Got Roll? Upgrading the Anti-Roll Bar

The Putra runs a pretty archaic and basic anti-roll bar setup. As you know an anti-roll bar is a very useful component to dial in a car’s handling by controlling the understeer/oversteer characteristics apart from reducing body roll. Mike Kojima’s excellent article on dialing in the ride and handling for a Sentra which has a similar setup) is a useful reference. Uncle Sam people like to call the anti-roll bar an "anti-sway bar" while most manufacturers typically call anti-roll bars "stabilizer" bars in their brochures. They are all the same.

For some apparent reason the 99 year and post-spec Putra runs an 18mm diameter front arb setup with a 13mm rear. Not sure why Proton reverted to this setup as ealier pre-99 spec Putras were running a 23mm front arb. Maybe to ensure the Putra handles inferior compared to the GTi? ;) The Wira/Satria 1.6 and 1.8 runs a similar (23mm front) setup. Compare this to a DC2 Integra Type R for example with 24mm front and 22mm rear 96 year spec setup and 25mm front/23mm rear for 98 year and onward models. BTW the Wira/Satria 1.3 & 1.5 runs a front 18mm arb with no rear arb. You get the picture? Arrrggh! The anti-roll bars use a horizontal blade attachment point and the arb links are merely vertical rods with 2 pieces of rubber to act as the arb bush with the arb sandwich in between. This is the same for the front and rear. Pix of the front arb attachment point below.

The front arb is attached to the front lower arm and the rears also to the rear lower arm. GTI in comparison use a "direct acting" front setup with the arb itself directly connected to the front strut via a ball joint type arb link. The arbs have vertical end blades. The rears also use a similar setup but with the same mounting points as the Putra. The ball joint link is far superior to rubber bushes as unwarranted flex is eliminated. It is however far more expensive than rubber. A set of GTi arb links will cost you RM300+. Per end of car! The end links cost more than the arb itself! If you must know the GTI runs an 18mm front setup and 13mm rear too but the front direct acting setup and the use of much better quality arb end links means the arbs give a much better effect equivalent to going to a bigger diameter bar.

When I upgraded the SP’s arbs I was looking to reduce some roll inherent with the DMS 50mm setup as the double progressive springs are wound pretty soft at the beginning compared to a linear spring setup. I decided to "upgrade" the front arbs back to 23mm stock Proton/Mitsu arb instead of going the GTi route. The Proton/Mitsu part number for this arb is MB844453 and the arb is pretty cheap @ around 200 smackers. Reason is if you go to a larger diameter (>18mm) GTI front arb setup there is a tendency for the arb mount flange on the strut to fail. I am not sure if this problem is only inherent with the DMS shock’s flange but the fact that Mitsu reverted back to the front arbs being linked to the lower arm for the EVO4-9 tells the story. One of my Brudder’s actually cracked that flange twice on the track and had to send the shocks back to DMS for additional welding and reinforcement. Not a nice experience. I also upgraded the "D" bushes (Part No: SPF1572-23K) and the arb end link bushes (Part No: SPF2092BKP) to Superpro polyurethane (PU) items. PU is stiffer than rubber and has way less flex. For those of you in the know, Whiteline already supply Superpro oem PU "D" bushes which come free along with the arb itselft so why am I buying them separately? Pix below shows why.

No offence but no way I'm going to put yellow arb "D" bushes along with my silver arb. They look more like sorbet or egg tart. Got rice? At least the Superpro ones are dark purple blue. If anyone's interested these VERY YELLOW 18mm rear arb PU "D" bushes are yours for RM25. Buzz me. If you must Whiteline sells a stiffer front arb too but at only 24mm diameter I personally feel this is not a big enough upgrade in stiffness ratio for the price you are paying. The part number for this arb is BPF14. Pls ensure you change the "D" bushes to one that allows a 24mm arb.

For the rears I decided on the trick GTI ball joint setup. This means that I will have change and upgrade not only the arb but the end link itself. Now this is going to sound most interesting to those who think the GTI is Lotus Tuned Handling. The part numbers for both Mitsubishi Mirage/Lancer EVO1-3 rear arb end links are the same. Still unconvinced I purchased the links from Proton and a similar link from Mitsubishi Japan to compare. Picture below of the EVO3 rear arb end link and packaging with part number. Make your judgement.

