dixie wrecked

iTrader: (6)

Recently I bought a nice fairly high optioned formula bird that had a predator body kit, factory title..yada yada..but, it had sat outside for a while before I got it. I'm now in the part of the rebuild where I'm doing the suspension.

I have zero affiliation with stienjager, nor is this a paid review in any way..

On hawks, jegs/summit, saw a brand called stienjager, never heard of em before, nor could I find any reviews. Price seemed pretty good, theyre made in the US from what I gather.
Million different options, from fixed/non adjustable ends, poly adjustable, poly/heim, double heim..etc..
Their stuff is made from DOM steel, I don't remember the thickness off the top of my head.
I opted for a set of rear trailing arms, single adjustable with chromoly heims, and a single adjustable panhard bar with poly/poly ends.
Well, they just came in today, so here's a short review of their product!
I'll be installing this weekend, so I'll have more updates as far as pics and fitment.

















Out of the box, they look and feel solid, all the welds look nice, edges cleaned up, things fit very nicely where theyre supposed to go. Weight wise, they feel maybe a little lighter than stock ones, I can't honestly tell without pulling my stocker off. The ends have a greaseable zerk fittings, which is nice.
There was one small ding in the finish, but nothing noteworthy.
One thing I wish they offered is sleeves/covers for the heim ends, for those who will use these on a street vehicle.
I'll end up getting some later, but the car won't see road for a while, so not an immediate concern.



More pics coming this weekend!

dixie wrecked

iTrader: (6)

Well, first update. Just got everything pulled apart, about to bolt the axle back on..unfortunately I'm stuck not being able to at this point.

The LCA's are what I tried first. They come with a bolt, spacers and a sleeve on the heim end. The spacer on the heim end is about 3mm too long to fit in the stock mount points, both axle and body side..
The bolt is also too big and doesnt fit through the hole.

The poly side fit very very tight, but a rubber mallet helped seat it. Unfortunately..that bolt is also too large to fit through the stock holes. Good thing I saved the stock bolts, right? Nope. The sleeve inside the bushing is a larger diameter and wobbles using the stock bolt.

So, that leaves me with either modifying my car and axle to work with these parts, or I'll have to exchange em and get spohns or something.
Seems like whoever designed these didn't try fitting them on an actual car. Or I happened to get two lemons.

dixie wrecked

iTrader: (6)

dixie wrecked

iTrader: (6)

Update, last night I emailed them about the issues, and they promptly reached out to me today around 10am, the guy I talked to was quite helpful and knew his products, so customer service wise, theyre pretty excellent.

I didn't know the stock bolt sizes, so while they have posted that the hardware provided is 1/2", I didn't know I'd have to drill out my mounts to work. Kind of a pain, since it requires either buying a long *** drill bit, or having a 90 degree drill, would have been nice to have that mentioned ahead of time instead of finding out at zero hour.
As far as the sleeves being too long, they said they took data from several different cars and that's what they found to fit- so not sure how they're too long for my nearly original and well kept bird. Not a huge issue, they can be grinded down. On with the install!

dmccain

iTrader: (2)

Post us a pic of the car im interested.. never heard of a predator body kit?

dixie wrecked

iTrader: (6)

It is a fairly rare body kit. If I remember correctly, the company stopped making em sometime in the mid-late 90s. Hard to get a good pic at the moment, my shop is a total mess and theres another car in the way. If you google "predator firebird", there's a couple more pics there.
It's, imo, the best looking body kit for Firebirds. Looks to be styled similar to the Ferrari 512TR and GTO. Minus the nose. The predator nose is ugly.

paulo57509

Having installed lots of "bolt-on" mods in my life, the one tool that I find indespensible is this:

//<86TA>\\

iTrader: (14)

Factory bolts are 12mm. If they didn't research that and can't even provide proper hardware they are not getting my buisness

dixie wrecked

iTrader: (6)

They did, when I talked to em this morning, that's what they said. They decided to do 1/2" bolts because they were stronger than the 12mm, which requires the mounts to be drilled out. Doesnt make sense and that isnt mentioned anywhere..but, that's what they do. I decided to drill since I don't have time to send em back, wait for a refund and then order new ones.

TTOP350

iTrader: (8)

A couple of whacks with a deadblow hammer will open up the rear and body control arm mounts. A lot of older companies (1st-2nd gens) use larger bolts for strength.but it sucks if you want to go back to stock.

paulo57509

Why wasn't a higher strength 12mm bolt not an option?

dixie wrecked

iTrader: (6)

No idea, I never said it made sense. According to them, that bolt is a weak spot. Maybe I'm wrong and just been lucky, but I've had previous birds before that I abused the **** out of..as in, mudding, going 4 wheels airborne multiple times..etc..on the stock rear stuff, never had an issue with the stock rear hardware.

