CovertRussian's 2000 Infiniti G20 - SR20DE+T & 6 Speed

[covertrussian]

Since I wanted to have a 3" turbo inlet and intake fitment was getting real hard. I also love flowstacks, which takes up a good amount of space too. Since this MAF (off a A32 Maxima) is meant to be bolted on, you have to use a MAF adapter, which also takes valuable space. In the end you get this much crunching to fit it all:

 

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Cars/00%20G20t%20KH3/Turbo/Intake/Inlet/MAF_wAdapter.jpg~original

 

I shaved the ears off the MAF. This allowed me to get rid of the MAF adapter and slip the silicon coupler directly on the MAF.

 

E60 MAF before it meats the angle grinder and rotary tool.

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Cars/00%20G20t%20KH3/Turbo/Intake/Inlet/MAF_001.jpg~original

 

I tried using a rotary tool to cut the plastic ears, but since the MAF is thick it wasn't cutting well at all. I used the angle grinder to cut most of the parts off.

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Cars/00%20G20t%20KH3/Turbo/Intake/Inlet/MAF_002.jpg~original

 

Unfortunately the screen had to go, there wasn't enough meat holding it and my 3" silicon coupler wouldn't fit over it.

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Cars/00%20G20t%20KH3/Turbo/Intake/Inlet/MAF_003.jpg~original

 

Outside is done, 3" coupler fits with a little force (it's really more like 3.15")

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Cars/00%20G20t%20KH3/Turbo/Intake/Inlet/MAF_004.jpg~original

 

Here is what the end goal, flowstack running directly into the MAF with minimal inbetween spacing.

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Cars/00%20G20t%20KH3/Turbo/Intake/Inlet/MAF_Flowstack_001.jpg~original

 

Current couple is about 1" too long, look at the flow restriction that the MAF walls create too.

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Cars/00%20G20t%20KH3/Turbo/Intake/Inlet/MAF_Flowstack_002.jpg~original

 

Getting ready to cut the coupler

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Cars/00%20G20t%20KH3/Turbo/Intake/Inlet/MAF_Flowstack_003.jpg~original

 

Couple cut, test fitting

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Cars/00%20G20t%20KH3/Turbo/Intake/Inlet/MAF_Flowstack_004.jpg~original

 

The spacing between the MAF and flowstack is barely there now, but there are still some "walls" from the MAF.

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Cars/00%20G20t%20KH3/Turbo/Intake/Inlet/MAF_Flowstack_005.jpg~original

 

Took a sanding wheel and smoothed it out a bit

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Cars/00%20G20t%20KH3/Turbo/Intake/Inlet/MAF_Flowstack_006.jpg~original

 

Here's what it looks like from the flowstack side

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Cars/00%20G20t%20KH3/Turbo/Intake/Inlet/MAF_Flowstack_007.jpg~original

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Cars/00%20G20t%20KH3/Turbo/Intake/Inlet/MAF_Flowstack_009.jpg~original

 

All done and ready to install

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Cars/00%20G20t%20KH3/Turbo/Intake/Inlet/MAF_Flowstack_008.jpg~original

 

 

Finally, the intake now fits perfectly and the hood closes all the way.

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Cars/00%20G20t%20KH3/Turbo/Intake/Inlet/MAF_wEars_Cut.jpg

[covertrussian]

I think that covers all the go fast mods, going forward it's going to be a lot of suspension mods... Making power is easy on these cars, getting them to handle takes a lot of effort. Prior to this car that's all I cared about, but this car made me appreciate handling more. Ironically handling on this car is miles worse then even the heavier LGT, but it was a big improvement from my previous car.

 

This car's suspension is a fairly unique combination; On the front Nissan used a fairly sophisticated multi-link setup and on the rear they used a crude mini-van beam. To justify using a beam, when the previous version of the G20 had independent rear suspension, Nissan decided to make what they called a Scott Russel Link instead of a simple but effective panhard.

 

Nissan's iteration of the Scott Russel lateral locating link has a lot of flaws; for one it binds a lot, but it's worst sin is having a very high rear roll center (around 12" off the ground). This causes the rear to dump all of it's weight onto the front outside tire, overloading it and ultimately leading to terminal understeer.

[covertrussian]

Here is the first part of the autocrossing history for this car. The car was still primarily a daily thus I kept to drop in springs and shocks (Koni yellows or Bilsteins).

 

Here is the car bone stock at 96k miles, I took it autocrossing the month after I got it.

 

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Cars/00%20G20t%20KH3/Pics/Racing/AutoX/20100815_002.jpg~original

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Cars/00%20G20t%20KH3/Pics/Racing/AutoX/20100815_001.jpg~original

 

Car was down for a while for engine swap turbo setup. Turbo died (my fault), so this is just NA with SR20VE (Nissan's Vtech motor) 170whp or so. Don't mind the intercooler from previous turbo setup. I think this is also on some lowering springs like Tein's. Tires are stock size all seasons: 205/60/15's on 15x6" +45mm stock wheels:

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Cars/00%20G20t%20KH3/Pics/Racing/AutoX/20120318_003.jpg~original

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Cars/00%20G20t%20KH3/Pics/Racing/AutoX/20120318_004.jpg~original

 

Almost 3 wheeling

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Cars/00%20G20t%20KH3/Pics/Racing/AutoX/20120318_001.jpg~original

 

My favorite pic (and profile pic)

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Cars/00%20G20t%20KH3/Pics/Racing/AutoX/20120318_005.jpg~original

 

Couple months later, finally bought some good summer tires and wheels. I swapped out the SR20VE motor and went back to SR20DE motor, ~130whp.

205/50/15 Yoko AD08's on 15x7" +40mm wheels. I also did LCA reward bushing and 22mm rear swaybar for this run.

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Cars/00%20G20t%20KH3/Pics/Racing/AutoX/20120812_002.jpg~original

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Cars/00%20G20t%20KH3/Pics/Racing/AutoX/20120812_001.jpg~original

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Cars/00%20G20t%20KH3/Pics/Racing/AutoX/20120812_003.jpg~original

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Cars/00%20G20t%20KH3/Pics/Racing/AutoX/20120812_004.jpg~original

 

As you can see the car loves to roll!

 

At this point I bought a 2001 Nissan Sentra SE and was autocrossing it instead, which was much more competitive. This car continues to be the primary daily until 2015, at which point Legacy was the primary daily and Sentra was sold, thus G20 became the dedicated autox car. As I post suspension mods I'll post pics with them too.

[covertrussian]

Took about a month from ordering to get them, but it was worth the wait.

 

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Cars/00%20G20t%20KH3/Suspension/Coilover/FA500/FA500_004_Coilovers.jpg~original

 

 

Fortune Auto 500 Coilover Overiew

Monotube Digressive Shocks

47mm Piston

"Ultra Precise" Shim stacks out of Sandvik steel

Gen 5 Floating piston that's lighter and uses teflon for lower friction

5 year warranty, 1 year on piston/moving parts - (Warranty is voided if you drive on government roads)

http://www.fortune-auto.com/500%20cutaway.jpg

 

Front Top Hat

Two piece top hats, with basic rubber bushings between the piston rod. They are offset! Notice the beefy 10mm studs with 14mm bolts, the extra length helps with strut bars.

