Aftermarket Vendor ReviewProvide questions and comments about aftermarket part vendors for the Third Gen F-Body.
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installed their new tubular adjustable torque arm last night and it snapped at the welds backing out of the shop. not that all are bad but if you plan to pick one up make sure it's not defective......
__________________ Same model different attitude..
So it WAS defective.
Man,I knew to stay away from Edelbreak carbs.
Added a new one to my NOT to do list.
That really sucks, are they going to refund your money
or let you have a new one?DUECE
I am very skeptical of Edebrocks quality on their suspension stuff. The welds and finish on my STB is garabge. It performs awesome but I will never buy another Edelbrock suspension piece. Everything looks like it is slapped together.
well i suppose the nice thing is i can just fix the welds and it will be a good piece....however it's a pretty shady thing. i'm just amazed it was under very little stress. couldn't imagine what would have happened had i really launched the car.
Originally posted by Kandied91z well i suppose the nice thing is i can just fix the welds and it will be a good piece....however it's a pretty shady thing. i'm just amazed it was under very little stress. couldn't imagine what would have happened had i really launched the car.
I wouldn't bother fixing the welds. You will only further weaken the material. It sounds like they used some brittle stuff. I am suprised a man of your quality did not opt for something that has been around the block a few times like Spohn, Hotchkis, or BMR.
Originally posted by ShiftyCapone I am very skeptical of Edebrocks quality on their suspension stuff. The welds and finish on my STB is garabge. It performs awesome but I will never buy another Edelbrock suspension piece. Everything looks like it is slapped together.
I agree. My STB also has not so good looking welds on them.
__________________ Vivid Blue Pearl 89 RS In The 808 State See It Here------>CarDomain Page
I purchased some assembled heads from them and about 500 miles into them a bloody rocker arm *stud* snapped. I was pissed because i was on the freeway and it took what seemed an hour to get over to the side of the road.
Last edited by IROC-Z4ever; 04-09-2004 at 09:46 PM.
Buy Spohn, dude. And take a picture of it before you send it. You don't want them telling you there's no problem with it without proof, know what I mean?
if spohn wasn't so much more i would have. figured i'd try it, i'd rather keep my stock piece for now then spend another 500 on a piece of bars. just to bad it didn't work out....
Originally posted by ponykiller I got my Edlebrock stb without installation hardware or brackets!Just the main piece!
At this rate they'll be known as Edle-crock before you know it!
many people have been considering them to be edelCRAP for a while. the only thing they are GOOD for are intakes. everything else i have seen is mediocre.
I compared the Edelbrock torque arm to the Spohn
torque arm. All I have to say is this: EDELBROCK SUCKS.
Spohn's design looks much more durable and safer to
use. You sometimes have to spend more money to
get quality. I bought valve covers from Edelbrock once,
returned them next day. They look poorly designed and
they required modification to fit, which was never stated!
Oh, yeah I have an Edelbrock STB too. I will have to check
those welds now, since everyone here is saying they aren't
so great. Other than that, it came with everything, and went
together fine. The ONLY thing that was decent from them!
Yeap, right after Edelbrock aquired Russell Fittings I recieved a #8 90° with no F'in thread. They anodized it with no THREAD! WTF!
'A'eroquip 'nough said'. A big 'F' to Russell/Edelbrock!
Ron
__________________ '82 Trans Am
'81 Camaro Z-28
'94 Vette LT1 Coupe
'00 Impala LS
'03 Silverado 1500HD 4x4
Originally posted by ronterry Yeap, right after Edelbrock aquired Russell Fittings I recieved a #8 90° with no F'in thread. They anodized it with no THREAD! WTF!
'A'eroquip 'nough said'. A big 'F' to Russell/Edelbrock!
Ron
Ok, what about Earl's? That's a "Holley" company, right?
Earl's seems to be a good product.
Camaro_nut the old saying you pay more to get more is not always true and is rather superficial on points of suspension where it isn't needed. there is nothing wrong with the edlebrock design and although spohns product is nice too it's overpriced for what it is.
had i not broke mine and had good luck with it everyone would have wanted to know where to get one. i just posted that it broke to warn others....i would have bought spohns products, along with everything else he sells for our cars had they not been so over priced.
spending 3-400 on a torque arm for a street car is pointless.
Originally posted by Kandied91z i would have bought spohns products, along with everything else he sells for our cars had they not been so over priced.
spending 3-400 on a torque arm for a street car is pointless.
