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.