Does the AJE coilover setup come with Torrington bearings on the top and bottom of the coil mount surfaces? If not then I would highly suggest buying some and putting them on there if its going to be driven daily. A strut coilover frontend needs to swivel the coil when the car is turned to the left or right. I think the AJE setup is sold basically for straightly low use drag racing where binding around corners and wear associated with it will not be and issue. Same with the PA coilover kit and Morrison I believe. Please correct me if I am wrong on my info.

 

heres the pics of the diffrent A arm pockets...


obviously, the pocket itself can be improved, but just note the way the straps attach to the round plate....

 

style 2... notice the now one piece inside brace.

 

We didn't actually see the coilover setup, but I'm thinking its just like the PA setup. Where can we get the Torrington bearings you mentioned? Your point makes a lot of sense.

 

also, heres a link to fullsize PA (LS1) and Profab SBC (with a LS1 mount on it) sitting side by side:

http://66.83.134.202/travis/Kmember/...of%20my%20car/

 

I searched for a site that would sell them and it turns out Timken has bought out Torrington and has taken over the company sales.

Here is the PDF file showing the neddle bearing and thrust washer kits. You'll have to meassure you specific spring pockets and strut diamemter to pick the appropriate thrust bearing dimensions for your need. Page 331
http://www.timken.com/industries/tor...r/r_thrust.pdf

 

A-arms, coil over kit & k-member!

 

Thanks for the info! I will have to call my contact and ask about that! I told them the car would be driven daily and that I wanted the extra strength of the road race version! So I hope that would be taken into account! Did call and give him the spring info I got from you all so he could better set me up with a similar ride. For now anyway. May switch it out later...know I'm going to get some drag type springs to help with my spining issue!

 

I've got style 2!

 

Holy crap...way too close and neither has adressed the obvious weak points glarring right at you! Welded on tabs that the legs of the a-arms are to attach too...well the arm would not fail...the k member would first! Yikes!

Seeing this and seeing AJE over the weekend...I'm so glad I went with AJE! Sooo much beefier! And engineered so much better! Can't wait to get it and post up pics to let you all see!

 

Nice thanks!

Update...talked to the seller of AJEs kit. I have to call Anthony Jones tomorrow an ask about the bushings. If an provisions were made by now in this area, or if he would be willing to look into that for me! Plus I need to know what struts will or will not work with the coil over conversion. Thinking Koni, billstein, or tokiko (sp) as choices for new struts!

 

Ok they are not the best...must take better with the 35mm...

But it will give you an idea what was happening...

Same page, but more pics added!

 

Man, I wish some more of those pics were in better focus…

From what I can see though, it appears to be an almost perfect example of putting the stress into the wrong place in an assembly, and why not to weld flat sections to the middle (radial) of a tube rather then tangentially (weld it down the middle, pull on it and it works like a can opener ripping the tube open, which is why the break was a little past the edge of the crosspiece).

I’m wondering, is:


Showing a crack in the pivot tube?

 

I'm sorry to hear about the bad news....obviously a higher power was watching out for you that day....things could have ended up alot worse.

Anyways....last year I did some research on materials and build quality of AJE, PA, and a couple other makers that were available then and from an engineering standpoint I was really quite disappointed with the information I was finding both from first hand users and via direct communication with the companies. I took into account the tubing quality, type of tubing, design, and welding. Hence at that point I decided I was going to wait for Steve Spohn to release his crossmember design and evaluate that product as my only option.
Every suspension component on my Z has been replaced BUT the crossmember and A-arms. New PHB, LCA's, rear end, torque arm, wonder bar, sway bars, brake system, SFC's, trans X-member, steering, shocks/struts, springs, ball joints, engine mounts, and every bushing. I have yet to find a design from a company that I am willing to put my life, my passenger's life, and innocent people's lives at risk with. I want only the absolute best....an a-arm failure on the highway or even on a residential road going 30mph can be devastating.

- Joel

 

I'm pretty sure that was just grease or something...not another crack.

 

No it was a piece of pine needle type stuff!

