mw66nova

iTrader: (13)

pretty straight forward install, i can't do any fine adjustments anyway, gotta put it on the rack to do that. all i did was measure the the old assembly center to center and then set the new one to the same specs. it'll go to the alignment shop next week. i finally found a shop that is run by alot of drag racers and they know what they're doing so it'll get a good alignment.

while i was in there, i also replaced my idler arm, center link, inner tie rods, and lower ball joints. i gotta say, the car seems so much more solid now!

ross

Looks good has to help it seems all the GM cars need new idler arms. You should be happy I was having some wobble problems turned out the front end alignment I had done previously was not done right. This is what I get when I take it to a shop that just wants you to drop it off. I did the Ed Quay bump steer kit and put front end limiters on all seems good. Also when the car was on the rack found the drivers side axle tube is toed in. Good Luck with it . My car should be in the shop in the next couple of weeks plan on fixing the axle tubes and adding a back brace. The car will also be put back to stock suspension and the south sides will be put to rest.

mw66nova

iTrader: (13)

i'm glad to hear that you're going back to stock style suspension, you'll be much happier with the way the car works in my opinion.

cp87GTA

[QUOTE=mw66nova;4287549]

while i was in there, i also replaced my idler arm, center link, inner tie rods, and lower ball joints. i gotta say, the car seems so much more solid now!


/QUOTE] Now you're not going to know what accually fixed the problem. My 2 cents says it was worn out front end parts. Those bump steer kit were disighned for car converting to the mustang style rack.

ross

Matt those south sides netted me a 1.33 60 ft on the 275 drag radial tires. It was just a job to keep the front end down and the fact that a lot of the racing I like is stock suspension stuff. I will take some pics when its all done.

mw66nova

iTrader: (13)

so what exactly is your suggestion then? to replace things one at a time and make a trip to the track after each to see what actually fixes it? that would waste money on entry fees and weeks of time. the stuff was all factory and worn, so i replaced it. it also cost me close to half of what it would for average joe as i get a really excellent discount at work for parts. it cost me:

$6.75 per ball joint
$23 for the center link
$16 for the idler arm
$8 per inner tie rod
that's less than $70 in parts.

the spohn kit is competively priced with the Baer kit at $160, plus they give discounts for ordering online or if you're a member of tgo, ls1tech, etc.

this bump steer kit is designed as a direct bolt on with factory steering. the bump steer kit makes alot of sense. i may not have the fastest car, but it does pull the tires a good little bit off the ground and i cannot see how it would be a bad thing to have adjustability in the steering stuff.

i've never seen so many people so adverse to extra adjustability as i have with the subject of this bump steer kit.

honestly, i don't particularly care what fixed the problem, which is why i tackled the entire steering all at once. the LSX Shootout is only 4 weeks away and this thing has got to work correctly.

FSTFBDY

iTrader: (33)

x2. If your gonna rebuild a front end it only make scene to redo all of it at once.

DIGGLER

iTrader: (1)

agreed, no sense in replacing one or two front end components. best to just go ahead and do it all so you only have to get one alignment done on the car.

only reason im against the bump steer kit is its really not needed once you start pulling the tires more.... you will find yourself putting limiters on there so the front end only travels a couple of inches.

its not a BAD thing, just not needed, imo.

mw66nova

iTrader: (13)

i see...well, i think it'll be one of those things that i'm glad i have it for later on down the road when the adjustability will help out for when the car gets faster.

xpndbl3

iTrader: (5)

That adjustability won't matter much once you put the limiters in and the suspension only has 2-3" of droop below ride height is what they are saying. My suspension angles didn't change much when I had the guy at the laser 4 wheel alignment shop raise the nose of the car 2" off the kmember to recheck everything. Either way I've wasted that much money on dumber things so don't get too worked up over it matt

IHI

iTrader: (1)

Pretty much sums it up right there. Not that it's bad to say you have it, but there's far to many 3rd gens doing alot nastier things without it is all i think we were getting at from the word go, and just trying to help ya save money, or reinvest it into a more deserving mod. vs this.

