Ordered some of their SFC's yesterday for christmas. My mom wanted to get them for me, but googled them and got too many to figure out what I wanted, so she had me order them myself with my card, and she will pay me back. So far so good, the transaction just got through today, and their site says they will ship in 5-8 days. I guess this means that they have to make them for me, I was hoping that since it was this time of year they would have them in stock. It will be worth the wait though, these look to be real solid pieces. The only thing I have, and its not a complaint, but it seems that they do not send out any type of confirmation email. No biggie though, the account at the site keeps track of the order. I will keep you guys updated with how the rest of the order goes soon! [edit] oh, and the 10% christmas sale worked good too

UMI is one of the best company to deal with. Ryan is a guy who really stands up behind his products.

+1

Be sure to take some pix after your install. Im curious how they look from the side on the formy...

I will try to borrow my moms camera to bring for the install. I want to get some pics.

I ordered the red ones, I really like the look of red powdercoat underneath. However, if they hang down too far and look stupid, I will take off the powdercoat, and undercoat them. I am not really too worried about it, I think you will have to bend down really far to see them.

Oh, maybe somebody else can answer this question that has them : on the install, did you have to drop the exhaust? I still have bone stock exhaust, and its still pretty solid. However, the bolts that hold the intermediate to the ball flange on the cat are rusted tight. I tried to take them off once to hear the car loud, and i actually started twisting the bolt head but the threads didnt back out! So I stopped beofre it sheared.

Be sure you have some time when you unpack them. Took me about 30 minutes just to get them out of the box and undo all the bubble wrap and tape

I had to lower my exhaust to put the passenger side up, there wasn't clearance to put the crossbrace in with the exhaust in place - it was easier to put the connector in place, mark and measure, then put the 2 pieces together off the car.

So is there any way to lower the exhaust without separating the sections? Maybe undo some hangers?

Since it was one piece welded together from the manifolds back, we lowered the whole thing, unbolted it from the manifolds and unbolted ALL the hangers. Let it hang loose during the install, but we only had the car lifted about 1 1/2 feet on ramps and jackstands.

+1

if you can see them, just paint them black over the powdercoat, no sense spending the time removing it all and spraying undercoating everywhere. I personally like black finished parts under the car despite my car being red. It look clean and "stealthy"

if my car was red I would want black parts underneath too. I think it would look odd having stuff underneath be like body color.

Well, just figured I would keep this thread alive. There has been no status in my order so far at all. I think I am going to email them or give them a call monday to make sure everything is OK.

Its funny because all my friends asked what I got for xmas, I was like subframe connectors. Now it seems like I am some sort of liar lol.

im sure they are really backed-up as usual this time of year

90% of my parts are UMI. I love the parts and Ryan is awesome to deal with.

I'm also a huge fan of UMI (see my sig).

But I've been waiting 4 months for my A arms to be built Hopefully I can get them before February.

oh ****. If people are waiting this long to get stuff made, maybe I should have ordered the alstons or something. I didnt know they got that backed up. I figured it would be like any other online store, you order and it comes. I cant blame them for being backed up - thats how business works. But if they are going to come really late I at least expect an email.

I just counted on the calender, and it hasnt been 8 business days yet, so they are still within the time limit for what the website says. After that, a call is in order. If they are going to be a long time coming - I might ask to cancel the order.

well how good are these sub-frame connecters? they sound awesome. i mean, give them some of that beautiful thing called patience. they might give you a gift card or something for you virtue if it takes a long time.

Well I got a big surprise today. My SFC's came in. The UPS guy came and I wasnt expecting because I had no way of knowing they were even shipped yet. The UMI website still says they havn't shipped yet. I am so happy right now.

These pieces are real nice. The UPS guy was struggling to get the box out of the truck they are so heavy. Powdercoat is nice, too. I will try and get some pics up later. Just figured I would update.

I placed an UMI order a week or so ago and have never received any shipping or order confirmation either. I'm going to be replacing every bit of my IROC's suspension as soon as the parts get here. They wanted $200-$300 bucks for any shipping other than ground; I hate companies that charge excessively. I chose the red over the black powdercoat. I've been slowly powdercoating my performance suspension parts a matching blue, but don't want to take the time with these parts for now. Besides, it's such a bright red, I don't have to get underside neon night lights anymore (Not..)!!!!
Nitro

I just checked, and I did get an email a few days ago from UPS. So I guess I should have checked my email before complained. It shipped earlier than it needed to.

The SFC's are out in the garage right now. Hopefully, if my buddy gets time, we are going to put them in tomorrow! Yay for a no longer stock car! I hope they make a nice difference!

