OK here's an update after a couple hundred miles with my winter changes:
-I only went 1/2" drop on the front and was able to get -1.7* camber. Good for the street, but for the track I will have to invest in camber plates. Justice Pete has a nice set but I do not think I want to drill into the towers. May go with the Morenos. 1/2" drop is subtle but looks good, I went 3/4" on the rear, I call it the Demon Drop 'cause the ride height in millimeters is 666. Have received many positive comments on the drop.
-So far on the RideTechs, they do have much more dampening at full stiff compared to ther OE 1LE struts. When set at full stiff they can be harsh over some raod imperfections that would be at the threshold for me on harshness. But realistically it happens very infrequently. The solid mounts of the RideTechs are noticable at any strut setting, but I am very sensitive to that kind of change. Again this is noticable over sharp road imperfections. Sacrifices and compromises in the name of speed.
- I lost about 30lbs with the change to the RideTechs. I did other changes too, rear upper control arm (rearward) bushing to a JDP poly bushing, BMR lower control arm knuckle bushing, Prothane rear cradle bushing inserts, Prothane front radius rod inserts,
and my own front radius rod caster locks.
-I have come to the conclusion that my process of self-alignment is off. One variable I have not been able to control is the lack of a level surface, and this can affect my readings.
A local auto repair business that works on all makes and years of vehicles gave me an opportunity to do my own alignment. Lohr Auto in Johnstown. Rob Lohr is a die hard car guy and has been a tech for decades. He currently owns a GTO (do not remember the year, it is of the 04-06 variety), a G8 GT, and many older muscle cars. He also works on older muscle cars for a lot of local guys. His wife has two Mustangs. He gets it, he is a hot rodder and is up to date on the happenings of the industry, past, present and future. His business is highly regarded within the community with high quality work.
So when I came to him looking for an alignment, he understood what I was looking for and realized that I am very particular. He is the same way! So he offered to get the car on the alignment rack, do the setup and let me do my own alignment. He recognized I knew what I was doing and was confident I would do it safely. I basically rented his machine for about 2 hours and what he charged me was very acceptable. Thanks Rob!! My current alignment specs:
Front
Cam: -1.7/-1.8
Cas:+7.1/+7.2
Toe:0
Total Toe:0
Rear
Cam: -.6/-.7
Toe: .10/10
Total Toe: .20
Thrust Angle: 0
I took a bit of Justice Pete's recommendations and went a little more aggressive on the camber.
My caster locks worked good! I made them out of 1/4" thick stainless bar and got the bolts from boltdepot.com. They are 10.9 class 14mmx2x140mm bolts and lock nuts. I also got two 10mmx1.5x30mm stainless set screws installed into the front knuckle for camber fine tuning.
I had intially aligned it with my home alignment tools, and I was close but nothing beats the precision of the industry standard alignment machine. Small movements of eccentrics and tie rod ends show up on the alignmnet machine. I can appreciate this as I perform machine alignments on various forms of power plant equipment down to tenths of a thousanth inch (.0001).
The car drives great and I could notice the difference from my intial home alignment to the alignment rack specs.
-There is an increase in road noise most likely from the install of the cradle bushing inserts and various rear poly bushings.