Thank you sir

We try very hard, and honestly I guess when it is your passion and you enjoy it then it comes naturally.

13 years ago I started on LS1tech doing whatever I could to sell control arms, panhard bars and subframe connectors to people who never heard of UMI. I had to work very hard for every sale, then make sure the customer was getting a quality product and excellent service after the sale. I had to really prove ourselves on there and build a good reputation. To this day we still feel we need to do that and the other guys here feel the same, it is just who we are.

We will continue to a be a positive asset to this community. We are just getting started

I no long have an F-body but am just going to throw this out there. UMI should buy the rights or blueprints to UBE Tq arm and do a production run of them.

http://www.frrax.com/rrforum/index.php?sho...=17190&st=0

-M

Dublin. Was in the Boston area when I signed up for the site originally, then did a stint in Michigan for a while.

Ah, you're not far away at all. I've torn up places all over Dublin for work. I know the area well.

^^^THIS goes 'without saying', but, I am REALLY glad you said it anyways!!

I'm still opening boxes, but here's a sneak peek.

Sweet.

Christmas in June!

You were unboxing at 7:05 pm. It is now 10:45 pm. Why do we not have more pictures and a detailed write up of the install along with a street test yet? YOU HAVE RESPONSIBILITIES!!!!!!

Lol.

EDIT: THIS KIT DOES NOT USE THE FRONT UPPER SPRING MOUNTS.

This kit reuses the front spring mounts (the rubber parts at the top) and I didn't want to take mine apart. That way I can keep the old stuff together and I don't have to play with spring compressors. I ran to the local parts store and they quoted me $234 for all the parts (Moog) and one was in stock locally so I had to drive 20 minutes to get it....or that's what they wanted. Instead I ordered the same Moog parts from Rockauto for $109 to my door. Once those arrive, I'll get these built up on the bench and get ready to swap them in. I was trying not to open up all the hardware until I was installing things. I realized that I can get the rears assembled and ready to go and post that information. Maybe I'll do that tonight.

EDIT: THIS KIT DOES NOT USE THE FRONT UPPER SPRING MOUNTS.

The hardware is really NICE stuff. The shocks are beautiful. The kit includes spacers, bolts, bearings, washers, bolts, etc, it's really complete. There's a spanner wrench in the package for adjusting the coil over perches. I'm really anxious to try it out.

And I'll admit to a brief minute of brain fart. I sent Ryan a note last night when I saw the instructions mentioning that you can mount the rear shocks right side up or upside down (spring on top or bottom). The adjuster is on the top of the shock shaft (not on the body), so it will be hard to reach "right side up". But I was looking at this and thinking "you're changing which way is up and down and that will reverse the compression and rebound damping". I scratched my head a bit and realized that the shock gets shorter under compression (mounted either way) and longer under extension (mounted either way). Apparently it had been a long day and I talked myself into thinking flipping the shock would flip the valving. I figured I'd share my moment of stupid to save others.

Sorry Ryan.

I would at least open the boxes and do an inventory. There are a lot of parts there, and it would sux if you were short a couple of items. I enjoyed that when I did the brakes on the Firebird. I was shorted a couple of bolts from a big box speed parts warehouse, so the project was stopped for a week waiting for replacements. Just a thought.


And we get to see more New Parts Pr0n.

I did a quick count and everything looks to be there, I just didn't unwrap all the nicely wrapped plastic bits. Tonight I think I'm going to set them up (pending the new front upper mounts) and get it all ready to go. I can take more pics when I do that. There's a warning to put anti seize on the shock body threads if you're going to adjust it with weight on it. I hate to smear anti seize on these pretty shocks, but I guess that's the plan.

I'll get more pics up tonight.

Kevin,

This does not use the upper front rubber shock mounts, it completely eliminates them. Is that what you are talking about? Here's a picture to help show that- http://umiperformance.com/catalog/images/l...8-xxxac_LRG.jpg

We are working on better installation pictures for the site too... just behind on a few things.

Glad you like the kit!

