Hi James, looking forward to seeing some of that experience come out in perhaps some new engineering ideas and passing on the ideas to me for one.
Regarding shocks, I and a few other discerning owners on here have Hagon nitros as rear shocks which whilst not cheap, you only get what you pay for. Of course the progressive 414's being American are very popular and probably the pick from the majority.
As far as front suspension goes, I have tried the progressive front springs but now have the intiminators with the oem springs which I have found actually work better with them than the progressive springs by themselves or with the intimidators. Btw, the intiminators were designed to work with the oem's.
Good luck