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Cars/00%20G20t%20KH3/Suspension/Coilover/FA500/FA500_010_Front.jpg~original

 

Front Lower Mount

Aluminum body and steel mount that houses the bushing. Front lower mounts have a little rubber and adapters to reduce the size to fit our bolt size.

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Cars/00%20G20t%20KH3/Suspension/Coilover/FA500/FA500_008_Front.jpg~original

 

 

Rear Top hat

One piece top hats with rubber damper mounts, nothing too special

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Cars/00%20G20t%20KH3/Suspension/Coilover/FA500/FA500_006_Rear.jpg~original

 

Rear Lower Mount

Aluminum and Steel, with a bushing pressed in.

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Cars/00%20G20t%20KH3/Suspension/Coilover/FA500/FA500_005_Rear.jpg~original

 

For comparisons sake here is BC and Tein Basic's. BC's have the least amount of rubber, which helps reduce flex, but would increase NVH.

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Cars/01%20B15SE/Suspension/Coilovers/BC-BR%20Type/CIMG9820.jpg~original

 

 

Shocks are now 47mm instead of 50mm that they used to be. I was sad to see this especially since FA was bad mouthing BC's for being 46mm. FA said that they changed valving 3 years ago and reduced piston size for better fitment.

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Cars/00%20G20t%20KH3/Suspension/Coilover/FA500/FA500_012_Front.jpg~original

 

 

Front Installation

FA500 vs Stock. I weighed them and FA coilovers are coming in 1lb lighter then stock.

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Cars/00%20G20t%20KH3/Suspension/Coilover/FA500/SAM_7567.jpg~original

 

This part is very nice, the studs are bigger and longer (you might need to drill out the top mount body holes, I already did that with DMSentra mounts before). Because the studs are longer, you can easily bolt the strut bar back on.

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Cars/00%20G20t%20KH3/Suspension/Coilover/FA500/SAM_7572.jpg~original

 

Stock vs FA500

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Cars/00%20G20t%20KH3/Suspension/Coilover/FA500/SAM_7564.jpg~original

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Cars/00%20G20t%20KH3/Suspension/Coilover/FA500/SAM_7574.jpg~original

 

UCA Bolted up and all done:

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Cars/00%20G20t%20KH3/Suspension/Coilover/FA500/SAM_7575.jpg~original

 

Front Installation

Rear Stock vs FA500

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Cars/00%20G20t%20KH3/Suspension/Coilover/FA500/SAM_7585.jpg~original

 

Rear top hats uses the same sized bolts as stock, the studs could be a little longer.

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Cars/00%20G20t%20KH3/Suspension/Coilover/FA500/SAM_7594.jpg~original

 

Lower mount clears the beam without needing to cut into the housing like BC's do

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Cars/00%20G20t%20KH3/Suspension/Coilover/FA500/SAM_7589.jpg~original

 

BC's from my B15, you can see where the lower mount is shaved and shock body threads are exposed

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Cars/01%20B15SE/Suspension/Coilovers/BC-BR%20Type/CIMG9827.jpg~original

 

More rear FA's and clearing the beam:

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Cars/00%20G20t%20KH3/Suspension/Coilover/FA500/SAM_7591.jpg~original

 

Stock vs FA500 rear pics:

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Cars/00%20G20t%20KH3/Suspension/Coilover/FA500/SAM_7586.jpg~original

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Cars/00%20G20t%20KH3/Suspension/Coilover/FA500/SAM_7588.jpg~original

 

 

Conclusion

I purchased the coilovers with custom spring rates, 8k front and 10k rear. The ride comfort is actually not bad at all for such stiff springs, but it probably will get worse as time goes by. On the freeway the coilovers felt very smooth and going over bridges felt like most stock cars feel!

 

Coilovers have greatly reduced body roll, see before pics vs after pics.

 

Unfortunately straight line traction was effected by such stiff spring rates.

[covertrussian]

Front strut bar is a Cusco P10 G20 one that fits good enough (P11's are slightly wider).

 

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Cars/00%20G20t%20KH3/Suspension/Strut%20Bars/SAM_7212.jpg~original

 

Rear bars are a beefy ones made by a community member. They are also very low profile and don't get in your way.

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Cars/00%20G20t%20KH3/Suspension/Strut%20Bars/CIMG9771.jpg~original

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Cars/00%20G20t%20KH3/Suspension/Strut%20Bars/SAM_7220.jpg~original

[covertrussian]

Now that the car became a dedicated autocrossing car with coilovers and other suspension goodies. The car handles much better, but still has the terminal understeer, and it shows in my times.

 

Body roll is greatly reduced:

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Cars/00%20G20t%20KH3/Pics/Racing/AutoX/2015-05-31_001.jpg~original

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Cars/00%20G20t%20KH3/Pics/Racing/AutoX/2015-05-31_002.jpg~original

 

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Cars/00%20G20t%20KH3/Pics/Racing/AutoX/2015-1018_001.jpg~original

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Cars/00%20G20t%20KH3/Pics/Racing/AutoX/2016-0501_Verona01.jpg~original

 

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Cars/00%20G20t%20KH3/Pics/Racing/AutoX/2016-0501_Verona04.jpg~original

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Cars/00%20G20t%20KH3/Pics/Racing/AutoX/2015-1018_002.jpg~original

[covertrussian]

I like SuperPro, they make pretty top notch bushings and have excellent warranty. I like Whiteline too, but they don't have any bushings for my car, it's either SuperPro or ES (even that is just parts from other Nissans that just happen to work).

 

Why replace the front lower control arm's rearward bushing? Stock has a lot of movement, causing major wheel hop which destroys transmissions and kills traction.

 

SuperPro part number: SPF3447K

These bushings weren't cheap, $80ish, but well worth it, and they also have caster option ones (which I definitely got).

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Cars/00%20G20t%20KH3/Suspension/Control%20Arm%20Lower/SuperPro%20SPF3447K/CIMG9433.jpg~original

 

Removed the LCA:

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Cars/00%20G20t%20KH3/Suspension/Control%20Arm%20Lower/SuperPro%20SPF3447K/CIMG7162.jpg~original

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Cars/00%20G20t%20KH3/Suspension/Control%20Arm%20Lower/SuperPro%20SPF3447K/CIMG7164.jpg~original

 

It's pretty hard to actually get the bushing out, had to first push the arm off then push the bushing housing out.

