[Sam Strano]

I was just pondering what things I've done that were the same old, same old in terms of my business and car setup stuff. I'm tired of hearing that I'm out only sell parts, and will do so by any means necessary. I'm tired of having quotes laid at my feet that are taken completely out of context. And I've been called a liar (just recently in a thread about the A-Sedan cars at the Runoffs).

So I've thought about it, and I'm posting a response.

First let me address the notion that I think in this little tiny box and don't try things. Here's a breif list of things I've tried and have WORKED with regards to the f-body, particularly the 4th gen:

1. The T2R. How many ran the T2R before I showed up? Very few. How many even realized how important a LSD that works is to the handling as well as the traction of the car? Next to none.

2. Large front swaybars as well as "intermediate" rear bars in combination. Before me everyone used a 32mm front bar. Some stayed 19, some went 21 rear. A very few who were never fast went to big bars at both ends. I ran a 35/21 combo first (and did it before SLP did, starting in late '99).

3. Started the education on shock valving... Before me you had HD's and SLP's and Koni's. Only the Koni's capable of damping the spring most of us run, but most folks were cheap, didn't know any better, or fell for a sales pitch that HD's are just fine. Even some folks who are now selling "trick" shocks were on the phone with me as little as 2 years ago wanting to know why HD's weren't up to the job.

4. Showed that removal of the rear bumpstops can cause shock failure, and proved it more than once. And I stuck with it despite being shouted down a few times....

5. Showed that the evil bumpstop is really more of a bump rubber that does eventually act as a stop, but that with proper shock tuning it works simply as supplemental spring, but one that does NOT return energy like a spring does. You might disagree, but there are plenty of points proving the STOP doesn't spike you spring rate, and even a cool video Rushman took that showed that rear axle never bangs into them (of course he has good shocks, a decent ride height and good spring rates).


These are some of what I've done that worked. I've tired a number of things that have not worked, and because they aren't made very public it's assumed I haven't tried them. That's simply ignorant, and sadly ignorance can be contagious. :stupid:

Here's an example.... I made drop PHB brackets way back in '99-2000. In an effort to calm the tail of the cars (and folks on this board have seen them, they aren't vaporware). While messing with designs to get the strength I wanted/need from the, I stumbled across a few things that were at the time outside the box ideas that did the job I was seeking. So the re-engineering of the wheel I was going to do, wasn't necessary IMHO. Some think it is, and that's fine. But if you don't know me, and haven't been privy to conversations with me, you really should not assume you know all the details of my life and business. And when I say the Tom Aquilante Racing A-Sedan cars at the Runoffs, *I* was the one who checked them out. Not anyone else here, and when I found what I found what I did, I was abused for it because it happend to pretty closely resemble that tact I take. You can bet if it had been the "other" ideas I'd have been driving into the ground about that. Damned if I do, damned if I don't with some people here. (IMG:http://www.frrax.com/rrforum/style_emoticons/default/banghead.gif)

I just wanted to take the time to clear my head of some of this stuff. There are somethings going on in my life right now that make me wonder why I pour my heart into my work and my hobby like I do when I'm attacked for giving my opinion and have the gall to try and back up my claims. And it sucks.

The other thing that makes me differnet, and I've think I've been kind of a pioneer of is the way I recommend parts. I look around at the different boards and never, NEVER see anyone else saying "I don't feel you need this part" or some such example. I call a spade a spade, often to the extent of making smaller and sometimes NO SALE. And I'm that turns me into the slick used car salesman type. That's truly sad, and very dis-heartening.

Unless this thread is deleted, I'm going to bookmark it. That way the next time I hear about how selfish I am, or how I just push a prepackaged setup with the inference that it wasn't worked on and worked on very hard, etc. I can just put in the link... Much like I've had to do with the link to the Bilstein catalog into to dispell some of the rampant misinformation some folks spread about Bilstein HD's being so great for lowering springs.

EDIT: I want to add this in no way is to say that other opinions are not valid. Much like I thought out of the box, others are now doing. The point is simply there are very few truly new ideas in the world, and a number of the ideas out there now are not only not new, but have been tried many times before. This is not a statement on what works or doesn't in theory, or even what can be made to work, well or otherwise.

This post has been edited by Sam Strano: Nov 14 2005, 03:42 PM

[Sam Strano]

Wow, that sure didn't take long now did it. (IMG:http://www.frrax.com/rrforum/style_emoticons/default/dry.gif)

I'm not going to rehash all the old stuff *again*. I never said I knew exactly the springs rates on the A-Sedan car. But you know what, I saw it looked at it, admitted that I didn't know the rates, then gave an estimate based on seeing a LOT of springs. Your choice to not beleive me, or even think I'm capable of a close estimate. Typical.

I never did install *my set on my car* because I wasn't happy with the range of adjustment and the mounting. So you can blast away (and I'm sure you will) before you read this part. I have worked a lot wtih lowered PHB's and roll-centers on solid axle cars. Whilst they may not be mine, I've learned a lot through other cars. I've managed to setup some cars that have won titles in other classes, even though I didn't own them. Aaron can attest to what I did to his Z06, and I don't own a Corvette. I found a fix to the issue I was after to fix. At the time nobody was making these, and from a business standpoint I could have sold lots of them. But I didn't because I didn't feel it was needed or right. MHO. I've worked with multiple Mustangs and the PHB height. And lowering the car also drops the roll center as well, which we've also done a lot of. And Lonnie tried it and I messed with it there as well, Ok?

For those that haven't broken shocks. Good for your. Fact is a number of people have broken shocks. You might not blow your engine a quart down on Wal-mart oil, but it's not smart and could very well happen (and has). Further I'll point out that in a few of those cases it wasn't even known the shocks were broken until they were fixed, and a broken damping can be very hard to track down. I've had broken shocks that I didn't realize for a long time, and clearly it happens to others since Smith took the time to not only mention it in his books, but to give a test to let the driver feel what a weak shock might feel like (and that's just weak, not broken). Of course those without adjustable shocks can't even run the test.

But I think this illustrates exactly what I was getting at when I composed this post. the BS flag was raised, again I've been told there is no way I can estimate a spring rate by looking at it (and I couldn't without a lot of experience looking at spring). You could paint street springs all the same color and I'd be able to tell you which was which because I'm familiar with looking at them, much like I can look at a 450 spring and know it's not a 650 or 800 and vice-versa.

It's become extremely tiresome, and the sad part is it stems from a very few persons.