Spohns tranny mount TA is $295. Seems quite reasonable. My Random Tech on sale was $292.
__________________ -Justin- out of my mind and I'll never know why '86 Pontiac Firebird 305-4bbl / 700R4 T-Top WS6
'92 Pontiac Firebird 305-TBI / 700R4 T-Top
'76 Chevrolet Silverado C10 350-4bbl / TH350 longbed click for my Homepage at CarDomain to see my mods da computer: AMD A64 3400+ @ 2.6GHz in green Aspire SuperAlien case.click for a pic! Teddy!
Originally posted by Kandied91z well the edlebrock's piece was half that....the actual tubing is half of that..tell me what your paying for that makes it reasonable?
Heavy duty construction and quality craftsmanship.
I think the fact that your brand new torque arm broke before you could even get out of the driveway explains why the Edelbrock piece is so much cheaper than Spohn. Just looking at your personal experience, I'd say that the Edelbrock torque arm is what is overpriced. $295 for a proven race-worthy part, or $169 for a part that you can't even use because it's broken... not a tough decision in my book.
Originally posted by Kandied91z Camaro_nut the old saying you pay more to get more is not always true and is rather superficial on points of suspension where it isn't needed. there is nothing wrong with the edlebrock design and although spohns product is nice too it's overpriced for what it is.
had i not broke mine and had good luck with it everyone would have wanted to know where to get one. i just posted that it broke to warn others....i would have bought spohns products, along with everything else he sells for our cars had they not been so over priced.
spending 3-400 on a torque arm for a street car is pointless.
How is it pointless if Spohn is the only one who makes
torque arms that relocate them to the crossmember?
Correct me if i'm wrong, but I think this is way better
setup than the stock trans. mounting area. The stock
setup is fine for the cheaper priced ones, but you want
to stop breaking trans mounts and have better traction,
go with Spohn's. Also, if you swap to a T-56, it's pretty
much a no brainer to get the crossmember/torque arm
package. I do not see anything overpriced either, for that
matter. His suspension parts and SFCs are almost the same
prices as most other companies ( Hotchkis, Edelbrock, BMR,etc.)
I have shopped around Summit,Jeg's, and Spohn's. I believe
that Spohn makes a better product than anyone else. I also
think that they have good prices. If he was so overpriced,
I would think they would be not doing well. But they are the
most popular suspension/chassis company for us. Call me
an idiot, but this is my opinion. Just remember this, Spohn is
committed to ONLY 82-02 F bodies and ONLY suspension and
chassis. Edelbrock does everything.
I also see spending 10K on a paint job is pointless. For
a "show car" like yours, don't you think you should have every
part the best quality?
To each his own! :lala:
Last edited by Camaro_nut; 04-26-2004 at 06:38 PM.
I don't see why you wouldn't want to go with a spohn tourque arm, its adjustable, comes powder coated (If your into that, frankly I don't care considering it goes under the car, but since you have a show car *shrug*), its hella beefy and you can trust the welds on spohn's products, has poly bushings, and relocates the tourque arm off your tranmission tailshaft to the crossmember that they supply.
I don't think you get much better than that. Not to mention they have an option for the chrome moly version. With you running 12's I doubt you want the force of your car hanging off your transmission tail shaft. Spohn makes good items at a pretty decent price IMO, his customer service rocks and will always back up his product and you won't have to play phone tag with Steve.
__________________
91 RS Camaro | 383 LT1/T-56
Stage III ported heads | CC306 Cam | Electric Waterpump
1.6:1 Rocker Arms | SLP headers | 3" Exhaust
Forged Rotating assembly | Whole lot of *** woopin!
Best time (with stock cam on the old 350): 60' 2.396 - 13.733 @ 107.48 MPH
here we go..... thanks for turning the thread into a pointless dispute. why does everyone bring my car and what i have done into their discussion. go find something better to do.
it was refered to anyone in particular, just that the conversation was being diverted.
there is nothing wrong with spohns products, everyone i've seen in person has been of good quality. i put this thread up to warn others who had or are planning on purchasing that unit to be careful as some serious damage could result.
FU(K me Kandied! Just saw your pics. That is one sweet car! I had no idea it was that nice. What kind of exhaust do you have and are you still using a tubular cross member?