I told you it was a long day. Ugh. lol. I thought it was showing that bolt going through the upper mount (using the single bolt hole for the original shock mount). I only skimmed the instructions and obviously I was out in left field by the time I got home. That will teach me to skim the instructions and try to get some info and pics posted. lol.

I assumed it was removing that mount. Then I read it and I thought I saw otherwise. I shouldn't do things when I'm tired.

Also, in the past I've avoided removing the upper ball joint, I just spin the upper control arm around on the ball joint. I'll let you know if I manage to do that this time and I'll try to get pics.

Ok, tonight I'll get everything out of the boxes and mock up all the parts, re-read the instructions and take some pics. Maybe I'll take a nap first.


They always say to "idiot proof" the instructions....and even then you'll manage to find a bigger idiot. I'm not usually that guy, but I really screwed this one up so far. lol.

Kevin, How about we just give you a redo for yesterday

I am excited to see what you think and how it all works out. I think you will be really pleased!

Hopefully I'm smarter today. I'll prep everything today and then I'll have to see if I can get those installed in an evening (likely two). It's not my first rodeo, so I might try it. I need to make some calls about an alignment and set something up. On the other hand, the tires that are on the car are junk anyway (if the alignment takes a couple days I'm not hurting anything). My wheels should be refinished this week and I'm supposed to have them back on Friday. I'd love to get the car done this week and we can try to catch up while your in town for Goodguys.

Now I have work to do and pictures to post. I might need to talk someone into coming over to handle photographer duties, maybe I'll capture some pics you can use.

Just for you guys, I went home on lunch and assembled the fronts. The only thing that I thought might need a little clarification was assembling the top spring perch. You have to slide the bump stop down (just grab the top of the shock mount and twist, it will slide), then put the wire spring retainer over the shock shaft and move it into the groove on the shock, then slip the spring mount over the shock shaft and lift it up to the top while squeezing the spring tabs on the wire spring...then release. It's not a big deal, but if you've never done a set before you might stare at it for a moment.

I'll double check, but I think the roller bearing and washers under the spring may be an upgrade (I just told UMI to send me all of the good stuff, options and all). And I also have the optional rear bump stops. If you're ordering the kit, there are a couple options (at least the bumpstops and maybe the bearings for the spring), I just wanted to mention it so you'd know to look for them.

I wound the perches up so the springs don't beat up the shock body while I'm moving them around, I'm fairly certain that I'll have to lower those once I install them (but maybe not?). And there isn't any anti seize on them yet.

Also, I realized why I thought we were keeping the upper rubber mounts. The instructions mention penetrating oil and a grinder to get the upper shock mount loose from the upper A arm mount. I always associate that with getting the shock shaft out of the upper mounts (where they were typically rusted in place). So, my brain just assumed we were going to be cutting the shock out of a rusty old mount. See what happens when I connect the dots on my own?

Now, on to the pics. The pictures don't do justice to the upper shock mount. The welding and powder coating on it are absolutely beautiful, as is the rest of the kit. Really nice stuff. Did I mention that already?

Is that a new offering? I just ordered a new setup from UBE and it was a real pain to find something off the shelf to mount the shocks to that eliminated the upper bushing and was ESP legal. I ended up ordering the Afco mount a few days ago which looks to be the exact same thing.

Kevin,

Assembly looks great. We may need to add some additional shock assembly instructions, good idea. The clip that holds the top hat in place is awesome, lots of coilovers let the hat fall when the suspension unloads but Afco's clip idea is that nice touch we look for. They also use to have a hole in the hat to zip tie the spring in place but I haven't seen that in awhile.

For the options- We automatically include the thrust bearings with every kit, this way you have the right stuff the first time. It makes adjusting so much easier and saves the shock body. The rear bump stops are optional. If your factory rear rubber stops are in great shape keep those, if not buy these. We recommend using one of the other to prevent the shock from bottoming out. Like Sam always tell us, these aren't bump stops, they are bumpers. We tuned the kit to work with them.



Our kit is very similar to Afco's, we never listed them as just brackets yet but we have been making them for a long time. We use them in our street and drag kits that use Viking shocks.

