trackbird

iTrader: (4)

In that case....."Go nuts!".

I'm still adjusting my ride height, but so far I really like this spring and shock package. Once I get it all set, I'll have the alignment touched up.

My last car was used for autocross with Koni DA's and 200/150 springs on it. So I have a pretty good basis for comparison.

WarShrike

iTrader: (5)

Good to see you got you got your hands on a set

trackbird

iTrader: (4)

Me too! It's been a fun project. I've really enjoyed working with the UMI team. I raised it up a bit and took it out for a drive this evening and I really like this coilover setup. The car has much better reflexes and it's a whole new machine. UMI has built a great package and Sam Strano has done a great job tuning them.

blackandgold

iTrader: (2)

So I ended up with verryyyyy tight clearances around the sway bar as well as my LCAs. That double shear adapter is just massive. I didn't measure, but I'd say 1/4" between the nut and the LCA and somewhat better on the sway. I'll get the height dialed in tomorrow (rear needs to come up, front needs to go down) and to some clearance testing, hopefully no issues crop up. I think the rear coming up will help a lot, it's way to low now.

FWIW: I'm running these with a FAB9 and MWCs LCAs.

trackbird

iTrader: (4)

It is tighter in there than you'd expect, but it all works quite well.

On a stock 10 bolt I'm at 1 3/4" between the bumpstop and the "pad" on the axle where the bump stop makes contact and I'm going to come up a bit more. Right now I'm at roughly 26.75" to the top of the rear fender. The front is a bit lower, but I'm going to move it up too. I've been measuring from the bottom of the threads on the coil over body to the spring perch. I'm at 3 15/16" from the bottom of the threads (the last thread) to the bottom of the spring perch on the rear shocks.

I have the bolt running from the LCA's in towards the center of the car. The stock swaybar clears in this configuration and the bolt head appears that it should hit the stock LCAs, but it has been ok so far. I'm swapping to UMI rear control arms and then I'll see if I can turn the bolt around and swap my 22mm rear bar back on.

The fronts were 4 1/4" from the bottom (last thread) on the front shock to the perch. That put me at right about 26" even to the front fender (top, center of the opening).

blackandgold

iTrader: (2)

I went ahead and got the height dialed in to where I wanted, I'll need to take out some camber up front. The real bummer is that I'm getting contact with the sway bar on the shock body on the rear passenger side, after the install of my FAB9 we confirmed that my thrust angle was good, but it may be off. I'm going back to the stock rear sway for now.

trackbird

iTrader: (4)

I couldn't get the bolt to clear the swaybar, so I never got to see if it hit the shock body, but it was going to be very close. The stock rear bar is on the car and working great for me (no contact). Once I get the alignment done and swap to the new wheels and tires, I can start to work on the balance of the car and see if I need more bar in the back.

Can you center your sway bar? If it's shifted to one side a little bit that could cause contact with the shock body.

blackandgold

iTrader: (2)

Yeah, I spent a while trying to center it all up. Clearances were so tight it I couldn't get it to to work. I'll be trying to balance mine up with a stock rear as well it looks like.

UMI Performance

iTrader: (77)

A 1/4" of clearance is a huge amount compared to the room we have. You're goo there. If any of the rear end companies move the control arm mounts inward they can cause issues.

We are working on getting our rear tubular bar to clear better and an adjustable rear bar.

Happy 4th!

drain89

iTrader: (13)

Ryan, I'm interested in the k-member, a-arms, and sway bars to go along with these coil overs. Is just the front lower arms getting revised or are there revisions coming for the road race cross member and upper a-arms as well? If so do any of the revisions cut any weight? Do the boxed lower arms offer any weight savings compared to the stock arms?
How does the sway ads you offer compare vs. the Strano bars?

blackandgold

iTrader: (2)

Alright, so sticking with the bigger rear bar! I spent a couple of hours laying under the rear getting as much clearance as possible. No contact through the full range of motion, my LCAs are similarly close to the bolts. Pics below:

trackbird

iTrader: (4)