Worse of all PESC is charging bout RM320+ or so retail for a set of these end links whereas I can get a similar set of brand new end links air freighted from Mitsu Japan for less than RM290. And guess what! The same also applies to the fronts! Also purchased new nuts and washers from Mitsu Japan for this project. I decided to go to an adjustable rear arb from Whiteline. Part Number: BPR16Z. An adjustable arb means there are more than one mount holes on the arb end blades for you to adjust the stiffness ratio of the bar by connecting the end links via these holes. The "closer" hole mount point will give a stiffer ratio vs a "further" mount point. The Whiteline adjustable arb has 2 holes. I have seen some setups with 3 holes. And yes, Whiteline sells both adjustable and non-adjutable front and rear arbs for our cars with different diameters. You can look at them all here in Whiteline’s comprehensive on-line catalog
The newer Whiteline arbs have a silver powder coating and look way better aesthetically compared to the Smurf Blue older versions. Quality is pretty decent but I was pretty unhappy bout the end blades. They look uneven compared to say something from Cusco. Pix of my arb below.

Also upgraded the rear "D" bushes (Part No: SPF1826-18K). Pix of the installed setup below. You can clearly see the new GTi/EVO2-3 spec end links and how the arb is connected to the end links. Also in the pix is the purple bling coloured Superpro arb "D" bush. At least it's not yellow. Can hear Coldplay singing that darn song in the background. Urrrgh!

Another pix of the new setup. The project was done way back when I was still using Yokohama AVS ES-100 tyres. Pardon the confusion.

With these upgrades installed, understeer is greatly minimized and you can rotate the Putra during corners far easier than the stock setup. Overall a very worthwhile but expensive upgrade. The whole project cost me in excess of RM1.5K with the Whiteline arb being the biggest hit at 750+ smackers or so a piece. If you think this is not hardcore enough Jacko Whacko is currently on a project using spherical bearing end links. These bearings were actually being passed around for licking during his wedding dinner! Lotsa customized machining being done to fabricate the bearing mount shafts. Sneak pixs of the project below. Just look at these end links compared to the stock GTI links. Farkin Huge! No limits to the Madness!

The longer link is the front btw. Pix below of the rear arb setup on a Realtime Acura RSX aka Honda Integra DC5 touring car participating in the US World Challenge Series. The arb blade and end link is shown in the red bordered box.

The arb is in the boot itself and is an adjustable hollow tubed assembly. Still the arb rate is unbelievably stiff. If engineered correctly a hollow tubed arb can be made lighter while maintaning the same stiffness as thinner solid tubed arb. Also noticed that there are no bends on the arb as there is no need to clear chassis and suspension arms in this setup. Not sure of the material used for the arb but on World Rally Car's it's titanium.
Another pix of the rear arb link and the funky looking rear suspension arms. The next time a manufacturer proudly boasts their Civic, Integra, Impreza, Evo or even the Hyundai Accent RXS is nearly the same as the works car being raced/rallied in top level competition you will know better!

Will talk about my rear suspension arms and links next. And also a feature on Superpro suspension arm bushes. Stay tuned.

Behaviour

Apparently some members of a certain car group which I shall not say here think some of my responses in their forum in comparison or reference with what I've done to the SP to be boastful and offensive. My response to this is "Too Bad and I'm Outta Here!". I speak from experience so if you think this is offensive then my apologies but I'm not going to change my very direct style and way for your sake. This has been a good key learning so in future I'll be very very careful with the advice or response that I dish out especially in car group forums. Better to blabber around in my own blog..

