Fully Adjustable Tubular A-Arms, LCA's, Panhard Bar, Torque Arm, etc. on Street Car?

[v7guy]

Forgot to add the link and having trouble editing my post, apologies

http://www.frrax.com/rrforum/index.p...opic=11337&hl=

[MeanTA]

Ouch that sucks! Maybe this is because of a old design. Or because yours are a different arm then mine.

But my shock mount is thicker. And don't stand off the arm as much as yours. Mine also has a folded lip on the open sides to add support. It was a pain to get the bolts started. With the tight space.

I autox/ road course my car. And have hit somethings that jolted the whole car. But after almost 2 years there doing good.

[Injuneer]

I'm not too sure who's design this lower a-arm is, but the shock mounting is a lot more substantial. The K-member is PA Racing, just not sure about the a-arm. This car was dropped hard several times from way-too-big wheel stands. The a-arms survived, the K-member needed a weld repaired an some reinforcement added.

[93formulalt1]

The posts mentioning bent shock mounts have me concerned, since my A-Arms have the "weaker" looking design, and I really would rather have something a little more substantial than that, given the fact that it's not even enough for 6.5k of DD use. . . The roads where I live are mediocre at best, some of them are downright abominable.

What about everything (except front A-Arms) mentioned above, with stock control arms and MOOG bushings? A better compromise to improve handling and maintain strength?

At this point, I'm looking at different shocks and springs also. If nothing else, I may consider selling the A-Arms, front shocks (KYB AGX, new in boxes), mounting the torque arm, rear LCA's and Relo's, replacing the bushings on the front a-arms, and going with BMR springs and Koni shocks all around. Not looking for a "slammed" look, but I definitely want it lower than stock. I just bought new tires for all 4 corners, and I'd like to do the suspension upgrades, have the tires mounted, and have it all aligned at once.

I'm also planning on either the LS1 steering shaft or rag joint eliminator, and some brake upgrades (contemplating the C5 Z06 calipers/rotors w/ stainless braided brake lines in front, and LS1 rear brake swap), but this is all going to be an "as I can afford parts" build, where I buy one or two pieces as I have the funds available, and install the whole kit when the parts are all on hand. Selling the a-arms and shocks should help things a bit, as I know those should still fetch decent prices.

Any suggestions? The car is a summer Daily Driver, but I want it to be able to handle and stop better than stock. These brakes are underpowered, the suspension is getting old (19 years old, 162k miles), and driving the car just doesn't feel as "tight" as it should. I know new bushings will help a lot, but I wonder if I'm leaving something on the table by sticking with stock a-arms rather than boxed aftermarket units.

[OVA1]

I'm on a full BMR Front end…IMG_1245.jpgIMG_1246.jpg with Hochkis out back.

If it helps, my street-ish car works fine with the High Performance Suspension.

[93formulalt1]

I'm on a full BMR Front end…IMG_1245.jpgIMG_1246.jpg Hochkis out back. But these are the only photos I had hoped that they showed the A-arms better.

But if it helps, my street-ish car works fine with the High Performance Suspension.

How long have you had all of that? Have you had any issues with bending the shock mounts on the lower arms? I just got my LCA relocation brackets, I still need tires, a clutch, and shocks/coils for all four corners before I'm ready to install any of it, but I'm getting there.

[OVA1]

I've had a tubular K-Member for years, added the A-Arms a year or two back, then a crazy woman, armed with a Mercury POS, ambushed me and bent everything except the K-member, which came out completely unscathed.

But beyond that, no issues with shock mounts.

[QC97Z]

OP, I've got a lot of the same stuff you do, minus the A-arms and the Eibach springs. Mine was built as a street car that may see the strip every once in a great while.

My setup:

KYB AGX adjustables on front and rear
stock springs front and rear
stock front a-arms
Spohn sway bars front and rear with poly bushings on links
UMI tubular adjustable torque arm with driveshaft loop
UMI on-car adjustable panhard
UMI non-adjustable LCA's
UMI tubular bolt-in SFC's.

Loving the performance, have no issues - I tool around town in mine, but have also been on some extensive (400+ mile) trips with it.
The only thing I can complain about is my possibly out-of-balance driveshaft lol

[SSlowBoat]

ive been running:

umi tubular poly/rod front lower arms
bmr chromoly adjustable full length torque arm
founders poly/rod lca's
founders rod/rod panhard
slp bilsteins
bmr rear/hotchkis front springs

way better than stock. hardest part was the alignment because i had no front arm to reference (had to cut off caster part of arms to remove stockers). i daily my car up and down my washed out stone driveway, in northern nj/eastern pa on bumpy back roads etc for almost a year and have no issues. i have to order umi upper arms still. no bending, no cracking, no creaking, etc. most i have is on hard launch with a full tank of gas and a full hatch of groceries my torque arm hits a little, since the rear mount is alot larger than stock. drive it to the shore 2hrs no problem. to dyno day 1.5 hours no problem. actually just got back from getting formula for my kid.

my father inlaws' 94 is bone stock suspension. mine feels 10x times safer, waaay more predictable and stable.
No issues with shock mounts I've smacked some bumps and rather large jersey style HOLES harder than you can ever imagine, and came out unscathed. UMI really beefed up the shock mount.

[SSlowBoat]

@93formulalt1 if anything i would suggest is different better springs and shocks. id put everything else on. when i talked to strano he said do you live anywhere with kinda bumpy roads, i said yeah, he said you will need new shocks in a year with kyb's. the rates on the eibachs are low as well. slp bilsteins feel like konis on full soft, they ride nice and firm up when you need em to. cheap as well. UMI told me if i break/crack/bend their arms, they will replace them for pretty much free. says alot about the faith in their product. the scca autocross cp class northeast regional champ ran umi uppers/lowers, and daylied his car while also driving it to the course 2.5 hours from him. never had a problem.

tubular front a arms made the biggest difference in my case. steering response is amazing. the ability to dial in the alignment i wanted for handling was key to me buying them, and if you have the original caster bushing good luck getting it off. mine was shot and when i hit bumps the car pulled hard one way.

my stance:
7708_10151397419077426_402116074_n.jpg