chevyrules85

id like to hear from some of the guys running the madman kit. i know theres quite a few out there.

i tried the spohn kit because i bought their k member made for their kit,

it turns out it wont work with my stock wheels. it says nothing about this on the website, but it doesnt say anything about it on madmans site either. the bump steer piece where it goes into the spindle is too long and hits the inside of my stock 16 x 8 firebird formula rim. so i cut as much thread as i could off, but it still hits the rim. so im in the process of sending it back to spohn. he said it has always worked fine with the salad shooters on camaros. there should be no difference with my wheels right? both 16 x 8's........

since i already have no pump on the car, id like to go with another manual rack, so is anyone using the madman rack with the stock firebird wheels? im planning on 275's on zr1 wheels in the future, but cant get them yet. so for now ill be on the stock wheels.

pgerst

I had the same problem with the steering knuckles when I did mine, though I was able to cut about 3/4 inch thread off and get enough clearance. I am running the 98-02 spindles/brakes on the front so I wonder if the "problem" is the '95 spindles though I would be surprised if there is a difference? I still have the old 95 spindles so I will measure after work.

chevyrules85

hmmmm i see. well i cut as much off the spohn kit as i could, and it was still 3 1/8 inch from the bottom of the spindle mount to the bottom of the nut on their kit, and it still wasn't enought to clear my stock wheel. talked to steve himself and he said he has never seen this before, ever..... hmmmmm..... yeah.

anyways i called madman racing, and he took a measurement for me, theirs is 2 1/2 from top to bottom. so im pretty sure that will work, has anyone else had this problem??

another thing that bothered me, on spohns site it says " includes entire brand new steering shaft".................. FALSE

i threw mine in the scrap pile, and it was taken a few days before i got spohns rack, only to find that you still need the top half of the original, they only send you half of the shaft... this is far from "ENTIRE" .... so needless to say im screwd out of another 25 for a used shaft..... not real happy....

pgerst

Sorry took a bit longer to get under the car than I thought... I measured the old spindles and new spindles and within the error (my "LS" spindles are on the car) I think they are identical. I also had to cut the spohn steering knuckle, so much in fact, it is no longer "adjustable." I have not driven much but already getting rod end noise so I am planing on going back to "stock" (add grease fitting). In reading these forums, I have not seen anyone complain of bump steer on these cars even with 2" lowering so my opinion is the adjustment for bump steer is maybe not needed?

chevyrules85

idk, i cut so much of mine of that it wasnt adjustable anymore either, i sent it back and got my money back, my madman rack should be here today....

chevyrules85

it came in today, and it has none of the problems that the spohn rack had, and this rack from madman actually has "flaming river" cast right into the rack, where the rack from spohn did not, and it shaft on this one is different, it actually slips right into the steering shaft, where as the one from spohn did not, it tried to round all the teeth off and you could tell there was something wrong. the bump steer kit, wow what a difference, you can tell this one was built for an f body, its only 2.5 inchs tall where the spohn was about 4 inchs when i started and hit the rim like crazy, cut it down as far as i could to about 3 1/8 and it still hit, im sure with this madman rack it will work great, much better product, it actually fits!!