I have a 1991 TA with 70,000 miles.

I am considering putting Moog front suspension parts on now. They seem loose and when I accellerate hard or go up a curb I sometimes hear a loud thump.

What pieces should be replaced?

Also,

I am considering getting either Spohn or Hotchkins panhard bar and LCA's.

Any opinions on these?

Why do they sell these items adjustable?

Thanks.

 

I just replaced everything whether it needed it or not while I had it apart....

 

If you're going to tear it apart anyway, replace all the bushings, tie rods, center link, ball joints, rotor bearings, brake hoses, motor mounts, tranny mount, and torque arm mount. It won't take all that much longer to do if you ahve all the pieces handy. Better to do it once now than piece by piece later.

Spohn and Hotchkis are both good pieces. I just got BMR LCAs and panhard rods for both my cars. The adjustable ones are for fine tuning rears and setting axle pinion angles, IIRC, and centering the rear after lowering the car. For regular street use, the non-adjustables will work fine.

For a good visual on the whole process, read these threads and click the links to look at these 2 web pages, mine and Chris' (chevyguy1969). Also go to page 7 of Chris' site to see his rear suspension rebuild:

https://www.thirdgen.org/techbb2/sho...hreadid=113701

https://www.thirdgen.org/techbb2/sho...hreadid=103733

Good luck!!

Ed

 

For regular street use, the non-adjustables will work fine.


If things go right I may be running in the low 12's.

Will I need to consider certain mods to the suspension for this?

Thanks

 

I don't drag at all so I'm not the guy to ask, but I'm thinking an aftermarket torque arm and definitely relo brackets.

Ed

 

I went 140,000 miles on all the original front end parts and never even needed to have it aligned, but I always kept it greased well. I only changed parts because I had it apart for new strut's anyway. I was amazed how good the parts still were after that many miles.

 

The major barrier to the 12's is the 60ft time
Here you need to think a little bit about how to get there...

Think about where the powerband is going to be...
Assuming an automatic...

Consider the final drive ratio and the configuration of the tranny.
If completely stock...
You are essentially running a three speed ...
Select a gear ratio that will allow you to slightly overrev the peak
of your power band in the last 200 ft. Something around
a 3.42 (but this is dependent on the where the power band of
the engine is and can be very different)

Again assuming an automatic, select a torque converter thats
a bit looser than stock... This is to allow you to get to the
powerband a bit quicker.
Vigilant makes a decent one... Talk to them about
the specifics of your application...

At this point you need to consider dealing with the
the geometry of the lca's (use lca relocation brackets)

Last consider rolling stock...
The selection of drag race rolling stock is pretty specialized
Light wheels and good rubber pay big dividends...
There are a lot of high quality choices available based on
the 15 inch form factor and these are relatively inexpensive
(cheap enough to have a set specifically for this task)

The only drawback is that they are tough to fit if you have an unusually large diameter brake system.

Not many choices in the other sizes (16 and 17) and these
are considerably more expensive not to mention usually
much heavier.

Now your combo is reasonably well set for a launch...

Keep in mind, smooth and clean gets it done...
Smoke only impresses teenagers