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Cars/00%20G20t%20KH3/Suspension/Control%20Arm%20Lower/SuperPro%20SPF3447K/CIMG7165.jpg~original

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Cars/00%20G20t%20KH3/Suspension/Control%20Arm%20Lower/SuperPro%20SPF3447K/CIMG7167.jpg~original

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Cars/00%20G20t%20KH3/Suspension/Control%20Arm%20Lower/SuperPro%20SPF3447K/CIMG7168.jpg~original

 

Was painful, but finally got them metal shell out

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Cars/00%20G20t%20KH3/Suspension/Control%20Arm%20Lower/SuperPro%20SPF3447K/CIMG7172.jpg~original

 

Pressing the new bushing was real easy

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Cars/00%20G20t%20KH3/Suspension/Control%20Arm%20Lower/SuperPro%20SPF3447K/20150519_104552.jpg~original

 

LCA did have the old bushing's metal sleeve, which I had to just cut off.

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Cars/00%20G20t%20KH3/Suspension/Control%20Arm%20Lower/SuperPro%20SPF3447K/CIMG7246.jpg~original

 

Ready to install

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Cars/00%20G20t%20KH3/Suspension/Control%20Arm%20Lower/SuperPro%20SPF3447K/CIMG9808.jpg~original

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Cars/00%20G20t%20KH3/Suspension/Control%20Arm%20Lower/SuperPro%20SPF3447K/CIMG9834.jpg~original

 

Conclusion

These are excellent, extra caster helps with more camber gain on outside wheel and wheel hop and spin is reduced. Plus less vagueness in turns.

[covertrussian]

With stiffer springs body roll is reduced, while preventing body roll is desired with McPherson strut cars (when they roll they gain positive camber), lack of body roll causes multi-link suspensions not do their work, which is gain negative camber when they compress. You end up having 0* camber most of the time, which is not the optimal camber for maximum grip.

 

Increasing static camber with shorter upper control arms does the trick. There are a few options out there, I decided to go with Cusco -10mm UCA's from the HP10, part number 256 479 A. These net about 1* of negative camber, which unfortunately isn't enough for these cars.

 

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Cars/00%20G20t%20KH3/Suspension/Control%20Arm%20Upper/Cusco%20UCA/SAM_7376.jpg~original

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Cars/00%20G20t%20KH3/Suspension/Control%20Arm%20Upper/Cusco%20UCA/SAM_7377.jpg~original

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Cars/00%20G20t%20KH3/Suspension/Control%20Arm%20Upper/Cusco%20UCA/SAM_7381.jpg~original

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Cars/00%20G20t%20KH3/Suspension/Control%20Arm%20Upper/Cusco%20UCA/SAM_7380.jpg~original

 

Another HUGE plus to Cusco's is bearings instead of bushings. Bearings don't flex like bushings (which does mean more NVH), they also do not bind like bushings do.

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Cars/00%20G20t%20KH3/Suspension/Control%20Arm%20Upper/Cusco%20UCA/SAM_7378.jpg~original

 

Stock vs Cusco UCA

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Cars/00%20G20t%20KH3/Suspension/Control%20Arm%20Upper/Cusco%20UCA/UCA_Stock-Cusco.jpg~original

 

 

Installation

Unbolt the third link, swaybar end link and push it to a side, this frees up the UCA

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Cars/00%20G20t%20KH3/Suspension/Control%20Arm%20Upper/UCAStock_002.jpg~original

 

It is impossible to remove the UCA from the bracket while on car, the bolt hits the body when you try to remove it. Thus you have to remove the whole uca bracket.

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Cars/00%20G20t%20KH3/Suspension/Control%20Arm%20Upper/UCAStock_003.jpg~original

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Cars/00%20G20t%20KH3/Suspension/Control%20Arm%20Upper/UCAStock_001.jpg~original

 

Cusco UCA installed in the bracket and torqued to 90ft-lbs. It's hard to get this guy torqued while on car, thus I torqued them while it was out.

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Cars/00%20G20t%20KH3/Suspension/Control%20Arm%20Upper/Cusco%20UCA/CuscoUCA_01.jpg~original

 

Bolt the bracket back up but don't tighten it, then attach the uca to the third link. Getting the holes to align on the third link is very difficult, this is why it's best not to tighten all of the bolts until the end. Bolts/nuts should be torqued to 90ft-lbs too.

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Cars/00%20G20t%20KH3/Suspension/Control%20Arm%20Upper/Cusco%20UCA/CuscoUCA_02.jpg~original

 

You can see the negative camber before the suspension even settled in.

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Cars/00%20G20t%20KH3/Suspension/Control%20Arm%20Upper/Cusco%20UCA/CuscoUCA_03.jpg~original

 

Surprisingly I didn't really feel that much of an upgrade with these. Probably because the rear still too much traction. Rear swaybar should help again.

[covertrussian]

For new wider tires I needed new wider wheels. Finding oem like designs that are wider then 7" was proven itself harder then I thought, guess our bolt patterns are fairly rare. I narrowed the search down to Velox Apex in 17x7.5" +40mm and XXR 530 in 17x8.25 +25mm. I was getting ready to buy the XXR's but then found out that that big of an offset could cause more torque steer due to a much bigger scrub radius. XXR's do have a lower offset 530, but they are 17x7".

 

I got the Apex's from Costco's website, since they had slightly better discounts then DiscountTireDirect (where I got the tires). Costco served me fairly well, they included lug nuts, hub centric rings, and valve stems all for free! Another plus for these wheels is, they take standard acorn style lug nuts! The only thing that didn't fit is center caps, our axles stick out too much (front and back), thus I'll need to figure something out later.

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Cars/00%20G20t%20KH3/Exterior/Wheels/Velox%20Apex/apex_001.jpg~original

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Cars/00%20G20t%20KH3/Exterior/Wheels/Velox%20Apex/apex_002.jpg~original

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Cars/00%20G20t%20KH3/Exterior/Wheels/Velox%20Apex/apex_003.jpg~original

 

One of my requirements for new wheels JWL VIA certification, these wheels are very beefy, much better feeling then the Drag 34's that I have in 15's.

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Cars/00%20G20t%20KH3/Exterior/Wheels/Velox%20Apex/apex_004.jpg~original

 

Velox Apex's are 19.8lbs, 15" Drag 34's were 13.8lbs, I would say weight penelty is not only from going to 17" but also from them having thicker spokes. I was surprised to see Drag 34's be JWL VIA certified too, I do wonder how their 17's compare to the Apex's (they did offer them in gun metal...).

 

Dropped the wheels off at Walmart to get them mounted and balanced thanks to their error they charged me for mounting only :teeth:.

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Cars/00%20G20t%20KH3/Exterior/Wheels/Velox%20Apex/apex_006.jpg~original

 

Drag 34's with AD08's vs Velox Apex with Cooper RS3-S

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Cars/00%20G20t%20KH3/Exterior/Wheels/Velox%20Apex/apex_007.jpg~original

 

Wheel & Tire Weights

Velox Apex with Cooper RS3-S in 225/45/17's weight in at 46lbs per wheel

Drag 34 with Yakohoma AD08 in 205/50/15 weight in at 32lbs with less then 1/2 tread (they were 33.8lbs new).

 

That much weight increase per wheel must have hurt the power right? That's what I though and it kind of felt it with torque loss, but Virtual Dyno showed me otherwise, same tune, similar ambient temps, different barometric pressures, different car weights due to different wheel weights.

