difference. More than anything i'm just woundering if the set up would work. Or if I am missing something about how struts work. I glanced under the car this morning and can see that there is a lot less stuff to add weight to the car with the strut setup say compared to a mustang 2 style front end.

There are no direct replacement coilovers or adjustible shocks available for our cars anymore. Domestic Performance was the only vendor producing either but they have screwed people out of alot of $$.
The W-body community is currently exploring DIY solutions. Here are a couple threads to check out:
http://www.clubgp.com/newforum/tm.as...mode=1&smode=1
http://www.w-body.com/forum/index.ph...c,51716.0.html

The club gp thread presents a macpherson strut type solution similar to our front and the w-body thread shows how you would go about a non-macpherson rear setup similar to ours.

Some very interesting articals since there is no direct replacement that means with a little work ones could be made keep the bearings and make some new mounts for the new setup. I tried calling qa1 on friday but there tech support was out for the day. Hope fully this week i will have some time to call them and get another opinion on things. If anyone has some experience on this or has some good links they would be greatly apprieceted.

I doubt DP even ever had any coil over in real life that would mount up to an H-body. He just claimed to be able to do the work.

I'm watching this thread, I just don't think the chassis is good enough to invest that kind of money, time, and fabrication into. You're making one part good, but there are plenty that still need work.

I like sleepers and after owning the bonnie for a few weeks i thought it would make a good one. U do have a point with the other things that need to be worked on. The more i drive it i notice things like what i'm sure is chassis flex. The time wouldn't really be an issue Think i could do it in a weekend. more the money than anything. I might see if my uncle has a bonnie in his junk yard to mock things up with. I think i know where there are some cheep coilovers laying around to start with.