I finally got everything done, wheels on and car dropped! Aside from having to drill the holes out to 1/2", and shave down the heim sleeves by about 2mm, things went smoothly. The panhard bar holes needed drilled too, but it went in and fit perfectly otherwise. Will still definitely need to get a sleeve/cover the heim ends. Wasnt much to show picture wise, so I didn't snap more.

Overall, their product feels well built (of course, they could be garbage and snap on the first test drive), but not mentioning anywhere that theyre nor a direct bolt and go/need to modify your car is a major PITA.
As of now, I might still buy from them again, or might just stick with spohn stuff.

IROCZ1989

iTrader: (1)

To be honest you would snap that control arm before even a grade 8 bolt would break.

//<86TA>\\

iTrader: (14)

So they told you that the stock 12mm bolt is a weak point compared to a 1/2" bolt which is only .7mm larger? They sound clueless and are talking out their ***.

Fwiw though, iirc energy suspension and prothane replacement bushings for the front and rear control arms have 1/2" holes but are meant to 12mm bolts. I drilled the k member control arm tabs out to 1/2" years ago just for that reason and since it was easier to find 1/2" grade bolts than it was to find 12mm 10.9 ones.

jmd

iTrader: (4)

fixed.

customblackbird

iTrader: (15)

Haha no thanks, judging by what I read I would stay clear away from them as well as the spohn stuff.

I couldnt find them on summit, please provide a link and how much did they cost? Only ask bc founders sells the same thing for like $100 or so.

Ive personally used UMI, Jegs, Custom made stuff and founders and never had any of the issues you have. The OE 12mm bolt is stronger than the steel it bolts through as well as the arm. Your not seeing those kind of loads on that bolt. The 1/2 is stronger is just Cr@p.

I just actually ordered yesterday some founds poly LCAs and PHB to replace my UMI stuff thats double rod ended to help with road noise.

The Project

iTrader: (6)

I've run UMI (old TA) and founders LCA's and both fit like a glove.

esc

iTrader: (6)

Can anyone with the steinjager LCA's confirm if one of the rod ends is left hand threaded?

In other words, can you adjust the length w/out removing one end?
This is not possible on my (very) old Herb Adams LCA's. On those all rod ends are right hand threaded.

The bolt/spacer size will not matter for me as I drilled out the holes to 3/4" 20 years ago. I use a 3/4" grade 8 bolt, all the way through to mount them, with aluminum spacers to center the rod end.

I need new rod ends anyway and if these can be adjusted w/out removal of one end, and only cost $50 more, they might be worth while.

dixie wrecked

iTrader: (6)

I don't have front LCAs yet, only the rears. The ones I have are poly/heim, so I have to pop one end off to adjust, same as the panhard I got. I think they did have double heim ones that are on car adjustable, but can't confirm and don't remember their catalog. The ones I have are all right hand thread.

esc

iTrader: (6)

Thanks Dixie.

The rear control arms is what I'm asking about.
But I'm interested in the ones with rod ends on both ends.

My current ones, Herb Adams, are "double" adjustable, in that you can adjust each end. But since all 4 rod ends are right hand thread, you have to remove one end to make any adjustments. Which is annoying.

esc

iTrader: (6)

I called Steinjager and was told that the LCA's do in fact have reverse thread on one side, so I ordered a pair. At $116.95 (free delivery, no tax) they are only about about $50 more than just replacing my (all right hand thread) rod ends, now now I will be able to adjust the length without having to remove one end.

I have received them and can confirm that each has one right hand thread rod end and one left hand thread rod end.

esc

iTrader: (6)

Just a quick note before I forget:

I had to put the long 3/4" OD spacer in the lathe and take 0.025" off to get one to fit the differential end.

I had to take 0.025" off of EACH of the shorter 3/4" ID spacers to match the length of the long spacer and make them fit the differential.

I only had to take 0.020" off of the short 3/4" ID spacers to fit on the body side.

Since I'm using 3/4" bolts, I just used the 3/4" OD spacer as an alignment tool. It popped out when I pushed the 3/4" bolt through. So I only bothered to shorted one. But it sure was handy to have compared to trying to get everything lined up by hand, then pushing the bolt through.

Also, about the bolts that came with the kit, the wider shoulder portion of the bolt is too short and only makes contact with about 1/2 of the 3/4" ID spacer on the nut side. I would recommend getting a bolt with a longer shoulder.

BTW, Dixie Wrecked, I hope I'm not hijacking your thread too badly. I'll start a new one of you prefer. I will probably have a couple more posts about this install.