The first part of the plan was focused on safety. Better handling, better braking, and three-point seat belts. Detroit Speed and Engineering sold most of what I needed. In November of 2004, Cris, Cori and I were in Michigan for Thanksgiving and I talked Frankie into going over to DSE with me to place my order. Baer Brakes to replace the mismatched old drum brakes—Baer Track two piston aluminum calipers on 13 inch drilled and slotted disks in the front and Baer Sport two piston aluminum calipers with integrated parking brake mechanism on 12 inch cross-drilled and slotted disks in the rear. A new master cylinder and proportioning valve rounded out my manual braking system. Stainless steel brake lines were ordered from Classic Industries.
My entire suspension set-up was sourced through DSE. I opted for the relocation of the upper A-arms via the DSE kit, with their upper and lower tubular control arms and Koni coilovers in the front. A complete power steering set-up from DSE including their quick-ratio (12.7:1) Saginaw 600 steering gear and integrated power steering pump and reservoir was sourced as well as their hollow 1 1/8th inch front sway bar and urethane bushings everywhere. It’s all included in their Speed Kit 3. In the rear I went with the three inch drop leafsprings from DSE but not their shocks at this point. The idea was to lower the car 3 inches all the way around, and dramatically improve handling and stopping characteristics. The total bill with DSE was $6k, and I was just getting started!