Porn Mags

Was in KL last weekend when I decided to drop by my favourite Japanese bookstore Kinokuniya located in Isetan KLCC. Have not been to Kino in close to a year so this was going to be a big one. 1 hour later and RM130+ poorer, I came out with a happy smile and 2 Jap "porn" mags. The latest Lancer Evo magazine - volume 27 and also the Autosport 2006 Super GT Official Guidebook. Pix of mags below including 2 mags which every hardcore modder and engineer should not do without. If you want to know about technology on race cars (not show cars) and the racing industry, beg, borrow or steal your regular supply of Racecar Engineering and Racetech. There are practically zero pictures of scantilly clad women in these mags so for those who like this sort of stuff, get Super Street. And these mags are in Engrish as they're from the UK! Both mags are published monthly.

Nissan 350Z GT Racecar featured in the Autosport 2006 Super GT Official Guidebook. There are detailed tech reports of all the 3 GT500 class works cars (Toyota, Nissan and Honda) including comparison of aero changes done from 2005 to 2006 models.


2 more mags which I consider essential if you own a Japanese car or a Jap car wannabee like earlier Protons would be the Option and Option 2 mags. These are essential mags which showcase the Jap mod industry and latest "trends" in JDM car mod world. Pix of mags below. Both Option and Option 2 are published monthly and are available in any language so long as it's Japanese.


Another Japanese language mag which is considered a bible is the Hyper Rev series. Each volume caters to a specific generation of model and most popular performance cars such as Lancer Evo, Subaru Impreza, Nissan Skyline, Sylvia, Toyota Supra, etc. etc. are covered. The mag will detail the car and also there's coverage on show cars from popular Jap speedshops. In addition the mag will also detail all the performance and show parts available for the particular car being covered. Really essential reference material if you want to mod your popular Jap car. Pix below of the volumes of the mag.

Again it's solely in Japanese. Speaking of which I have one copy of a volume I don't need. Subaru Impreza must have sounded a wee bit too much like Subaru Legacy in Japlish and one of my Jap Bros got me the wrong mag when he went home to Japan recently. I now have a Hyper Rev mag on the Subaru Legacy which I do not need. Any takers? The mag is in mint condition. Pix below. Give me an offer!

I have the majority of the cars which I favour including Evos, Imprezas, Integras, Civics and even the Levin/Trueno. Call me if you're in Penang and need a quick reference. No stains on the mags pls.

There are many other great Jap mags out there and really it would take me too much time to cover them all. Mags such as the Lancer EVO series, Impreza Magazine, VTEC Sports, Club Skyline, etc. all cover the latest and greatest of a particular Jap performance car. They are mostly from the same publisher in Japan called News Publishing. You can order direct if you're too lazy to go to Kinokuniya but you will need a fax. The web page has an Engrish order form which you'll have to print out, fill in what mags you would like to order and then fax to them. They don't entertain e-mail unfortunately. Happy Reading and Learning Jap!

My New Daily Ride - Nissan Sentra 1.6 SG Manual

Finally got my car on Thursday June 1st. In case you guys wanna know I finally bit the bullet and booked a 1.6 manual Sentra with full Nismo bodykit. Looks fierce and is the only non-national sedan car still available with a manual gearbox option.
Took more than 4 friggin weeks for my car to be delivered. Must be record wait time for a Sentra. Apparently this is due to not many people wanting the manual version. Sigh! Apparently out of every 10+ Sentras sold, only 1 is a manual. What a crying shame. Sad country we live in. Also splurged 150 smackers to get the switch to fold in the side mirrors. Every new Sentra sold in this country comes with the side mirrors already fitted with the folding motor but only the 1.6 SG-L (luxury) and 1.8 XG-L models have the switch to activate the folding fuction. Picture below shows the stock switch console without the folding rocker switch . As you can see the bottom half of the switch console is blanked off. Part number listed on the packaging is for the switch with the folding option. Sorry for the confusion. And NO the Sentra does not come with 17" OZ Supertourismo wheels despite what the crappy brochure shows. One of these days TC is gonna get in trouble. You get micro 14 inchers on the SG and only the SG-L and XG-L come with acceptable 15 inchers.

Upon delivery found that the one side of the instrument panel was properly lit and the other side/half only dimly lit. Suspected blown bulb or connection problem. Oh ya.. and they forgot to connect back my speedo & odo cable so both were not functioning. Called SA and arranged with him to visit TCEAS on Friday. Had to take leave. Bummer!

