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I noticed I have two sets of mounting holes in the strut towers. I don't know if this is correct or not, but the mounts are using the rear holes. I bet if I moved them to the front holes I won't get a rub anymore.
two studs for the retaining ring should face the front of the car... at 4 & 8 o clock positions.. this should get you close and... still have room for adjustment..
I posted some pics.. sorry I don't have better ones
BUT you really need to take it to an alignment shop... lucky for me there is a family owned garage a few blocks from my house and the guys are really good mechanics...
I measured all my old suspension pieces before I installed the new.. so I was pretty darn close he just had to fine tune the strut plate positions.
you will be surprised how much adjustment they really have... so much that you might even be in the correct slots to begin with... but I can't make that call from here.
The best advise I can give you is get it close then go to an alignment shop to get it right.
You will NEVER get it right at home unless you own an alignment shop.
good luck
Well I can't set caster at home, but I have the equipment to set tow and camber.
I'll have to look at it. I don't know what you mean about the two studs facing the front of the car. The retaining ring has 3 studs, and yeah two of them are in the front and one is in the rear.
Ok. So if you take the rear formula wheel and put it on the front, and turn it doesn't hit the fender.
I'm running 12" rotors, so even with the rear on the front I don't have the tie rod rubbing problem that you would normally have running the wheels backwards.
So, although I have to redo the steering stop anyway. I'm going to keep the wheels orientated this way.
so being as i cant remember if i had wheel rub before or after installing my spohn a arms, my spohn k member hasn't given me issues with rubbing on my steering linkage or anything like that. my wheels are located about an 1" or 1.5" too far back and ive tried aligning but my caster is wayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy off. has anyone used spohns new re-designed a arms? they look beefy but id hate to spend the money and end up with the same wheel rub problem. anyone have any other fitment issues using a spohn K member and either UMI or BMR a arms?
First and foremost, they are made wrong. Let's just get that out of the way. I realize these cars have a lot of variance, but this stuff is just way out.
First lets start with the K-member. It's a dumb design. At full drop, you can barely turn the wheels lock to lock without the tie rods rubbing the k-member. (even using Spohns special tie rods). The UMI k-member is designed differently.
Next is the A-arms. The ball joint location is too far back.. No if ands or buts. It is. To get the alignment even 'close', you have to pull the strut ALL the way back to even get 'so so' caster out of the thing. I had to use adjustable camber caster plates, and not only is the plate all the way back but so is the center adjuster. (So way more caster adjustment than stock).
Next issue. I don't know if you guys noticed this, but when the camber is set properly, at some points in the turn radius the strut actually touches the frame..
Oh, and my tires hit the inner fender plastic prior to full lock.
The newer plastic inner fender liners are made a bit different and are mounted behind the fender on the front an rear of the opening.
PA K members are a junk design too, went through that many yrs ago..
The newer plastic inner fender liners are made a bit different and are mounted behind the fender on the front an rear of the opening.
PA K members are a junk design too, went through that many yrs ago..
Were these liners production, or service only? If production, any idea what years? Would be worth keeping an eye open for at salvage yards.
Production, I know my 89 had the old ones and friends 91 an my 92s have the new ones. I have a nos set of new ones (for a project).
You can see how they are mounted in this pic. It's like this front and rear of the liner. A V notch in the liner by the body line then speed nuts on liner, bolts w 7mm head an captured washer that are around 3/4 inch long. iirc
Mine rub hard. I'm worried about the tire actually pulling them and bending the fender.
So no reproduction options?? odd.
-- Joe
Oh wow. No, I have nothing like that. Just lightly brushes against it at lock, leaving a lightly buffed / scuffed spot on the liner. Still, I wish it didn't.
I remember seeing the Spohn A Arms long ago before I had a thirdgen... Thinking, "wow, how nice".... Got my 91 Formula.... saved up to get the A Arms... Put them on, and same thing... now they rubbed in the back.... Ask Spohn? Crickets.....
Sold them, bought Global West Del a lum delrin bushings in stock a arm, could not be happier...
As you can see from my last post, I was never really quite happy with the spohn A-arms. They look nice, but I always felt not quite right about how much we had to compensate in the strut for the caster to be on spec.
Anyhow. I think I'm going to take them out put some factory A-arms back in the car. My hope is that the spohn K-member is at least in the factory position so I won't have the same trouble with factory A-arms.
Does anyone have chassis specs so I can do some rough measurements from the a-arm mount to measuring holes in the frame? I have the books for my other cars, but don't have one for the firebird.
Does anyone have chassis specs so I can do some rough measurements from the a-arm mount to measuring holes in the frame? I have the books for my other cars, but don't have one for the firebird.
I have the UMI lower Aarms on a racecraft moly kmember and home made weight jacks. I really like the UMI lower arms. I had their first version which didn’t have the steering stops at all and they worked good. I wanted ones with steering stops and these are adjustable with spacers. I’ve got some stuff from Spohn and sold it before running any of it as I didn’t like the fitment. The UMI arms came with rod end to sway bar links which is a nice touch.
Interesting. I'll have to look again. I have a 1992 FSM but didn't think the frame dimensions/measurements were in it. For other car lines it's in the "body & frame manual" which is not part of the FSM. Well, maybe that's just Corvettes.
I have the UMI lower Aarms on a racecraft moly kmember and home made weight jacks. I really like the UMI lower arms. I had their first version which didn’t have the steering stops at all and they worked good. I wanted ones with steering stops and these are adjustable with spacers. I’ve got some stuff from Spohn and sold it before running any of it as I didn’t like the fitment. The UMI arms came with rod end to sway bar links which is a nice touch.
I remember you talking about the racecraft k-member, I think you mentioned something about it not having room / preventing you from running twin turbos?
I think the SPOHN K-member is the same basic design as profab / PA. Looks like the same pa racing k-member I had in the early 2000s. It does give a tone of room though, which is nice. I've been salty about the A-arms for the better part of 10 years now and I'm finally thinking of doing something about it. Also thinking of coil over which may or may not be a terrible idea.
I have the UMI lower Aarms on a racecraft moly kmember and home made weight jacks. I really like the UMI lower arms. I had their first version which didn’t have the steering stops at all and they worked good. I wanted ones with steering stops and these are adjustable with spacers. I’ve got some stuff from Spohn and sold it before running any of it as I didn’t like the fitment. The UMI arms came with rod end to sway bar links which is a nice touch.
