Hotchkis TVS kit @ Summit: $3800

[Alvin]

Just saw this on Summit this morning. The Hotchkis TVS kit for $3,799.79 on sale!

http://www.summitracing.com/parts/HSS-80390/

[jimmydean]

Wow, that's insane. After seeing the write up on that setup in the '69, it would be an awesome package (if I wasn't going bags).

[Hart_Rod]

How much fab and welding are required? What drop does it produce?

[jimmydean]

Originally Posted by Hart_Rod

How much fab and welding are required? What drop does it produce?

That kit is all about performance more than stance, but you get a good bit of drop, too. Here is the write up from the control arm thread.

Originally Posted by PCHRODS

Let me start out by saying, I am not going to put anyones product down, every vendor in this thread that has been mentioned, builds some really nice products, some of which i have not used. And each manufacturer has there own intentions on what their suspension is designed for, Some primarily go for ride height, some for ride, some for looks, and some for all. Now our truck has what I think is the best of all worlds " in my eyes" Not everyone likes my truck and not everyone thinks that racing a truck like ours is Mentally stable.... But I built the truck to achieve the things that I wanted it to, when we first built it in 07 we had CPP upper and lower arms in front, which were a drastic improvement over stock, allowing us to lower the truck and still keep the alignment in factory spec. Which was great! We used Early Classic Enterprises Big Block 2"drop springs, they are the only ones i could find that offered a drop spring for a big block with the correct spring rates, We also used Early Classic Enterprises Trans Crossmember, and Extreme Drop Rear Cross member and their trailing arms and rear springs, with the super track bar and shock relocation brackets. My primary reasoning for choosing all the ECC products, is mainly for the fact that we wanted the chassis to look as "stock" as possible, and ECC's crossmember are beefy strong, and I was really pleased with the asthetics of their products, it tucked everything up inside the frame rails which gives the truck a really clean look. We are throwing 640HP and 650 FT TQ at this stuff and the last thing i want was something to break or bend. Now here's for the fun part, earlier this year we started auto crossing and road racing our truck, which at first i was skeptical, but our 4280 lb monster did quite well, our first run out placed 2nd, not bad for a rookie.

When we started racing the truck it had all the components listed above. But as we got faster and the tires got bigger and stickier, the suspension wasn't able to keep up with what "we" needed. So we knocked on the door of Hotchkis Suspension. Why? Because Hotchkis builds Complete suspension kits a.k.a Total Vehicle Systems, with one thing in mind HANDLING!! Ride height and ride quality come with the kit too for free, the money is in the performance. We upgraded upper and lower arms,center link, sway bars, shock relocation brackets, and the track bar. We added a few of our own products to up the anty to their kit,(which isn't necessary but we wanted to be able to fine tune it for different tracks) AFCO double adjustable shocks, and an AGR Quick Ratio Steering box. Let me also add this, The hotchkis kit is not a race only suspension, it performs top notch on and off the track, i wouldn't hesitate to drive my truck from here to florida and back and hit every race track in between. Now here's an example of how the improvement overall was better. At the events we go to there are some purpose built race/street cars there primarily some gnarly camaros that give me goose bumps to say the least. We used to be a good 4 seconds slower on the courses then them, now some of them we are faster than, and a couple we will probably spend the rest of eterity chasing but we are only a second away from some of the best autocross cars out there. But to shave off 3-4 seconds on an autocross track is huge, and not easy. We spend all day tuning to shave off tenths, but with the Hotchkis TVS, it chewed off seconds!! I haven't driven a C-10 that will out handle our truck. I am not saying this to be arogant or push the Hotchkis Brand.You asked me for my opinion on what works and why. I have had this truck since 1996 and and it's had some serious overhauls and mods done to it, but i can honestly say when it comes to the chassis, it's done, it doesn't really get any better than where it's at now. I encourage anyone to show me up and prove me wrong, I don't claim to know everything or to be the best at anything. But I do claim to try my best at everything I know. I guess that's my two cents.

[Conundrum]

Originally Posted by Hart_Rod

How much fab and welding are required? What drop does it produce?

The write up in Truckin' magazine, says it gives you a 4/6 drop and extends the wheelbase by 1.8" and also changes the caster. The only welding I seen mentioned was to attach a piece of metal to each of your stock trailing arms to attach the sway bar links to. Everything else appears to be just bolt on.

That is an awesome price given their msrp of about $5300.
To bad they don't have a kit for us 73-87 guys.

[QTRMOA]

Dead sexy!

[Big-un]

Had to have bought it Nov. 17 from Summit and after 3 weeks I had to demand delivery, and the Sway bar kit is still back ordered 12-24. Even worse the Hotchkis Lower A Arm spindle stop touches the 72 stock spindle stop in a straight position. Hotchkis told me I could cut the stop off the spindle or replace the spindle with a later model, he recomended a CCP Modular spindle. He said that the stop was after thought and the engineers use a later model spindle for design not a 72 spindle.

Yea I did order the CCP spindle.

Also I do owe this information to the forum and sincerely thank everyone for the information on this site.
Merry Christmas Big-un