Also, I read the instructions and it said in some cases you dont need to drop the exhaust. Anyone care to comment on this? I got some hardware just in case, but if I have to do anything with the exhaust it might be a few hours to a few days extra work more than I wanted. Those bolts have never been moved since like 1989 so I dont think they are wanting to go anywhere.

The story here is that the a-arms were still in the design stage when we ordered them, so i didnt expect to see them anytime soon. But they are supposed to be almost done? so hopefully they show up soon.

Makes life a whole lot easier to drop the exhaust out of the way just for the extra room to work. The passenger side pieces fit together with the exhaust in place, but there is no room to work to make the welds.

ordered a bunch of stuff from umi on chrismas as well. lower control arm relocation, single adjustable lca's and panhard bar. came in yesterday looks great and made a huge change in the way my car rides. no more popping and binding during low speed turns. the car stands up now instead of squating. no wheel hop at all. Great parts. thanx UMI!

Well I went to go put them on today, and after the hastle of getting the car up on 4 ramps, it turned out to be more like a few day project. I see now why the exhaust needs to come out, however it will probably be a day job alone to drop the exhaust. Those bolts have not moved since 1989. Other than that, they appear to fit pretty good.

One problem is that my buddy refuese to weld unless I take another day to pull the carpet up on the right front. He seems to think that the subframe area there is too close to the floorpan to weld without the heat transfering to the floorpan. So removing the carpet will be another day job.

Tomorrow morning, I am going to see if I can get any shops around here to do it for less than $100. If so, I will do that. If not, we will put them in in steps every few days.

Finally, a last question. The directions say to bolt them up while the back of the car is on stands. Is there any reason I cannot un-do the control arms while the car is on ramps with the e-brake on??

http://www.thirdgen.org/techboard/no...onnectors+fire (A Very Bad Thing)

Yea i hate jacking up these cars so much. It scares the **** out of me everytime. Anyways, all 4 wheels must be on the ground (or simulated ground), DO NOT JACK UP ANYWHERE ELSE WHILE INSTALLING.

If you have to unbolt the control arms however, SUPPORT THE CAR ON STANDS. The axle will twist in place when the controll arms are undone, and it wont be stable. SO you have to support the car on the body, not suspension, bolt them up, and then support on suspension for welding.

So support on BODY for undoing control arms. and support on SUSPENSION for installing/welding sfcs

DEFINATELY pull up the carpet. And as for the bolts, go buy a small propane torch if you dont have one, (very cheap), heat up the exhaust bolts, as hot as they will go, and then using your garden hose, spray them with water. If you dont have access to a hose, use ice cubes, or splash water onto it. DO this a few times, the heat cycles will break the rust free. Heat one last time and try to unbolt, they should come right off. Easy peasy.

I left messages at UMI today and still havn't heard from them, had a shipping confirmation, etc. I noticed that they don't show A Arms for our cars, so was surprised that one of the first posts on this thread mentioned waiting so long to receive any....... My whole project is at a standstill till they get the parts I ordered to my doorstep. Great Products/Slow Response Time/Poor Communications Skills- Sometimes it's a sign that internally there are issues going on.....
Nitro

Well if we end up doing it, he has an oxy/aescetaline torch too which might come in handy. But I still think it might be better to have a shop do it because it sounds so much easier with a lift than in a garage.

I read that fire thread too. I never expected that, but it is just one more reason to get it done at a shop. At least if it is gonna burn, I would rather let it burn in an insured shop than in buddys garage full of painting stuff and lacquer thinner.

I would try giving them a call. If you are one of those people that ordered them before they were even designed, then yeah, it might take a while. But from what I have read they are great to deal with over the phone. I will probably end up calling them to say thanks (or maybe complain if they dont go in right) depending on how the install goes. I also want to see if he can send me some stickers to put on the SFC's themself.

Oh, when I was test fitting them under the car today, I kind of found out how much they are going to hang down. I have a non GDX car, so they actually are completely visable. On the passenger side, you can see the whole lower tube at the rear, but not the front because it tucks over the pipe. On the driver side, you can see the whole thing, front to back. However, so far it looks pretty cool. I will see when they are actually installed. If I dont like the look, I will paint over them in black.

Dear Sir,

I am extremely cofused here. First off I do not know your name so I have no way of looking your order up to see where it is or what it is. Secondly, you send us a e-mail tonight at 10:00 PM which is the first e-mail we ever received from you. You say our response is slow but yet you wrote a e-mail at 10PM and it hasn't even been 20 minutes since you wrote it before you replied this message of complaints! Please allow us business hours to reply, we work a 8 hour day like every other business. And third, in your e-mail you tell me "UMI gets Bad Feedback ratings across the internet....." AND "Is there a problem with your company? Are you going under?" What? Because we do not reply to your 10PM e-mail we are getting bad feedback all across the internet and we are going.. this is how false rumors get started.

