Shipments to the Continental USA (48 States) now ship Ground for a LOW Flat Rate and FREE Ground Shipping on all orders over $499.00!*  (*Some exclusions and oversize charges)

Our LOW Flat Rate Ground Shipping is based on your order total:

$0.00 – $25.00 = $5.95
$25.01 – $100.00 = $10.95
$100.01 – $250.00 = $12.95
$250.01 – $498.99 = $14.95
$499.00 or more = FREE GROUND SHIPPING!

Read all of the details on our new shipping model at this link.
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Follow Spohn Performance on Google+

Get all of our latest news, sales, coupon codes, technical articles, new products, “Deal of the Day“, videos, pictures and much more by following us on Google+.
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www.spohn.net Now Features PayPal Access For Easy Account Creation

Creating an account and placing an order through Spohn Performance’s website at www.spohn.net just got a whole lot easier and FASTER! Those of you shopping on your smart phone through our mobile friendly website will especially appreciate this.

With PayPal™ Access you can log on to our website with a click of the PayPal™ Access button. If you have a PayPal™ account, you log in with your existing PayPal™ credentials. Visitors without an existing PayPal™ account can register on the spot and realize all the benefits of being a PayPal™ member. Using PayPal™ Access means you can avoid the friction of creating a user account just for our site.

Once authenticated, you must agree to share specific user attributes with our site, meaning you don’t have to re-enter information such as your email, password, phone number and address.

Payment Method: Just because you log in using PayPal™ Access does NOT mean that you must pay using PayPal™ as your payment method. PayPal™ Access simply imports all of your information to our website so you do not have to create a website account and type in all of this information. When checking out through our website you will still be able to utilize any of the available payment methods.

A little while ago we implemented a customer survey program on our www.spohn.net website through an independent third party, Shopper Approved.

How it works: When a customer places an order through our website they are then presented with a survey to complete. Approximately 10 days later after the customer has received his or her order Shopper Approved emails them a follow up survey with additional questions on parts quality, shipping time, etc.

All survey categories are ranked by the customer with 1-5 stars, with 5 being excellent and 1 being poor. Remember that this is all handled by an independent third party, Shopper Approved. We have no way to delete, edit, etc. any response that we don’t like. It is what it is, just like on eBay.

On 09/15/2011 we hit the mark of 1,000 independent customer reviews and we thought we’d share the results with our current and future customers. 96.9% of our customers rated us with 4 or 5 stars, which qualified us for Shopper Approved’s 5 Star Excellence Award.

Our ultimate goal is to have 100% 5 star reviews. The reality is that will probably never happen, but this tool lets us measure our progress and we’ll work hard to make sure we see even better numbers over the next 1,000 reviews we receive.

Here’s how our customers rated us:

5 Stars: 79.4%
4 Stars: 17.5%
3 Stars: 2.8%
2 Stars: 0.3%
1 Stars: 0.0%

You can click here to view our customer reviews on the Shopper Approved website.
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Spohn Performance joined the “All Air” party with their Pinto manual rack and pinion kit for 1993 to 2002 GM F-body Camaro and Firebird, along with some lightweight yet durable suspension components.

Putting our project car on a Slim-Fast program to carve off some serious weight from the nose of the chassis called for some true drag race engineered components. Steve Spohn, President of Spohn Performance, explained that their Pinto manual rack and pinion steering kit would provide that significant weight reduction and still maintain ease in steering. “It’s an extremely light setup that drops some serious weight by removing the power steering pump, lines, cooler and heavy stock rack, plus it frees up a lot of room and cleans up the engine bay,” said Spohn.

Spohn’s Pinto manual rack and pinion kit comes in four different variations. There are steering kits available for the stock K-member, Spohn’s tubular K-member, other aftermarket K-members with factory stock steering mounts and aftermarket K-Members with Pinto manual rack and pinion mounting. According to Spohn, “the kits come complete with everything you need to install the Pinto manual rack and pinion steering kit.”

With the goal of getting off some unnecessary weight and making some room in the engine bay, we ordered Spohn’s Pinto Manual Rack & Pinion Steering Kit (Part #MR), Spohn Performance tubular K-Member for 1993-2002 GM F Body (Part # 704) and Spohn’s Tubular Front Lower A-Arms with Del-Sphere Pivot Joints (Part #745) to get the job done. In addition to a big drop in overall weight, we also stood to gain less flexing in the chassis components and no power steering pump to draw power from the engine. We called this a win-win-win proposition.

“All Air” is prepped and ready for new front suspension components.  

