Most recently we did several things between a Heartland Topeka DE/Club Race in late October and the TWS DE in late November.

First we decided to change spring rates and the ride height of the car. The rear of the car would settle under hard acceleration so we decided we needed a firmer spring. We had borrowed a pair of Bilstein coil over's from a friend to try. We liked them so much, we decided to build our own.

We took the Koni M030 shocks from our earlier installation and modified them. We trimmed down the original lower spring perch and welded a tube down from that with a collar at the end that would now be our new lower perch. Welding on a gas charged shock should be done carefully. We purchased aftermarket spring collars and adjuster screws. We went to a 7" x .250 x 275lbs/in. spring. A little new paint and they looked as good as we expected them to work. We were shooting for lowering the rear of the car another inch.

Previous M030 Shock Assy. Old Shock Assy.

Our Modified Shock Assy. New Shock Assy.

We also felt the front suspension needed heavier springs. We went with a new spring on the front strut measuring 12" x .250 x 450lbs/in. Shown here you can also see the S-4 brake caliper adapters, camber plates and our fabricated struts. We lowered the front of the car another inch this time.

New Spring on Strut. Front Strut With New Spring.

A more challenging project was to build our own exhaust system from front to rear. We wanted to stay with the muffler we had changed to earlier because of its large 3" inlet and outlet. We purchased some 3" mandrel bent 90's and some 3" tubing. We wanted an exhaust that was 3" in diameter from the turbo out. The stock system on the 88 model was a double wall pipe from the turbo back to the catalytic converter. Some times the inner pipe can be collapsed and restrict boost. You might not know that until you cut it apart as was the case with a friend of ours.

The system was constructed from many pieces and tig welded together. We used the original flange that bolts onto the turbo. This pipe is double wall and required cutting it off about 1" down from the flange and flaring the inner pipe to match the 3" pipe we used. Even with the massive 3" exhaust system, we still have adequate ground clearance.

The waste gate normally exhausts though it's own little cad muffler and then ties back into the main exhaust pipe. We opted to make a short stub and dump directly down independent of the exhaust. We drilled some holes through the cad to allow more flow. While making for a little more noise then running though the main muffler, it does have a unusual yet cool sound when under boost.

Stock system with catalytic converter removed and aftermarket muffler.
Old Exhaust and New Parts.

Example of 3" flow compared to factory double wall pipe.
3 inch Pipe Compared to Factory.

Waste Gate Dump with Cad for muffler.

New 3" dia. hand built system.
Custom 3 inch Exhaust System.