5_litre_eater

I'm in the process of my suspension upgrades this weekend and I have encountered a few problems I can't overcome. Firstly, how in the world do you torque the rear control arms to 74 ft lbs? There is absolutely no room for my torque wrench between the frame rails. There is also no room to get to the rear bolts, as my torque wrench hits the rear sway bar, and won't fully engage the nut.

Suggestions??

Secondly, one side of the UMI 3-point SFC's went on just find, but the other side did not. I couldn't get the holes in the SFC to line up on the tunnel brace holes. I finally got a C-clamp and pushed the thing in place, but then I could only get ONE hole to line up.. the other is off by 1/4". I don't see any way to get them to align-- is it bad only running with one bolt? I kind of wish I would have got the 2-point SFC's now....

ZForce1

I don't recall having those types of clearance issues when I installed mine. But anyway, could you get in there with a crow foot or dog bone as they are sometimes called (a bit expensive, but awesome to have at times)?

libertyforall1776

iTrader: (2)

Pick up some at a discount at Harbor Freight.

5_litre_eater

I bought a crows foot set for grins, and was able to get them torqued down... however, I don't think the torque is accurate while using a crows foot.. but oh well.

Still can't get the SFC to line up on the final bolt hole.. I gave up on that. I will send an email to UMI about it and see what they say.



Also, I installed the double adjustable panhard bar today.. it went well, except when I tried to tighten the jam nuts.. no wrench I could find would fit on the upper nut. Again, I will send an email to UMI to see what they say.



The instructions say to use a 1" wrench to tighten the lock nut. I bought a 1" wrench, and it doesn't fit. I bought a 1 1/8" wrench, and it fits a little loose, but doesn't fit in that opening at all... neither does an adjustable wrench..

UMI Sales

iTrader: (1)

Good evening.

We occasionally see the tab misalignment like this. I don't know that GM intended for that mount to be in the perfect location with regards to the rear LCA pickup point (probably 1% is off as compared to our jig). The best method we've found is to install everything loosely then jack up one corner of the car and see if something moves enough to get the final bolt in. If that doesn't work, a bit of hot rodding with a Dremel may do it.

As for the PHB, it does get tricky to do the final jam nut tightening on occasion depending on which tools you have. If you're all set with the adjustment you can pull the end of the bar down and final tighten the jam nut.

5_litre_eater

Thanks for the quick reply! I'll take a die grinder to it next weekend and slightly elongate the hole.

That's how I ended up tightening the jam nut this afternoon, by disconnecting one end. I'm thinking about buying another wrench and grinding it down to make it more narrow. What is the actual size of the jam nut--28mm? My 1 1/8" wrench feels a bit loose on it.

trik396

iTrader: (4)

My car had been in an accident prior to my ownership. I spent a good amount of money to get it all in spec and still had problems lining stuff up including my sub frame connectors. It's not umi's fault. Its GM's

SoFla01SSLookinstok

Mine fit & lined up perfectly!

trik396

iTrader: (4)

Let me guess.... low miles and never had a wreck?

SoFla01SSLookinstok

Low miles, luckily only light front impacts. My 02 WS6 had to go on the "chassis straightening" machine & get tweaked. I guess good thing I did'nt do SFC on that one!

5_litre_eater

Mine has been thrown in the ditch a few times, not by me though. I figured that had a lot to do with it not lining up right. No worries, I will elongate the hole on the sfc and be done with it.

5_litre_eater

I took her for a little test drive tonight (the first drive since all the suspension mods) and the car drives absolutely amazing! Tight is the first word that comes to mind... damn tight!

Still need to get the TA on though.



I might have the shop put it on for me, since they are going to drop the fuel tank and replace my fuel pump that's about dead. In hindsight, I should have held off on most of this until the fuel pump is replaced, but I have no patience!

MasterTomos

iTrader: (15)

Looks like you should take a pressure washer to the bottom of that car!

Suspension looks good though. The suspension stuff shouldn't really effect the fuel pump install. Biggest PITA with the fuel pump is exhaust removal and I see you already took care of that lol

5_litre_eater

The bottom of the car was undercoated when it was new. Now it's just a grimy, nasty mess when you work under it. I wonder if a pressure washer could clean most of it off.....

rgreene

mine has that same undercoating hate it

ZForce1

[QUOTE=5_litre_eater;18243545]I bought a crows foot set for grins, and was able to get them torqued down... however, I don't think the torque is accurate while using a crows foot.. but oh well.

Torque is accurate when using a crow foot if you keep it at a 90 deg angle. Or use the formula for extensions on torque wrenches (don't have it handy at the moment).

5_litre_eater

With the help of the die grinder I was able to get the final bolt in. I elongated the hole by maybe 1/16", so not much work was needed.

5_litre_eater

Another question -- after two weeks of driving, this is what my lower control arms look like.
Is this right? I figured they would stay straight? Ive only had poly end LCA's before, never any with roto joints..

SuperSport01

Your control arms are fine. Double roto/rod ended arms have nothing keeping the rod from rotating, thus why they don't bind up like poly ended versions. You probably could rotate them by hand with the weight of the car on the suspension.