After much deliberation, Idecided my back axle would be the best place to mod before moving to the ZZ4.... So sfc's, lower control arm etc... Thought the SSM kit was just that, so ordered it from Summitt, cost me $200 in postage to get it here When it arrived I took it straight down to my garage, he checked it over and told me that the lift bars are total over kill for my car, I will gain the time in weight that I loose from the extra traction and to top it all off the job is well over his head He has taken on the subframe kit though as a favour.....

So I'm left with a serious bit of kit and nowhere to go.

What do you guys reckon was I stupid to buy it? Is he being difficult (he also says I'll loose 3 inches of ground clearence!!)? What shall I do, has anyone else done this mod? Help..

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'86 Iroc ZZ4
Best Run 13.8 @ 100mph
I told you to blow the bloody doors off!
The British Firebird/Camaro Site

 

Come on guys, I remember when this was an excellent board

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'86 Iroc ZZ4
Best Run 13.8 @ 100mph
I told you to blow the bloody doors off!
The British Firebird/Camaro Site

 

I didn't even know that they made them for our cars. I'd say under 400 horse they might not be needed. Now you can put a pi converter and some 4.56 gears and not have to worry about hooking up. Add a 200 shot of nitrous and you'll be ready to lift. And they look cool as hell!

 

If it was me I would've bought an aftermarket torque arm instead...it's a little cheaper and A LOT easier to install for the same traction gains. The SSMs are supposed to work real good, but I suspect that just might be from the extra 35-40 pounds it adds to the rear. Keep in mind there's a bunch of 10 and 11 sec Fbody's using an aftermarket torque arm setup instead.

I seriously thought of buying this kit awhile back but didn't like the idea of not being able to adjust pinion angle (once it's welded in place, it's there forever). It does get rid of the torque arm which is a big plus if you plan on doing true dual exhaust.

I don't think it's a total waste of money (but 200 for shipping??)... If you plan on drag racing a lot with slicks and have a lot of horsepower under your hood a traction device like SSMs is mandatory. I think the real problem for you is finding someone competent to install them, unless you know how to weld.

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1989 IROC-Z, ZZ3 shortblock with some bolt-ons.
13.20 @ 108.69, 2.2 60'

 

Thanks guys Have had the SFC's put on now and it has helped the whole cars demeaner, it wanders less now, and feels more tight.. so I'm happy with that.

$200 for shipping is to the UK, and it only took a week, being a 3rd Gen fan over here doesn't come cheap!!

Why would I ever need to change the angle of the pinion?? I always thought that was something never to be messed with

I think I may have found someone to do the welding, though its worth waiting to get the right ratio and rear axle first. Do you think the 3 inches of ground clearence at the rear will effect things much, my car is lowered 1.5 " anyway..

Thanks again

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'86 Iroc ZZ4
Best Run 13.8 @ 100mph
I told you to blow the bloody doors off!
The British Firebird/Camaro Site

 

My reply is unfortunately not very positive so you may not want to read it. The SSM kit is IMHO strictly for drag racing. Now they will BS you and tell you it handles great but they are wrong. You are basically changing your entire rear suspension from a 3 link to a 2 link ladder bar system. The directions will tell you to ditch you torque arm, rear sway bar, and maybe panhard bar. In reality you also get rid of the control arms or risk suspension bind on the street. They only tell you to keep the control arms for liability reasons. You have to almost be a master welder to install this system and not warp your axle tubes and when all is said and done you have just permanetally attatched you $600 kit to a glass rearend.

Now the good news is that this is a quality piece that will hook like no torque arm will. You'll probably cut .1 or .2 off your quarter times, but this is in no way a good system for the street.

 

Appreciate your honesty Cowboy So ya think handling will take a turn for the worse?? The instructions say get rid of the lower control arms and just that... So my mechanic wasn't BS'ing me

Anyone else?

 

We installed the kit on a 82 Camaro and thought the same things. We were not worried about cornering, since it was a mostly strip and street race car. The first night we layed all the parts out, we thought about all these heavy parts on a 7.5 rear. We waited to install them until we bought a bolt in 9" housing. Man, worlds of difference. With an NOS assisted 383, the car runs 11.00 on DOT slicks. On the road, it almost dead hooks everytime.

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1992 Pontiac Firebird 350/Six Speed
1987 Toyota Pickup 383/500+ HP