How come no one mentions the Random Technology Torque Arm. Not the most trick piece in the world but it is sooooooooo easy to install, adjustable, and damn near unbreakable in my opinion. It has a nice round tube front for a bind free pivot point, and spherical heim joints on the diff. Had mine for 3-4 years now and not one problem. I have heard all the arguments for relocating the front attachment point but I really have never had a problem with mine hooking up in the corners or the strip. I think the School of Automotive Machininsts had a 90 something Camaro that went 10's with a random torque arm. Good enough for me anyway. Only downfall is that the torque arm can be expensive. 360 smackers.
I've got a Random Tech. T.A.. Bought it when they first came out, paid almost 400 for it. It is one stout piece! Had to do some creative grinding to get it to fit the Dana. It's been on for 4-5 years (can't remember, it's been awhile) with zero problems.
I've got to admit that since I put the T56 in, I've been thinking about the Spohn T.A.. I like the idea of moving the arm off the tailshaft. Fortunately I can justify this expense since I have another TA that gets the "hand-me-down" parts.
You might as well spend the extra $ and get a decent piece and spare yourself the hassle down the road. But that's just me.
Originally posted by Kandied91z it was refered to anyone in particular, just that the conversation was being diverted.
there is nothing wrong with spohns products, everyone i've seen in person has been of good quality. i put this thread up to warn others who had or are planning on purchasing that unit to be careful as some serious damage could result.
that's it.
Your right. But, this stuff happens alot (topic diverted).
Just wondering, did you return it and get a full refund?
I just checked out your new pics. I have to say it's very
hot looking! Great job on everything.
Back to discussion on torque arms:
I did not know of a Random Tech. Torque arm.
And, no body mentioned the BMR "trak pak" thing. Who's
using that?
IMO, I will stick with Spohn. My theory is, if you pick one
product and used it, and works fine, I stick with that
company.
Another option that I forgot to mention about Spohn's
torque arm: chromemoly or mild steel.
Last edited by Camaro_nut; 04-27-2004 at 08:28 PM.
Originally posted by Kandied91z well the edlebrock's piece was half that....the actual tubing is half of that..tell me what your paying for that makes it reasonable?
alright so 1 out of 10 break.......assuming that. it's probably alot less even. however you buy it, go over the welds and it works you have a nice piece for very cheap.
take your chances i guess. it gets old spending a fortune on these items that do very little when you know what's actually put into them.
Originally posted by Kandied91z alright so 1 out of 10 break.......assuming that. it's probably alot less even. however you buy it, go over the welds and it works you have a nice piece for very cheap.
take your chances i guess. it gets old spending a fortune on these items that do very little when you know what's actually put into them.
You see a pic up there? I can't get one to load up on my
screen. Anyways, did you read my post above? Did you
get a full refund back?
Yes, I believe that constantly spending a lot on high
performance parts for a street car or show car can get
old. But, you would not get this far with your car if you
hadn't spent a ton of money! Look at your car! it's a friggin'
dream car! Not too many people here can afford that stuff.
Also, how can you say they do very little??? Every piece that
I bought for my suspension/chassis, engine, etc. helped a lot!
Every piece I noticed a difference. From a wonder bar to
a cat back exhaust system. I don't know about you dude.
I agree with Kandied. You get to a point when the cost starts to outweigh the benefits. Like exotic fuel systems, large rears, long tube headers, ect. Not that these things aren't cool but you have to weigh what you spend against the real world usability of these parts and what you already have. The real question is if you really need certain parts or are they overkill. Like long tube headers kill ground clearance and is getting rid of my SLP system worth $1300 bucks, a big rear is cool but WOW is it expensive, exotic fuel systems never hurt unless it's your wallet and may not be necessary.
Don't get me wrong, I want all of the above for my car but I am far from rich. Me thinks the wife hath suffered enough. Time for a sprikler system for the house maybe.
thanks for the compliment but too be honest i was fine with my stock torque arm. however i did flex a bit and since the price was right i thought i'd try the edlebrock unit......i've bought alot of things that yes added up make a huge difference but i've ran well enough without the use of a tubular torque arm for years so why do i need one now? i don't and didn't...
so as far as the return i'm still waiting to hear back from edlebrock. i'm not sure wether i want another one of if i just want my money back. to be honest the idea that something like that could break that easily in any brand makes me rather have the stock one for the street. i'm so fed up dealing with aftermarket parts to make my car a few tenths faster that it's not worth it anymore.