Ryan, why did you guys choose the spring rates that you did? A car compromise between street and track? I'm on 750/250 and it's not nearly as rough as I thought it'd be. Of course our roads are pretty decent down here.

What's the max spring rates that you think the shocks can handle?

I don't want to speak for Ryan/UMI, but I'll add some info that might be good background information.

Sam Strano tuned these. Sam ran 550/150 and even 500/150 springs and ran them to several national championships.

I used to have Strano's springs, still have his shocks. The 550/150 were great springs and handled great. But the 750/250 handle even better, and I've take weight out. I feel like full weight cars may benefit from stiffer springs. The awesome thing about this set up is it so easy to change to whatever spring rate you desire.

Do UMI/Strano feel that stiffer springs can compromise handling?

Steve91T- Good question.

As Kevin mentioned, Sam Strano uses 550/150 and has won multiple championships on them so for us this was a good starting point. We started with 550/175 and it worked very well, so we then tried 600/200 and it worked even better. As you mentioned these rates (to us) are a great compromise between track and street. For example my step mother just picked up a bone stock 2002 Z28 so we put on a set of 600/200's and Bilstein shocks and it felt awesome. I wanted her, from a ladies standpoint to give us feedback, does the car feel rough, stiff, jolt you? She has been driving it for two weeks now and says it feels amazing, handles well, not stiff and very comfortable. So this tells me these rates are excellent rates for multiple use.

However with all that being said we will be working on rate increases on our shop car to see what we can come up with. But before we make too many changes we want to learn our car and set up with what we have. The shocks will be okay with more rate, the rebound is high. (Ramey can go into more shock details than me if needed).

So to answer the question in a shorter reply- Yes, we feel these rates are great for a street car as well as track.

That's even with the Torrington bearings the kit seems to contain??

Is there anything else one can use to stop the threaded alloy bits from 'cold welding' together?

Yes, that would be a BIG shame to have to slather those works of art in sloppy, staining, silver (OR copper) anti-sieze! (IMG:http://www.frrax.com/rrforum/style_emoticons/default/gr_sad.gif) (IMG:http://www.frrax.com/rrforum/style_emoticons/default/thumbsdown.gif)

Would it limit the damper travel too much, or adversely effect the rear compression/handling if one used BOTH the factory bump stops (in good shape) AND the bumpers??

This post has been edited by dailydriver: Jun 28 2016, 08:28 PM

Yea, it's just to prevent galling of the jacking threads and spring perch when turning them under load. I'll slather them gently and assume that anybody who sees them was just hit by my car and is currently under it. (IMG:http://www.frrax.com/rrforum/style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)



The front shocks have the built in bump stops (bump rubbers?). The rear shocks are "bare" and use the rear factory or the UMI bump stop.

Pics of the rear shocks and hardware below.

Those brackets are awesome. UMI sold me a set of brackets when I was doing a shock upgrade this winter. Tightens up the car when you get rid of that sloppy rubber factory stuff, and makes the car even easier to work on. Need to get the front coilover out? 2 bolts and 5 minutes of your time.

So you are saying you won't end up at 1200/550?

Which brackets? I've gotten pretty good at taking the front "coilovers" out, but I had no idea there was a faster way!

These are race car parts now, no more worrying about looks. They will be scratched, dinged and chipped after a season . You ought to see ours... (IMG:http://www.frrax.com/rrforum/style_emoticons/default/blink.gif)

TRUE, and you should see the underside of MY almost 200K mile car which NEVER FAILS to make me very jealous of all the trailered race cars', grime free, NEVER exposed to salt soup, quite clean, almost pristine unibodies and suspensions by comparison (as seen on most of the pics posted on this site). (IMG:http://www.frrax.com/rrforum/style_emoticons/default/sad.gif)
(You cannot even tell I have Koni Sports, or Eibach coil over springs on the front any more! (IMG:http://www.frrax.com/rrforum/style_emoticons/default/sad.gif) (IMG:http://www.frrax.com/rrforum/style_emoticons/default/gr_eek2.gif) )

Does anyone make a BLACK anti-seize?? (IMG:http://www.frrax.com/rrforum/style_emoticons/default/laugh.gif)

This post has been edited by dailydriver: Jun 29 2016, 08:59 PM

Ok, so the fronts aren't too bad to install. The car is pretty clean (though the upper shock mounts have the only rust I've seen on this thing so far...which figures, they are always rusty), so it all came apart easy enough. We got everything installed in a couple hours (with stopping for dinner, etc). Then we decided to put a jack under each control arm and "ballpark" the ride height. Something didn't look right, but I figured the tape measure can't be wrong...right? Wrong.... We set the car down and the jack popped out from under it. I can't get a work light under the sub frame connectors (much less a jack)....lol. Tomorrow I'll jack up the rear so I can get a jack under the front and we'll make a few adjustments. We did get a laugh out of the super low ride height (and this is with 3" of thread left on the coil overs...not that you could expect to use the rest of the threads without longer springs). Bwhahahaha.....

Pics:

Kevin, I like that low look (IMG:http://www.frrax.com/rrforum/style_emoticons/default/cool2.gif)

Also once you get the height where you want it the car will still be on the bump stops a lot, this is correct. We designed it this way and that is why we use those nice progressive rate stops.

