92RS shearn

I am planning on buying spohns SFC's soon and the guy who did my exhaust said he could do it for me for like $75.

He uses a drive o lift for doing exhaust so he has that.
I was also going to get the LCA reloc brackets too since I am lowering the car 1"

Now is there anyway he caould mess these up? I am halfway concidering driving to PA to have steve install them. Exhaust pipe is eay to replace but the underbody of the car is not

I am going to por-15 the entire underside as well this spring, should I have the SFC's instaleed first?

Thanks,
Chris

LnealZ28

I don't think its a good idea to install them with the car on a lift. You need to make sure the body is dead straight with no twist before you weld or bolt them. When we put my weld-in SFC's on we put the car up on GOOD, LEVEL jackstands located under the subframes on a LEVEL concrete floor. We then drilled holes and put in bolts to hold them in the proper position while welding. All of this was done while the car was still on the jackstands, of course. You can't have any guesswork and you have to be pretty precise. So I say no to the lift idea.

92RS shearn

From what I have been told the best way to install sfc's is to have the suspension loaded, am i wrong?

LnealZ28

Don't know about that, but the guy who helped me do mine had done them several times before and mine work perfectly. The car is straight, the doors close with minimum effort, and don't drag anymore like they did before. Someone else may have more info for ya, but that is how we did mine and it turned out good.

lonsal

iTrader: (2)

92RS shearn, you are correct. The best method to lift the car to install the SFC's is a "drive-on" style lift. Perhaps LnealZ28 isn't familiar with that type of a vehicle lift. As it says in the description, you drive the car onto the rails of the lift, then the car is hydraulically lifted. The suspension is fully loaded because all 4 tires are on the rails of the lift the same as if they were on level ground. Yes, an exhaust shop is a good choice to have install them in case minor adjustment of the cat or the exhaust pipe is required to clear the SFC. I hope this clarifies the preferred installation method.

Lon Salgren
Top-Down Solutions

LnealZ28

Yea, I said that because I've seen some drive on lifts that looked so rough I didn't want to see anybody's car lifted on them. I told you wrong in the way we did the install, too. The jackstands were not put under the subframes. They were placed under each end of the rear axle and under the lower control arms up front. OOPS!!!! My bad! Its been several years since I've done it and I was thinking about something else I did. That, and its late! Sorry!!

ede

i did mine own install, even built them, so yes any idiot can do it. drive on lift just about makes it idiot proof. if you do it on jack stands use plywood shims to set the car. you don't really want it level, like was said above, you want it like it sits on a level surface. park it someplace level, i used a patio, take some referance readings with an angle finder and when you set it on jack stands replicated the referance readings you got. i used the door sills, radiator support and deck lid for datum points.

TomP

Thanks for those tips, guys! Any suggestions on brands to avoid? I was thinking of using the weld-on Competition Engineering ones; Summit's got 'em for $86 each, but mentions that "the weld-ons require you to move the springs inboard". I have a feeling they just say that to include "all" the weld-on SFC's listed below the paragraph. I can't see spending $160 on the South Side Machine SFC's, when CE's are so much cheaper.

Then again, I guess I could always try to fab my own up.

ebmiller88

iTrader: (7)

I've heard good things about the CE pieces, but I have (non-installed) Spohns.

Ed

89IRO

So does the weight have to be off of the wheels when installing SFCs? Or can the car be driven onto a lift, so the the car's weight is on the tires? I got quoted at an exhaust shop yesterday for $25 for each side. How does that price sound? I am interested in the Spohn SFCs. Any happy people out there using spohns? Oh and I've got an '89 IROC-Z (T-Top) 350 TPI with the single cat. exhaust- should I have to worry about any exhaust modifications with the Spohns? Because they say on the website that they are made to clear everything. Is the $185 for the powder coated model, anyone know? Thanks guys, I know I asked a lot of questions but I appreciate it! -89IRO

92RS shearn

No, the weight should be on the tires to give best results so that the car is loased when installing them as they would be when you are driving on the road.

And $25 per side is an awesome price. A lot of people on here are getting chared Well over $100 to get them installed.

89IRO

O.K., got it, so I need to find a muffler shop that has a "drive on" style lift. Do you think they will have to modify my exhaust? Oh, and do you know if the LCA brackets are the brackets connected to the axle? I want to lower my car 1" too with the Eibach pro-kit springs. I've heard that I am going to have to weld up new LCA brackets, where should I take the car to have these welded on, can a muffler shop do it, or will I need to go to a special suspension shop? And with the new LCA brackets, can I re-use my orignal LCAs? Also, will I need a new panhard rod? Thanks man. -89IRO

377Z

iTrader: (1)

If you don't want to chop up your floorpan, RUN don't walk away from the CE weld in SFC's. Heck, even if you want to chop up your floorpan, don't get them. All they are are ~5' lengths of 2X2 tubing with angled front ends with tabs that locate them at the crossmember bolt locations--and they run straight back from there. Straight along the car, straight thru where the cat. conv. goes and straight thru the rear footwheels. If you get under your car and look , they run about 4-6" inboard of the factory "framerails" They come long enough to almost reach the axle tubes (trim to fit), with no instructions as to how your supposed to attach to the rear. Basically, your $86 buys a couple dollars worth of steel and not much else. If you are up to the extra fab work to install them, just buy some 2X2 tubing and fab up your own ends. I got them about 6 years ago for a '91 Camaro RS that I don't have anymore--what a waste, I never would get these again (I didn't know what they looked like then). I got them to save $100 or so and by the time they were installed I had spent MORE money than I saved!! People seem to like MAC for around $90 and they require no floorpan mods (they are just like the Alston bolt ins, of course they can be welded). I want them to suppliment the Kenny Browns I am installing in my '91 T/A convertible (needs as much reinforcement as possible). I hope my descriptions are clear.

TomP

Hey, thanks for the info, 377Z!! Yes, your descriptions were very clear- enough to make me run away from those!! Does MAC have a website? I'll have to do some google.com searches- thanks again!!

377Z

iTrader: (1)

I knew I forgot to mention something!! Their website is www.macprod.com but I can't get to it and I don't know of anyone who sells them. I was going to look up the company phone # (their in California somewhere) and call them but haven't gotten around to it yet--I'm 'boxing' the Kenny Browns with 1/8" plate welded to the inboard side of the SFC tube at the bottom and the factory rocker reinforcement on the inside of the rockers. Hard to explain, easy to understand; will try to post pics soon (pass. side almost done; will try to remeber to post pics tomorrow if I can get them small enough) . This involved cutting too, but will not intrude into passenger space.

89IRO

Does anyone know if the Spohn SFCs (not convertable) require any mods to the floor pan or exhaust? Thanks! -89IRO

377Z

iTrader: (1)

Okay, I just found the real MAC site:

http://www.macperformance.com/

They have the catalog in .pdf there, our connectors are near the back.