I am considering installing Lakewood LCA on my 92 RS. I have minor engine mods (GM Blaster, TPI Intake, & Accel HEI module). I am weighing the the benefits of installing the aftermarket LCA as opposed to just installing ES bushings in the stock LCA. Does anyone have Lakewood LCA on their 3.1 and what benefits do they provide?

I also have KYB GR-2 front and rear, a GM wonderbar, and GM IROC 34mm/24mm setup with new ES bushings currently installed so my car already handles fairly well.

 

TPI intake on a 3.1???

 

i believe he means the large, black, delta shaped air filter housing, not an actual TPI manifold

seems the terms are confused now-a-days

 

ohh, so he means the intake tubing that hooks up to the throttle body? hmm, well, my dad has a TPI 5.0 in his trans am, and the diameter of that tube (at the throttle body) is alot bigger than the one on my 3.1...did he flip the tube on his 3.1 so the wider end is facing forward?

 

lakewoods took away most if not all of my wheel hop..

 

its different on camaros
look at an IROCZ and you'll see what i mean

 

You could (and Should!) also ask this question on the regular Suspension/Chassis/Brakes forum. Our v6's share the exact same suspension design (and parts) as the v8's do.

And I believe the lakewoods already have the poly bushings installed in them, don't they? They're $100, if I remember correctly. If you know how to weld, you could box your stock LCA's by welding a plate to the bottom of them, which is currently "open"... stock design is upside-down-"U"-shaped. I'll probably weld mine shut this summer. Only bit that bugs me is how I'll protect the inside from rust... I've gotta grind the area down to bare metal to get a good weld; but once I weld the arm closed... it was suggested to me that I drill a small hole in the arm and pour some zinc-based paint thru the hole. But I'm thinking I might pick up a true weld-thru primer, Eastwood Company's got one in their catalogs right now. I have a zinc-rich primer in my welding toolbox, but the welding store said they wouldn't trust it to be used as a weld-thru primer; more for just protecting areas that I just welded from rust. (Odd tho that the can says it meets military specs for weld-thru primer; maybe the store just doesn't know what they're talking about )

Oh I believe (and check at the Suspension/Chassis/Brakes board) that the only negative effect from using boxed rear lower control arms is a harsher ride; but you probalby don't mind that. (I actually don't know who cares about a hard ride in their f-body; if a soft ride is what somebody's after, I think Cadillac makes some soft-riding cars that they'd probably enjoy more. )

 

Thanks TomP,

I am going to leave the existing FE1 springs on so ride comfort should not be too bad if I add boxed LCA.

 

Yeah, I doubt you'd even notice any harshness; your mind is probalby like mine, where we'd translate that into "better handling, the car feels more sturdy, etc"...

Reminds me of the old "can I add a high flow exhaust to add horsepower, but which one can I buy that's not loud? I want a quiet muffler like I have now." To me, what's the point? But I could btch about things like this for hours! When you install 'em, let us know how it goes!!!

Oh you might want to prepare for this by going to a dealer and buying new rear LCA bolts, for lca-to-frame and lca-to-axle. Those old ones are pretty rusted up; hate to see you snap one in the middle of a job! And here's some stuff you probalby already thought of, but just for kicks (and other people's benefit) -- Use a light smear of anti-sieze on the threads (not overdoing it) if you think you'll need to disassemble this again. Make sure to torque the bolts to spec while the car is resting on the ground, and not in the air on jackstands; this avoids preloading the new bushings so the car would actually appear "higher" than it should be (and throws off handling). And one thing I forgot on my 3.73/posi/disc swap- as soon as you can, re-check the torque of those bolts!!!!!!!!!! Then re-check them again a week later!!! I lost the panhard-rod-to-body-brace bolt about a week after doing my swap; that was a fun ride home- luckily I was only a couple hundred feet from my driveway; found the bolt in the road. The nut was long gone, though. Every time I accelerated, the back twisted up, and the axle slid to the passenger side. This made the driveshaft SLAM into my exhaust's intermediate pipe, I'm surprised it didn't rip thru the pipe. I got into my driveway, gave the car a push from the side of the rear quarter, and my car swayed back and forth- scary... I thought I ripped my car in half until I saw the panhard rod hanging there. Thank goodness I wasn't flying around a turn when that bolt fell out!!