Blow whole budget on Koni SA's?

So I've been trying to email Sam from stranoparts, but he hasn't responded yet. So I'm going to post my question here to get ya'll thoughts.

I have around $1,500 to work with. I need new tires for my 17x9.5 ZR1's. Going to get Kuhmo Ecsta XS 284/40-17's on all corners. These are event use only wheels/tires. The Kuhmo's are going to cost me $725 shipped. I'm not worried about mounting/balancing costs. So I have around $775 to play with for suspension.

Car Info...
Other than a strut tower brace, my 98 Trans Am suspension/chassis is completely stock.
I drive it on the street (not my only car though), and take it to shows, but I want to set it up primarily for autox. Class rules don't apply...yet anyways.

My original thought was SLP-Biltein shocks with Strano springs and a UMI 35mm solid front sway bar totalling $829.95. I would've thought that combo with the tires would be a phenomenal improvement. But after reading up on the SLP-Bilsteins, I understand they get overworked easily and don't hold up well. Obviously Koni's are the best...however should I really blow my entire budget for $850 Koni SA's?

AutoX Newbie with TA

Hey all,

The name's Ken and I just got my 98 Trans Am a little almost 2 months ago and had my first AutoX event last weekend. I'm racing with the NCCBMWCCA crew as my buddy who got me into it runs a M Coupe. He's a pretty good driver and placed 4th in the event out of 115. I absolutely fell in love with AutoX and will be setting my car up for doing so. Anyways, I wanted to introduce myself and share a couple pics from the event. The links below are to a couple vids my wife took. I just made a in car camera mount that'll be handy at my next event April 17 in Waldorf Md. I look forward to talking with everyone and researching how best to setup my car. So far I have some power mods and a strut tower brace. I'm picking up some ZR1 17x9.5's from someone this weekend for $150! I'm gonna put some 265/40R17 Dunlop Dunlop Direzza Sport Z1 Star Spec's on them for this season. They should run decent for this year and next...maybe. Whenever I'm made of money I'll get some track slicks...but for the money these Dunlops have a great reputation. I need to start looking into more suspension stuff...but I might hold off on that this year and get used to the car more first. I do want some racing seats to keep me from sliding all over the place, and am eyeballing 6litereater's seats on his site. I'd like to get a 5 point harness with them, but need to see if I can do that without having a roll cage. Research, research, research. That's why I'm here!

(IMG:http://i589.photobucket.com/albums/ss340/ShadowVLX/Trans%20Am/10.jpg)
(IMG:http://i589.photobucket.com/albums/ss340/ShadowVLX/Trans%20Am/4.jpg)
(IMG:http://i589.photobucket.com/albums/ss340/ShadowVLX/Trans%20Am/6.jpg)
(IMG:http://i589.photobucket.com/albums/ss340/ShadowVLX/Trans%20Am/9.jpg)

Here's a pic of the camera mount I made. Some all thread through some square tubing I had. Electrical tape for friction against the camera to keep from turning. I need a couple U bolts to bolt the square tubing to the headrest bars and then I'll just strap the seat back tight so it doesn't vibrate. Not a bad setup for basically being free!
(IMG:http://i589.photobucket.com/albums/ss340/ShadowVLX/Trans%20Am/7c7a388e.jpg)



Links to Video...yes I carried WAY too much speed into that last sweep..haha...i'm learning!
http://s589.photobucket.com/albums/ss340/S...nt=DSCF0371.flv
http://s589.photobucket.com/albums/ss340/S...nt=DSCF0372.flv