I also see you are in CA, did you call between OUR business hours? And if so please allow us time to look at your order, maybe we need to track it ect. This is a very busy time of the year for us and if you get the answering machine this means all lines are tied up, even if it rings.

So lets back up a second, I am getting bad feedback for not calling you back although you have not even allowed 24 hours yet. We are getting poor skills for not replying to your e-mail with in 20 minutes at 10PM night? And lastly if it was this major of a issue couldn't you PM me? I thinks this is a little unfair to us isn't it?

PLEASE PM or e-mail me a name and I will look the order up, or I will check voice mail in the morning and see if you left a name there. Christmas and New years are both hoildays we take some time off to spend with our families, so yes shipping can be delayed this time of the year. As for faster shipping, we can not control UPS rates. Also our shopping cart sends out order confirmation e-mails, I just checked and it is working fine and we never had a issue in the past. Please check your spam or junk mail.

Ryan
----------
Dear Neagan,

Please stop sending me these e-mails. Because one person had a slow shipped item at Christmas time does not mean we are getting a horrible reputation all over the internet. There are many happy customers of ours on this board.

Here is the e-mail I recieved linked to this thread-

Dear UMI,
I thought you should know that one of the premier Camaro boards is getting slammed with bad feedback with your company- thought you should read the 'latest thread':
http://www.thirdgen.org/techboard/af...=1#post3595299 (UMI Performance)

Ryan, nice to see you. I am hoping you dont consider my thread "slammed with bad feedback." So far I am completely happy with your SFC's (they are beautiful) and would glady do business again. The only little issue I did have was the shipping, however after I looked at the calendar and counted actual "business days" between the holidays ect, you actually got them out earlier than I should have expected. The wait just seemed long I guess because I was anxious to get to working on them. Either way, sorry for that it was my mistake.

Adam,

No I do not see you slamming us at all, you posted a simple issue. I do apologize for the delay on the shipping. Christmas is always a tough time for us and a lot of vendors. Some of our best employee's take vacation this time of the year and we can not take that away from them, add this on top of orders for Christmas and you can get behind a few days pretty easily.

Thanks again for the business,
Ryan

i was going to make a post like that, but you stole the words out of my mouth. nicely said. i don't think i could have put it in better perspective.

wasn worried about the shipping. it really wasnt that long. but the parts work awesome. thanx!

i think your jealous because you dont have one..... what do you drive a civic.... im 19 and i rather have a GTA than a corvette..... if you like these cars thats cool, if not then go to the honda club.....

dear UMI/Ryan,

You're missing the point; first, an automated email, is not a 'real' confirmation, and when a week goes by and there's never been a note sent to confirm that the order has been filled and has been shipped or will be shipped on a certain date, why wouldn't a typical customer wonder what is the problem. You couldn't read an email that shows up at your time zone, but when someone let's you know that there are multiple threads popping up on several car specific boards; you might thank them for showing enough concern to give your company a 'heads-up' about an existing pattern; even if the 'appearance' is incorrect.
Further; one of the typical patterns that shows up when a company is in some sort of 'transition' is that they are quick to take the customer's money, and then never respond. Getting burned even once will make someone gun shy and a bit of a worry wart.

Would it have been easier for you for someone to supply 5-10 thread contents that reflect the issue in question??

Lastly; when did it become the customer's responsibility to get you up off your angry, vindictive, reactive rear end to get a well deserved missing update on an order that was placed a week ago????

Do Yourself and UMI a favor and do a search on several of the larger car boards that use your products and look for the common thread before you come to our front door and unload. And if there was a better way to give you a 'heads-up' tell me. I'd be happy to forward your bitter response to your suppliers and other marketers of your product and the following thread response that called all of us Third Generation Camaro owners "POS".

I do apologize for not taking the time to word my initial email to you in a more gently worded and fuller documented message. Your company makes a top rated product and I just assumed you would give a crap what some of your customer base is experiencing. Please don't attack our board and members just because you didn't like that I called your attention to just one thread.

