Umbrae

Just wonderin if these are any good? I dont just want straight line traction, I want a good handling car as well. But since I've lowered my car with the pro-kit, I've had no traction. These appear to almost be a relocation bracket/tubular lower control arm all in one.

Are these gonna work for a good all around handling car? Any one use these at all??


-Cam

mod313

This is a subject that's been hashed out before. Save your money and get a set of Pete-Z bars. While the Lakewoods will bolt right up, the brackets and tech support are pretty weak.

Redbird

...NO, NO, ...NO! I couldn't get them to work and neither has anyone else I have ever heard of. They however DID look pretty trick on the car!!

I still have some reminents as I also had the axle mounts welded to the axles.

HInk

Umbrae

ok! Got it! thanks guys.......... relocation brackets and control arms it is then!
I just did a search (should have in the first place) and saw that it was already decided they are junk.

95Bird

lakewood = bad...Pet Zs = good.

But honestly its too radical for your setup. Just do the LCAs and reloation brackets like your thinking and you will be fine. Also a set of sub-frames will help you out alot.

I have the pete Zs by the way.

Redbird

Just looking at your sig. 11.0X's Impressive! 1.54 sixty foot time with PeteZ setup?? I am curious, does my Redbird 60' harder (1.51) then a normal high eleven second car (11.61 best)?
Or is your car a little slow? No disrespect, just curious. I have noticed that when I run HIGH 10 second cars, they don't run much better 60's than me. HHMM!

95Bird

Kevin..I have gone a 1.49 since then..but snapped the driveshaft at the 8th mile....acording to my intermediate times I was on a high 10.8, low 10.9 run. I'm still learning how to setup the z bars. I figured out the harder I set my shocks..the better it 60's. I also was told my some stoc elem. cars how to set up my pinion angle since then. Have to do that. I measured it and I'm at a + 7 right now. I need to get that down to a -4. I think when I do that low 1.4x 60s will be a common thing for me.

Are you an auto or 6 speed? We have a bolt on lt1 auto car here going 1.55s. He is right there wtih me on the 60' but is a full second slower than me. LOL..if you want to call my car slow thats fine. When I broke my DS I was running over 100mph at the 8th...I'm picking up about 26-28 mph on the top end of the track now with my changes..so when the weather returnes I expect some very good ets. with mph in the 126-127 range. Couple that with some mid-low 1.4xs and I think it may be fast then. Manuals are fun but I know I could get in the 1.3x wtih a good auto/converter. Oh well..maybe one day..untill then I'm going for a 10 sec 355 lt1 6 speed and maybe throw the jug at it and go for 9s at mid 130s.

Redbird

I was just wondering if your 60's were a little off for your low 11 second time slips.

I do have an A4 with a 4140 RPM stall converter so that would explain how I can 60' with you even though you are like .6
quicker and like 7 MPH faster. Gotta love the torque multiplication of torque converters. Makes our slush boxes leave pretty HARD!

My converter also locks at 95 MPH in third gear so I don't suffer the slippage all the way down the track like non-lockup cars. I currently run my pinion angle right around -4 so we are looking at the same thing there! I also runa welded up open carrier (Poor mans spool), so I know both tires push equally, unlike a posi that may let you down sometimes.

GOOD LUCK in the future, I too am looking for High 10's on a 150 shot.

HInk

RacinLT1

FWIW i run 1.51-1.53 60's on my 11.2-11.3 runs.
Stock torque arm,and no clue what my pinion angle is.


95bird,what do you do with the torque arm when running the Pete Z bars?
what's the ride like with those bars?

Pro Stock John

Lakewood Traction Action Lift bars = CRAP!

We all broke them.

Car would handle like it had ladder bars so for a daily driver you would not want these.

red

I would like to know as well. With the long radius of the TQ arm and the short radius of the Pete-Z bars there is a bind problem. Have you removed the TQ arm or did you change the way the front mounts? Are you still running the stock TQ arm or is it an aftermarket one?

Pro Stock John

PeteZ bar users run the tq arm loose without a front bushing I believe. Might be a bit of a clanger on launch?

95Bird

I run a floating front stock torque arm. I hollowed out the tranny bushing so there would be some rubber in there to keep the clanging down. I have since learned that I need to adjust my pinion angle so I will either fab up(or get someone else too) a setup like the stock elem. boys run or get an aftermarket that I can adjust to let me point the nose of the rear end down. Honestly..the ride isn't what I would want for an everyday driver. Its HARSH...you could unhook the z-bar(top bar) and it would ride like stock I'm sure. But then you have to hook it back up..readjust your pinion angle etc. I run mine on the street on 28" et streets which act like a shock obsorber to help soften up the bumps. I'm going to go with the crossbrace with blsically a big slot for the torque arm so I can adjust it as much as I want.
When NHRA wouldn't let them run this new piece the stock elem boys woudl cut their torque arm in half...and weld it in a "v" config so they could adjust the pinion angle enough. Who knows..it may be easier to get an adjustable torque arm..set my pinion angle with the z-bars..then adjust the torque arm to fit back in the mount onthe tranny. I'm still up in the air on this one. I think when I get it worked out the car is gonna 60 like a mother. going 1.4x with a pos. pinion angle has given me hope

mod313

The front of the torque arm must be completely free. You do the pinion angle adjustments with the links. Start off with a neutral setting and either length or shorten the link depending on how hard you're hitting the rear tires.
They work killer and since switching to this setup my 60's are always in the 1.48 to 1.51 range and whatever it does for a 60' on the first pass it never varies more than .01 for rest of the day. They do ride harsh thru the pits and the front of the arm bangs around under the car but one launch and you will never run without them again.

Pro Stock John

I went 1.48 off the footbrake with the Random Tech torque arm.

But the stock tranny mount for the tq arm was all bent up at the end of last year.

If I ran that PeteZ setup I'd be wanting low 1.4's to mitigate the harshness of the setup.