The Suspension Thread

Post by **Vectose** » Fri Aug 03, 2012 9:49 pm

Great work mate!

Shane001 · Post by **Shane001** » Fri Aug 03, 2012 10:00 pm

Also finally installed my Megan Racing control arms I bought from the US nearly a year ago

This was pretty straight forward. Just remove the stock arms, pre set the Megan Racing arms to approx the same length and then reinstall. You will require a wheel alignment after installing these, but they make adjusting toe and camber much easier obviously.

I managed to get the lengths pretty much spot on so the end result toe settings were almost unchanged.

Shane001 · Post by **Shane001** » Fri Aug 03, 2012 10:11 pm

And while I was at it I also installed my Selby 22mm rear sway bar complete with poly bushes. Just a touch thicker than the stock GPX 18mm unit

I decided to use the stock mounting brackets modified slightly for the larger bush brackets as this puts the mounting offsets in the right place. Basically I just used the existing bolt hole on the mounting bracket and then drilled a second for the Selby bush brackets. These held up no problems during testing at Wakefield Park this week.

Why not use the aftermarket brackets that come with the likes of the Whiteline kits? If you have a close look you'll see that the stock mounting brackets either side initially appear identitical. And the Whiteline type kit aftermarket brackets are also identical left to right.

Problem is, the stock brackets are actually not quite identical. The holes drilled to mount to the chassis are different left to right. This results in the left side bracket being slightly offset to the chassis. This is very important as this aligns with the straight section of the sway bar that the bush needs to mount to.

This picture illustrates why these aftermarket brackets fail. You can see clearly in the pic that the left side bracket is slightly twisted as the bush is mounting onto part of the bar that is starting to curve, not straight.

When you have a close look at the stock brackets it's amazing that Whiteline et al got these aftermarket brackets so wrong!

Shane001 · Post by **Shane001** » Fri Aug 03, 2012 10:41 pm

With a bigger sway bar on the rear, this needed to be balanced with a bigger sway bar on the front.

I decided on a stock GPvR 20mm unit (up from the stock 16mm GPX). The challenge with this was that the GPvR uses a different drop link arrangement, and I couldn't source any GPvR lower control arms anywhere.

So I had my spare set of GPX control arms modified. As you can see from the pics, the GPvR and GPX control arms are identical, the only difference is the bracket for the drop links (and of course the post for the rear bush, but this didn't matter to me as I just reused the GPX bush). So I had my local fabricator weld on a set! Cost me $120 total and the end result you wouldn't tell the difference, except he used a slightly thicker metal

Modified GPX control arms.

And fitted with new GPvR drop links.

And the money it cost to have the brackets welded on was saved in not having to buy another rear bush for the control arm, I was able to reuse my offset GPX poly bush. Also refitted with existing front poly bushes.

Next challenge was finding the correct poly bushes for the 20mm sway bar. The GPvR bar actually uses a different bush bracket to the GPX and other models. It mounts exactly the same, it's just a little taller to accomodate the thicker bar. Problem was I didn't have these brackets and no one has a listing for a poly bush for the 20mm sway bar with these larger brackets.

So I ended up using the SuperFlex listed poly bush for a 20mm bar with the GPX bracket. Part number is SPF1344-20K. I was a bit worried using these initially as they are a little wider than the bracket, but once fitted they were nice and tight so alls good

Yeah I got a bit carried away with the lube on these bushes

Sahin · Post by **Sahin** » Fri Aug 03, 2012 10:53 pm

Get excited installing that, did you Shane?

Shane001 · Post by **Shane001** » Fri Aug 03, 2012 10:59 pm

Sahin wrote:Get excited installing that, did you Shane?

Sahin · Post by **Sahin** » Fri Aug 03, 2012 11:20 pm

Taking the piss about how much lube you did use
Looks good though should handle better now?

PHIL069 · Post by **PHIL069** » Fri Aug 03, 2012 11:22 pm

Great pics Shane and you know your stuff. It would have taken a while to do all that work.
What are the extra springs on your rear shocks, the ones underneath the coil springs?

