Caltracs are drag racing gear. They are designed to hook, and only to hook, with little or no consideration for ride quality. I'm not a drag race guy, and even I've read enough about the Caltracs to know that very few people enjoy running them on the street. Strip is a different story, but on the street I think you'll find the consensus is they ride really harsh. And that shouldn't be a surprise, because they're designed to hook. The more you set your suspension up for drag racing, the worse your ride quality will be on the street. A loose front end and really stiff rear suspension may be great for going fast in a straight line, but it's terrible for anything else.
As for putting it all in one thread, good luck. There are several threads that have a ton of information. I know I've posted that "recipe" for a good handling car at least a dozen times now and there are tons of great threads by others like autoxcuda that went into making up that list. But what makes a good suspension set up changes with how the car is used, and especially with what tires are used. Suspension has to match the the grip level and intended use of the car. What makes a good street cruiser will be different from what makes a good corner carver, which will be different again from an all-out autoX car. And what makes for a good 1/4 mile car will be completely different.