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Cars/00%20G20t%20KH3/Exterior/Wheels/Velox%20Apex/Tire%20WHP%2032lbs%20vs%2046lbs.png~original

 

Fitment

Wheels fit pretty well on the car, though I do seem to see some contact with fenders and will be rolling them soon.

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Cars/00%20G20t%20KH3/Exterior/Wheels/Velox%20Apex/apex_008.jpg~original

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Cars/00%20G20t%20KH3/Exterior/Wheels/Velox%20Apex/apex_009.jpg~original

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Cars/00%20G20t%20KH3/Exterior/Wheels/Velox%20Apex/apex_010.jpg~original

 

Cusco -2* camber arms definitly help with fender clearance :teeth:

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Cars/00%20G20t%20KH3/Exterior/Wheels/Velox%20Apex/apex_011.jpg~original

 

They seem to clear the plastics in the wheel well too.

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Cars/00%20G20t%20KH3/Exterior/Wheels/Velox%20Apex/apex_013.jpg~original

 

 

Beauty Shots with the new shoes

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Cars/00%20G20t%20KH3/Exterior/Wheels/Velox%20Apex/apex_015.jpg~original

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Cars/00%20G20t%20KH3/Exterior/Wheels/Velox%20Apex/apex_016.jpg~original

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Cars/00%20G20t%20KH3/Exterior/Wheels/Velox%20Apex/apex_017.jpg~original

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Cars/00%20G20t%20KH3/Exterior/Wheels/Velox%20Apex/apex_018.jpg~original

[covertrussian]

Thanks to 4th of July sales got some new summer tires and wheels.

 

Went with Cooper RS3-S, I've been a fan of cooper RS3-A's (all seasons) on my Legacy GT and have been wanting to try their summer version out. Plus at $70 per tire shipped (after all of the discount cards) was hard to pass!

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Cars/00%20G20t%20KH3/Exterior/Wheels/Cooper%20RS3-S/Cooper%20RS3-S_001.jpg~original

 

These tires are not light, then again what 17's are, 24.2lbs per tire.

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Cars/00%20G20t%20KH3/Exterior/Wheels/Cooper%20RS3-S/Cooper%20RS3-S_002.jpg~original

 

 

Current summer/racing tires were 205/50/15's where are about 1" shorter then 205/60/15's that I run as all seasons. Which means the car was scraping a ton being 1" lower then stock. Also looks awful with 4x4 wheel gaps (note this pic is taken with car slightly downhill so wheel gap doesn't look as bad).

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Cars/00%20G20t%20KH3/Exterior/Wheels/Cooper%20RS3-S/Cooper%20RS3-S_003.jpg~original

 

New tires are huge in comparison.

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Cars/00%20G20t%20KH3/Exterior/Wheels/Cooper%20RS3-S/Cooper%20RS3-S_004.jpg~original

 

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Cars/00%20G20t%20KH3/Exterior/Wheels/Cooper%20RS3-S/Cooper%20RS3-S_005.jpg~original

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Cars/00%20G20t%20KH3/Exterior/Wheels/Cooper%20RS3-S/Cooper%20RS3-S_006.jpg~original

 

Here is a comparision pic of old 205/50 tires (AD08 on 15x7" wheel) and new 225/45 tires (RS3-S on 17x7.5" wheel)

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Cars/00%20G20t%20KH3/Exterior/Wheels/Cooper%20RS3-S/Cooper%20RS3-S_007.jpg~original

 

Those AD08's seem to be almost as wide as the new tire combo, that's odd, guess next time when I get 225 AD08's they will be more like 235's :teeth:

[covertrussian]

Instead of using a simple panhard bar for laterally locating the rear beam, Nissan had to build a complicated new linkage that tries to mimic Watt's link, but falls majorly. Instead it tends to bind, has a very high roll center and chews bushings. Even though it's supposed to be straight line linkage, we still get beam shift to the passenger side when lowering the car. You can use this link to reduce that beam shift too.

 

I build a heim joint Scott-Russel Control Link couple years ago as a cheaper version of the QTP link, I was curious if reducing the beam shift would help handling. To my surprise the bigger benefit was reduction of binding in the SRL link, more on this later.

 

Pretty simple design, two 5/8" heim joints (one male one female), some washers, and some adapters to make it fit the 3/8" bolt on the SRL.

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Cars/00%20G20t%20KH3/Suspension/Beam/SRL/CIMG0499.jpg~original

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Cars/00%20G20t%20KH3/Suspension/Beam/SRL/20151020_214727.jpg~original

 

When I first installed this link, I adjusted the heim joint to reduce the beam shift, but that had an interesting effect. By shifting the beam the squishy SRL bushing was now hitting the right end and binding up, thus the car didn't handle any better. I scrapped the idea when it didn't really help the overall handling of the car. When I refer to the squishy beam bushing I'm referring to this bushing, notice how it already favors the right side even with the stock link.

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Cars/00%20G20t%20KH3/Suspension/Beam/SRL/20151022_174328.jpg~original

 

 

After the last autocrossing event I was pretty set on doing a panhard conversion sooner than later, after some monkeying around in the garage I found my heim joint SRL link. Figured I should dust it off and try it out on the G20 again, but this time keeping it the stock length to reduce binding in the beam side squishy bushing. The difference is phenomenal, you can even feel it in the parking lot and at low speeds, it made it feel more like my IRS Legacy feels. In turns, the rear end no longer raised up, instead it feels like it's squatting down. The difference is so big, that I'm not sure panhard is worth it anymore.

 

I think the SRL binding is what was holding back all other mods from their full potential. I'll give it a go next autocross event, I think this will also reduce 3 wheeling. Autocrossing pushes the car limit a lot more then street driving does, thus I wont know if it truly helped until then. If she's still a dog, will pick the panhard conversion back up.

 

 

Here are the pics I took two years ago with building the link and sizing it to reduce beam shift.

 

I had a male 5/8" heim joint laying around, the inside needs to be drilled out a little to fit on the beam.

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Cars/00%20G20t%20KH3/Suspension/Beam/SRL/CIMG0487.jpg~original

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Cars/00%20G20t%20KH3/Suspension/Beam/SRL/CIMG0488.jpg~original

 

Since it's much skinnier then the stock one, I used spacers/washers to center align it before. Second time around I just used washers. Which might prevent big issues if the heim joint pops out.

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Cars/00%20G20t%20KH3/Suspension/Beam/SRL/CIMG0495.jpg~original

 

Measuring the joints and adjusting them

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Cars/00%20G20t%20KH3/Suspension/Beam/SRL/CIMG0496.jpg~original

 

This is what I used to run, but caused binding, second time around I just ran the stock length.

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Cars/00%20G20t%20KH3/Suspension/Beam/SRL/CIMG0498.jpg~original

 

You can see the SRL side (female heim joint) with a sleeve to reduce the size from 5/8" to 3/8".

