has anyone installed the lca relocation brackets?

UMI Sales

Amateur Racer
Jan 6, 2009
254
0
0
We sell hundreds of sets of relo's each year to satisfied customers. They work especially well on low to mid horsepower cars with moderate tire. The reason they don't seem to work on huge horsepower cars is they aren't a miracle solution, they just help move the IC a bit.
 

lasttime78

Frequent Racer
Mar 7, 2011
465
0
0
Just outside Rochester, New York
5-door said:
Relocation brackets are an ok investment for the novice racer with a mid-10 to mid-12 second car. They can also be useful on cars that are majorly lowered to get the LCA geometry back to a more desirable position. However, that doesn't help the geometry of the UCA, which is just as important.

G-bodies have excellent rear control arm geometry from the factory and if you are more than a novice racer and know some of the basic tips and tricks to make these cars hook, relocation brackets are wasted money and unnecessary weight.


What might some of the tricks and basic tips you are talking about. I am sure there is plenty of guys on here that could benifit from what you are talking about. Maybe start a thread in suspension area or something. I am interested in what you are talking about myself! Ive been Drag Racing the Malibu's since the 90's and have always just used the lift bar set up, and one four link set-up. I am interested as well.
 

TNTS79

Dragway Regular
Jan 6, 2006
1,252
0
0
Illiniois
Typically more front end travel will cure a good majority of traction problems in low to mid hp cars... My car sits about 1" from the bump stops on the lower control arms. An anti-rotation made a world of difference on mine once I started attacking the 60ft times... 1.50 isn't to shabby for a 3400 lb n/a sled, looking to improve a bit on my short times this year. I'm in the hunt for some 6 second 1/8 mile runs this season. I purchased some rear control arm braces from TNT, very nice pieces, I would also like to know some of the tricks that make old 5 door do what it does! Minus a boatload of N2O... Waiting on someone to throw out the baseline suspension link!
 

5-door

MalibuRacing Junkie
Mar 23, 2004
3,845
0
0
Cottage Grove, MN
www.jtraceshop.com
TNTS79 hit the nail on the head. Front suspension travel is the key. One of the biggest improvements you can make to your G-body is to the FRONT suspension. Look at the picture below of one of my old stock upper A-arms. This is the single most important modification I made to my car for traction back in the "old days" of my car. This is one of my best kept secrets and this is the first time I'm ever sharing it.

Here is my old setup that I ran low 9's with and wheelies on the street:

Modified upper A-arms as shown in the pic below
Comp Engineering 3-way front shocks
QA1 single adjustable rear shocks (Double adjustable would have been even better)
Stock front springs
Stock rear springs
TNT Raceshop double adjustable rear upper control arms
TNT Raceshop tubular rear lower control arms

That's it. Very simple and low buck, but very effective for any G-body running high 8's and up.




111.jpg
 

TNTS79

Dragway Regular
Jan 6, 2006
1,252
0
0
Illiniois
I would think the upper control arm would fail looking at that picture... Guess its really not doing much of the work, good majority is done by the lower... How much travel did you gain by taking out the factory bump stop section?
 

5-door

MalibuRacing Junkie
Mar 23, 2004
3,845
0
0
Cottage Grove, MN
www.jtraceshop.com
TNTS79 said:
I would think the upper control arm would fail looking at that picture... Guess its really not doing much of the work, good majority is done by the lower... How much travel did you gain by taking out the factory bump stop section?
I assure you, it's plenty strong. That control arm has 15000+ miles on it, hundreds of races and a whole bunch of hard wheelie landings on it. It hasn't even batted an eyelash yet. You'll never break that A-arm with the center cut out like that, still extremely strong.

Not sure how much the actual gain is, but I had 8 inches of travel from ride height.
 

mikes

Dragway Regular
Jul 16, 2003
805
0
0
Capital District, Upstate New York
Hi, I tried this trick or should i say a version of it. I didnt have to cut that much out because the side of my a arm was hittting the frame from the extra travel gained by only cutting out the factory stop. In the process of doing this I also free'd up my a arms so they move easier and added some 90-10 shocks. I can tell you this thing with a blip of the throttle now goes right to the top of travel instantly, maybe too fast now?
 

johnplogii

Member
Dec 31, 2006
7
0
0
Nebraska
I have the UMI relocation brackets in the middle hole. Been 1.25 60ft on 275 radials. Stock susp 3400lb car with a V6.
 

UMI Sales

Amateur Racer
Jan 6, 2009
254
0
0
johnplogii said:
I have the UMI relocation brackets in the middle hole. Been 1.25 60ft on 275 radials. Stock susp 3400lb car with a V6.

That sounds like quite a V6! Glad your UMI relo's are working well. I have a feeling you might have a few other tuning tricks up your sleeve :D
 

79loserbluebu

Frequent Racer
Jun 15, 2009
302
0
0
Illinois-60491
Not sure if it's mentioned anywhere but for guys with non adjustable lowers, these brackets aren't going to do much for you except offset the rear end. I understand how they can work but with the same exact length lowers and the variance in the brackets, it can make the car's rear want to wander under acceleration. I had this problem took the brackets off and it went away.
 

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