If you replaced everything up front you WILL notice a huuuuuge improvment, i was blown away by the difference in my junk when i replaced everything, amazing how a tiny bit of slop here, added to a tiny bit of slop there can add upto what you were experiencing.

mw66nova

iTrader: (13)

everything had slop in it, and the ball joints were crunchy, lol! i guess i could have just put fresh outers on it, but these are so much cooler looking, lol! i kinda had these in the budget from the time i new i was going to have to put steering stuff in it.

i'm so impressed with how solid it is now though. i'm going to replace my rag joint and possibly rebuild my s10 steering box now! i want it to be completely done.

Twin_Turbo

iTrader: (25)

I hope you bought some seals it seals for the rod ends or they will wear out super fast. BTW, if you want to go on the cheap, the adjustable tie rod end, a set of rod ends, 4 locknuts and a longer sleeve can be had for very little money directly from speedwaymotors or similar sources.

IHI

iTrader: (1)

Rag joint is a easy/cheap thing to do but i think i'm to the point, i keep saying this but i keep snapping cranks, that i want to go with a power steering set up like the mud packers run, i really really miss the one finger steering, and to be honest after watching many guy "drift" down the race track over the years i not only want a quick ratio steering box back so counter steering is faster, I'm almost thinking i would like to install one of those inline steering couplers that cuts that in half yet again...being able to go full turn, or lock to lock in one wheel revolution would be the shiznit

Regardless, you just performed a major safety upgrade for yourself and your competitors, so my hats off to ya. I can say with the utmost certainty, THE scariest ride i've ever run down the strip was my buddies 67 GTO with ALL the original front end components....it only runs high 11's/low 12's but i've never held my breath the whole way down the dragstrip until i drove that car, nothing like see-sawing the wheel back and forth half turns at a time to try and stay in the groove Only made it 6 passes in it that day i drove for him with 2 time shots and go, and i can say looking back that was 5 passes too many, and even after all my preaching/flipping him chit about it, he still has not replaced a single piece on it

DIGGLER

iTrader: (1)

i will be putting my power steering box back in the car when i put the turbo motor in. it just makes a much more enjoyable car to drive. even the simple things such as backing the car out of your pit slot and driving to the staging lanes tend to make me a bit tense sometimes when its crowded and im having to weave in and out of people. its just nice to be able to drive the car like any other car, and not having to fight the wheel or turn it 30 turns. (i have a manual s-10 box, btw)

IHI

iTrader: (1)

Pretty reasonable kit

Steering Quickener

Dun- small, light, minimal hp loss, crazy fast, 1 finger steering

mw66nova

iTrader: (13)

hmmm...ya'll got me thinking again...

it probably wouldn't cost too much to get the ls1 fbody power steering pump/bracketry...and i have two or three power boxes...

cp87GTA

Matt, i wasn't cutting on ya at all. But I know a lot of 3rd gen guys that pull the front like some of the guys on here, and they don't have a bump steer problem. You usally have a bump steer problem when you get the end link and the lower control arm out of sink. Like when changing over to a rack. The lower control arm and the outer end link has to have the same arch or bump steer occurs. I had some spacers machined to drop the tierods down 1 1/4 " when I built my car. I broke one of those this spring, right after doing a burn out. If that thing would have let loose going down the track, would have been a disaster. Any ways back to yours, just make sure your front end man gets it as close as he can through out the entire arch.

greezemonkey

iTrader: (14)

I`m wondering if and how adjustable those really are?, it could be the angle of the pic`s but it looks like they drop down a hair too much, CLOSE but a bit low if it is what it looks like in the pictures...whole point of the thing is to have the tie rods run exactly the same angle as the lower A arms thru the whole travel of the suspension, hence the reason most auto-x guys run`em...can you pull 1/8 - 1/4 inch from the length of the drop??

mw66nova

iTrader: (13)

right now they're set pretty close to the center, so they could potentially go up even further...i just put them there so the alignment shop had a place to start.

getting it aligned in the morning.