NJFBOA - Home of New Jersey's Camaros and Firebirds - View Single Post - The winter repairs, troubleshooting, upgrades and projects

IROCZman15 · 03-16-2015, 10:16 AM

thanks Paul. good info to know. I always value your advice and feedback on these topics. I spoke to UMI and a few people who run the poly/roto-joint setup and hears very good things. I know poly binding is possible and can occur in hardcore cornering but I don't plan on making this car ultra extreme in the handling department. I passed on your offer of the Relocation brackets because i was looking for a bolt in configuration which I can additionally weld in later should I need to. I have a feeling the knock sensor will be gone now that a new one has been installed properly (below).

just an update with photos

I bought a new knock sensor and installed it along with a new wire connector. I had a hell of a time getting the old one out as it was previously really tightened in to the block (my fault 10 years ago) and no teflon tape was used then so it was really hard to get out. The new one is in with teflon tape on the threads and torqued to the specs given in the shop manual (only 14 ish ft/lbs if I remember correctly.. my old one was frozen in the block big-time, and was probably tightened around 30+ ft/lbs by hand, by me, long time ago, like an idiot)

Spoke with the guys at PATC and bought the new speedometer gears, the housing, o-rings, and tailshaft seal. Had a bit of trouble getting the old red drive gear off the output shaft, but once it was off, this project only took about and hour. Cleaned everything up, new seal on the tailhousing, and then put everything back together with the new speedometer gears and the correct (metal not plastic) driven gear housing.

I also realigned the passenger door which had dropped about 1/8 of an inch at the rear. I didn't need a new door-pin kit as mine are not worn out, just simply needed to loosen the hinge bolts, lift the door, and then tighten everything back up. so that's done now

Then the big project of the winter was the rear suspension:

I removed the stock swaybar, stock swaybar mounts, stock endlinks, stock panhard bar, stock panhard bar upper bar, and associated hardware. My bushings were all shot (dry-rotted, worn out, deteriorating). I spoke to UMI on the phone and to Phil (86TA) and a few other people, as well as doing a lot of reading on the forums and decided on the following setup:
- UMI on-car adjustable panhard bar with roto-joint mounts
- Founders performance upper panhard bar, with relocation brackets also.
- Reuse my stock front 34mm swaybar, sand down, painted gloss black
- Reuse my stock rear 23mm swaybar for now, just sanded it down and painted it gloss black
- New greasable swaybar axle mounts from Top Down Solutions and new hardware
- New polyurethane endlinks
- UMI on-car adjustable lower control arms with roto joints and poly bushings
- Founders performance bolt-in lower control arm relocation brackets
- all new hardware
- big tube of polyurethane rase

also sanded down and degreased the driveshaft and then painted it too, along with the front (stock)34mm swaybar

03-16-2015, 10:16 AM	#9
IROCZman15 10 Second Club / Meet Coordinator Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Roxbury, NJ Posts: 2,136 iTrader: (8)	thanks Paul. good info to know. I always value your advice and feedback on these topics. I spoke to UMI and a few people who run the poly/roto-joint setup and hears very good things. I know poly binding is possible and can occur in hardcore cornering but I don't plan on making this car ultra extreme in the handling department. I passed on your offer of the Relocation brackets because i was looking for a bolt in configuration which I can additionally weld in later should I need to. I have a feeling the knock sensor will be gone now that a new one has been installed properly (below). just an update with photos I bought a new knock sensor and installed it along with a new wire connector. I had a hell of a time getting the old one out as it was previously really tightened in to the block (my fault 10 years ago) and no teflon tape was used then so it was really hard to get out. The new one is in with teflon tape on the threads and torqued to the specs given in the shop manual (only 14 ish ft/lbs if I remember correctly.. my old one was frozen in the block big-time, and was probably tightened around 30+ ft/lbs by hand, by me, long time ago, like an idiot) Spoke with the guys at PATC and bought the new speedometer gears, the housing, o-rings, and tailshaft seal. Had a bit of trouble getting the old red drive gear off the output shaft, but once it was off, this project only took about and hour. Cleaned everything up, new seal on the tailhousing, and then put everything back together with the new speedometer gears and the correct (metal not plastic) driven gear housing. I also realigned the passenger door which had dropped about 1/8 of an inch at the rear. I didn't need a new door-pin kit as mine are not worn out, just simply needed to loosen the hinge bolts, lift the door, and then tighten everything back up. so that's done now Then the big project of the winter was the rear suspension: I removed the stock swaybar, stock swaybar mounts, stock endlinks, stock panhard bar, stock panhard bar upper bar, and associated hardware. My bushings were all shot (dry-rotted, worn out, deteriorating). I spoke to UMI on the phone and to Phil (86TA) and a few other people, as well as doing a lot of reading on the forums and decided on the following setup: - UMI on-car adjustable panhard bar with roto-joint mounts - Founders performance upper panhard bar, with relocation brackets also. - Reuse my stock front 34mm swaybar, sand down, painted gloss black - Reuse my stock rear 23mm swaybar for now, just sanded it down and painted it gloss black - New greasable swaybar axle mounts from Top Down Solutions and new hardware - New polyurethane endlinks - UMI on-car adjustable lower control arms with roto joints and poly bushings - Founders performance bolt-in lower control arm relocation brackets - all new hardware - big tube of polyurethane rase also sanded down and degreased the driveshaft and then painted it too, along with the front (stock)34mm swaybar __________________ 1987 IROC-Z - modified Last edited by IROCZman15; 03-22-2015 at 10:17 AM.