That was one of our local drivers, really does suck..
As far as the stiff shock thing, its the shock oil they tell you to run out of the box, the 35wt with 1.7 pistons feels like you are running diff fluid in your shocks, i would probably start with 32.5 out of the box with the 1.7 pistons.
Thats what they actually say to run on the starting sheet they give you if you buy the big bores for your b44.1