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Cars/00%20G20t%20KH3/Suspension/Beam/SRL/CIMG0500.jpg~original

 

Exploded view

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Cars/00%20G20t%20KH3/Suspension/Beam/SRL/CIMG0502.jpg~original

 

All put together

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Cars/00%20G20t%20KH3/Suspension/Beam/SRL/CIMG0504.jpg~original

 

2015 version has more washers, which work as a failsafe in case the ball joints pop out. If I don't end up going with a panhard bar I'll streamline the design of this more.

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Cars/00%20G20t%20KH3/Suspension/Beam/SRL/20151020_214727.jpg~original

 

This helped unbind the rear end a good bit, you could feel a slightly better slow speed turn in (like rear wheels weren't fighting you as much).

[covertrussian]

Car failed inspection due to tie rods having some play, After 15 years I guess it's no surprise. I started looking for OEM tie rods (Part # 48520-2J025), since I'm starting to hate the typical aftermarket parts and their build quality, but OEM's were $70-100 a pop.

 

I was looking at Moog's spec sheet for G20 tie rods and found that 02+ Altima tie rods were almost 100% identical in measurements. The only difference was the stud's large taper was slightly bigger.

 

G20 - MOOG ES3413

Rod Thread: M14-1.5

Rod Type (Male / Female): Female

Stud Center to End (in): 3.7

Stud Large Taper (bottom in.): .590

Stud Small Taper (top in.): .511

Stud Thread: M12-1.25

 

Altima - MOOG ES3438

Rod Thread: M14-1.5R

Rod Type (Male / Female): Female

Stud Center to End (in): 3.70

Stud Large Taper (bottom in): .610

Stud Small Taper (top in.): .511

Stud Thread: M12-1.25 RH

 

 

I found that OEM Altima tie rods (part # 48520-8J025) were about $33 a piece on eBay, so decided to bite the bullet and try them out.

 

Comparison:

P11 on top, L31 on bottom. They are identical in size, but are designed differently. P11 has the ball joint mounted in the center of the rod and is tilted up, while L31 one is mounted to the top of the rod and is straight cut.

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Cars/00%20G20t%20KH3/Suspension/Tie%20Rods/Outer%20-%20L31/OTRE_P11%20vs%20L31%20001.jpg~original

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Cars/00%20G20t%20KH3/Suspension/Tie%20Rods/Outer%20-%20L31/OTRE_P11%20vs%20L31%20002.jpg~original

 

P11 Knuckle top entry is sized at 14.36mm

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Cars/00%20G20t%20KH3/Suspension/Tie%20Rods/Outer%20-%20L31/KnuckleOpeningTop.jpg~original

 

The bottom exit is sized at 12.30mm

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Cars/00%20G20t%20KH3/Suspension/Tie%20Rods/Outer%20-%20L31/KnuckleOpeningBottom.jpg~original

 

I didn't want to fight with the boots so didn't measure the top taper size, but did measure the bottom taper size.

P11 measured at 12.62mm

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Cars/00%20G20t%20KH3/Suspension/Tie%20Rods/Outer%20-%20L31/StudSmallTaper%20-%20P11.jpg~original

 

L31 measured at 13.00mm

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Cars/00%20G20t%20KH3/Suspension/Tie%20Rods/Outer%20-%20L31/StudSmallTaper%20-%20L31.jpg~original

 

This made me concerned that the L31 stud might not go down far enough, thus I measured the left over threads for both tie rods, to make sure there were enough threads to tighten the castle nut.

P11 had 12.79mm

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Cars/00%20G20t%20KH3/Suspension/Tie%20Rods/Outer%20-%20L31/KnuckleStudLength%20-%20P11.jpg~original

 

L31 had 13.11mm

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Cars/00%20G20t%20KH3/Suspension/Tie%20Rods/Outer%20-%20L31/KnuckleStudLength%20-%20L31.jpg~original

 

Overall they are close enough, to the point that I think typical aftermarket P11 tie rods would be worse fitting.

 

You can find the discussion about the differences in these threads: G20.net, SR20-Forum.com

 

 

Installation:

Installation was a breeze, thus I didn't take too many pictures.

 

Removing the P11 tie rod:

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Cars/00%20G20t%20KH3/Suspension/Tie%20Rods/Outer%20-%20L31/OTRE-Install_001.jpg~original

 

Fitting the L31 tie rod:

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Cars/00%20G20t%20KH3/Suspension/Tie%20Rods/Outer%20-%20L31/OTRE-Install_002.jpg~original

 

All done and bolted up, luckily I removed tie rods in the last couple years thus all the bolts were easy to remove.

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Cars/00%20G20t%20KH3/Suspension/Tie%20Rods/Outer%20-%20L31/OTRE-Install_003.jpg~original

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Cars/00%20G20t%20KH3/Suspension/Tie%20Rods/Outer%20-%20L31/OTRE-Install_004.jpg~original

 

 

Comparing the two tie rods post install:

Here is the angle of the P11 tie rod

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Cars/00%20G20t%20KH3/Suspension/Tie%20Rods/Outer%20-%20L31/WheelFullTurn_RH%20-%20P11.jpg~original

 

Finally the Altima L31 tie rod

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Cars/00%20G20t%20KH3/Suspension/Tie%20Rods/Outer%20-%20L31/WheelFullTurn_RH%20-%20L31.jpg~original

 

For angle comparisons, here is the control arms and how level they are at the current height.

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Cars/00%20G20t%20KH3/Suspension/Tie%20Rods/Outer%20-%20L31/LCA_Angle_1inDrop.jpg~original

[covertrussian]

B15 Rear Beam Arm Bushing Kit: ES 7.3113

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Cars/00%20G20t%20KH3/Suspension/Beam/Arm%20Bushings/ES%20B15%20Kit%20-%207.3113G.jpg~original

 

Start with raising the rear and removing the wheels

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Cars/00%20G20t%20KH3/Suspension/Beam/Arm%20Bushings/BeamBushInstall_001.jpg~original

 

Find the support bracket for the beam arms and remove it.

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Cars/00%20G20t%20KH3/Suspension/Beam/Arm%20Bushings/BeamBushInstall_002.jpg~original%5B/img

 

Unplug the ABS sensor, also unbolt the hand break connections and remove it from the rear calipers, otherwise you wont be able to lower the beam low enough to have room to remove the bushings.

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Cars/00%20G20t%20KH3/Suspension/Beam/Arm%20Bushings/BeamBushInstall_005.jpg~original

 

Push the beam arms down, with enough force the will fall out of place giving you access to the bushings.

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Cars/00%20G20t%20KH3/Suspension/Beam/Arm%20Bushings/BeamBushInstall_006.jpg~original

 

Using heat and screw drivers remove the stock bushing, do not remove the outer housing though!

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Cars/00%20G20t%20KH3/Suspension/Beam/Arm%20Bushings/BeamBushInstall_008.jpg~original

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Cars/00%20G20t%20KH3/Suspension/Beam/Arm%20Bushings/BeamBushInstall_009.jpg~original

 

Make sure the bushing housing is nice and clean, now you are ready to either push the new bushings.