 

Since we are on the subject, here are pics of my coilover conversion incase someone wants to see the major differences without going and hunting it down.







and yes, stock a-arms fit the pa racing k-member
http://hustonstreetracing.com/guidop...tracing012.jpg

 

heh, dude, check out the diff between what that is, and what they're selling now..


in red is where the stock arm hits... notice this clears only because the tube isnt as wide as the bushing:

 

Thanks for the pics! I wondered what I was getting myself into

We had only just started to talk about possibly doing the conversion to coil overs at all. In fact it was the loading on a tow truck & jacking the car up that got us really thinking hard about it! It such a pain to work on a lowered car! That and load the thing on the trailer w/o scraping. I think I need to get my wrecker guy a set of ramps to keep on his rig just for me!

 

I usually have them put the back of the wrecker bed on the tops of my Rhino ramps, it prevents some nose scraping. But be warned, most wreckers are heavy enough and can exert enough force with the hydraulics that they can crush rhino ramps. Mine have 2 big dings in the top from them and one looks like it started to buckle.

 

Yeah went to the store today to get a memory stick for my deceased stepdads top of the line dig camera...(he passed away w/o telling anyone where the sticks were put). So I go to the store and buy the one gig one... well it kept saying memory stick error. Not sure if the camera can't handle storage that sized?

Otherwise I would hve had some pics taken with decent pixelation. Unlike my cheapy!

 

It's not the size, it's the lack of focus.

 

One thing regarding the memory...you may have to format the memory card before the camera will recognize it.....

 

How dare he…

(sorry)

I don’t think that anyone really wants a bigger picture, just one that is in focus. You could probably get it with your “cheapie” by focusing (press the shutter button part way) with the view finder centered on the part that you want in focus, then reframing it the way you want it and pressing the shutter button the rest of the way to take the picture. Also, anything that will cause some relative motion (ie, you holding the part) will result in some blur

 

Also helps to use a flash so the exposure time isn't so long in a dim environment.

 

Most camera flashes aren't designed for relatively small, close ups and you’ll get either part of the image lit up and big shadows in part or just generally unsatisfactory results. Shining a bright light (got a halogen work light?) on it will make it much better.

 

I would take them tubes to a local college with a materials class
and ask them to do a brinnel, or rockwell test on them . I bet you after all the welding they do on those tubes that they never normalize or heat treat the setup. I wonder if it be better done out of square tube.

Dan

 

If it’s mild steel it won’t harden or normalize, not an issue

 

We are having it checked out by a local chassis builder, Carter Chassis, tomorrow.

 

True for larger items, but it'll work better than no flash and this isn't a difficult subject to light. The referenced pictures aren't exactly macro mode pictures, they were taken from about 2 feet away. If the lamp isn't in the right spot, you'll get even worse shadows since the light isn't surrounding the subject. I'd rather have it straight on with a flashlight than having light come in from the side to cast a long shadow. With a flash, you won't have the wide open aperture and the long exposure, even if you get uneven illumination. Since the subject is small in size and height, a forced flash will work just fine. I can take a satisfactory picture for the purpose of highlighting the intended subject with a cheapo point and shoot 3MP digital camera and forced flash. I don't think anyone would care if there's some spot reflection off the powdercoating. But this is all a digression.

 

No that is the best it can do cause the resolution is so low... I can't focus it. Even far awy shots or shots in its supposed sweet spot are like that!

For teh other Dig camera....I had to go last night and swap in the 1Gig memory stick for 2 128 MB ones! Freaking SONY. It can't use pro. And the non pro only go to 128! They always do this crap. Get a good camera and they go and change something, so it can't use the new products...like larger memory sticks! Jerks!

I was still editing...

 

lol....

 

Ok if the pic was the size of say our avatars its in perfect focus...you just need a magnifying glass. On the cameras LCD screen the pic lok awesome and you can see the cracks! The cameras programing on the computer pushes the pics to this size and they loose all focus...

the flash pics all came out bleached/washed out when close up....far away just like that. The flash is very short range. I used the bright halogen lights since they were the only way to not bleach the pics.

There is no part way on this shutter either...either takes or not!

I was sitting holding the part with my feet or leaning it against my foot or leg...ie... no movement.

Its just a crappy camera with bad resolution...this is the fine setting...guys at camera department said where as the Sony I needed the stick for was 4.1 mega pixels (think this is the correct term)...mine was 0.5... so only the super small would be clear and in focus!

With the new sticks the camera did not have a "memory stick error" They said formating the gig stick would not help as the camera could not read the pro sticks!