Nice work. That looks good!

drain89

iTrader: (13)

Black and gold: I can't really tell from the pic, are those the factory rear sway bar brackets? The ones on the car, not the ones on the rear axle.
The reason I ask is that Allan Blaine (blaine fab) makes a set that supposedly accounts for cars with lowered ride heights. Would something like that possibly help in this situation? If so, that's something UMI may want to consider with the kit.
I have an old 12 bolt housing from strange built in early 2005 that uses the stock O.D. 10 bolt axle tubes that required me get taller swaybar mount brackets so the center part of the bar will clear my girdle cover. It spaces the swaybar down farther. It appears from the pic your axle has similar ones.
The reason I'm pointing this out is that I'm wanting to use Strano's adjustable rear bar. This makes me wonder if I'll have a similar problem and what solution I'll need to fix it. Curious as to whether something like the Blaine fab end link brackets would be a solution.

blackandgold

iTrader: (2)

Yep that part is still factory, I was unaware that there was a modified one. At this point though I should have enough clearance so I'm not stressing super hard. It might be beneficial though since my FAB9 does space the sway down a little more due to the larger diameter tubes.

UMI Performance

iTrader: (77)

Hello, Thanks for the interest and questions.

The k-member will not change and stay the same. We are working on revised boxed lower a-arms that will feature more caster with a relocated ball joint mount, double shear mounts for the front coilver shock (eliminates the t-bar) and swivel style sway bar end links. They will also feature an on-car adjustable rear rod to allow more caster if needed.

For the uppers we will be tweaking them slightly to gain more clearance and a little more caster. So stay tuned, everything is in the works.

Thanks!

blackandgold

iTrader: (2)

Bummer, couldn't get any less than -1.6 degrees camber on both sides and castor is sitting around 4 degrees both sides. I'm going to have my new Conti's mounted up as I'll be out of town for a little and I'll need to play with the control arms to get my alignment more where I want it.

EDIT:

After some fanangling I got down to -1.2 degrees camber up front and +4.9 degrees caster, I realize I swapped virtually all suspension components, but on a quick shakedown run....dayum.

trackbird

iTrader: (4)

I'm shooting for -1 to -1.2 camber and about 5.2-5.5 castor. You should be ok on that alignment and it should handle well. I don't think I've ever run less than 5.2 castor on these cars, but I don't think it's going to be a huge issue at 4.9.

Yea, it's a whole new car now. It's amazing how well these cars "work" once you set them up with good shocks, springs, swaybars, etc.

Corvett z07

iTrader: (2)

I had -1.2 camber and 5.1 caster on my setup with Koni/Stranos. I talked to the alignment tech and he said he maxed out at -1.8 camber but I didn't want that much for my car. I wish I had run max negative camber now. I'm running -1.5 front and -2 camber rear on my current car with 9 caster and I'm absolutely loving it. You can tell exactly what the car is doing and when it reaches the tire's slipping point. If you don't mind what class you run in, I would highly recommend UMI's new upper control arm for increased camber and caster. The feel of a more aggressive alignment does wonders for the confidence level of a driver in everyday driving and out on the course

blackandgold

iTrader: (2)

I still have a ton of space to get more caster and camber from my boxed lowers if I so choose. It's just a matter of do I want to pull the arm to make the adjustment. Personally I'm happy I took stranos advice and just loaded up the stock upper with Moog and went that route.

trackbird

iTrader: (4)

During my alignment I found what appears to be a bent spindle (one side would go to -2 camber and the other only got to -1.3 camber, castor didn't match either). Not sure how it got bent, this is a really clean car...but I'm going to rebuild the front suspension and replace the spindles (once I check them all for straightness). I've collected balljoints, bushings, and spindles. I also bought the factory style alignment tool (the alignment shop didn't have one so I own one now). Now I get to tear the whole front end apart and start installing fresh parts. Then I should have an update on my alignment range and specs.