So I picked up a set of new unused gforce panhard and trilink from a forum member a while back. The set have been sitting in my room for a while, and we were finally able to get it in the car a couple of weeks ago.

We went to the first autox of the season, which happened to be pouring rain, the car was lacking grip with the v710s and puddles of water, but WOW, what an improvement! The slides are totally controllable and catchable. This is quite different from the prior setup, where the car would do a couple of tank slappers before you can be on your way.

I'd think that any drifter's should totally look into this, as i'd think it'd make the car a lot more controllable.

So the car in question is a 82 GSL. it's setup with gc coilovers, koni shocks, 375 front and 250 spring rates with isc rear height sleeves. I'll put an update up when I get to a dry event, but so far, it seems totally with the time and money...

 

Finally, someone who's posted some results about panhard bars. I've had one sitting in the shop for a couple years thinking I should put it on but wasn't sure of it's benifits or handlings changes. Looking forward to the dry pavement report.

Have you noticed any difference in general ride comfort besides the clicking heim joints?

 

Mine is still sitting on the shelf waiting for me to get time to install it. Probably won't happen until Spring. All the "racers" swear by the setup, but its nice to hear a first hand report on it.

How's the noise level now, much difference?

 

I'm not sure on the noise level yet, mainly because I think I have a bad ujoints (still running original units, which is making a bunch of noise after the install). I have new ones on order and will report on noise levels afterward. I don't drive this car on the street much (it's no longer a DD because I'm not running emissions. You can definitely hear it going up driveways and stuff, but otherwise doesn't seem to be too bad. Because CSP doesn't allow me to replace the lower trailing arms with heim joints, I'm still running rubber ones, so that may be helping me a bit. I have polyurethane ones going in soon...

 

Are you running air bushings on your upper links?

 

Are you going to go to some SFR events this season, I would like to ride in the car.

 

btw where can i get the rear height sleeves?
i cant find them anywhere..

 

Congrats to you for your suspension upgrades!

I think Jim Susko’s G-Force set up is great! I have been running a panhard bar for year’s autocrossing and I love the lowered CG. It makes a real difference. Yup, there has been a bit of noise on the street, but you get used to it.

The next part that surprised me in how much it helped in autocrossing was the turn in spacers that increase Ackerman. (Although not CSP legal, still a REAL improvement in the big turn arounds). Oh yes, the Torsen helps a tom too.

 

Nope, not running the green bushings, CSP allows removing the upper link.

Justin, I probably will make it to a sfr event or two, just not sure when. I might make boondogo, but probably more the April event. (I don't like GGF)

And thanks Kill No Cone. I'd love to run the turn in... maybe when I move to the prepared class...

I can't wait for the next dry event...

 

Do you mean the adjustable height rear spring assembly? If so, Respeed is carrying them now but I don't think they're actually listed on the website yet. Send a PM to Bwaits and ask him about them. Great product, by the way...

 

hmm no wonder why i never see it on his site.

 

They are on there now, they were just listed recently. They are like $250 and come with springs. Definatly on my to get list

 

Ok, more update, I finally got two dry events recently and a track day. The first autox was a bit disappointing, the car pushed pretty bad. I think most people that runs this setup uses the turn in spacers which I can't run in CSP. I ended up putting a stock rear swaybar on that seems to be helping quite a bit. I will know more by the next event I hope. I'm going to see if I can find a bigger rear bar. I also have poly bushings to go into the stock rear trailing arms, again we will see how that goes...

 

I've got all urethane bushings in my rear control arms. No issues at all. And yes, once you add an aftermarket front swaybar, you definitely want to put a bar on the back again. I'm currently using an adjustable rear bar set at max.

Pushing into the corners: tire pressures, use a little less toe in, or work on slow in/fast out style of driving. I had this issue for the longest time, and 90% of it came down to just going into the corner too fast. Once I slowed my entry down, my times were much better and the car felt a lot faster overall. Good luck man.

 

Update, I made some more tweaking, and finally got the car to handle the way I was expecting it to. I put in the rear swaybar in with poly bushings, and I also raised the panhard bar to increase the rear roll stiffness, to about as high as it goes. I was really happy today, I think now i'm ready for the power changes (have a sterling carb sitting on my desk).

Alvin

 

Sterling carb before the De Anza event? We are putting in new bushings, tie rods, and an alignment for the De Anza event, hopefully those fast Miatas won't show up and one of us can win.

 

lol, no carb isn't quiet ready (I try not to make big changes mid season, so I'll probably get the pieces ready for winter)

I'm looking forward to deanza though.

 

I have heim joints at all corners, with a tri-link rear setup, and even my wife is surprised at how liveable the car is. I don't think the overall ride is much worse than original with similar spring rates. I'm running 350# front, 175# rear springs, and don't have much clicking. I think I could eliminate all of it if I changed out the heim joints on my 3rd link to the teflon-coated ones. It's hard to explain, but a car feels so much more lively in turn in without the bushings. You turn the wheel and the car reacts right away -- no waiting for the bushings to compress. One thing to remember is that the bushings on most cars actually supplement the spring rates, so you can tolerate higher spring rates with heim joints and get a comparable ride. The downside is impact harshness. Hit a good pothole and you'll know the difference.

FR: ISC Heim Jointed LCAs, ISC Tubular Front Swaybar, G-Force Trailing Arm Bushings, Ground Control Coilover Kit, Bilstein Inserts, Ground Control Top-Mount Camber Plates

RR: Ground Control Heim Joint LCAs, G-Force Tri-Link UCA, G-Force Panhard Rod, Re-Speed Height Adjustable Coils, Bilstein Shocks

 

I'm actually somewhat limited in the use of heim joints because I run CSP, which doesn't allow heims in any stock locations. But yes, I have heims in the panhard and trilink, as well as the delrin isc lca bushings, the car is totally livable, what is not livable is not passing smog for cali law. Anyway, I'm currently running 375 fronts and 250 rear with stock fr/rear sways and the panhard pretty much as high as it will go, the car is totally fun to drive. can't wait to do some more tweaking...

 

Could you post pictures of it installed please?

 

I'll see what I can do

 

how much street driving do you do with the panhard? have any issues?

 

That stock front sway bar needs to go man....

 

Took the words right out of my mouth....

 

Respeed has a hollow tube front bar....nudge nudge