Yea, I figure we are ready to go run with the Honda crowd, just as soon as I can get the bottom of the wheels pointed out at a 45 degree angle. (IMG:http://www.frrax.com/rrforum/style_emoticons/default/blink.gif) We joked that the front bumper should stay clean because the nose will now drive under bugs...not counting the ones we scrape off the ground. (IMG:http://www.frrax.com/rrforum/style_emoticons/default/dry.gif) The car is about "three fingers" high (to the air dam or the bottom of the SFCs). I told my friend that we needed a "Three Fingers Tequila" decal for it. (IMG:http://www.frrax.com/rrforum/style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

It's low....lol. It actually reminded me of some of the super high power turbo drag cars, they always seem to run the nose "stupid low". It's so short that it looks really strange to stand next to the top of the window frame. My wife commented that it's almost as low as the C4 Corvette was....and these cars are much taller than a C4, they just aren't that "flat".

It would look better that low with the new wheels....which should be done tomorrow (I hope). (IMG:http://www.frrax.com/rrforum/style_emoticons/default/2thumbs.gif)

Also, I didn't separate the upper balljoint, I just pulled the old shock assembly down and lifted the top off and spun it 180 degrees on the balljoint. Removed the bottom bolts from the shock and lifted the old one out. We bolted the new one in place with the upper assembly hanging out of the fender and reassembled (you can see the dirt on the cotter key and balljoint threads....they never came apart). I'm not sure it's any more difficult, but it saves tearing up the balljoint boot. I also bolted the top of the shock in place when I put the upper mount back into the car and bolted it in. Then we put the bolts through the lower shock mount. You have to watch that you don't beat the shock body up on the end of the swaybar. It's likely safer to do it the other way, but this saved the balljoint boots and that's worth "being careful" to me.

When I backed it out of the garage to turn it around, the "bump" onto the concrete garage section felt much different than the stock shocks and springs. This was just with the rears installed. This is extremely unscientific based on a 30' test drive, but I was impressed that I could feel the difference in the bump. I'm guessing these are monotube and have much larger pistons than stock shocks? That would be a "low speed damping" event, and the shocks seemed to actually "see" the motion. The original shocks felt like you were in a hammock when you hit the bump pulling into the garage. These felt much different. I'm anxious to try it once we get it out of snow plow mode. (IMG:http://www.frrax.com/rrforum/style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)


And I can't thank Bubba353z enough for spending the last two evenings in the garage wrenching with me. A second set of hands is a huge help for projects like this. (IMG:http://www.frrax.com/rrforum/style_emoticons/default/2thumbs.gif)

Kevin I think we need picture of clearance based on beer can so we can all reference the look!!! AHAHAHAHAh (IMG:http://www.frrax.com/rrforum/style_emoticons/default/beerchug.gif)

"Low ri der, she's a real goer!"

Couldn't resist!! It's the first thing that came to my mind when I saw the after picture of the car. (IMG:http://www.frrax.com/rrforum/style_emoticons/default/2thumbs.gif)

At least you were able to get the jack out. When we went with the shorter front springs on the Firebird, I thought I had compensated for the shorter spring with the jacker adjustment, but set the car right down on the jack, and couldn't move the jack to get the car back up. Had to get another jack, get the body up high enough to be able to move the first jack, get the car up enough to get ramps under the front wheels, make the adjustments and then set the car back down.

This post has been edited by CrashTestDummy: Jun 30 2016, 02:54 PM

I can arrange that....assuming I have any beer left that's in actual cans. You might have to settle for a bottle laying sideways. (IMG:http://www.frrax.com/rrforum/style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)




I've been thinking about that song since we did the rear and it looked like it wanted to drag the rear bumper. lol. It looked really funny with the rear lowered and the front at stock height. Now I've reversed the problem and made it worse. (IMG:http://www.frrax.com/rrforum/style_emoticons/default/drink.gif)

The jack I used (because it was handy) was my harbor freight low profile aluminum jack. When it's all the way down the side plates (the jack "body) are taller than the "pad". The plates are also tapered towards the front. The subframe landed on the sides of the jack and it shot it out from under the car as it used the side plates as a "wedge". I wish it had stayed, I'd have lifted it back up on the spot. Now it's a little more difficult. (IMG:http://www.frrax.com/rrforum/style_emoticons/default/blink.gif)

Careful what you wish for. This is under the drivers door (UMI SFCs) and the front fender attachment on the drivers side. The can is nearly 1/4" too tall to roll under the plastic fender (by the two bolts). This is why it's a little tough to get a jack under it right now. (IMG:http://www.frrax.com/rrforum/style_emoticons/default/ph34r.gif)

(IMG:http://www.frrax.com/rrforum/style_emoticons/default/nutkick.gif) (IMG:http://www.frrax.com/rrforum/style_emoticons/default/nutkick.gif) (IMG:http://www.frrax.com/rrforum/style_emoticons/default/nutkick.gif) (IMG:http://www.frrax.com/rrforum/style_emoticons/default/nutkick.gif)

Great Job!!!! I guess at that height Long tubes are out of the question!!! (IMG:http://www.frrax.com/rrforum/style_emoticons/default/unsure.gif) They would be on the ground!!!! (IMG:http://www.frrax.com/rrforum/style_emoticons/default/ph34r.gif)