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Cars/00%20G20t%20KH3/Suspension/Beam/Arm%20Bushings/BeamBushInstall_010.jpg~original

 

If your installing B14 bushings, use the grease and they should slide in without much force. I was able to push them in by hand, which is why I am against using them, they are too loose.

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Cars/00%20G20t%20KH3/Suspension/Beam/Arm%20Bushings/BeamBushInstall_B14_01.jpg~original

 

 

If your installing B15 bushings you still have some work cut out for you.

 

B15 instructions tell you to remove the extra brackets that stick out, but it doesn't seem like that's possible on the P11 or B14's.

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Cars/00%20G20t%20KH3/Suspension/Beam/Arm%20Bushings/BeamBushInstall_011.jpg~original

 

This is why b14 bushings have notches molded in them while B15 ones don't.

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Cars/00%20G20t%20KH3/Suspension/Beam/Arm%20Bushings/Bushings_ESB14vsB15_001.jpg~original

 

To get the B15 bushings to fit, you'll have to cut/shave the notches. I used an angle grinder to get these bushings shaved down.

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Cars/00%20G20t%20KH3/Suspension/Beam/Arm%20Bushings/BeamBushInstall_012.jpg~original

 

Keep on shaving the bushings until they fit easily in the U channel and you can insert the bolt easily. If you don't do this, it makes it much harder aligning the arms to fit through the hole.

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Cars/00%20G20t%20KH3/Suspension/Beam/Arm%20Bushings/BeamBushInstall_013.jpg~original

 

Since I was running the B14 bushings, I had to dig them out to install the B15 bushings. I found rust under where the bushing was, which could be a sign of the bushings not 100% fitting.

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Cars/00%20G20t%20KH3/Suspension/Beam/Arm%20Bushings/BeamBushInstall_014.jpg~original

 

Comparing the two bushings, they are actually the same length and diameter at the biggest points, but B14 bushing is slightly tapered. It looks like ES was trying to mimic the stock design which only has contact points in the middle and not throughout the whole bushing.

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Cars/00%20G20t%20KH3/Suspension/Beam/Arm%20Bushings/Bushings_ESB14vsB15_003.jpg~original

 

Unlike the B14 bushings that I could push in by hand, these required me to use the method that ES recommends. Which is using a long bolt and bunch of washers.

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Cars/00%20G20t%20KH3/Suspension/Beam/Arm%20Bushings/BeamBushInstall_015.jpg~original

 

When I was getting to the end, the washer wouldn't let it go through, this is where a 2" socket, that I bought for the steering rack, came to the rescue.

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Cars/00%20G20t%20KH3/Suspension/Beam/Arm%20Bushings/BeamBushInstall_017.jpg~original

 

All pressed in, after that used the included lubricant and had fun with getting the holes to line up.

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Cars/00%20G20t%20KH3/Suspension/Beam/Arm%20Bushings/BeamBushInstall_018.jpg~original

 

Align the beam arms until you can insert the bolt, after that torque them down to 80-94ft-lbs. Reattach the support bracket too, unfortunately I can't find the torque numbers for it in the FSM.

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Cars/00%20G20t%20KH3/Suspension/Beam/Arm%20Bushings/BeamBushInstall_019.jpg~original

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Cars/00%20G20t%20KH3/Suspension/Beam/Arm%20Bushings/BeamBushInstall_020.jpg~original

 

 

Results

These make a huge difference if your coming from stock bushings, but if your coming from already having B14 bushings the difference is there not as big. It does seem like B15 bushings did keep the beam from dog tracking as much.

 

I would say they are a must if your going from stock bushings, but if you have B14 ES bushings in and never really race or really push your car, don't worry about upgrading to the B15 bushings.

[fedaykin]

I think it's time for some aero upgrades...

http://www.automobilesreview.com/uploads/2008/07/Nissan-Primera-1999-BTCC.jpg

[xxBLOOD88SHOTxx]

I've always liked the G20s, the neighbors have one and I always catch myself looking it over.

[covertrussian]

I think it's time for some aero upgrades...

http://www.automobilesreview.com/uploads/2008/07/Nissan-Primera-1999-BTCC.jpg

 

BTCC Primera's are badass. They handle great too, but they modified the suspensions so much it's only a Primera in looks and badge

 

I've always liked the G20s, the neighbors have one and I always catch myself looking it over.

 

P11 G20's have a very timeless look to them. Everytime I walk by mine to go to the garage I just love with how clean it looks.

 

More major suspension mods incoming, did a lot of welding this weekend

[covertrussian]

Recently I found out that SuperPro makes bushings for the SRL links. SPF4189K for lateral link and SPF4189K for control rod link (one inside the lateral link). The lateral link bushings are solid which gets rid of the flex bushing that attaches to the beam, making the SRL link onto a 24" panhard link (as long as you eliminate the control rod link).

 

Since SuperPro sells the bushings are OEM replacement and doesn't instruct to remove the control rod link, this is bad because it creates major binding in the system. After a few members on B15 forums mentioned that they run these bushings in SRL configuration, I figured I would build a model to see if it would indeed bind.

 

Here is what an SRL link model looks like, as you can see the beam connection is slotted to represent the flex bushing that Nissan uses:

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Cars/00%20G20t%20KH3/Suspension/Beam/LatLink%20Model/Link_SRL.jpg

 

Here's what the solid bushing would look like, as expected it was binding majorly. While the SRL could fairly freely move through the whole range, solid bushing version liked to be fully up or done only (pictured).

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Cars/00%20G20t%20KH3/Suspension/Beam/LatLink%20Model/Link_SRL_SolidBushing.jpg

 

Here is what a panhard bar would look like, much simpler right? That's why a lot of OEM's use them.

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Cars/00%20G20t%20KH3/Suspension/Beam/LatLink%20Model/Link_Panhard.jpg

 

Finally the draw lines, the two horizontal lines is what I believe stock suspension travel limits would be at full droop. I couldn't get my marker past the "beam" to do a full compression limits. To my surprise the solid bushing version actually made a straighter line :rofl:.

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Cars/00%20G20t%20KH3/Suspension/Beam/LatLink%20Model/LinkLines_SRLvsPanhard.jpg

 

As expected the panhard bar had an arch, while SRL's did have straighter lines they were they did move around a little. This moving around is probably why we are having a beam shift when we lower the cars, I think this is because the center link is just too short thus it doesn't fully cancel out the panhard bar's arch.

 

 

SRL solid bushing install

Even after modeling it, I was still curious on why one of the members wasn't having issues with those bushings (issues that he knows of at least). Maybe the actual SRL link's angles allowed for a solid bushing? That coupled with me noticing that the car handled flatter in left hand turns then right hand turns made me curious enough to build a solid bushing setup.

 

At first I was gonna use my wrecked B15's SRL link for this, upon inspection I noticed that it was superior to the P11 one and decided to spare it and butcher the P11 one instead.

