I switched over to the new stereo wiring harness today. Soldered up everything with shrink heat wrap. I realized that I have a double din already in the car. I was happy with the wiring job it looked super clean. Tomorrow, I will finish the Kenwood stereo install which really is just plugging in the connecter, and six screws along with antenna and a microphone install.
92 Black GT
- Thread starter GT4LIFE
- Start date
Cars been running like a champ for some time. However, last Sunday the right rear control arm snapped in 1/2 like a twig. This is the control arm that was new and not o.e.m. I don't even think it made it a year before breaking. Word to the wise, don't buy rear replacement control arms. Time to pick up a few parts car rear control arms. I'm lucky I was going fairly slow. This could have been far, far worse. This could definitely of killed me at speed. So far my Moog front ones are good. I need to find my receipt so I can post what company it was. I got it switched over to an o.e.m. one the next day, and she is back up and running.
blueturbofly
Well-known member
one of my name brand front lca's was built completely different than the other, welding was poor, had metal lip overhang that hit the underbody brace-
there is something about buying oem components, as compared to ''jobber'' parts. i see it all the time in the trucking industry- the cheaper, no name parts dont last as long, or at all, as compared to oem....and parts houses are SUBSTITUTING the cheaper part wherever possible. There are many new parts that if they are not oem, we try not to purchase / install. they are just built so cheap. time is money. i hate doing the same job a week later, even sooner with the cheap TRP brand of parts that has flooded the market....
Dont get me started on CARDONE products....
there is something about buying oem components, as compared to ''jobber'' parts. i see it all the time in the trucking industry- the cheaper, no name parts dont last as long, or at all, as compared to oem....and parts houses are SUBSTITUTING the cheaper part wherever possible. There are many new parts that if they are not oem, we try not to purchase / install. they are just built so cheap. time is money. i hate doing the same job a week later, even sooner with the cheap TRP brand of parts that has flooded the market....
Dont get me started on CARDONE products....
After having the control arm break I knew that right rear tire had suffered some fast wear from contact rub and I was going to order up a new set of two Yokohama AD08 205 50 15 and of course they discontinued the wheel in the U.S. market. The AD08 was a prefect 200 series tire for daily driving that was great in wet and actually had a 9/32 tread. It also had tread pattern to resist hydro planning. It appears to be available in the U.K. market still but no shipping is available for it. I'm thinking about going to a Bridgestone Potenza RE71RS 205 50 15. There about the same price, and they they track rated best in the wet, and still have some hydroplanning design. They have best wet traction of Extreme Performance Summer tire, but have only a 7/32 tread. They are apparently designed to be more wear resistant and more endurance tires more suited for track, but are still street legal with 200 UTQG. The Tire Rack testing placed them further back in the pack for dry lap times, (placed first for wet lap times, but I'm not looking for that as a daily and just need a sticky tire that will do good in the wet, endure (last at least a year of daily).
Those rear LCA are very suspect, I actually went through a couple on mine that snapped, I finally had them reinforced with extra weld and boxed in and haven't had one break since knock on wood.
When I get a chance I'll take a picture of the cross section of the break. You can tell that the break is not very ductile and very similar to pot metal where it will break before bending at all. I would not trust welding to it because you would still be starting with an inferior metal. Start with an o.e.m. one then weld.
I actually made plans to have some tubular arms manufactured but haven't had time or funds to follow through on it. Hopefully some day.
I did that with Rod ends. And a peace off pipe.
And later with a set PU rubbers.
I can dig out my drawing if that is helpful?
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Yeah there is a guy in michigan who as his whole business just makes tubular control arms. https://www.facebook.com/MichiganMetalWorks I actually talked with him about making some for me and he said no problem just send me the stock arms to model from, but I haven't had time or funds to follow up.
That sounds interesting, I've never heard of anyone doing that, be interested to see some info on that.
I dug up some old drawings and pictures.
Hope you get the picture.
I olny have a vage sketch from the red one.
But the dimensions are the same.
Might be a good idea to save these in a different post Ivan.
Oh! I think we had some miscommunication! These are great drawings and info, but they are what I would call the rear toe bars, I believe @GT4LIFE was talking about the control arm itself, or at least I was if he wasn't.
This part:
Oops.
Sorry I misunderstood.
I have never seen one off those broken.
Happy that GT4LIFE did not got into a big accident.
Ceep up your awesome build.
Sorry I misunderstood.
I have never seen one off those broken.
Happy that GT4LIFE did not got into a big accident.
Ceep up your awesome build.
Yep. Talking about control arms. I have a couple sets of aftermarket toe bar ends. The set on it right now is heim joints, and the one I built is poly bushings. Nice drawings though. I quickly clicked over to check out the link for the Michgan site. It is not priority, but yeah getting a set up quality aftermarket control arms would be awesome. I know on Redlinegti a lot of the Auz guys had switched out to the 2nd generation Suzuki sport front hubs to change the steering angle to get rid of bump steer. Being we don't have access to Suzuki sport parts I never jumped on buying a set of modified front control arms with the those hubs. It would be nice to have some adjustments for alignment, including suspension angles. I honestly don't know enough about it to inquire and would have to do some research before following up on it.
Yeah I'm no expert either. I was going to have him just make me some stock geometry arms, with replaceable ball joints on the front, and the rears stock for a start. He seems super capable, though and he makes arms for all kinds of stuff one off and stuff he sells regularly, I'm been following him for a long time and am impressed with the range of stuff he does. He still posts saying if you need something nobody else makes or doesn't exist let me know.
Wide wide range of stuff he does tubular, plate, some with spring perches, adjustable, fixed, you name it. Hopefully sometime I'll actually be able to follow up if you don't beat me to it.
Those arte really quality parts.
Micihigan metal works, are they us based?
I cannot believe how dead forums have become. It is disappointing to think about the loss of sharing ideas. On the Facebook page and other online platforms there is not much actual sharing going of substantial information or ideas. In fact there is a ton of misinformation on a lot of those sites. I have nothing new to share but am still planning on buying a LSD and some real coilovers. She is still running strong as a daily. I did switch to 205 50 15 Bridgestone Potenza re71rs. They are a great tire that will hold the road like crazy, but they do not handle hydroplanning nearly as well as the AD08 Yokahamas that were on before. Those are discontinued though state side.
Fourms might be dead.
Bud you can browse trough them.
Most forums do past away.
I am not on the other media.
Proberbly like you say, everbody is on the quick media.
Those Bridgestone Potenza looks like a lot of rubber.
I drive my daily with a plate style diff.
It does make it feel like you have lots of caster.
But there is so much drive out of corners.
Even with my stock engine.
Ceep up your awesome build!
Bud you can browse trough them.
Most forums do past away.
I am not on the other media.
Proberbly like you say, everbody is on the quick media.
Those Bridgestone Potenza looks like a lot of rubber.
I drive my daily with a plate style diff.
It does make it feel like you have lots of caster.
But there is so much drive out of corners.
Even with my stock engine.
Ceep up your awesome build!
She is still running good. I still haven't pulled the trigger on an LSD torsen differential yet, but might do that before the new year. I would then rebuild my spare GT transmisison and put it in that. Depending on what other projects are going on next summer I would like to paint her. She will stay gloss black.