Front Shocks

[roadking77]

Apparently I need new shocks on the front of my car. What are the recommendations? I dont need anything fancy, car is mostly stock, 1977 trans am, 400 motor (auto). I think I just went to NAPA and got what the book said for the rears, but that has been a few years ago. I dont want to spend a fortune on these but not necessarily the cheapys either. I see Ames has a set for about $100. I dont know if brand makes any difference or not.
Thanks

[ryeguy2006a]

Not sure if they make them anymore, but I bought a set of Koni shocks for the front of my 76 over 10 years ago, but they worked really well. Can't remember for the life of me what I spent, but I did buy them from Keith at Custom Works Products. He has a lot of 2nd gen stuff.

[b_hill_86]

A couple years ago I replaced some old blown KYBs with a new set. Definitely an improvement but I haven’t tried any others to compare. I feel satisfied with them on the front but not crazy with them on the rear. I seem to recall they were priced reasonably

[5th T/A]

Kerry,

I put these on the front of my 1980 TA. Delco shocks from Rock Auto, one step up from the basic shocks. I am very happy with the ride and handling. Keep in mind I am running stock size tires and don't do any autocross or aggressive driving, mostly cruising. Honestly my 40-year-old OEM shocks worked fine and did not leak, but the rubber gromets looked old. Since I had the front end torn apart, I decided why not. Besides everything else was clean and shiny. I paid 30.79 each, plus $9.99 shipping and my local sales tax.

Be careful if you decide to go with nonadjustable heavy-duty aftermarket shocks or you may be unhappy with the ride quality.


IMG_3301 by Lawrence Alexander, on Flickr

IMG_3300 by Lawrence Alexander, on Flickr

[JJ 109]

OEM style replacement would be fine like above

People unnecessary spend a lot of money on “features that are of no real value to them

[roadking77]

I got home early, and looked at the napa site. They have a pair that are supposed to be OEM, I may give those a try. The local store has a couple in stock. I dont race or auto cross, just a weekend driver. I figure if mine are as bad as the shop said they are, anything will be an improvement!

Thanks for the comments.

[rkellerjr]

I'd agree, stock from Autozone, etc. should be fine. I went with Koni Classics but I drive mine in mountain passes and want the extra performance.

[Wallington]

I have a set of Afco 1021's on mine, courtesy of PTFB. Can't comment on how they work, they do the job of holding the body off the ground for years! They also match the engine blue paint. What more do you want from a shock?!

One thing that may be handy to have is a set of the fancy little J-nuts that the shocks mount with. Even if good condition for reusing originals, but a cracked rusty one can really ruin a quick project. Might not be stocked at typical auto parts shops, pretty sure my spare pack was retainers only.

https://www.firebirdcentral.com/product_p/sus-174.htm

[5th T/A]

Wallington,

Good point on the mounting hardware, especially the j-nuts. If they are old a brittle an impact wrench will destroy them instantly.

[roadking77]

Thanks for the insight.

Walli.... Im starting to feel like you with my 79 Im just about tired of seeing it sitting in the corner of the shop covered up!!

[Jeremy]

I would ask what type of tires are you running?  If its a modern radial, I think there is a benefit to a shock with a little more control.  On my son's camaro, he upgraded to 17 inch rubber with factory style shock and everything rode and drove nice.  There was a noticeable difference when he upgraded to Bilsteins.

For me, Bilsteins are where I like to be in a basic, non adjustable shock. I've run the basic black replacement shock from Autozone/Oreilly's, Gabriels, and Monroes through the years and the didn't do much for me.  In fact I probably have 1 set of them in storage if you want to cover shipping and the time to box them up.

Non of the parts store shocks worked for me and I've never autocrossed or tracked the car.  I tried KYB on my wife's car and was happy when they wore out.  They were nice for the first 1000 miles or so and got real bouncy/choppy as they wore.

