Reduce body roll VH - VK

[Shaun_VK]

Hey guys just wondering if anyone could help me out with how to reduce body roll in my VK. My best mate and I (NUNSUS) being young blokes like to give our First gen commodore's a little kick every now and then but i find the body roll to much to try and control. What is the best way to go in shocks and springs to reduce this? and also is there any sort of stiffer sway bars/bushes we can get to also help, cheers.

[Mad84VK]

dont know the name but i think there is a bar that runs across the top of you engine to stop this exact thing. for shocks i have no idea... maybe just some stiffer shocks and springs

[Hangman]

Strut brace is what you mean. And I may be wrong, but to me that would more stop the body flexing than preventing body roll.

Stiffer shocks/springs will help, but it's a compromise with ride comfort. My LH Torrie had stiff as suspension. Sat flat when cornering, but you felt every bump in the road.

[kane_coro]

Mines lowered on kingsprings superlows all round and monroe shocks.Got a bigger swaybar in the front (30mm i think??) and the standard swaybar in the back with new bushes.Rides quite well for an old commodore.You can put in better shocks etc but it gets to rigid ive found,you end up bouncing over the road instead of driving on it

[VBRED]

To prevent body roll upgrade your front and rear sway bars. I run a 27mm on the front and a 22mm on the rear. This is a good road set up.
It's a good idea to replace any worn bushes as well.

[OFF T4P]

i got nolthan bush's all round. Made a huge differance when i changed them all. I think for a full nolthan bush kit for a early girl is around $300. I got the same sway bar setup as "vbred". I was running knoi shocks and superlows. I had a strut brace on there too. It handled VERY well for a old girl. I have a set of K Sport coilover front and rear to go in after its painted. Hoping that will make it even better.

[ari666]

yeah both those last two: 27mm in front, 22 in back. 30mm would prolly end up ripping something off the car. wouldnt go any bigger than 28. and neolathane bushes. if your car is lowered then get a decent adjustable panhard bar with nice tight bushes and itll stop the diff so swingin so much.

stiffening your strut tops with a strut brace does help for cornering, by minimising the amount of movement between the two towers. you wont notice it though if your bushes and whatnot are worn, so do them first.

castor arm (Z-bar) bushes
control arm and trailing arm bushes
sway bar bushes (make sure you do the chassis mounts, not just the end links)
panhard bushes
lower ball joints
strut tops

after you tighten all that up, even with stock V8 springs, mine was pretty nice. then a set of kings and monroe gas shocks and it was good enough for me i never got around to fitting a bigger sway bar though. it was the missing link that i just CBF doing.

[the_boozer]

What sort of tyers do you have? Is where my thoughts start (60 series) lower it an inch maybe 2 if it never leaves the road. I don't mind Monroe shocks remember if its lowered you need shorter shocks than standard at the back. I think King springs are the only lowered springs I seen for commodores (maybe I just think that cause they are the cheapest).

[Shaun_VK]

Thanks heaps guys, huge help!!!!

[NFNSUS]

Its NFNSUS

I currently have ultra low kingsprings in the front and gt gas shocks all round.

[commy vk]

Hey guys just wondering if anyone could help me out with how to reduce body roll in my VK. My best mate and I (NUNSUS) being young blokes like to give our First gen commodore's a little kick every now and then but i find the body roll to much to try and control. What is the best way to go in shocks and springs to reduce this? and also is there any sort of stiffer sway bars/bushes we can get to also help, cheers.

Yeah i know what you are talking about here as I found out just after I bought my vk and took a 100 kph sweeper,pretty scary.It was that scary I just wanted to get rid of it again but someone told me to fix this is pretty easy.All I did was got King springs1 inch lower and Monroe gas shocks and it just changed the handling dramatically.I also found out that the spacer in the centre bearing needed to be ditched.As this worked for me I am not suggesting it will fix your problem as there could be other issues with your car maybe.Good luck.

[Darren_L]

as others have said
a set of good shocks (Munroe is fine), springs (doesn't have to be lowered) swaybars (F&R) and make sure bushes are all in good condition.
It will make a HUGE difference

[Shaun_VK]

This will be next on my todo list can anyone tell me "whiteline" bushes/ sway bars are like? i found a hole kit on eay for about $500

[vkberlina]

I have a whiteline kit on my VK, it was one of their development sets that they are now selling,I run the blade adjustable bars on my VK, you have to re-enforce the rear suspension mounts else you WILL rip them off the body. Took a bit of adjusting but well worth it, I have front adjustable camber, caster etc fear adjustable rake on the diff, adjustable panhard rod the works, its fantastic.

Scott

[Shaun_VK]

How do I go about reinforcing the shock mounts?

[Darren_L]

This will be next on my todo list can anyone tell me "whiteline" bushes/ sway bars are like? i found a hole kit on eay for about $500

I've got whiteline sway bars front & rear. No complaints

[vkberlina]

How do I go about reinforcing the shock mounts?

Strip every thing out of the car, above and around the rear saybar mounts, we made up 4mm plates for the inside of the car, drilled 4 holes in the plate & body and bolted it so the inside then proceed to weld them to the body from underneath and inside the cabin, removed the bolts and welded up the holes.
Next I made up gussets to help brace the factory mounts under the car and completely seam welded up the original brackets & the gussets.

I am yet to give the car a really hard time on a track with sticky tires to see if they hold up but if they let go theres goingto be big holes in the body

Scott

[ari666]

we made up 4mm plates for the inside of the car,

^^^ do this.

[Darren_L]

Strip every thing out of the car, above and around the rear saybar mounts, we made up 4mm plates for the inside of the car, drilled 4 holes in the plate & body and bolted it so the inside then proceed to weld them to the body from underneath and inside the cabin, removed the bolts and welded up the holes.
Next I made up gussets to help brace the factory mounts under the car and completely seam welded up the original brackets & the gussets.

I am yet to give the car a really hard time on a track with sticky tires to see if they hold up but if they let go theres goingto be big holes in the body

Scott

I've never heard of this happening, only the upper trailing arm mounts
Although I have noticed there isn't a lot anchoring the sway bar, when you consider how much force the pin is put through
Good info, probably should look into doing this myself

[Shaun_VK]

I have a whiteline kit on my VK, it was one of their development sets that they are now selling,I run the blade adjustable bars on my VK, you have to re-enforce the rear suspension mounts else you WILL rip them off the body. Took a bit of adjusting but well worth it, I have front adjustable camber, caster etc fear adjustable rake on the diff, adjustable panhard rod the works, its fantastic.

Scott

Scott,

Any chance you could put a few pictures up to give me an idea of what to do?

[VCchaser]

Scott,

Any chance you could put a few pictures up to give me an idea of what to do?

Hi mate, have whiteline 4 point adjustable blade swaybar and panhard but in Brisbane $275 the pair will pack for courier if interested 0422 822 546, cheers.

[vkberlina]

I dont have many pics of this stage one was to weld in some reenforcing of the sway bar bracket, I found with grippy rubber and harder swaybar settings It started to peel the swaybar & upper control arm supports off the body so then I gutted the rear interior out drilled some 5mm holes through the brackets and then shapped up some 4mm plate to the inside bolted it in and welded it up, removed the bolts and welded up the holes and fitted some gussets back onto the chassis rails.

If it tears out this time the chassis rails will go with it.