Arrived @ TCEAS Patani Road Friday 10+ am. Was promptly told by the Service Manager to come back next week as they’re fully booked for the day. WTF! So much for great service. My SA calls his Manager who promptly takes the car to TCEAS in Bayan Lepas (near airport next to Chevie Service Centre). In the meantime my SA shows me where to plug back the speedo connector on the engine block. With my speedo fixed I drove the car back to the showroom where the Manager took my car to be fixed. Got it back to around 4pm in the late afternoon. Proceed to go get some nice rubber matts. Settled for black 3A variant similar to what my wifey is using on her Optra.

Saturday was pretty exciting. Spend morning waxing/cleaning da car. Took it to Sg Bakap and back (fetchin wifey to watch movie). Tyre roar from the Goodyear Ducaro GA was pretty atrocious but otherwise no other complain. Smooth, quiet and refined as any other Jap sedan. Pretty stable at 120km/h. Quite a lot of wind noise though but the same can be said for the Focus which I test drove. Heard the Civic’s really quiet though. Steering feels a way bit too light for me. Guess most of the newer cars (Focus exempted) feels that way. Brakes are pretty decent despite rear drums. For road use can’t imagine why anyone would still want the Brake Booster Assist option. Nuts! Manual shifter feel is pretty precise and has a nice feel than stock Wiras/Satrias. Since it’s directly connected to the gearbox (unlike cables for the Wira) you don’t wanna place your hand continuously on it for long periods as it vibrates and tingles.

Spend Sunday doing research on replacement tyres as I'm pretty irritated with the tyre roar. These are not semi-slicks dammit! Wifey comes to Penang in her Optra so I get to drive both cars back to back for comparo. As expected the Optra has way better ride and handling but the Sentra’s more comfy and cushy soft. With a manual gearbox, Sentra’s also way more powerful and responsive too. At this point I decided on either the Michelin Energy XM1s or the Yokohama Aspec DBs.

On Monday went to see my regular tyre shop and was promptly offered 15” new Nissan Sentra SG-L/XG-L rims with the XM1s. After trade in my stockies have to only top up around 900 smackers. Offer too good to refuse. Sorry Yokohama. With the 15 X 6"” wheels fitted the car does look way better aesthetically. The 14 X 5.5” was too narrow and looked like it was hidden behind the bodywork. Too much offset. BTW.. Sentra is using 40 offset and 114.3 4 lug PCD. Oh ya.. and 4-5 of my stock lugnuts had signs of rust on them. WTF again. Gonna complain and get the lugnuts replaced during my 1000km service. The XM1s are really comfy but at the expense of a softer sidewall. Can feel more bodyroll. Might try the Pilot Preceda PP2s later. Overall I’m pretty satisfied with the car. Especially the refinement, build quality and comfort. And how does it compare to the SP? No comment!!! Pixs of car to follow..

Killing 2 Birds with 1 Stone

The power window switch on the SP's passenger side decided to go into semi retirement after 6+ years of faithful service. The switch could still bring down the side window but couldn't bring it back up. Bummer! While replacing the switch I decided to remove the inner door cover and replace all the mild steel bolts with lightweight aluminium potassium bichromate coated items. Also did the driver door side. There are 8 M6 X 12mm bolts per door on the inner side and 16 bolts total for 2 doors. Picture below of the new lightweight bolts. Using the larger than standard 18mm diameter washers.

Picture below of the new bolts on the passenger side door

Picture of the faulty switch. Switch cost me RM48. Bolts cost me.. errrm....

TMM Archives - Ralliart Group N Long Hub Bolts/Lugs

If you're planning to run thick wheel spacers (>10mm) to clear your 4/6/8 pot race calipers then the stock hub bolts/lugs will not have sufficient thread left for the lug nut to securely fasten the wheel when the wheel is mounted. The stock hub bolts/lugs are only 45mm in length. My Japanese supplier was able to supply me slightly longer 55mm length bolts but I decided to go for the pukka Ralliart WRC Long Hub Bolts (Part Number: RX031877A1) as these are 66mm in length and made of much stronger tensile grade steel than the stock bolts/lugs. You will need to increase the strength of the material to make up as you're already loosing stiffness and strength going to a longer bolt. Believe I have seen lugs break when too much muscle power is made to loosen an overtighten lug nut. Not a nice sight and a real pain to fix. The bolts are also zinc plate to prevent corrosion and ultimately rust. Picture below of the bolts pressed mounted to my front hub/axle assemble.