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Cars/00%20G20t%20KH3/Suspension/Beam/SRL/SRL_P11vsB15_02.jpg

 

The trailing arm beam bushings were about the same diameter as the flex bushing, luckily I kept them still! B15 Flex bushing vs solid bushing. Notice that P11's eye is bigger, 14mm vs 12mm on b15.

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Cars/00%20G20t%20KH3/Suspension/Beam/SRL/SRLPanhard_01.jpg

 

This makes it into a 600mm (23.6") panhard bar, it's a bit short. Out of curiosity I did measure the beam shift before and after.

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Cars/00%20G20t%20KH3/Suspension/Beam/SRL/SRLPanhard_02.jpg

 

Had to shave down the top of the bushing in order to have enough threads left. Installed, once again this is just a proof of concept, I don't suggest running trailing arm bushings here full time (get SuperPros).

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Cars/00%20G20t%20KH3/Suspension/Beam/SRL/SRLPanhard_04.jpg

 

I bolt everything up, then remembered that I wanted to test the binding level with the solid bushing. Used my Heim joint control rod link since it doesn't bind and easier to sneak in with lateral link already installed.

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Cars/00%20G20t%20KH3/Suspension/Beam/SRL/SRLPanhard_05.jpg

 

And the moment of truth... it binds like crazy! Since I didn't fully install the heim control rod the bolt had a little bit of play in it (You can see in the pic above that the bolt has a taper). This caused it to be bind free for about an inch, but keep in mind in a fully installed application you wouldn't have that play. When I would push the link up, I had to give it some elbow grease, it finally would spring up to it's happy spot, just like in my model.

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Cars/00%20G20t%20KH3/Suspension/Beam/SRL/SRLPanhard_06.jpg

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Cars/00%20G20t%20KH3/Suspension/Beam/SRL/SRLPanhard_07.jpg

 

Basically this solid bushing linkage only likes to be down or up, it doesn't like the travel. I can see this damaging the mounting points on the beam over time, somethings gonna give eventually. For that reason, the control link came out and the car is now sitting on just a panhard bar SRL link

 

 

SRL Panhard Bar

As I mentioned earlier, the reason I decided to make the SRL into panhard bar is because of turn inconsistencies. Hard Right hand turns would make the rear end rise up a lot, while the left hand turns would keep the rear end from rising as much, they were also sharper with less push.

 

The SRL to oem panhard bar conversion helped reduce binding even more and overall helped the car have better turn in. But the very high rear roll center (11.5") is still not addressed with this mod, which can still be seen by front outside tire rolling. I was able to get the tires to talk in both directions, more so then before, but that could be because I was going much faster through the turns.

[covertrussian]

I've been running the SRL based panhard bar for a while now, while that helped the rear end bind less, it still had a very high (11.5") rear roll center. After testing out the car autocrossing with that setup I started building the lowered roll center panhard bar again.

 

Why stock high rear roll center hurts handling

At my current height my car has a 1.2" front roll center and CG is at about 12", thus giving me a 10.8" roll couple. Rear roll center is at 11.5" with unknown CG, but should have a smaller roll couple then the front. The two roll centers form a roll axis on which the car will roll around.

 

When the rear has a very small roll couple, it well have a higher resistance to rolling (suspension linkages provide roll resistance instead of springs), which means the rear tires don't get properly worked, they area always in their full grip happy zone. But if we want to turn, once side has to slip first, since the rear has so much traction, front will always slip first resulting in understeer.

 

This forces us to run stupid high rear spring rates and thick rear swaybars to force more of the weight shifting to happen in the rear and overload those tires. I'm currently running 5k front springs and 10k rear springs, and only after I increased the rear tire pressure by 8psi did I finally get the rear end to come loose for me.

 

Another issue is weight transfer and it's related to the roll axis. With the rear being so much higher then the front, when the car goes into the turn the rear will transfer all of the weight up front to the poor overworked outside wheel. This of a dining room table with shorter leg, if it's stationary it will stand on the 3 tall legs, but if you were to push it slightly forward towards the shorter leg it will want to tip over.

 

TL;DR: By lowering the rear roll center we are increasing the rear roll couple, which will reduce the rear anti-roll properties and cause more weight to shift around the rear wheels and cause them to give out before the front, giving us more rotation (oversteer). We also reduce the weight transfer to the front outside wheel, overloading it less.

 

 

Parts list

The idea was to build a quick and cheap setup to see if it would help the car handle better. I honestly didn't think it would help with my stiff rear coilovers that's why I kept it cheap and dirty.

• Panhard Bar & eyes ~26" Long - Speedway's eBay store - $50
  
• Panhard Bar mounts (that I didn't even use) - Speedway too - $60
  
• Welding L and 2x2 Square - $20ish
  
• Grade 8 3/4" and 1/2" bolts - $40ish
  

 

Design & Engineering

My original idea was to use a 2x2" square slider panhard bar adapter similar to Kojima's dog 3, but have it mounted backwards to allow for a longer panhard bar. But fitment was not on my side...

 

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Cars/00%20G20t%20KH3/Suspension/Beam/Panhard/20170405_180229.jpg~original

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Cars/00%20G20t%20KH3/Suspension/Beam/Panhard/20170405_180259.jpg~original

 

Biggest issue was how far it was from the beam.

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Cars/00%20G20t%20KH3/Suspension/Beam/Panhard/20170405_180304.jpg~original

 

My hope was to fit the panhard bar between the beam and the suspension mount, but the beam is just too close.

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Cars/00%20G20t%20KH3/Suspension/Beam/Panhard/20170405_180741.jpg~original

 

Thus I had to drill the 2x2" for panhard bar mounts. Also I drilled holes for oem mount bolt hole and then I made one higher to help reduce rotation.

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Cars/00%20G20t%20KH3/Suspension/Beam/Panhard/20170405_201121.jpg~original

 

This moved the panhard bar much closer to the beam

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Cars/00%20G20t%20KH3/Suspension/Beam/Panhard/20170405_205524.jpg~original

 

Test fitting, while it looks done, still have a lot of work ahead of me...

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Cars/00%20G20t%20KH3/Suspension/Beam/Panhard/20170405_205504.jpg~original

 

About panhard bar length, since the panhard bar travels in a circle, you want the longest bar you can fit. This reduces the lateral movement (beam shift) as the rear compresses or droops. 2JR guys use 30" panhard bars on their setups, Mike K's looks even longer, while I would love to use that long of a bar it would require a lot more work to get done. The idea here was to design something cheap and easy for others to be able to replicate.

 

I was worried about cutting the panhard bar to 26" total length until I found a forum post where someone compares lateral movement between 25" and 30" bars. 25" panhard bar moves 0.12" over 2.5" up or down movement, while 30" bar moves a whooping 0.10" over the same distance, that's not even 2/64"! After seeing how negligble it is I stopped sweating about it and continued building.

 

 

Building

Since I couldn't have a slider on the body side I built one for the beam side. The reason for this is, it allows you to more precisely level the panhard bard for small height adjustments. Plus drilling holes at same height would be a pain, so this is much easier and more forgiving.