That might be a good thing to cover. I'm sure it will save you some phone calls. It's a really slick way to do it, I'm impressed. And if I can save some headaches or phone calls, it's worth sharing the info here.

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!

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??

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.



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...

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).
(You cannot even tell I have Koni Sports, or Eibach coil over springs on the front any more! )

Does anyone make a BLACK anti-seize??

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

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. 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. 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.

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).

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.


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.

Kevin I think we need picture of clearance based on beer can so we can all reference the look!!! AHAHAHAHAh

"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.

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.

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.




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.

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.

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.

Great Job!!!! I guess at that height Long tubes are out of the question!!! They would be on the ground!!!!

Yea, it would look like the old indy cars with sparks flying out behind it over bumps. lol. I'd have to build up some skid plates....for the entire chassis.

Yes, I think they used titanium plates to get those fireworks displays over bumps, compressions, and dips.

You did a GREAT, sano job on the anti-seize application, as it almost looks like part of the shock body's anodizing, and as if it came that way.

The trick is to unwind the spring perch, smear anti seize on the body and then wind the spring perch up through it (or down). It left a beautifully even line all the way around. It was an accident, but it worked.

I raised the ride height today, then I raised it again and then again. It's still too low, but it's close. It's about 25 3/4" to 26" to the fenders. I'm almost there.

I put 40 miles on it tonight. The car is still a bit too low and the back is on the bumpstops a lot. Enough that it's causing a bit of a rough ride over big dips. But overall the car feels great, turn in is crisp and instant (and I haven't aligned it yet, but I have some theories about that on this car), the ride quality is great, it's "sporty" without being abusive (more like a BMW "M" series car). A touch more ride height should take care of it, then to get the alignment done.

Alignment: This car seemed to have excessive toe in and little to no negative camber (based on the way it drove and the tire wear). Lowering it adds negative camber and toe out. I suspect it's close to 0 toe and "some" negative camber. It felt much better.

And on the way back into Columbus, we pulled up beside an older gentleman in a 2000 NBM Z28 convertible with a 6 speed and 32k miles on it. It was also a convertible and we wound up making the last few miles of the trip into Columbus together (while talking at traffic lights). Not a bad first drive.

Kevin,

Great to hear, and yes sounds like you need to get the height up some. We are actually working on a recommended ride height now to put in the instructions of the kit to make sure people aren't on the bumpers all the time. We just raised ours a tad bit, it was getting pretty low as well.

Right now I'm at 2 1/4" to the rear spring perch (the bottom of the perch) measured from the bottom thread on the shock body (it's not "exact", but it's a decent way to match them up). The front shocks are at 4 1/4" from the bottom of the threads on the shock body to the bottom of the spring perch. I kept raising the car and then it would settle when I moved it. lol. I made a few adjustments and then decided to go drive it a bit to settle things a bit. I'll make some adjustments again after work tonight. Right now I'm at roughly 26" to the fender lip (front and rear). That's at least 1/2" lower than I want it and I may go closer to 26 3/4" (not that the fenders on these cars ever seem to "match" from car to car).

That's interesting because my car is sitting at 25 1/4 front and 26 1/4 rear.

Think the bump stops are too long?

I'm using the factory bump stops. They were in perfect condition on this car, so I'll use them until they fail (they eventually do, but these look to have years left). In this case, I think the car is too low. If it were a track only car and I ran smooth tracks, it might be workable. For street use, I need to get a little more ride height so the suspension has time to work before bouncing off of the stops. I think people tend to run these cars too low, and it can work ok, but I feel like I need to add additional spring rate to stay at this height. In this case, that doesn't make sense (a heavy convertible that sees street duty and might go to the occasional autocross). I just need to raise the car. Honestly, the front seems to be working fine at 26", but I'll likely raise it a bit to match the rear. I have to look at it.

Did you take a pic of the rear coil overs mounted on the car? Maybe I missed it. I wonder how far from the bump stops that are on the shocks are compared to the factory frame mounted ones. Maybe the car needs to be raised a little and then trim the factory bump stops? I remember Alan talking about trimming them.

There are no bump stops on the rear shocks. I'm about 3/4" from the bumpstop touching the axle at ride height.