ADAM; I am SO SUPER SORRY that you got dragged into a tempertantrum. I surely was not intimating that you had any connection to my inquiries and personal messages to an UMI company management employee. I am shocked that he would try to tear our board 'a new one' when his issue was with me as an individual and had absolutely nothing to do with Third Gen and it's members. Who knew that a proffesional of this companies caliber would air his dirty words and laundry in such an inappropriate venue, and that possibly someone associated with him would add a follow up email with such ignorant venemous words for our favorite cars.
Who would have guessed someone from UMI would promote an attack on Flowmaster so publicly (assuming for some odd reason the two uncalled for time connected posts wouldn't be related???) Anyone have a contact with Flowmaster to let them know UMI airs their personal issues so publically????
Nitro

I wouldnt be so quick to assume that UMI performance is associated with that "3rdgenssuck" guy. I mean, personal problems aside with you and ryan, why would he trash talk the cars that he is trying to sell products for? I am sure that the 3rd generation f-body probably ranks up there pretty high among the cars that people buy his parts for. Maybe I am just thick, but I dont see how discouraging people to drive / modify the f-body would help his business. If you are really concerned, I would PM an admin like JT and see if the IP address is matching to ryans. I doubt it will. Probably somebody from another forum just ****ing around.

I origionally started this thread to lay down my experience with purchasing these SFC's from UMI. I planned on keeping it updated from the purchase, through shipping, all the way to the install and ride quality. I plan on updating with good pictures too. What I did not plan on was for a war to open up between another member(s) and UMI. Also, I understand you might not be happy with the customer service. You should not hope to resolve this over an informative message board such as TGO. That is what they have phones for. I highly doubt UMI is going to screen the incoming phone calls to avoid talking to you. Other members said talking to them over the phone was a great experience. Imagine 20 years ago, you would have had to do the whole process over the phone. Back then customer service was person to person too. No email. UMI's somewhat different online store doesent bother me at all.

ahhh, let me get this straight. I send the company a personal inquiry as a customer. Later I find parts of that private customer conversation & questions, Posted on a public web site????? Never mind the following message that discusses that our site isn't worth ****ing sponsoring (although it's an unusual statement following the pre-worded angry email of one of our site's sponsors. I don't care who wrote it-if he dosn't wish to be associated with the guy, he shouldn't have opened the door for the possibility of a connection.

Do you think it's okay for a private company to take your personal customer relations questions and post them on a site you use???
Why on earth would you advise me not to try and 'resolve' this over an information board? And how would you know what my phone calls to the company asking after a very expensive order I placed would contain or not contain or what forms of communication I use with companies I purchase Camaro parts from? That's almost as bizarre as finding inner company private information published on our WebSite!
My personal customer contacts have been directly to UMI and Mr. 'Ryan' has no business posting private conversations to a public web-site, nor should he be discussing my financial dealings or contacts with you or anyone else outside the company. I had no idea UMI or any company we do business with would, without any warning, air private conversations on a public forum.

It's sad that this stuff suddenly surfaced on this thread, but I had nothing to do with his extremely bizarre behavior. Do you think I invited him to do such an unproffesional thing? Perhaps you're friends with this company owner and feel some need to protect him from himself??? Or maybe you just read this section of the thread wrong and I'm being just as reactive.

Lastly, Was my apology to Adam not 'good enough for you'? I can see from what you wrote that you're upset about someone spoiling your personal thread and I'm actually sad that this happened. Tell me how I could have prevented the UMI company owner from doing something so illogical, unethical, unproffesional and just plain strange???????

Wow! Let's all of us just get laid and get a life....... Nitro

If you need help starting a new thread to post your experience with installing the UMI subframe bars, I'm happy to help. I'm in the process of replacing every single suspension peice on my IROC and would be willing to share any stages of installing the extra UMI parts I bought if it would help. I'm doing many extra custom parts and believe in all of the Third Gen members supporting and encouraging each other. Is there anything else I can do to assist, you, a fellow 3rd gen member????

What??? When did I even say a single thing about Flowmaster? So you are assuming that since some idiot jumped on here and posted a bunch of BS that it is me? LOL Well think again, I avoided that post because it was a waste... Run a IP address or something

Well, I went down to all the shops in town this morning, and all the exhaust type shops refused to put them on. The only place that would agree to do it was J&M corvettes. However, they said minimum installation would be around $180 all the way up to however many hours it took to put them in. I left, because I cant afford to pay them that much to do the job.

I think I will end up doing the dirty work myself either way. Like pulling the carpet, and dropping the exhaust. And grinding the weld points to bare metal. That way, if I do have to go back there, it should be somewhat cheaper.

What did any of yall pay to get SFC's welded in?

Adam, a $180 is a little high. It should be around $80-120 for the installation.

Hey, you guys have probably welded plenty of these on. Do you think with your particular SFC that removing the carpet is a necessity?

We have never removed the carpet on any vehicle we have welded SFC's on. As long as the welder doesn't go crazy you will be fine.

