Tao got the me brand new original Nissan front lower control arms as requested. The arms are RM420 per piece (RM840 a pair). He also got the stock bushes removed and the
Whiteline bushes pressed into the new arms. Took a bit of research and coordination work with the machine shop to ensure correct orientation of the bushes as Whiteline did not supply any install instructions with the bushes nor was there any instruction on their website. Simon was very helpful and provided me this drawing.
Picture below of my front lower control arms with
Whiteline goodies. The
Whiteline bushes and the
arb link kit combined cost more than the arms.
The entire install job was done @ my house front porch DIY style with Tao and myself supplying the bst. Picture below of Sharkie trying to eat Tao for lunch. Bad Girl!
Tao also trimmed the arm end where the ball joint resides to clear my brake rotors and repainted the trimmed end of the arm. This part bolts to your front hub and knuckle. The ball joints height determines the N16's front roll centre geometry.
Picture of the
Whiteline inner rear bush on the left hand side front lower control arm. You can see the offset internal hole for additional positive caster. Positive caster helps stability by causing the tyre to lean into turns when the wheel is turned improving traction. The L shaped thingy in the background top centre is my assembled
Whiteline front arb link.
The install job took a tad less than 3 hours but could have been much less had Tao not forget to bring along a spanner which meant he had to go home to fetch the MIA spanner and then back to my house again. While waiting for Tao I decided to do some tender loving care with a can of WD40. Picture below of my
for sale BC Racing BR shocks after a bit of cleaning. Excellent condition eh? So what are you waiting for? :) "62 200 07" means 62mm diameter coil spring, 200mm height and 7kg/mm spring rate.
Picture below of both my stock seven year old front lower control arms post removal from Sharkie.
The triangular piece of metal plate in the picture above is the rebound stopper which attaches to the front subframe. There is one on each side of the car. Bro Peter got me a pair brand new ones from the US via Greg @
GSpec. There are no bushes on the rebound stopper and that bush looking thingy on the stopper is actually a piece of my anti-rust coating that decided "it" loved the rebound stopper more than Sharkie hence decided to part ways with Sharkie. Bummer!
Picture below of the brand new RHS stopper. Thanks Bro!
My puny looking (when compared to the Whiteline equivalent) 7 year old front arb links. Rubber on the bushes have hardened and a tad out of shape but otherwise still perfectly functional.
Took Sharkie for a drive after the install and immediately the effect from the Whiteline bushes were noticeable. The car felt more compliant @ yet reactive to sudden steering speed and one can feel more of the suspension doing it's job. The ride was less crashy and actually more comfortable at speed. Drive slow-mo and the very slightly firmer ride from the Whiteline bushes are noticeable but really no biggie deal to me. Got the alignment dialed in the following day over at Goh Swee Hin. Sharkie's alignment post lower arm install and before the alignment job. Look at the lack of (negative) camber! Dayum!
Picture below of my alignment report printout after some work.
The GSH alignment tech tells me the camber is as much as I can get without more extensive work or resorting to failure prone camber bolts :( The tech also asked me if I can adjust camber via my shock top mount since I am on pillowball top mounts so I showed him the small tight hole on top of the front suspension turret :( Here's an alignment report comparison from
2 years ago when Sharkie was Slowtra. I feel there's more negative camber to be had with the slotted bolt holes in the lower mount bracket of my BC Racing BR coilover shocks but it is a lot of work. Need to find an alignment shop willing to do the work. Tao tells me there is a shop but it is in Kulim. Sigh..
I also took the opportunity to fill Sharkie's tyres with nitrogen. Yes I know, our atmosphere is approximately 78% nitrogen but it's the remaining 22% of oxygen and other crap I am concerned about. Cost me RM 5 to inflate a tyre with nitrogen so its RM 20 total for four tyres. Picture below of the machine used to inflate tyres with 100% nitrogen.
The benefits of nitrogen are stated on the machine itself.
So far no squeaks from the bushes but its very early days. Time will tell.