 

That was the halogens on super bright...or as we jokingly call the landing/heat lights!

 

Well if I had a 3mp this would not be an issue...camera guys said mine was a 0.5mp...so there in lies the prob. Will use the SONY tonight and get some better pics. Have to learn the balsted camera and software. Hopefully I can get the pics replaced tonight or tomorrow!

 

hey... www.dpreview.com

and now back to the topic at hand

 

Heh, we need to write a “taking pictures of your crap for the message board” FAQ

 

redraif
I got my new ones in today and all I can say is that they are much better than the ones you or I had I should have some pics in a couple hours of the new, new vs old

 

Well been taking pics a cropping and resizing from the Sony dig cam. Should work on getting them up tomorrow for all to view! Much better pics... Had same problems as mine with close ups, but it had a manual focus setting that fixed that! Got nice close ups now!

Oh and talked to a club member who works for a Metalergist (sp) He took a good look at the arms and said he saw discoloration in the break point. This is a sure sign of metal fatigue. Fatigue brought on by inferior product, or metal that sized wrong for the application and is over stressed... Hmmm....

Lance Carter of Carter chassis...(maybe some of you have heard of him...very well known and well respected thru out the country) the day before looked at them and said he would never run that small of a tube on that car. The failure in his opinion was inevitable due to too small of a sized tube in a street application. Said these are no where near strong enough for the street. Got to talking with him about almost buying the K-member. He has heard horror stories about them and most others... he said he there was only one company he would consider and that was AJE... I never mentioned AJE to him at all. This was his unsolicited opinion!

Funny thing...he offered to build me some a-arms...asking price $1800... but they would NEVER break!

 

you guys are playing with your life using that aftermarket garbage. at least the OEM stuff is proven.

you really think 2 lbs and a little "stiffer" arm is making a difference in a daily driver. get real.

I've seen the result of a tubular arm failing at the race track.
Car hit the cement barrier, then bounced off to the other cement barrier.

 

look at any major racing division (nascar, kart, irl, ...), any of them running stamped suspension parts? not that i've ever seen! they work fine if they are built correctly. there shouldn't be any "playing with your life" involved.

 

And what exactly does that have to do with a daily driven street car? Circle track race cars don't see half of the stress on their suspension parts as street cars.

 

running off into the corners at that kind of speed with slicks (tires that stay stuck to the ground) doesn't put stress on suspension pieces?

 

not as much as pot holes.

 

well, yes...potholes are hard on suspension. but, knowing how redraif's car is build and all (being a show car) i bet she does everything possible to avoid potholes!

 

any impact is going to be far worse for parts than 200 laps around a smooth race track. That and I promise you that each pecie of the suspensions on those cars is either replaced or inspected very often. They also likely do not powdercoat them, so they can easily see stress cracks starting, before the peice actualy fails.... BTW, on a typical sunday, what percantage of cars actualy finish races.... broken suspension peices happen in all forms of racing.

 

I'm a big nascar fan and I can't think of many people that haven't finished a race lately because of suspension failure...unless a piece broke in a wreck or something but then that would be considered not finishing because of a wreck... you're right though, they do change those pieces a lot more often. i do agree that drag racing isn't that hard on front suspension pieces...other than the front wheels dropping after a wheelie.

 

On the streets where I live smaller cars
are much better for a daily driver.
Ive driven the camaro since march and
I dont have the money to upgrade the car.

Im selling my camaro its nice looking car.
86 Z28 body is clean and its a hard top!

3000 or a trade
240sx, eclipse, celica.
The car runs very good 350 sbc goodwrench
holley 4bbl edlebrock manifold and headers
low miles and rebuilt 700r4 you could turn this into
a good track car but I dont have the money to do that
I have alot of parts that I took off in my basement like
that back seats a/c compressor smog stuff etc..
no headliner it was toast..

Few things I have done recently is a wheel alignment
after I got tires Falkens 245 50 16 96h excellent tires
New Ignition wires Csr hold down clamp.
new radiator..
iTs also has removeable steering wheel..

goodluck with your cars
I think this car would make a good circle track car.!!

 

And what does any of that have to do with broken suspension parts, or even suspension/chassis in general???

 

where I live the roads suck big time

I couldnt put tubular stuff on this car.