[Paul-ish]

I'm helping out a friend who has a 92 454SS pick up.
Plan is to ditch the leaf springs to move the suspention between the frame rails, tub the box, add a 9 inch and have room for a 15+inch slick.
Questions...

4 link vs. ladder bars? I hear ladder is a lot easier to set up but 4 link has more adjustability? Which is a better choice?
Coilovers vs. shock/spring ? Coilovers have some adjustment but worth all the extra $$$?
Planning on lowering the truck 2/4, 3/5, or 4/6??? Thought's on how low to go for a truck thats gonna be %75 street. Lowering help launch or hurt it?

Right now it's a pretty mild bbc but have BIG plans for lots of hp in the future. Really want to nail this stuff and do it all right the first time around.

 

[mufflerguy]

Height? As low as the streets you drive it on will allow. Our streets are shit here, and if you run em too low, you'll smash the hell out of everything. Thats just the reality here in Canada. Since its a mostly street driven truck, make sure you leave adiquate room to run a decent exhaust. This will gain you more ground clearance and not force you to drive a loud ass truck that leaves your ears bleeding every time you go for a cruise. You can run a large exhaust that is reasonably quiet. I'm not a lot of help on the rear suspension question, but I did install a ladder bar set up on my own car (mono leaf conversion) years ago, and it was pretty straight forward.

 

[Paul-ish]

I'm also a bit concerned about height because this thing WILL be going wheels up in the next couple years. Can being lower cause more damage? Or just pick some REALLY stiff springs?

 

[mufflerguy]

No, you gotta run the correct spring rates or the truck won't work. Thats the nice thing about coilovers is the adjustability. A ladder bar set-up should be more than enough to go 8 seconds for fun. Run the biggest heim joints you can if its gonna see street use. The drawback on the street? Noisy. My rear suspension rattled like a MoFo. Heim joints on a street car = noisy rear suspension, but it is what it is. You can always look at some spit mono's and caltracs, but I'm not sure if they will handle the weight of that truck.