I was changing my oil on Sunday when I noticed something different. I had a tie rod end that was about to fall off! It wasn't that way the last time I changed my oil, which was about 6 months ago. I am glad I caught that. Since I won't have time to work on the car any in the next few weeks, I took it to a shop to have several things done to it that i have been meaning to do, but seem to never get around to doing:

I had the tie rods, sleeves, and idler arm replaced. The pitman arm is OK. The front balljoints have about 100K on them, and are MOOG units. They are OK. The control arm bushings and the sway bar bushings are poly, and are OK.

I had them put my polyurethane transmission mount and torque arm mount in.

Noticed that the factory rubber bushings on the rear sway bar were crumbling, so had that replaced with polyurethane end links.

Since they were going to have to align it anyway, and it has been 100K miles since the struts were changed, i had them put some new ones on there. I used KYB GR2 struts. After doing a search, that seems to be the consensus best bang for the buck.
Two things to say: Check your steering componenets often if you have high mileage. I have never had one wear out that fast. Last time it was fairly tight, but the other day, the end link was about to fall off of the ball! Anyone else ever notice that happening to them?

Second thing is that i was having a popping noise on my car when I would hit the gas. I had checked the tranny mount, and it was fine. I decided to change it and the torque arm bushing as described above. When the guy took the torque arm bushing out, it was worn completely out! It had some missing pieces, and it was letting the torque arm bump up and down when you would hit the gas and the brakes. If your car is making that noise, you might want to change this bushing.

I can't wait to see what this thing will drive and handle like with the suspension all fixed. I am normally one whose philosophy is that nobody works on my car but me. I am going to be extremely busy for the next month or so, and it was either take it to have the work done, or park it for a while.

 

Close call! Did you have them put the poly torque arm bushing in? It made a big improvement in the way my car drove... the car felt more sturdy just going in a straight line!

Let us know what you think of the GR2's.

 

Yep, I never replace any rubber bushings with another rubber one. I have poly bushings throughout. I got the torque arm bushing from Spohn. I got the poly trans mount from the local auto parts store.

The car is now waiting to have the alignment done before I can pick it up. I can't wait to get it back and drive it. With the steering all good and tight, the new struts, and the poly trans mount, torque arm and rear swaybar bushings, it should handle and ride a lot better than it did before.

 

I got the car back and drove it for a while, and WOW what a difference! With all the stuff I had done in the above post, the car is tight, has no bumps and rattles from underneath, rides better, and definitely corners a lot better. I tested that out on one of the curvy spots that I have to go through on the way home. I have to say, there is no way I am even in the same league with Agood2.8 with handling, but I bet my car handles better than 98% of everything on the road, at least it does now.

The KYB GR2 struts are probably the best compromise of ride and handling. I am very happy with them. If you hit a bump, it wont jar your teeth out, but the car feels much tighter and definitly handles better. Swerving type quick turns now mean less body roll and more stability (I think the people in front of me thought I was drunk!) I would definitely recommend the KYB struts to those who are on a budget, and who aren't into hard-core performance and handling.

 

Cool, thanks for the update! Now you've just gotta get your hands on that IROC quick-ratio steering box!

 

Sorry for not getting back sooner, I have been out of town for more than a week, and just got back yesterday.

I don't plan on the Iroc quick steering box, unless the ones on the WS-6 cars are the same. If that is true, then I already have one, and may actually put it in one day. I have two 15th anniversary TAs, and I am going to make one car out of the two of them. I will have some extra stuff, and may use it on my car if it will work. One of the things I was planning to do was to take one of the sets of recaro seats, have them recovered, and then put them in my '92. That would be cool.

 

Yep, that'd be the box... WS6 got the quick-ratio box. Should have a number like 26000525 with a "Z" on the side, if the WS6 car had 16" wheels on it. There's also a box for 15" wheels, can't remember the casting # offhand. The only difference is that the 16" box might have had different "internal" stops, to prevent the larger 16" wheels from rubbing the inner fenders on parking-lot-style K-turns.

 

The 15th anniversary TA was the first use of 16 inch wheels on any F-body from the factory. They were only available on the Anniversary edition cars in 1984. In 1985, the 16 inch wheels became optional on the regular production Trans Am, and also became available for Z28s.

I may just take that box out and put it in the ol' '92 V6 car when I finally get around to working on the 15th anniversary car. One of the cars has a good body (except the front clip), but the interior is trashed totally. It also does not have an engine and transmission in it. I have all of the stuff to fix that. The second car has the original rims (which had been removed from the first car)and it also has an interior that is in excellent shape. It still has the engine and tranny in place and everything is just like it came from the factory, but the body is really rough. I plan on putting the two together and then selling or using all the extra parts I can. I will then haul the extra body off for scrap.

 

On that steering stuff note, I was changing the oil in the Camaro back in February and Igrabbed the idler arm to pull myself under there on the creeper and the thing moved nearly an inch!

THe next week it got new TRW tirerod ends (iner and outer) adjuster sleeves, idler arm and drag link. Wasn't bad to install, no frozen bolts on anything.

Drives 100% better, don't have to saw the wheel back and forth anymore. Now to get the rest of the stuff done, get rid of those horrible over cut springs that make it bottom out in the rear and launch you out of the seat, BAM!

Eric

 

I know nothing about front suspension I wish I did. I'd like to redo it all.

 

Get some penetrating oil, a pickle fork, and a BFH and go to town!

Eric