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Wow, nice looking cars, the pair of them. Whether or not the Hot Trick stuff actually improved performance (I understand it was questionable for some cars), they sure as hell look great and have a definite XXX factor in terms of originality of design. Very cool

J.M. wrote:I like the front damper mounts and geometry on this kit. I think it would perform better than the original kit design.

I'm not sold on the trailing arms, though. The rest of the car looks outstanding.

The shock towers are good - but the best option, (on the front), if using them is to use longer medium length shocks, as the standard short shocks dont really give enough "droop". The Hot trick alloy "H" arms are completely useless and really just offer more "points of failure" than any performance gain. The chassis and shock towers - along with the front brace are the most useful items in the conversion series for the Optima.

The trailing arms actually worked a little too well - giving the car massive rear end grip and heaps of roll - really good for rough slippery conditions........the biggest issues were the rear drive-shafts coming out with all the suspension travel that the trailing arms afforded. You could limit the travel - but that defeated the advantage in rough conditions - plus the arms also had the same extra points of failure.

Having said all that - damn I love the look of it!! Takes you back a time when the after-market manufacturers really tried to think outside the box.

Could look at it all day.

Cheers

Darryn

I really loved this article back in the day. The car just looked HOT!

Yeah, I do love the look of it too - Which is why I had to have it! As far as this particular car goes, it is probably in retirement mode while I own it. It's a very nice condition car and I do love to look at it! I've added some front shocks and stripped the wheels in preparation for the dye vat. I also have added some really nice red anodized aluminum shock collars from Pargu and have continued the cleaning process. I have to be content with as much external cleaning as I can for now, my work bench is a disaster! If I tear apart another car right now I'm done!
More pics soon...

Jason, what body is on the car in that article? Is it a standard Optima shell?

Jason, what body is on the car in that article? Is it a standard Optima shell?

I am pretty sure it is but I think the rear section of the shell has been cut and modified to fit at the back side of the rear shock tower some how.

The arms in this article are the ones I have.

The body in the article is indeed a standard Optima body but the rear end past the shock tower appears to be bent up more than usual.

J.M. wrote:I really loved this article back in the day. The car just looked HOT!