Camaro Suspension Upgrades - Third-Gen Throw Down

If you're a third-gen owner, we'll bet there's times you feel like the world can be an unfair place. It seems like every aftermarket suspension company out there is making replacement subframes for first-gen Camaros, while others cater to the second-gen and fourth-gen crowd.

But where's the love for the third-gen Camaro owners who want to throw down in the twisties? Thankfully, the gearheads over at Hotchkis Performance saw this inequity and hit the drawing boards. What they came up with were some performance-driven suspension components designed to help third-gen owners keep up with their Camaro brethren when the road varies from the straight and narrow. So, we fired up our laterally-challenged '83 Camaro and headed over to Hotchkis for some suspension TLC.

We updated the front of our third-gen with Hotchkis' Sport Suspension sway bar kit. Included is a 1 7/16-inch hollow bar (PN 2203 $553.30), bushings, brackets, and end links. (A one-inch hollow rear sway bar included in next photo). For this build we also went with the Premium Steering Rebuild Kit (PN CHESTR033 $550.50), which included the inner tie rods, outer tie rod ends, idler arm, and centerlink. Although they're not included in the kits, we wanted to get maximum performance, and drop our ride height an inch, so we added in the Sport Coil Springs (PN 1903 front & rear $270.60). Hotchkis now does installations at its Premium Installation Center, so you can have your parts bolted on and aligned by those that know them best.

For the rear, Hotchkis supplied...        read full caption For the rear, Hotchkis supplied us with a one inch hollow sway bar that included bushings, brackets and end links. To this we added the Hotchkis' rear suspension package (PN 1801 $457.60). The kit included fabricated lower trailing arms, adjustable pan hard rod, and all of the hardware needed to help keep the Camaro flatter in the curves. The rear coil springs will also drop our ride down an inch.	To round out our suspension...        read full caption To round out our suspension upgrade we stiffened the chassis with a set of black powdercoated Hotchkis subframe connectors (PN 4001 $285.50). These will play a big part in reducing chassis flex and cowl shake. These cars, especially the ones with T-tops, really benefit from this easy modification.	For this build we started...        read full caption For this build we started in the rear and worked our way up front. Our experienced Hotchkis suspension technician, Corey Bedortha, took us through the installation. Corey's first step was to remove the sway bar end links. This car has had the bushings upgraded, but the stock components consisted of the old GM stuff. He then pulled the sway bar, old shocks, and worn-out springs.
Corey then dropped in the...        read full caption Corey then dropped in the new rear spring and spring spacer. Once the new springs were installed, he pulled the old trailing arms. Easy enough for a caveman, or even a magazine editor.	The Hotchkis trailing arms...        read full caption The Hotchkis trailing arms bolted right into the stock location with no drama. To prevent bushing bind, we didn't tighten them all the way until the car is lowered to ride height. We were sure to clean the mounting bracket of decades of old crud, and used the supplied lube on the new urethane bushings. This will help stop any errant squeaks once we hit the road.	Before installing the new...        read full caption Before installing the new panhard bar, Corey measured it alongside the stock bar to get the new one close in length. The new panhard bar simply bolted right into the stock location. When cornering hard the panhard bar is put under tremendous load. The stiffer bar will resist flexing and keep the rearend where it belongs--centered under the Camaro.
With the old, worn shocks...        read full caption With the old, worn shocks removed, our new Tokico Gas Shocks bolted right into place. We had to get behind the rear seat and pull back the carpet in order to access the top shock bolt.	Once the panhard bar was lined...        read full caption Once the panhard bar was lined up and tightened down, Corey bolted in the sway bar using the supplied mounts. We made sure to use a little anti-seize on the U-bolts and dabbed some of the supplied lube on the sway bar bushings. With the end links tightened up, we lowered the car and finished bolting down the trailing arms.	The new rear suspension components...        read full caption The new rear suspension components are ready for action and more important, track testing. The only downside is the sad fact that the shiny new parts only make the bottom of our Camaro look even more dingy.