The front end of our project was stripped in anticipation of the installation of the new components and Sean, our shop dawg, took advantage of the empty compartment to touch up the entire engine bay. There’s not too many things worse than putting shiny new racing components in a grimy engine bay. An afternoon with some Simple Green and a few passes with some white rattle can paint and the engine bay was clean enough to put our Spohn components on.

Spohn’s tubular K-Member and Pinto rack and pinion steering kit ready for installation.  

The parts arrived and we could see exactly what Steve Spohn had described to us “The Pinto manual rack and pinion steering is a brand new piece and not remanufactured. Every piece is all new.” And best of all was the feature that we always like to see; it’s a direct bolt in replacement without a ton of fitting, filing and massaging to get it to fit.

Features of the Spohn Pinto manual rack and pinion steering rack:

• Direct bolt in replacement.
• Over-sized rod ends for the input shaft.
• Chromed center tube for a trick appearance.
• Tie rod end to spindle adapters are CNC machined from 4140 chrome moly and are machined to be a direct bolt on to the GM spindle taper.
• 5/8” chrome moly Teflon lined rod ends with 5/8” chrome moly safety washers top and bottom for adequate articulation and safety.
• silver zinc plated 4140 chrome moly hex tie rod adjusters for strength and durability.

Installation

Sean started by installing the tubular K-member first. This would be the foundation that everything else would mount to, so it needed to be a rugged component. It’s obvious that Spohn Performance dedicated a lot of time into the design and engineering of the F-Body Camaro Tubular K-member and it shows in the build quality of the finished piece.

We opened up the box containing the tubular K-member and our eyes immediately went to the construction of the tubular frame. At every point where the tubes intersected, gussets were added to ensure the K-member was rigid and flexing would not be a problem.

The locating pins on Spohn’s K-member make it a snap to mount the component correctly.

Installing the K-member was a piece of cake for us because the drivetrain was removed from the vehicle. In addition to being able to thoroughly clean the engine bay, it’s nice to remove the old K-member without having to worry about supporting the engine and working under the car with all that weight suspended above you.

Features of Spohn’s tubular K-member:

• 1.50″ x .120″ wall DOM tubing – formed one piece front hoop
• 1.50″ x .120″ wall DOM tubing A-arm mount tubes
• 1.25″ x .120″ wall DOM tubing rear support tube
• OEM style button head locating pins
• CNC laser cut 3/16″ steel gussets in over 20 locations for maximum strength and durability
• CNC laser cut and formed 3/16″ steel a-arm mounts, solid welded inside and outside. Outside welds are sanded smooth to allow for a flush fit to the car, eliminate stress risers, and provide a clean and smooth professional appearance
• All A-arm mounts are gusseted front and rear for side load strength. The slots have been lengthened to provide more A-arm adjustment over the stock K-member. Recessed passenger’s side rear A-arm mount to provide clearance for long tube headers. Rear A-arm mount boxes are offset bent just like the factory K-member for factory exact fit and finish
• CNC laser cut and formed reinforced 3/16″ steel rack mounts
• Welded in a special built rotary jig to insure an exact fit and allow for precision welds entirely in the flat position
• Includes (6) new 12mm Grade 10.9 K-member mounting bolts and heavy flat washers
• Includes (8) new flanged head motor mount bolts and flanged head steel lock nuts
• Includes all five brake line mounts and new brake line mounting tab bolts and nuts.
• LSx motor mount pads allow for the installation of any LSx based engine (LS1, LS2, LS3, LS6, LS7, etc.)
• Durable and brilliant powder coated finish in a choice of red or black.

Spohn’s K-member lined up with the chassis easily using the locating pins that guide the K-member into place. Once the K-member was positioned correctly in the chassis, it was simply a matter of tightening six bolts to secure the piece in place. Since Spohn designed the K-member to use factory locating and mounting points, it’s literally impossible to get this wrong – it goes in just like the stock one came out.

Installation of the K-member is simply a matter of tightening six bolts.

With our foundation laid, Sean moved on to installing the front tubular lower A-arms. Once again we were starting with a clean slate because the stock K-member had been removed, so Sean had no previously etched mounting bolt alignment marks to work with. A trip to the alignment shop would be in order as soon as the engine was re-installed.

Installing Spohn’s Tubular Lower A-Arms

Installing the lower A-arms was simply a matter of positioning the new arms into the K-member’s A-arm mounting pads. The K-member’s A-arm mounting slots were noticeably larger than the stock mounting slots for the mount bolts, which gives the A-arms tons of room for adjustment.

