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Hey guys, Right now I have 1.25" lowering springs and bilstein shocks being shipped over. with my next pay check I'm gonna be ordering UMI adjustable panhard bar, adjustable LCAs, and LCA relocation brackets.
I was planning on getting the shocks and springs in first since they will be arriving first and then when the UMI goodies come I was gonna put those in separately. (won't be driving the car until it's all in)
from the looks of it I should be able to just put the car on stands and then leave a floor jack under the rear end and unbolt the panhard by itself, is that correct or does anything else need to be removed to get it off?
I just unbolted the old and bolted in the new panhard. No tricks to it. I used my 17x11 rims to measure and center the rear axle. Car was in the air with stands under the axle, really no different than if it was sitting on the ground.
I just unbolted the old and bolted in the new panhard. No tricks to it. I used my 17x11 rims to measure and center the rear axle. Car was in the air with stands under the axle, really no different than if it was sitting on the ground.
What did you measure the rims off of? the inner wheel well? still thinking about how I'm gonna center the rear once I have the adjustable panhard in
As a side note, I installed adjustable LCA's and panhard and had a four-wheel alignment. The result was darned near perfect.
JamesC
That sounds like the Route I will be taking, did the alignment shop only touch the LCA's or did they adjust the panhard to center the rear? sorry if it comes off as noobish but I've never been to an alignment shop before.
Any reason your not using founders? It'll save a few bucks.
Haven't looked into founders at all actually, thanks for the suggestion I'll check them out now. I was liking what I was seeing with UMI but I definitely would like to save if I can
Haven't looked into founders at all actually, thanks for the suggestion I'll check them out now. I was liking what I was seeing with UMI but I definitely would like to save if I can
yep, definitely going with Founders now, those prices are extremely fair. I dont even need to wait for my next paycheck, gonna order soon. thank you for saving me $200
yep, definitely going with Founders now, those prices are extremely fair. I dont even need to wait for my next paycheck, gonna order soon. thank you for saving me $200
I went with a UMI adjustable panhard bar and founders LCARB and panhard relocation kit, All quality pieces
You get what you pay for. Steel is expensive, and the only way to change the cost is to use higher or lower grades/quality of steel. UMI is either using higher quality steel or their mark up is just ridiculous.
I bought UMI because I wanted the roto-joints. I use my car for autoX and HPDE as well as regular street use. With rod ends having a rep for being noisy and wearing faster on the street, and poly being too stiff to allow the suspension to move as it's suppose to with the risk of snap oversteer, I seen root-joints as my best option.
What did you measure the rims off of? the inner wheel well? still thinking about how I'm gonna center the rear once I have the adjustable panhard in
Can't recall the exact point but I just picked a similar points on each side and measured from the rim/bead of the wheel (tires weren't mounted) to the inner wheel well. When i got the tires mounted (315/35R17's) only had to do some minor hammering at the lower front of the wheel well to fit them. Side to side spacing was perfect. There was tons of space with the 17x9.5's. BTW, I have a 4thgen rear diff.
You get what you pay for. Steel is expensive, and the only way to change the cost is to use higher or lower grades/quality of steel. UMI is either using higher quality steel or their mark up is just ridiculous.
I bought UMI because I wanted the roto-joints. I use my car for autoX and HPDE as well as regular street use. With rod ends having a rep for being noisy and wearing faster on the street, and poly being too stiff to allow the suspension to move as it's suppose to with the risk of snap oversteer, I seen root-joints as my best option.
UMI states on their site that they use mild grade steel, not sure what founders uses.
I also wanted the rotojoints on the LCA's after reading about people having binding issues with the poly. the founders set I'm looking at has rod ends, they can't wear out much worse than my 30 year old bushings currently on the car so I'll take the chance.
UMI states on their site that they use mild grade steel, not sure what founders uses.
I also wanted the rotojoints on the LCA's after reading about people having binding issues with the poly. the founders set I'm looking at has rod ends, they can't wear out much worse than my 30 year old bushings currently on the car so I'll take the chance.
I see it like this, if I call the steel yard and ask about some schedule 80, 300psi steam pipe. They'll have two options, US steel and Chinese/imported steel. They are spec'd the "same" grade pipe, rated for the same temperatures and pressures, only difference you'll find is the country of origin, but the Chinese/imported steel usually costs about half as much. Sounding familiar?
I'm not saying Founders isn't a good product. I'm just saying I'm not risking it to save a few bucks.
They say it's the elements from the roads that get into the rod ends and cause them to wear faster, just wanted to make you aware. About anything is better than 30 year old rubber!! lol
I see it like this, if I call the steel yard and ask about some schedule 80, 300psi steam pipe. They'll have two options, US steel and Chinese/imported steel. They are spec'd the "same" grade pipe, rated for the same temperatures and pressures, only difference you'll find is the country of origin, but the Chinese/imported steel usually costs about half as much. Sounding familiar?
I'm not saying Founders isn't a good product. I'm just saying I'm not risking it to save a few bucks.
They say it's the elements from the roads that get into the rod ends and cause them to wear faster, just wanted to make you aware. About anything is better than 30 year old rubber!! lol
Thanks for all that info, based on all the positive reviews and users on this site I am still gonna order from them and take the chance. My car is in desperate need of some new parts lol
For the lca's if you want adjustable ones Founders has these with the 3 pc poly bushings 23814 Camaro Firebird Lower Control Arm Adjustable Poly Poly.