[roadking77]

I have radial tires, 15 x 8. I picked up a set off the shelf from napa. Installed no problem. Also found my front sway bar bushings were shot, ordered a set of those from napa. They sent the wrong part, and no way to tell on their site what size they have. I suppose a part number would help
So, I ordered a set from Summit. Supposed to be here on wed.

[roadking77]

Ordered new sway bar bushings on Mon I think. From Summit, which I usually have good luck ordering stuff from. My only gripe was the part was something like $15 or less. Free shipping! When I hit the check out button there is a handling fee of $11 ! Still free shipping, part to be delivered between wed and fri. OR, for an additional $15 ( almost $30 to handle and ship a $10 part) I can have delivery on Wed. I declined, even though I am in a bit of hurry as the car is on stands taking up garage space right now. Part came in yesterday, Wed. Yeah!  Glad I didnt pay the extra $15!!!

[b_hill_86]

Sometimes the extra cost isn’t worth it. I used to work at our local UPS hub here in Toledo and it seems to me that with them and the way they were structured, for packages shipping east of the Mississippi River to a location also east of the Mississippi, paying for shorter shipping was almost always unnecessary because packages would arrive in a timely manner regardless. Of course you were still at the mercy of waiting for the seller to ship quickly. And there were exception such as the upper peninsula of Michigan. Packages for the U.P. passing through our hub you’d think would just head north but they actually got sent out to Cache, IL first then north which added time of course. And things may have changes with UPS since then. It’s been like 14 years since I left there.

[roadking77]

I always get quick service from summit. Must be good usps in Ohio
You are right on the shipper being prompt though. I buy a lot of stuff from Ames. I am in their 3 day ship window. Sometimes the order will sit 1 or 2 days before its shipped. That translates to a 4 or 5 day ship time. On the other hand, I just ordered something small from Mcmaster carr. I ordered Mon evening and tuesday by lunch it was on my porch! That one beat out the typical amazon delivery.

[roadking77]

2022-07-25_08-28-59 by Kerry Grubb
, on Flickr
2022-07-25_08-30-33 by Kerry Grubb, on Flickr
New bushings on
2022-07-25_08-30-42 by Kerry Grubb, on Flickr
Old bushing!!
2022-07-25_08-29-20 by Kerry Grubb, on Flickr
It bothers me that the engine bay just doesnt POP. Getting kinda tired after a few years so decided to do some cleaning up whilst the car was in idle mode. Touch sanded the core support for some fresh colour.
2022-07-25_08-29-43 by Kerry Grubb, on Flickr
2022-07-25_08-37-40 by Kerry Grubb, on Flickr
New paint, and hit the shroud with vaseline that did a great job of shining it up a bit.

[5th T/A]

Those anti sway bar bushings were really gone, I bet it drives a lot better now.

Nice job on the core support. great job masking around the emission sticker. I like a clean engine compartment, hard to keep up with when you drive the car.

I noticed no refrigerant lines to the compressor and no belt. Is your compressor bad, or just haven't had time to get around to it?

[roadking77]

A/C regretibly not hooked up
Almost every thing works but a few odds n ends. 1. Speedometer. I have cc and the speedo does not work when going through it. SO, last month when I had the oil change, whilst on the lift I had the guy hook up a new speedo cable to the trans. I am hoping to get it pulled through to the inside, maybe this weekend and hoping that will fix the problem.
2. Radio never hooked up. I really dont have a desire to do so, and have thought about buying a blue tooth speaker to use for tunes. Honestly listening to music when driving is not a requirement for me now.
3. No A/C. This is one of those IF I ever get the 79 finished I would like to get it hooked up in the black car. Another of those that I really want to get sorted out but not a high priority at this point.
4. Tach does not work. Reading a thread here awhile ago that 'Firebird parts' made saying the tach had its own power source turned a lightbulb on in the dark crevices of my mind. I have the new wiring harness in a box in my office (has been there for many months now!) plan is to tackle that when I dig into the speedo. I would like to get to this one sooner than later.