I have their torque arm and lower control arm rel. brackets and it shipped here to MONTREAL, CANADA within 1-2 weeks. I respect them for that because I ordered lots of stuff for my car even before I ordered from UMI and I haven't even got parts from those sellers yet. And I emailed UMI on the status of the order and they replied to me with a response that wasn't automated. So I would say that they seem to be on the ball, plus I heard many good things about UMI products...

P.S. good luck with your SFC's Slow_90Firebird, I have MAC SFC's and they do wonders on my car's handling and firmness, so you will be happy with these ones I am sure.

Later,
-Marc

I ordered about $1k worth of stuff from umi and think it is a superior product. As the process goes on, I intend on buying everything they make.
Thanks,
Brit

I went to a performance mufflershop to have mine installed. They charged me approx $65.00 and had special barriers to prevent heat transfer up through the floor boards. Everyone else I know that used the weld in units used muffler shops. It seems strange that a muffler shop would refuse to do this type of job. Just a suggestion: is there a way you could find out if any of the performance muffler shops sponsor race cars from your area?? I would think that they would be more admenable to performing this type of work...

and those connectors make a HUGE difference; especially on the T-top models. I've never ridden in a 3rd Gen that only used a bolt in model. I don'ty see how it could compare to UMI's product. Nitro

Bolt on SFC's apparently are no good... They tend to get loose over the years, whereas weld ins are pretty much there for good and they are solid forever. I personally haven't been in a bolt in SFC car before, but I'm sure it's not as good as weld

The first muffler shop I went to, Pop's Exhaust, specializes in loud custom exhausts for all types of cars. Thats where every highschool pickup truck goes to get flowmasters and chrome tips put on.

They knew exactly what they were, and told me "no body welding whatsoever."

Ironically, this is the only exhaust shop that is associated with racing. They guys that own/work there have a old monte carlo SS in the back that they race on the short track.

All the other shops werent hostile towards they idea, but they all still said that they refuse to weld to the body of the car. They will only weld exhaust to exhaust. (Which is a lie because they weld hangers to the body sometimes)

Well, you've definitely run into a problem. You've probably already thought of this, but if it was my next step; I'd make a post in your local area 3rd Gen site. The ones that are listed down near the bottom of the list of Message Boards? Perhaps someone in your area of the united states will have a cheaper idea than that Corvette shop.

I might have been lucky with mine as we've sent a number of vehicles to this particular shop for the final exhaust work and for welding in stainless steel exhaust tips. do you need any exhaust updates? Perhaps a shop will be willing to do it if you're doing business with them.

You might even go so far as to mention that you're associated with a particular local club chapter and that allegedly 'this shop' is the one the club recommended for their 'custom work'. I just hate to see you get taken for close to $200 and not end up with the SFC's in and something else that's going to make your car work or look great. I feel for you. Best of luck,
Nitro

Yeah, I already posted up on the NECF website too. I have been busy all day today, and I have been test fitting the SFC's and marking where I needed to sand the undercoating off. I have been cleaning up down to bare metal getting ready for welding. I also got the carpet pulled up in that bad area.

However, I spent about 2 hours and I could not get any bolts loose on the exhaust. I tried on the clamp, and on the ball-and-socket flange. I didnt dare to try on the manifold end. I was unsure if there were bolts holding the manifold to the y-pipe, or if they were studs. Either way, I can only get the impact on one of the nuts on each side. Same with the cat, I can only get the impact on one each. So that doesent help me at all.

Right now, the only thing stopping us from installing them ourself is basically the exhaust. And a little more undercoating, but that is nothing a little sandpaper cant fix.

I am just afraid if I take it to them, and they have trouble getting the exhaust off (then back on) that would jack up the rate. Because I need to save the stock exhaust to put back on.

Well Here is a pic I took earlier. This is the driver side SFC jacked up to the car. The front is exactly on the mounting location. The rear is a little less than 1" low, because I didnt unbolt the LCA. So the back will tuck up about 3/4" more probably.

This is for all you that were wondering how far the UMI's hang down on a non-gfx car. I personally think it looks kinda cool, probably should have gotten the black powder instead. Whatever. Red looks cool too and if I get tired of it, I will just scuff it and spray black.



Other than that, I haven't figured out how to get the right side on yet. I think I might just weld the main SFC on, then take it to a shop to have the exhaust lowered and they can weld the 3rd piece to the main SFC for me. Then I will weld the 3rd piece to the body at another date. And they dont have to weld to the body at all.

Another option I was considering as a last resort, was cutting the y-pipe out with the sawzall and welding it back together after. But I would have to watch out for the air tube lol.