Both me and my son have the non adjustable LCA and love them. Also he has the adj panhard & I have the non adj one with 1pc poly bushings and no issues with binding even on the road course
I see it like this, if I call the steel yard and ask about some schedule 80, 300psi steam pipe. They'll have two options, US steel and Chinese/imported steel. They are spec'd the "same" grade pipe, rated for the same temperatures and pressures, only difference you'll find is the country of origin, but the Chinese/imported steel usually costs about half as much. Sounding familiar?
I'm not saying Founders isn't a good product. I'm just saying I'm not risking it to save a few bucks.
l
All of our steel is made in the USA. Our DOM comes from several different mills back on the east coast and all of our mild steel comes from mills down in the Los Angeles area.
Our parts are less expensive because we refuse to set up a dealer program so we don't have to mark up the parts for 3rd party vendors to make a profit.
All of our steel is made in the USA. Our DOM comes from several different mills back on the east coast and all of our mild steel comes from mills down in the Los Angeles area.
Our parts are less expensive because we refuse to set up a dealer program so we don't have to mark up the parts for 3rd party vendors to make a profit.
Well there we have it, thanks for clarifying founders. you guys should expect an order from me in the next couple days lol
yep, definitely going with Founders now, those prices are extremely fair. I dont even need to wait for my next paycheck, gonna order soon. thank you for saving me $200
Glad to help!
I have a set of founders LCARB's in red I can cut you a deal on. My Strange S60 has them built in so they're useless to me at the moment.
Thanks for the help everyone, so far I got all the new parts on except for the sway bar end links and bushings. Gonna tighten everything up and then do the adjustments tomorrow.
Can anyone give me a step by step on how they made their adjustments? I understand what I need to adjust and why, I'm just not sure if I'm gonna have to put it on the ground and make my measurements or will I be able to see how it needs to be adjusted when it's all tight and still sitting on jack stands?
All of our steel is made in the USA. Our DOM comes from several different mills back on the east coast and all of our mild steel comes from mills down in the Los Angeles area.
Our parts are less expensive because we refuse to set up a dealer program so we don't have to mark up the parts for 3rd party vendors to make a profit.
I did mine two days ago. Jacked up the car by the rear end, then put a jackstand under the control arm mount on the body of the car, and another jackstand to support the rear. Did this on both sides. Loosen the nuts that lock the adjusting bolt thing in place, then spin the big adjusting bolt in the middle. It's very easy, and it moves the rear end quickly and noticeably. To make sure the wheels are aligned with the rear quarters, I taped a piece of string with a hanging object to the lip of each quarter panel and spun the adjusting bolt until the gaps between the wheels and the string were equal on both sides. Took all of 3 minutes once the car was in the air
I did mine two days ago. Jacked up the car by the rear end, then put a jackstand under the control arm mount on the body of the car, and another jackstand to support the rear. Did this on both sides. Loosen the nuts that lock the adjusting bolt thing in place, then spin the big adjusting bolt in the middle. It's very easy, and it moves the rear end quickly and noticeably. To make sure the wheels are aligned with the rear quarters, I taped a piece of string with a hanging object to the lip of each quarter panel and spun the adjusting bolt until the gaps between the wheels and the string were equal on both sides. Took all of 3 minutes once the car was in the air
update: got the rear end all adjusted. got the sway bar off, am gonna wait for it to cool down outside before I put it back on with the new hardware. It's way too hot out to be laying in a black tire rubber crumb driveway that implants little shards of the belts from tires into your body.
forgot to mention yesterday that my stock panhard was pretty mangled and bent in odd spots, also has "86 Camaro" written on it while my car is an 86 Trans am. did the factory just do their parts inventory like this or did someone replace this bar before me and got one from an 86 camaro?
Camaro / trans am same thing, if it said pinto then start to worry
Originally Posted by TylerSteez
update: got the rear end all adjusted. got the sway bar off, am gonna wait for it to cool down outside before I put it back on with the new hardware. It's way too hot out to be laying in a black tire rubber crumb driveway that implants little shards of the belts from tires into your body.
forgot to mention yesterday that my stock panhard was pretty mangled and bent in odd spots, also has "86 Camaro" written on it while my car is an 86 Trans am. did the factory just do their parts inventory like this or did someone replace this bar before me and got one from an 86 camaro?
Well the cars done but my floor jack gave up on me so it's stuck on the stands until tomorrow, here's the bent panhard, can't wait to see how it's gonna drive now
was able to get it on the ground and took it for a drive, noticed immediately that the rear felt a lot stiffer and more planted. take offs felt worlds better as well, now I just need to ditch the 2.77 rear, subframe connectors, and then do the front end. thank you everyone for all the help
Well the cars done but my floor jack gave up on me so it's stuck on the stands until tomorrow, here's the bent panhard, can't wait to see how it's gonna drive now
Wow, that's mangled! It definitely shows what happens to weaker stock parts when you start stressing them.
No kidding, imagine if he had a better gear or more power. Might have pretzled on him! Tyler how about and updated picture now?
The car is completely stock which makes me wonder how on earth a little 305 and 2.77 gears did that lol.
I have all my interior ripped out and a big hole cut out where my floor pan is supposed to be but once that's done I'll jack it up high and take a good picture of it. Thanks again everyone