My grandson is sure to point out the few things that dont work when we go for a drive. "Pop, lets turn the radio on, oh thats right its broke!, how about the air conditioning, oh yea doesnt work!, why doesnt the speedometer work?".  If I can get one off his list I will say its a victory.

[roadking77]

Shocks and bushings made a big difference.

Looking at the worn out pair, is another example for someone buying one of these cars that looks great, but may not have had this kind of stuff taken care of. If you get one, check the bushings and the body support/ core support bushings as well.
Everything else in my car was new when I restored it, however my plan was to have the front end completely rebuilt the fall after the summer I first got it on the road. 6 yrs later still waiting.

[b_hill_86]

A/C regretibly not hooked up
Almost every thing works but a few odds n ends. 1. Speedometer. I have cc and the speedo does not work when going through it. SO, last month when I had the oil change, whilst on the lift I had the guy hook up a new speedo cable to the trans. I am hoping to get it pulled through to the inside, maybe this weekend and hoping that will fix the problem.
2. Radio never hooked up. I really dont have a desire to do so, and have thought about buying a blue tooth speaker to use for tunes. Honestly listening to music when driving is not a requirement for me now.
3. No A/C. This is one of those IF I ever get the 79 finished I would like to get it hooked up in the black car. Another of those that I really want to get sorted out but not a high priority at this point.
4. Tach does not work. Reading a thread here awhile ago that 'Firebird parts' made saying the tach had its own power source turned a lightbulb on in the dark crevices of my mind. I have the new wiring harness in a box in my office (has been there for many months now!) plan is to tackle that when I dig into the speedo. I would like to get to this one sooner than later.

My grandson is sure to point out the few things that dont work when we go for a drive. "Pop, lets turn the radio on, oh thats right its broke!, how about the air conditioning, oh yea doesnt work!, why doesnt the speedometer work?".  If I can get one off his list I will say its a victory.

Not a lot to those cruise transducers. Could be as simple as a broken speedo cable between the trans and transducer, between the transducer and Speedo, could be the gear(s) in the transmission, could be the gear in the transducer.

Radio options could include a Bluetooth enabled amplifier which could be used with or without the radio. Just some thoughts.

[5th T/A]

For me the Speedometer and Tach would be important, the radio and AC not so much.

The stock AM/FM stereo on my 1980 works, but sound is distorted. I found an old car radio repair place in Texas that would repair it. But hesitated to send it out during the Pandemic, afraid I would never see it again.

I have a portable JBL Bluetooth speaker I play music from my phone when sitting on my deck, it sounds surprisingly good. But when driving my TA I don’t really care if I have tunes or not. It’s funny because when I was a teenager I had a part time job on nights and weekends installing car stereos. I installed a quadraphonic 8 track in my 1973 Trans Am when that was the hot setup. There wasn’t a lot of content available, But I have fond memories of listening to the Santana Abraxas album.

[roadking77]

Larry, I think like a couple of other people on this forum we live parallel lives, LOL. I feel the same way about the radio. When I was in hs and right after I always had high end stereos in my cars. I had a job making decent money for a teenager and no bills  I would buy a new stereo about every 6 months or so just because. Always upgrading for bigger and better. I always had Kenwood or Alpine systems, eq's, amps and really good speakers (before the days of the big thumping bass). When I got bored with a system I would sell to one of my buddies and buy new. Now I really could care less listening in the car. I did buy a small bluetooth but its not loud enough over the Pypes, LOL. I wil probably get one slightly bigger.

No speedo bothers me but I have an app on my phone that I use and it works pretty good.

[TammyTA]

I was informed by my Bride that our 78 WOULD have working AC...   LOL.  But the system was toast when we got it.  Figured out the replacement costs etc & went with Vintage Air....  Now to put the motor back in..... But Honey.. its got AC.