PNW VietVet Throwing Money at 2005 Z71

No problem, take your time.

 

Just for grins, on one of my many trips up to Paradise when I was in the service, myself, my brother, my cousin Dave and my friend Bill were on our way to a party near Lime Saddle Marina and a guy coming from the same party crossed the centerline and hit our 63 Impala half and half head on. He skidded sideways down the road and rolled his tires off the wheels and he had a leather jacket on that had 4 front pockets. He had a full can of beer in each of the 4 pockets and on impact he hit the steering wheel and exploded all 4 tops off the cans. I hit the w/s from the passenger side and had to get stitches on my face. Everyone else walked away miraculously. I took these pics the next day at a body shop the cars were towed to in Paradise. We ended up skidding sideways in to a ditch and almost hit a telephone/power pole.

 

New preliminary pics of the sway bar kits installed and the new dash cluster and the factory radio install.

 

In one of the sway bar pics you can see the new rear coil springs. Here is the radio pic as well. Had to reset the clock, so that is the incorrect time that I took the pic.



I took it out on a road test today and there is a 45 MPH curve outside of town. I waited for the exact right time for traffic to clear and turned out and took off. I went thru that curve at 75 MPH and then turned around and went back thru it at 80 MPH.

That vehicle felt FLAT going thru that curve. It was an AMAZING feeling.

 

So sway bars are def worth it eh!

 

Sounds like a very positive initial assessment with your test run. Great to read. Thank you for the photos.

Can you provide a bit of additional detail on your installation for both the front and rear? I want to do it right, the first time, when the weather improves, and I buy my set.

Position of truck during installation (body on jack stands or wheels on ground)

Need to temporarily move/remove any other existing components, in order to install the bars

Rationale for selecting the middle hole position on rear bar

Criteria for the final vertical links adjustment position on the rear bar

Type of lube, if any, on the new bushings

Any things to look out for, during the installation the will make the installation easier

Thank you in advance.

 

Ok, fortunately I was able to get my friends to allow me, with their help, to use their shop lift and tall jack stands to do the sway bar work. I just did not want to crawl around on the ground. They charged me some money for shop time and lended a hand when needed and helped with pics. I chose the mid range stiffness because I felt at that setting I would feel a "seat of the pants" difference over stock and could always adjust later if needed. The kits come with complete instructions. Follow them. I had AC Delco lube that I used for the door seals, hatch seal and the sun roof seal. I used that for all bushings. I can tell you that the seat of the pants feel is noticeable even with turns at lights and turning in to home driveway. Anywhere you turn you can feel it and the best feeling is at high speed in a curve. It's like the body leans just a hair but the frame down is stuck like glue to the road. The feedback feeling in the steering wheel is great.

That and seeing my new dash cluster and seeing trans temp climb to a point and hearing my new radio and cd player, I was happy as a pig in shit.

I now have all my pics loaded in my computer and will share all of them. Sorry for any duplicates.

 

More pics:

 

More pics:

 

More pics: