T/Atime

last night i replaced the panhard rod and was able to center the rear axle 100%. from there i adjusted my rear shocks from 2 to 1. now front is set at 0 rear 1. for my type of driving this is perfect. the only problem is the shock mount bushing has a sqeak from the contact to the shock mount. should i grease it up or scuff the surface?

from there i decided to loosen the rear lower controll arm but the bolts are stuck big time! the best idea i have is wait till next year and just put in new umi lower control arms. i have a feeling ill just cut the bolts.

UMI Sales

Nice, thanks for mentioning UMI.

If you can get to it, a wipe of Teflon based prelube (like the Formula 5 that comes with some poly kits) will help that squeak.

Also, if you PB Blaster the trailing arm bolts for a few days straight and let it soak, often you can get those bolts out. Just make sure you have a spare if you're tinkering with them in case you break one...

T/Atime

today was the first time i had the opertunity to drive my car with no squeaks. i smeared grease around the mount and bushing followed by a washer and lock washer. cranked it down.

on another note, today i was driving about 100km/h down the hwy and noticed an object sitting in the middle of the road. caught me by suprise, i didnt have time to slow down so i resorted to violently cranking the wheel to avoid a stupid washer fluid jug (possibly filled with fluid) that might have caused serious damage to the car. the car handled amazing! holly crap, if anything went wrong i would of been in the ditch shinny side down. all to aviod a damn empty jug. fml

T/Atime

Can anyone confirm what a 91 gta came with in terms of factory front sway bar. 32mm is what I gather. I don't have the car out of storage till mid September.

I'm interested in purchasing a poly bushing with a grease nipple for 40$ new. It's local buy and sell.
Thanks boys and girls!

L695speed

I want to say it is 36mm up front. Reason I say so is my 88 GTA has a 36mm bar and was factory stock with 90K miles on it.

T/Atime

Looks like 36mm is the magic number. Thanks. I just saved 30$ and a trip across town.

charliemccraney

Do they not work as advertised, then?
My Stock 305 spins the tires so easily that I'm planning to try some. The springs are stock, fender heights in the neighborhood of 28" all the way around. It's also a WS6 so it has the wider wheels and tires, with a 3.08 posi. At that height, the lca mount at the axle is higher than the mount on the chassis. When I've had it at Atlanta Dragway, if I leave much above 1000rpm, it just spins. That's on street tires, no slicks.
I figure that if a stock 305 can make it spin with ease, then any V8 3rd gen can benefit so long as they work as advertised.

T/Atime

I haven't installed my lower control arms or the brakets yet, but it sounds to me there could be a few things you could change to improve your 60'.

The pitch of the lower control arm sounds like its pointed the wrong way.
What brand and how old are the tires?
Having a t-5 makes it a challenge if all the above is not optimum. I'm assuming your not snapping the clutch but rather slipping it into traction at an rpm above idle.

charliemccraney

Yeah, I expected the pitch to be the other way base on what I've read here, but it's not.
I haven't done anything to the rear suspension yet. To the best of my knowledge, it is original and worn bushings could be contributing, I suppose. It's just over 150K miles now. So my previous assessment may not be justified. It had 90K when I got it.

The tires are Yokohama AS 430, about 1.5 years old. I've owned the car for about 10 years and it has been the same with all of the tires I've had. I always try something different, in the middle of the price range. I can never tell a difference.

I don't know how to describe my handling of the clutch. I let it out quickly. I wouldn't say I snap or pop it.

Edit: While changing the differential oil, I took a closer look a things. While it came with a 3.08 and posi, it now has a 3.23, open. So my previous assessment can be ignored. There is too much that is not stock / possibly worn out. I can update in a month or two once the rear suspension has been gone through and maybe later with positraction.