UAS ADJUSTABLE TOP FRONT ARMS

Rough guess of $500 a pair although still doing the math. Unique design as all other designs on the market, from factory, Midori and copies there of, Noltec, Stillen etc all fail due to not being able to rotate like it wants to.

Just seeing what the interest would be.

I have thoroughly tested at the track now 4 times including hitting harsh ripple strips at Oran Park. Prior to designing and making these arms every track day we either tore out bearings or bent arms, or they came lose at a minimum. I might ad on a race car it is subject to lots more load than road car with increased camber and caster also usually. Also harsh braking and as mentioned hitting ripple strips at high speed with low profile tyres. Although road cars with adjustable caster rods and 18 inch tyres have same problem. All the arms on teh market put added load on bushes or bearings and gives false spring rate as it binds and does suspension does not move freely as the arm wants togo through an arc and as the top arm is fixed soemthing has to give. Yes open to suggestions preferably form those qualified re metalurgy etc from any in the know out there colour etc

Pic of the arms being built.



Attachment below is a short video showing the problem. Note these Midori copy arms had centre adjusting section Alen key bolts losened so the arm can move through it's range of motion or arc that it wants to.

C:\Documents and Settings\john\Desktop\SuspTravel.avi

Link for more.

http://300zx.com.au/racecarpage5.htm

See here for more.

http://www.aus300zx.com/forum/showthread.php?t=251619&highlight=upper

 

G'day JP

I have brought many products from UAS in the past, I'm very happy with previous service. I don't want to sound like I'm asking stupid questions but do you think this new arm will stand the test of time in a street driven ZED? As many other designs have come and failed, either through stuffed bushes or just simply cracked in a short space of time, as you have stated. Also will there be some sort of warranty with these arms in case of defect? I am definately interested in this product, but don't want cracked arms like previous Noltec ones I have owned in the past for very short periods of time (with ball breaking warranty conditions). Cheers John P.

 

I'm interested

 

Sure will

They will last yes as they are totally different to any other on the market and designed by two engineers who specialise in suspension. Fulcrum will be making them and their reputation and size is clearly the best in Australia in their feild. The main reason why these will work and last is we have identified and corrected the design fault by Nissan. The top control arm is the least load bearing arms in the car yet the most prone to failure. This is due to forces of twist which we uncovered and have made arms that cater for this.

Also we warranted all the arms in the past that failed.

I might also re iterate that with these arms it releases the tension in the front suspension system and power steering is noticeably more direct and has better feel and less load. On my car in particular which has had high speed low speed solenoid removed so at low speed it is heavier than most, it was noticeably lighter when we fitted these arms. Even without going over bumps the top arms wants to twist and with our design it is allowed to where all others they are not. We tested this by having a zed on hoist withwheel and tyre and putting a transimission hoist under a front wheel and jacking it up to static height and then moving the steering wheel from left to right and as the wheel turned we could see with our top arms they were twisting slightly, as it wants to, whilst still keeping the inner and outer control arm pins exactly parallel.

These arms would put slightly less load on power steering but the main thing they do is make the suspension work as it should, and not give artificial heavier spring rate by bidning or restricting upward and downward movement of suspension. This is more evident with added camber but mainly added caster in properly set up track cars.

All zeds need these arms sooner or later but all track cars running 10 degrees caster or more definitely need them.

By the way have you checked or had your mech check for play in your top control arms lately???

 

Yes I am definately in then JP

I'm sick of stuffed aftermarket arms and bushes. I am definately in if the price is around the $400 mark, pretty much what I paid for that Crappy Noltec Stuff. I'll be happy as long as I don't have to change arm bushes or warranty issues every 6 months. Cheers JP

 

And yes my current front arm bushes

Are already nackered after less than a year of daily granny driving! I'm getting those funny noises again whenever I go over bumps.

 

Definately interested in these JP. Have been watchingthe development and am interested in acquiring a set when you have a final product

Cheers
Rob

 

I'm interested JP....

John how soon will this product be available? Cos I'm ready to replace my factory front upper arms so I can adjust my camber.

Regards,

Ozz

 

Will be a while yet

I need mine for Auto Salon Circuit Battle Friday 27th April at Wakefield, then will pull them out and send off to Fulcrum and expect it to take many weeks to months after that.

 

Thats fine, I can

wait dude.

 

I could be interested.

 

Yes very interested John. Anything for better handling and safety.:zlove:

 

Interested

will you keep us up to date on the condition off the arms after several track meets, the more testing the better!

 

I'm in much better idea imo... keep us up to date man :zlove: good work

 

I'm interested in a set when they are available. When i had to replace the bearings in my upper arms (after 6 months) I ran the suspension through its full range of movement and found that there were more than vertical forces at play. I put it down to a design fault in the arms but never thought it was a fault in the Zeds design.

Could you host the video of the problem on the net? as i cannot open a link directed at your desktop

 

if you've got bearings in your upper arms you need solid tension rods.. I'm not sure if even urethane is solid enough to prevent bearing damage, they'd probably take a pounding, deform or at least end up squeaking in no time anyway.

what would be ideal for me would be something like this UAS upper arm with nismo rubber bushes in the arm and tension rod which are a bit firmer than stock, I don't want a harsh or noisy ride.. just something a little better than stock with some camber adjustment.

 

Agree

thats why we want to see these arms tested over a decent period of time.

 

I've got solid suspension in the front and through the

entire range of movement I don't get any twisting of the upper control arm (that's with solid bearings in upper control arm, lower control arm, tension rod). Since the tension (radius) rod is perpendicular to the upper control arm they should not affect the arc they scribe through full movement. If the suspension is not setup correctly with the tension rod and upper control arm perpendicular to each other then you will get the twisting of the upper control arm.

 

JP

How did the upper arms scrub up after Phillip Island?

 

All good

Yes would need or suggest adjustable rose jointed radius rods. As I mentioned it is more of a problem with added caster and camber although plenty of rad cars with stock caster flog out facotry bushes and Noltec ones. Midori and Midori copies etc although much less of a problem. R32 GTR's are worse as similar set up to Z32 although with added load of front wheel drive and they flog out top front arms also.

Front end felt great at Phillip Island and had great feel throuh the steering wheel and felt firm, and certainly under a lot load G force wise, although I did not hit ripple strips like I have done at Oran Park and Wakefield with these arms many times. As I menioned I had all sort of problems with arms and bushes flogging out and arms twisting lose with all the other type arms on the market previous. Hitting ripple strips at up to 220ks an hour oftne on a slide and angle is very harsh on suspension.

If you have a race car these are a must sooner or later or will keep flogging out arms and have play in front end. Road cars get away with it as not harsh loads and high speed hitting although plenty of road cars come in for service with worn out upper front arms.

Lastly there are plenty of cars with ball bearing top arms and rose jointed radius rods and no rel noticeable vibration or harshness in frotn end. I would rather a tight front end for feel and positive firm handling anyway.