Mornin' Folks,

My '91 is in storage for the winter, and i've been shopping around for upgrades and modifications I could be doing to it in the spring. Aside from brakes and audio, the key components I want to focus on are going to be suspension-based. It's a 'vert, so SFC's are a must in my book. I'm going to be doing a Wonderbar, as well. Both of those are likely going to come from UMI. I wanted to do a UMI Strut Tower Brace, just to keep everything the same, and from one supplier (being in Canada, that would have saved me money, too)...but I see that UMI's STB only works on TPI cars. I've got a TBI, so unless someone knows different, I guess I'm out of luck?

I see Edelbrock makes a TBI-compatible STB...does it work? Will it clear all underhood components on a stock TBI set-up?

Is there any way to make the UMI version work? Or are there any whisperings of UMI making a TBI version?

Thanks guys!!

 

i think your air cleaner would be in the way,

this is one for a TBI car

http://www.hawksthirdgenparts.com/ed...owerbrace.aspx

 

As far as I know, the Edlebrock fits fine. It also clears LS1s, so that makes me happy for future mods. BTW, that's way too much for that bar. Google it and you can find them for around $130-140.

What else you have done to the car? What are you plans for it?

 

Yup, as long as you get the Edelbrock bar that is specifically for TBI cars it will fit no problem. The Edelbrock bar in your link is actually $36 cheaper if you buy it from summitracing.com, or you can buy from Jegs and I think they have free shipping on anything over $100.

I have an edelbrock bar, but I have TPI so pictures of my set up would be useless to you.

 

Thanks for the replies so far, guys. Shame the UMI bar won't fit. Oh well...I'll buy the Edlebrock one and paint it. Makes little difference to me.

As far as plans go, I'm rather attached to the car as it is. I have to post some pictures and my story on here at some point..haven't managed to get a round to it, yet. I might do that right now, actually. I'll list all my mods there.

I don't plan to do much motor-wise. I just want to stiffen the car up to avoid body flex, and to have the car ready in case I decided to drop in a 350, 383, etc sometime down the road. I'm a very big fan of road-hugging though....I love twisty back roads...so a stiff riding car is my preference. Might explain why I'm fond of my 9C1 'pala, too..but thats beside the point.

Thanks for the help guys!

 

You <3 the twisties like myself you will love the energy bushings. I can hug corners so tight, i tend to slide around in my seat lol ! Couldnt do that before with the crappy plasticbag bushings.

 

The Edelbrock bar already comes powder coated black so there is no need to paint it.

The UMI bar could be used but the amount of fabrication required to make it work wouldn't be worth it. If you had the time and skill to do that you should just make you own STB.

That is exactly why I went with Corbeau seats. If I didn't brace myself with my knees while autocrossing my butt would be against the center counsel one turn and the door armrest for the next... it was nuts!



The first picture shows my knee brace I can up with. Without it I would have a dent in my leg from pushing on the center counsel to support myself while racing. The other picture shows the Corbeau Forza seats that I installed. I do have the other one in, it just wasn't installed at the time this photo was taken.

 

What's up with the wires under the seat? I want some 'sport/racing' seats, but I want reclinable (sp) ones. My 4th gen ones are better than stock, but I still flop around like a fish out of water.

 

I have the wires from my stock power seats tucked under the carpet... unless your talking about the giant curved black thing (slider lever) sticking out in front of the seat. That is only visible like that because I have the seat back all the way. I'm 6'3" so I need all the room I can get. I even modified the brackets for the seats so they sit something like 1"-1.5" lower then the stock seats. When the seat is pushed all the way ahead you can't even see that lever. I also noticed the seat mount in that pic isn't painted... man that is a really out dated pic.

With those seats my butt doesn't move at all, and my shoulders only slide like 2" to either side before the seat stops them. Now to get the 5 pt harnesses in the car so I don't learn forward...

I would have got reclinable seats but you can't beat the price I got the pair of seats, mounts, sliders and hardware for. It was a total of $140. When brand new, all that would have cost about $700.

 

Bushings, eh? Heard about some people doing them, but I didn't really look into what they were. Anyone got some links? I might have to add them to my project list.

I know the Edelbrock bar is black. I was rather hoping for the red that UMI uses, so I could colourmatch everything...Red is my accent colour in the car, due in large part to the colour of the stripes.

As for racing buckets, it crossed my mind...but where it's a vert, and at the end of the day, really is more for cruising than Auto-X...plus the fact that the fronts wouldn't match the backs...I opted to leave the stockers, though I'm considering attempting to find someone to restuff them and rebuild the foam. I agree, though, that Racing Seats are the way to go...I took a ride in a Buddy's 951T and..well..there was very little movement, despite copious amounts of speed.

For those interested...I wrote up the "Life and Times" edition of how I got my Camaro. Click Here.

 

Oddly enough, some early 'Birds were equipped with a factory knee pad/brace.

JamesC

 

Oh. I'd forgot some IROCs came with power seats. My car didn't, but it did have the hole in the carpet...lol. I used it to plum my 4th gen power seat.
I wouldn't pass those up for that money. I really want more bracing, but I want the fronts to match the rears as closely as possible. Thinking about these with white stitching:

 

The only fitment problems with Edelbrock STB for TBI is it doesn't fit cars with drivers side air conditioning compressors.

 

Which is noted in the description for the STB (at least on all the description I've seen, there was at least a footnote or something). But I thought all TBI 3rd gens had the compressor on the passenger side anyways? Just some carb'd 3rd gens had the compressor on the drivers side?

I have this STB and I love it, It sure is beefy looking compared to some that are out there, plus it's 3 point.

 

You know you want the UMI STB Kris