Picture below of the entire assy with my CNC machined 12mm wheel spacer mounted. As you can see lots of thread and length of hub bolt/lug left for the wheel and lug nut.

These long lugs just perfectly reach near the end of the thread of my Racing Gear lugnuts with the wheel mounted.

Price of the Ralliart long hub bolts unfortunately is not so friendly. It cost a whopping near RM500 for 8 bolts/lugs. No shit!

Carbon Side "GT" Mirrors

The stock powered side/wing mirrors weight 1.1kg per side (2.2kg total). These are less than 200 grammes for complete assembly including mounting plate. Great way to lose some high up weight. Also the size and shape of the mirrors results in less drag compared to the stock mirrors. Spoon Sports, Signal Auto, SPA Design and numerous other go-fast companies make similiar mirrors. Picture below of carbon GT side mirror including it's mounting plate. The mount leg is anodized aluminium while the ball pivot is stainless steel and threaded for easy adjustment. Mirrors used are convex so appear objects in mirror will appear larger than normal. Helps to compensate for the smaller sized mirror. I have no visibility issues using these side mirrors.

Picture below of the mirror mounted to the SP. All in all a pretty decent mod. Looks trick, lessens weight and also reduces aero drag too. Also took the opportunity to remove the mirror adjustment controller from the dash and replace it with a carbon blocking plate. Not recommended for those who have a mirror adjustment fetish. Fasteners used are stainless steel. Will lose even more weight going to titanium & aluminium.

One note of caution though. You'll want to be careful parking your car anywhere with these mirrors are they're pretty easy to be ripped off and stolen.

Here's a recent pix of the SP with these mirrors waiting to be chassis foamed. Will do an article on that later..

The Development Never Stops - Preview of Jack's Fuel Line Conversion

While I've been busy lately with non-SP related matters (such as getting my daily banger) my mates have been at the mod stuff even harder. Picture below of Jack's latest project. He converted not only the fuel rail supply line to AN fittings with braided hoses but the fuel pressure regulator and fuel return lines as well. This guy never ceases to amaze me. Enjoy the art work below. You can just imagine the planning, lengths and types of braided hoses, alloy AN hose ends and not forgetting the $$$$$ involved. Just the fuel rail supply line + adapter alone will cost RM400+ You can more than double it with the fpr end. And that doesn't include buying the fpr itself. I think you can get the basic Sard fpr for below RM400 if you try hard enough. Jack's using Earl's hoses and end fittings while I'm using Goodridge. The different brands are not interchangeable except for the adapters. Anyone out there wanna try Aeroquip, XRP or Icore?




Hopefully Wacko Jacko will do a full article when he's up to it. The gaffer's getting married next month. Happy Getting Married Bro!!!! Watch this space.

The other nutcase is Senior. He's been hard at work most of his off days stripping the tar and sound deadening from his monster. With his own hands! Senior's also got himself a Motordrive race seat. Jacko and Senior should be called the IMF - Impossible Modding Force! Think I better go dig a hole somewhere for myself to hide. As it is and at the rate things are going lately I might have to take a sabbatical from modding. Planning to get hitched early next year and will also be moving into a new love nest - SP, new car and all. Might work on small projects when funds and time become avail. My shifter base bush kit for one is still sitting in my room gathering dust. Will see how things go..

Symborski Transmission Shifter Base Kit

These are ready to go in when I can find some time off work to get on with my life. It's been hell the pass two weeks with up to 15-16 work hours per day. The Symborski transmission shifter base bushes are made from aluminium and will help to eliminate the sloppy movement of the shifter base plate resulting in much more defined shift pattern. The stock rubber bushes are designed with NVH elimination as the primary focus and little else. According to Jack they're lighter than the stock rubber bushes too believe it or not.