Shane001 · Post by **Shane001** » Fri Aug 03, 2012 11:26 pm

PHIL069 wrote:Great pics Shane and you know your stuff. It would have taken a while to do all that work.
What are the extra springs on your rear shocks, the ones underneath the coil springs?

Mostly just learn it as I go

Figured my experiences might come in useful for anyone else wanting to do similar, especially with pressing bushes.

Can't remember exactly what they're called, but you'll find that setup on a lot of higher spec and race coilovers. From memory it's to reduce spring bounce. Helps to keep the springs seated under extreme conditions. They came standard with my very used Tein Type HA's

Shane001 · Post by **Shane001** » Fri Aug 03, 2012 11:29 pm

Sahin wrote:Looks good though should handle better now?

TBH jury is still out on the handling, front felt much better but the rear was very 'slippery', increased tendency to snap oversteer.

But there were other factors going on as well so I wasn't really focused on handling this week. But I'm suspecting the 22mm on the rear may actually be too much. I'm planning to test the 22mm with the 18mm back to back next time I go to WP. Truth will be in the lap times

Sahin · Post by **Sahin** » Fri Aug 03, 2012 11:56 pm

Oh, good luck, hope you find out what works best for you.

Shane001 · Post by **Shane001** » Sat Aug 04, 2012 12:03 am

Some more interesting info.

The GPvR & GPX front sub frames are essentially identical, and therefore interchangeable. The GPvR subframe however has a lot of extra bracing as you can see in the pics below.

Even the recess for the lower control rear bush is the same, even though the GPX & GPvR bushes themselves are very different. GPvR top / GPX bottom.

I'm planning an engine change later this year and considering installing the GPvR frame. The trade off is the extra weight. I haven't directly weighed them but I reckon there'll be close to an additional 5kgs in the GPvR sub frame.

Less weight vs extra bracing? hmmm...

Post by **Vectose** » Sat Aug 04, 2012 12:09 am

Shane001 wrote:Less weight vs extra bracing? hmmm...

That's probably what Mitsubishi were thinking when they decided to remove the climate control and folding mirrors from the GPvR

Shane001 · Post by **Shane001** » Sat Aug 04, 2012 12:13 am

Vectose wrote:
Shane001 wrote:Less weight vs extra bracing? hmmm...
That's probably what Mitsubishi were thinking when they decided to remove the climate control and folding mirrors from the GPvR

Yep, offsetting the extra weight in the subframe

PHIL069 · Post by **PHIL069** » Sat Aug 04, 2012 12:14 am

Vectose wrote:
Shane001 wrote:Less weight vs extra bracing? hmmm...
That's probably what Mitsubishi were thinking when they decided to remove the climate control and folding mirrors from the GPvR

But then they added 5kg extra in the sub frame, so how can the GPvR be overall lighter? The climate control less manual control weight + folding mirrors less non-folding weight would not = 5Kg.

Sahin · Post by **Sahin** » Sat Aug 04, 2012 12:21 am

I wouldn't be surprised actually
Those mirrors are heavy

Shane001 · Post by **Shane001** » Sat Aug 04, 2012 12:23 am

Yep, electric mirrors are heavy, plus I'm sure there's other stuff not included in the GPvR.

From memory I read somewhere no sound deadener?

Daniel2019 · Post by **Daniel2019** » Sun Aug 05, 2012 3:40 pm

But they also added things to the vR, too.

zuihoujueding · Post by **zuihoujueding** » Tue Aug 07, 2012 6:47 pm

I remember reading from some website, maybe from nolathane, that the grease should only be applied on the internal surface of the bush (where it is in contact with the sway bar, and not anywhere else.

Taz · Post by **Taz** » Tue Aug 07, 2012 6:54 pm

no sound deadening, electric mirrors, climate control, spoiler would be slightly less heavy (however small) and youll probably find the suspension changes would weigh that little but less as well. Big thing being the deadener

FTO AUSTRALIA