by cosvega76 » Sat Feb 03, 2007 9:01 am
Great looking Vega! I have been considering an LSx conversion myself. That looks like a tighter fit than I was expecting.
I see you have what looks like a Monza front sway bar on the front. 1-1/8"? I would recommend a matching Monza rear bar, I think it is 13/16". Or you could go with the matching pair of Addco bars. Mine are 1" front and rear. I, personally, would shy away from the 1-1/8" Addco front bar, as it would promote too much understeer. The LS2 is all aluminum, so it should be lighter that an iron SBC, so I'm not sure how that will impact things. My Vega with the 383 or the 350 would tend to understeer when pushed hard.
Tires are THE most important thing. Get the stickiest tire you can live with. I have Kumho Ecsta 712s on the Vega, which work okay. I put Kumho MXs on the Corvette, and gained 4 seconds at Blackhawk Farms Raceway over the old OE-style Goodyears. The top-rated tire that Grassroots Motorsports tested is the Falken Azenis RT-615 Z-rated.
If you're really serious, I would recommend the Kumho Ectsa V700, but I don't think they come in 16-inch sizes.
Shocks will enter the picture later. For now, experiment with the stiffer setting of your shocks. Performance shocks are hard to come by for the Vega.
Another thing to consider is to change the front suspension so you can dial in some positive caster. It will make the car feel much more stable at speed. I had some tubular upper control arms made for the front that moved the upper ball joint back. Now, my Vega has 3* positive caster instead of the 1* negative. I really didn't completely understand the difference until I got my Cosworth. Driving one, then the other, the difference is amazing. (And, yes, as soon as I get the new rod ends for my new tubular arms I will post photos. Then I will try to pursuade the builder to make some more.)
Now I'm adapting some Corvette front brakes to the Vega. I'll update when I get all the details worked out.
HTH
Chuck