quadgoat

iTrader: (1)

Entirely possible. His car had 50,000 some-odd miles on it, and mine had 81,000 miles on it, they are not high mileage cars, and not as likely to have frame twist issues. I know my cars body, doors, windows, t-tops, and hatch all lined up perfectly before I dis-assembled it. The t-tops also did not (and still do not) leak a drop, so I do not suspect that my car is bent.

I will agree that I was not entirely ecstatic about the fitment of my connectors, but, as with any mass manufactured part, for a mass manufactured vehicle, there are variances in the manufacture. This is ESPECIALLY true of our shoddily built cars. For example, my SLP headers cleared the steering shaft in my '84 Trans Am that had visible damage to the subframe under the car, but did not clear the steering shaft on this '92 which has NO visible damage, denting, tweaking, or bashing of the undercarriage.

Not necessarily trying to defend UMI, but I think you will find that people have fitment issues with almost any manufacturer, it just goes with the territory when working on cars

Anyway, mine are on, and that's where they're staying...maybe I'll give Spohn a shot on my next thirdgen, I have no problems with their products, I just didn't want to deal with welding round stock with my limited welding experience

-Paul
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Yep, I cut out LOTS of the driver's side floor and welded in new metal, cleaned up the whole undercarriage and POR-15'd it

slow_90firebird

Im not saying they didnt "fit" i am sure if you can find brand new 3rd gen, they would line up perfectly. My subframes sohouldnt be tweaked from the t-tops either, they dont leak and the car drives fine, and has low miles. I have been extra careful before I got these not to do anything stupid that would tweak it either.

What I am talking about, is the subframes are hollow. Where the connecotrs weld too, also happens to be where I put the jackstands every oil change. Imagine setting the car down on a jackstand RIGHT in the middle of the subframe. It will bend up. I started noticing it too late.

Some good news is, that when I was doing the floor jack test, I was able to use the weight of the car to bend them up to meet the subframe a little better. However, I have no welder of my own to weld them more. I am thinking if I find employment, I might just invest in my own mig welder, so I can fix it myself and have the tool to weld other stuff.

An interesting thing is, when I was trying to bend the tabs on the SFC, I used the edge of the cup on the floor jack. I was able to lift the whole side of the car off the ground, all supported by that "bad weld" in the picture below.

quadgoat

iTrader: (1)

I know what you mean about the shape of the subframe there, even if it's not bent (I don't believe mine was bent much, if at all) the shape and design of it makes it difficult to get good contact for the mounting point on the UMI connectors...trust me...I feel your pain It can be remedied though

slow_90firebird

Well I still think these are a better design than something like the Alstons. They grab onto better parts of the car.

However, maybe down the road in the future, I will add a set of alstons or MAC's under there also. That could only help more. But getting these welded up better should be plenty for a stock LO3 right now.

92RS(real slow)

I always thought sfc's were suppose to be put on using a drive on lift, because all of the weight of the car is suppose to be spread out

Al Hasse

Suspension under load. UMI's directions have you drive the car's front wheels up on ramps, then jack the rear end up and support the rear axle on jackstands to where the car is level. Drive on lift would be better.

quadgoat

iTrader: (1)

Yep, you got it 4 post lift would certainly be easier, but IMHO the end result should be the same, if you have your car sitting on it's suspension and level you should be good to go. I did mine on ramps and jackstands. That's also why I waited to pull my engine and tranny until after I had the SFCs in, because I wanted the car sitting just like it would when it was ready to roll down the road Any flex in the chassis when you weld the SFCs in gets preserved in the chassis of the vehicle, that's why you want it sitting on a loaded suspension and level.

-Paul