Sean mounted the A-arm initially without the shock and spring assembly to check the full range of motion for binding. Confident that there were no problems, he continued to install the A-arm with the shock and spring assembly mounted to the arm.

Once the right and left lower A-arms were installed completely, with the shock and spring assembly mounted, Sean attached the spindle and rotor to each A-arm in preparation for installing the Spohn manual Pinto rack and pinion steering kit. Once the spindle and rotor assembly were installed on each A-arm, he finished this part of the installation by plugging in the ABS sensor and routing the wire harness along the back of the A-arm.

Features of Spohn’s tubular lower A-arms:

• 1.25″ x .120″ wall seamless DOM tubing
• Ball joint cups are CNC machined from 2.75″ o.d. x .375″ wall seamless mechanical tubing
• Spohn precision greasable ball joints (installed)
• 3/4″ chrome moly spherical rod ends with Teflon self lubricating race
• Rod ends allow additional alignment adjustability
• TIG welded 4130 chrome moly threaded tube adapters
• CNC machined through sleeve and zinc coated steel spacers keep rod ends perfectly centered inside of the k-member mounting brackets
• CNC cut and formed 3/16″ shock mount
• Formed .125″ sway bar end link mounts
• Durable and brilliant powder coated finish
• Grade 8 shock mounting hardware included
• Fully assembled and ready to install

Before moving on to the rack and pinion installation, Sean went back to each bolt on the K-member and A-arms to double check for proper installation and tightness. When every fastener was checked, we began with the installation of the Pinto manual rack and pinion steering rack.

Spohn’s Pinto rack and pinion steering rack has a lot of advantages; among them is the aggressive gearbox that gives smooth ease in steering of our lightweight Camaro. Steve Spohn explained that the rack travels, “3 and 3/4 turns from lock to lock”, ensuring a decent steering response without having to muscle the steering wheel.

Installation of Spohn’s Pinto Manual Rack and Pinion Steering Kit

Installation of the rack and pinion unit is pretty straight forward, much like any steering rack. Two bolts hold the rack in place on the K-member mounting pads and the rod ends attach to the spindle. There are several options for installing this steering kit, depending on which K-member you are using with the kit.

Spohn’s Pinto manual rack and pinion steering kit comes complete, even with the steering shaft to connect the rack to the steering wheel linkage. “We use Flaming River’s low profile, chrome moly, needle bearing U-joints to connect the steering shafts. These are set to length and TIG welded in place so you don’t have to worry about set screws coming out” said Spohn.

Another trick feature of the Spohn Steering kit is the included bump steer components. “Our bump steer kit features hex tie rod adjusters, made out of 4140 chrome moly and zinc plated, with 5/8″ Teflon lined, chrome moly rod ends.  This kit allows for free articulation for performance, adjustability and the components stay quiet and last a long time,” added Spohn.

Steve Spohn explained that upgrading the suspension components meant that we needed to have the car aligned to factory specs. We knew that the car would head off to the alignment shop, but we took the time to center the steering rack and measure the adjustable rod ends for equal length as a starting point.

Performance factory specs for 1995-2002 Camaros (except the 1995-1996 models with Goodyear Eagle RSA tires)

• Camber: 0.40° ± 0.50°.
• Caster: 4.80° ± 0.50°.
• Total toe: 0.00° ± 0.20°

What’s Up Next?

We’re pretty stoked about the front suspension upgrades from Spohn Performance. Everything was easy to install, and well built with lighter weight and strength that the factory components could only dream of. We’re now one step closer to getting our All Air project car to the track.

Spohn Performance launches a mobile phone friendly eCommerce website! Now it’s easy to gather information or shop online when you’re on the go.

Our new mobile phone friendly website is built using the latest HTML5 technology making it easy to browse and shop when you’re on your iPhone, Android, Windows Phone, Blackberry, Nokia, etc.

We even included a HTML5 video player that allows for seamless video playback on any mobile device (yes, even Apple!).

The mobile website accepts all payment options, including PayPal’s mobile checkout, for easy mobile payments.

There is no need to enter a different url, just surf on over to www.spohn.net and our system will automatically detect that you’re on a mobile device and serve up our mobile friendly website. If you have any feedback on ways we can make our mobile website even better, we’d love to hear from you!

If you’re a Spohn Performance customer and you want to get pictures of your car in front of tens of thousands of hardcore enthusiasts then please submit them by sending an email to rides@spohn.net. All Customer Rides pictures we receive are posted to the Customer Rides section of our website and to our Facebook page. These areas both receive thousands of unique visits each and every week! And as you can see by this article, the automotive press keeps an eye out on these places as well. So what are you waiting for? Send your ride pictures to rides@spohn.net.

