Any chance this article could be found online somehow?

[Monty]

Decades ago (roughly mid-'80s) an American car magazine did a performance suspension analysis to determine which of two competing theories provided the best handling results.  The cars used were a current Mustang GT, Capri RS, Camaro Z28 and Firebird Trans Am.  One FoMoCo car and one GM car got the bigger springs/smaller sway bar and the other two got the bigger sway bar/lighter springs.*  I don't recall all the suspension suppliers, but I'm pretty sure Herb Adams and Rancho suspension were both involved. 

At that time I subscribed to Hot Rod, Car Craft and Car and Driver, so this article (two parts) would've come from one of them.  I'd just like to read this again and see what they concluded from the data gathered. 

Any help finding it again would be appreciated. 

*Going off really vague memories here.  Probably not the most accurate assessment.

[Rodent]

Maybe the one on the header here? I remember this as well. I bought a new Mustang about a month later.

 

[stitchdup]

hotrod have all their old issues online now. a member here went through them all and did a sumary post of them. you might find it in that thread, though he mostly posted about the car features. it was a good thread if you dont want to go through all the issues of hotrod

[iamsuperdan]

Here you go.

https://www.motortrend.com/plus/magazines/hot-rod/issue/571499

Starts on page 26.

 

 

[espo]

One of the original engineers on the Camaro and Firebird project found that using springs on the softer, but firmer than the regular springs, with a larger diameter sway bars and stiffer shocks offered a better handling suspension on these cars. He used to market these parts after he left GM and I happened to buy a setup from him for my '69 Camaro. How did it handle you would ask. My answer is simple. You better be wearing your seat belt if you make a quick maneuver as those OEM bucket seats offered no side support and centrifugal force could and would put you in the other seat right now.  I had failed to mention this problem to my girlfriend, and she did mention the problem when she got home that night. 

[Ace-Garageguy]

 

 

On 12/20/2023 at 1:14 PM, espo said:

One of the original engineers on the Camaro and Firebird project... 

https://www.hemmings.com/stories/article/herb-adams

He's also the author of one of the most useful books concerning chassis engineering and chassis tuning.

Edited December 31, 2023 by Ace-Garageguy