My friggin titanium fasteners took more than 4 weeks to arrive. Also, notice that the bolts are natural colour while the washers are anodized blue. Everything was supposed to be blue. Miscomunication from my part due to work stress. Aarrrrgh!. Nevermind. Once everything is installed you won't be able to see s**t. The clear coloured titanium bolt with blue anodized washer also turns out looking pretty cool imho. Full installation report to follow. Oh.. these fasteners cost nearly double the cost of the Symborski transmission shifter base bushes. The kit (without the Ti fasteners is RM120) if you're interested. E-mail me.

It's a Blue World! Cusco "Pillowball" Suspension Top Mounts

If you're using uprated shocks and want more improvement in steering and suspension feel and damping, the next step to go would be to replace the stock rubber mounts on top of your front and rear shocks with spherical bearinged versions. The spherical bearing eliminates unwanted rubber flex which can hinder the shocks damping. The 101 in Suspension Theory states that the shock absorber should be the only component doing the damping. This is however not the case for road cars. Rubber bushes reduce NVH and maximum ride comfort but they also flex and introduce unwarranted uncontrollable damping movement of their own. The Japs like to call spherical bearings "pillowball mounts" hence the term.

I emailed DMS on which was the most suitable top mount for my 50mm shock and was surprised to hear Cusco. In fact Cusco even used to oem for DMS Japan. Since then DMS has manufactured their own specific and improved version of the top mount but last I heard these are only available for the newer Evos and Imprezas. Picture below of the new DMS Top Mount. Picture below of the new DMS top mount for Evo7-9

Anyway, back to my Cuscos. I decided to replace both my front and rear top mounts at one go. Also had to order the DMS fitting kit (top nut and metal adapter) to enable to Cusco to clear the larger diameter DMS 50mm shaft. Price per mount is about RM750 so to replace both the front and rear sets would set you back RM1.5K. For those on a budget I would recommend only replacing the fronts as these are designed to allow you to adjust the camber easily. The rears are fixed. Picture below of the front Cusco pillowball mount (Part Number 508 410A). The nut with the shorter shaft (left most) is the DMS fitting kit.

Picture below showing the bottom of the mount. The camber is adjusted via the bottom sliding steel black plate and pillow ball section. The top blue anodized plate is made from 60mm thick 2017S heat treated aluminium alloy.

Both top and bottom plates are held together via 4 M6 X 20mm bolts which Cusco supplied the el cheapo mild steel variety. Arrgh! Needless to say I dutifully replaced these with stainless steel versions.

The Cusco rear mounts are available in 3 types to incorporate different spring diameters used by different shocks. The rear mounts are availble to suit 60mm, 65mm and 70mm coil spring diameters. Yes, these can also be used for conventional non-coilover shocks. If in doubt check with your shock manufacturer. Picture below of rear mount, part number 508 421S for 70mm spring which was advised by DMS to be used for my shock. The part number for 60mm spring is 508 421 A60 and 65mm spring is 508 421 A65.

Installation took the most of the day and the shocks would have to be removed from the car. Closeup picture below of the Cusco top mount installed on my DMS 50mm front shock.

Closeup picture below of rear shock/damper with Cusco top mount.

Rear shocks ready to be installed back on the SP.

So how does the car perform with these mounts installed? One word.. "Excellent"!. Steering feel is much improve and so is the suspension damping. For those using rubber top mounts you can literally feel the mounts flexing under hard cornering load and this is totally eliminated with the Cuscos installed. The cons? Well if you want first class NVH then the Cusco mounts are not for you. You can really feel the road! Also, until the spherical bearing is fully broken in, you will get an alarming clunk from your springs when turning on an uneven surface. Takes a couple weeks to clear up but then honestly I couldn't be bothered. The SP's loud as it is already. Also the flex on the rubber bushes helps to reduce the load to your chasis suspension turrets. Going to stiffer mounts simply means all this load is now acting on your chassis shock mount turrets. Inspect them regularly for signs of fatigue or crack at the seams.