We want your videos too, all videos submitted are featured on SpohnTV, our YouTube channel, our StreetFire channel and on our Facebook page. Just go to SpohnTV and you can upload your videos right through our interface!

Whenever we see a car pull off a wicked wheelie, we always find ourselves marveling at the big bombastic engine or the thick meaty tries. To really pull those wheelies off safely though requires a serious suspension setup. The guys over at Spohn performance know this to be true, and their products certainly see plenty of action.

Don’t believe us? Head over to their Facebook page where they have posted up a bunch of pictures from users (and believers) in Spohn’s performance suspension products.

The car that initially got our attention was this 1993 Firehawk, owned by James Montigny of Missouri. A factory classic, this mean machine was upgraded with Spohn’s solid front sway bar, rear anti-roll bar, LT1 K-member and an adjustable torque arm. All told this badboy gets down the ¼ mile in just 11.92 seconds @ 113 mph.

That is just a warm-up though. Mike Lemek has a nitrous-injected 632 cubic-inch V8 engine in his third-gen Camaro that runs 8.0’s in the ¼ mile. He uses a complete Spohn front and rear performance suspension. This car can get pretty high, but there are better still.

This is the best wheelie yet, courtesy of Jeff Moyer of Pennsylvania. His 8-second nitrous-injected ’85 Camaro also runs in the 8’s. He credits his bevy of Spohn performance suspension products, including an anti-roll sway bar, rear control arms, and a Pro-Drag front coil-over kit.

These are just a few of the many rides occupying Spohn’s Facebook page, so take some time and check out all the cool cars they’ve help keep straight and true down the drag strip.

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Wavetrac differentials are available from Spohn Performance on any Moser Engineering 12 Bolt or Ford 9″ rear ends. To see what is available for your application shop the Spohn Performance online catalog. For an even more detailed technical explanation visit the Spohn Performance WaveTrac Details page.

WaveTrac Differential

Wavetrac Differentials: Enhanced No-Load Bias Ratio via its Wave Design Center Pack

One of the known shortcomings of a typical torque biasing differential is its loss of drive (behaving much like an open diff) under zero or near-zero torque conditions (for example, when there is ‘no-load’ applied through the drivetrain, either at vehicle stationary and/or transition from engine driving vehicle to engine braking and back).

The Wavetrac® differential uses a patent pending design to improve grip in low traction conditions. Precisely engineered, converging / diverging wave profiles are placed on one side gear and its mating preload hub. As the two side gears rotate relative to each other, each wave surface climbs the other, causing them to move apart. This imparts an increased normal force through the side gears, increasing the bias ratio as a function of load. This increase occurs automatically only when conditions find it necessary, and it ‘reverts’ back to its nominal bias ratio quickly and seamlessly, maintaining optimal drivability and performance at all times. It’s like having two differentials in one: you get the benefit of a higher bias ratio when needed without detriment to the car’s handling.

These friction plates provide a mechanism to tune the response of the differential as a function of applied torque load. The applied torque load manifests itself as an axial load from the differential pinions into the housing. This axial force is then considered a normal force into the friction plate, and as a function of the effective coefficient of friction, will provide a resistive torque to the rotational motion of the differential pinions. The resistive torque will add to the resistance of relative rotation of all components within the differential. The resistive force, however, is non-uniform since it is a function of the axial load from the differential pinions. The unbalance of the resistive torque will manifest as non-uniform energy absorption within the differential causing a bias ratio.

Designed from a clean sheet, the new Wavetrac Differential brings current gear technology to the market. Internally, its gear tooth forms are optimized for strength and improved oil film retention over competitive designs. Our gear package is smaller, reducing overall mass, yet is more durable. Attention was also paid to the side gear/axle interface, putting as much material thickness as possible in this critical area – most important when power levels get high.

Each Wavetrac Differential is crafted from the highest quality materials available. The internal gears are made from high strength 9310 alloy steel. The diff bodies are machined from case hardened steel billet. To complete the package, every Wavetrac® differential is built exclusively using high quality, high strength fasteners from ARP, the world leader in fastener technology.

• New WaveTrac 35 spline differential uses patent pending design to increase grip under low-torque
• Uses superior construction and material for a tough differential that is maintenance free
• Comes with a Limited Lifetime Warranty

Contact Spohn Performance at 1-888-365-6064, by email at tech@spohn.net or visit our website at www.spohn.net for more information.

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