LCA's

[Jeanius]

What are some good brands of LCA's? Im looking to lower my 95 T/A 2" with the intrax springs and want to replace the LCA's and Panhard bar....

[Injuneer]

I've had good results with the Spohn Performance parts. Extremely high build quality. You will need to decide what type of "ends" you want on the LCA's, determined by the type of driving you do.... 1/4-mile, Auto-X or boulevard cruiser each have different requirements. Since your car is lowered, you will also need to consider LCA relocation brackets, if you want any sort of straight line traction at all.

[Jeanius]

Thanks for the reply Injuneer, Could i get away with just using the stock LCA's and using relocation brackets for the straight line traction?

[raroZ28]

I think the relocation brackets would help, but you need to replace those LCA's anyway man. BMR sells an awesome set for like 100 bucks. Great upgrade. Traction you can feel. Traction doesn't come cheap.. Wait until you have to buy an adj. torque arm.

[Jeanius]

I think the relocation brackets would help, but you need to replace those LCA's anyway man. BMR sells an awesome set for like 100 bucks. Great upgrade. Traction you can feel. Traction doesn't come cheap.. Wait until you have to buy an adj. torque arm.

How much am i likely to spend with LCA's, Relo brackets and asj panhard?

[Joe 1320]

Spohn makes very high quality stuff, great for high powered cars. For regular street/strip duty, I use BMR. www.bmrfabrication.com

I would suggest their tubular lower control arms with a hard rubber bushing on one end and a poly bushing on the other. Both boxed and tubular are shown.
TCA002 - Tubular control arms w/rubber-poly bushings $119.95 pair


Since you are lowering the car, an adjustable panhard rod will be needed in order to recenter the rear end assembly as lowering alters it's location. You have two choices, adjustable or double adjustable.
The regular adjustable requires disconnecting one end for adjustment, double adjustable (shown) does not. PHR002 Standard w/polyurethane ends $129.95




lower control arm relocation brackets are a must to reposition the rear attachment point of the control arm. This will increase the amount of bite the rear has that is taken away when the car is lowered . There are two designs, a weld on and bolt on. Both work equally well, I chose the bolt on and have had zero problems. For very high powered cars, I would likely go with weld on, for the mild street/strip cars bolt on is fine.
CAB001 - Weld-in brackets - $79.95 pair



CAB002 - Bolt-in brackets - $119.95 pair


I'm going to suggest getting an ajustable torque arm. When you drop the rear, it alters the pinion angle. That's where the adjustable torque arm comes into play. This will restore the proper pinion angle and gives the car much more bite when you hit the throttle. TA001- Full Length Adjustable Torque 1982-2002 F-body $329.95



I run the tubular control arms, relocation brackets, torque arm, double adjustable panhard rod and intrax springs with airlift bags. This setup performs fantastic and the prices are very reasonable.

[Injuneer]

Thanks for the reply Injuneer, Could i get away with just using the stock LCA's and using relocation brackets for the straight line traction?

The problem with the stock LCA's is the poor quality bushings. They are designed to resist front to back forces, then left hollow on the top and the bottom to minimize suspension "bind" when the body starts to roll. That's actually good for cornering, but leaves too much slop for hard launches.

Going up to polyurethane bushings on both solves the problem of the bushings being sloppy, but then it increases bind when the body wants to roll. Not good for cornering. Some people use a solid rubber bushing on one end and a poly bushing on the other to minimize the problem. Others will use a spherical rod end on the axle end of the LCA and a poly bushing on the body end. That combo is a little harsher and noisier that the previous solutions, but "bearable". For all out traction and cornering, spherical rod ends on both ends is the way to go, but you will pay a price in harshness and noise levels. The "ends" in my picture are the polys.... since that picture was taken I've replaced the LCA's with a newer model with spherical rod ends both ends, but at this point it almost totally a "track" car.

[Jeanius]

So is the 2" inch drop even worth the 700-800 dollars for the LCA's LCARB's, Adj Panhard, and Adj Torque Arm? Im 18 and paying for my schooling, while living alone. I wanna drop it for the new wheels i got but i dont want to sacrafice performance, would it be a better idea to just hold out until i can afford all the parts i need? I dont want to drop it and then regret it when i feel the difference, thanks for all your guys' help!

[Injuneer]

Think carefully about the decision to drop it. I had the front of my car down 1.8" and the back down about 1.0". The stuff under the car dragged on everything. My dual exhaust was scraped up, the front mount for the torque arm dragged on everything, I even had a few occasions where I got the wheels in the truck ruts in the asphalt pavement, and the center of the car was scraping on the crown in the center of the road. Going up ramps was next to impossible unless I could go at a 45deg angle, and I lived in fear of even seeing a speed bump in the way.

To me, as much as I liked the look of the car, and as well as it cornered, the headaches weren't worth it.

Look at posts by Joe1320. He has the car down 1" with the Intrax springs.... and it looks good and has not presented the same problems a 2" drop would create.

[Joe 1320]

Look at posts by Joe 1320. He has the car down 1" with the Intrax springs.... and it looks good and has not presented the same problems a 2" drop would create.

What I found is that the advertised drop is not an indication of how much drop you will experience. Much depends on the existing ride height, weight, etc. I found that my 93 Z28 has a higher stock ride height than my 97 WS6. The 2" intrax springs may have given the Z28 a 2" drop, but it was only about a 1" drop on the WS6. The main reason I chose Intrax was their ride quality as purported by other owners. I have to agree that these are great riding springs.... much more comfort than other cars that I've ridden in that had brand "E". Here is a pic taken just after the spring install.