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Cars/00%20G20t%20KH3/Suspension/Beam/Panhard/20170406_190229.jpg~original

 

Test fitting on the beam, as you can see I cut a concave spot. Notice how close the brake line is to it, this needs to be trimmed.

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Cars/00%20G20t%20KH3/Suspension/Beam/Panhard/20170406_191754.jpg~original

 

Welded it in place, don't mind the not so clean welds, it was a royal pain fitting under the car (being only on drive on ramps) to weld this.

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Cars/00%20G20t%20KH3/Suspension/Beam/Panhard/20170406_202709.jpg~original

 

The panhard kit I got had a 25" panhard rod with heim eyes, which added about 3". Thus the bar's total length was 28" at minimum. With the revised body mount I could only fit about 25.5". I started looking for a 21-22" panhard bar, but could only find full kits (same price as mine) or more expensive stuff. While I was sad to loose 3", it is still longer then the OEM link.

Thus I just cut it to fit and rewelded the threaded end.

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Cars/00%20G20t%20KH3/Suspension/Beam/Panhard/20170406_204924.jpg~original

 

It fits!

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Cars/00%20G20t%20KH3/Suspension/Beam/Panhard/20170406_204400.jpg~original

 

Obviously that wont hold the stress of the car weight in a turn. At first I was just going to weld a long flat piece from the slide to the beam at an angle (making a triangle). But decided to reinforce the 1/8" thick slider and made a U bracket

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Cars/00%20G20t%20KH3/Suspension/Beam/Panhard/20170407_205934.jpg~original

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Cars/00%20G20t%20KH3/Suspension/Beam/Panhard/20170407_205945.jpg~original

 

Since that U box is still probably not going to be strong enough welded a flat piece to this to make a triangle. Now my welder hated this flat piece of metal, absolutely refused to put down good beads on it, also being cramped and having hot molten metal fall on you doesn't make for pretty beads.

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Cars/00%20G20t%20KH3/Suspension/Beam/Panhard/20170407_214757.jpg~original

 

It was late Friday when I finished welding the beam side. I was tired of being burned and didn't want to start on anything new so I put it together and went for a spin. Wow what a difference! That rear end was finally coming around! I should say it was fairly cold out (high 30's) for my summer tires to grip well...

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Cars/00%20G20t%20KH3/Suspension/Beam/Panhard/20170407_222918.jpg~original

 

Continued in Part 2

[covertrussian]

On Saturday I forced myself to work more on it. This is the harder part, figuring out how to triangulate the 2x2 mount.

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Cars/00%20G20t%20KH3/Suspension/Beam/Panhard/20170407_222947.jpg~original

 

I could have used the fuel tank location, but I didn't want a tight turn to rip out the threads for the panhard bar AND drop the fuel tamp at the same time. I also didn't want to weld the mount to the body, because I wanted it to be removable, and didn't want to weld that closer to the fuel tank. Thus I ended up making a new hole.

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Cars/00%20G20t%20KH3/Suspension/Beam/Panhard/20170408_142109.jpg~original

 

New hole is great and all, but the only way to get to it is form the cabin, had to further reduce the weight of the car with another hole (luckily it's hidden under the rear strut bar!)

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Cars/00%20G20t%20KH3/Suspension/Beam/Panhard/20170408_145932.jpg~original

 

This allowed me to send a big fat 10mm bolt down, I used one with a big skirt to make sure it didn't rip out.

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Cars/00%20G20t%20KH3/Suspension/Beam/Panhard/20170408_150020.jpg~original

 

Took a small piece of steel rectangle, from our Ikea's king bed actually, flattened one end and drilled a hole. Then cut it at an angle at the panhard mount.

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Cars/00%20G20t%20KH3/Suspension/Beam/Panhard/20170408_152756.jpg~original

 

I was going to bolt it on, but since it's at an angle, I would have to flatten the rectangle, which would make it weaker. So just welded it in place instead.

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Cars/00%20G20t%20KH3/Suspension/Beam/Panhard/20170408_165559.jpg~original

 

Reinforcement brace is done!

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Cars/00%20G20t%20KH3/Suspension/Beam/Panhard/20170408_183618.jpg~original

 

Further reinforced the welds on the triangulation bar to the beam, even with grinding it to bare metal it was still splattering gunning on me like a flux cored welder. Oh well, if it gives me issues I'll reweld it. Painted it with some suspension paint/primer in one.

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Cars/00%20G20t%20KH3/Suspension/Beam/Panhard/20170408_183703.jpg~original

 

Panhard bar mounted in place

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Cars/00%20G20t%20KH3/Suspension/Beam/Panhard/20170408_192805.jpg~original

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Cars/00%20G20t%20KH3/Suspension/Beam/Panhard/20170408_192817.jpg~original

 

Notice that the body side has spacers. Going for a test drive the night before I let the body side move around, this created a lot of clanking. Cutting some spacers to keep the heim joint from moving eliminated all clunking noise! You can't even tell that it's metal on metal mounting anymore!

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Cars/00%20G20t%20KH3/Suspension/Beam/Panhard/20170408_192807.jpg~original

 

After 3 years, finally all done! The rear roll center is now at 6" vs 11.5" that it was before.

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Cars/00%20G20t%20KH3/Suspension/Beam/Panhard/20170408_193539.jpg~original

 

After the test drive I noticed the beam was shifted to the driver side by 17mm (bar is too short). Since this panhard bar comes with a right hand and left hand eyes, adjusting the thrust angle was a breeze!

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Cars/00%20G20t%20KH3/Suspension/Beam/Panhard/20170410_192018.jpg~original

 

 

Conclusion

This mod is well worth the $100-$150 I put into it, it's much better then bending your beam (which actually becomes counter intuitive and can make the car too tail happy). It's so good I'm kicking myself for not doing it earlier! The rear end doesn't seem to rise up anymore too, which is keeping the front tires much happier, even with the miserly -0.5* camber up front. Going into hard turns the car still understeers but that quickly turns into oversteer, thus you have to be ready to counter steer. If you take a turn right and don't smoke the front tires the rear will definitely kick out first. All of this even without the 22mm addco rear swaybar!

 

Now I can start removing the rear suspension hacks to make the car rotate (oversteer): 5k stiffer rear springs, running 8 psi more in rear tires.

 

I can still get the front to understeer, but it's a bit different now, and a bit more controllable (not death understeer from before). I can't help but feel that maybe there is now not enough weight transfer to the front wheels, thus it's not loading them down as well. Since I made the panhard bar heights very adjustable, I can raise up the rear roll center a bit and see if it helps the front, or makes it worse.

[covertrussian]

I've had the taller A32 rear brackets picking up dust for a while so might as well upgrade since all of my rotors were up for replacement. A32 rear bracket lets you use 04 Spec V 10.9" rotors (form brembo models, regular models have the same size rotors as P11's.)

 

A32 caliper bracket vs stock rotor

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Cars/00%20G20t%20KH3/Suspension/Brakes/Spec%20V%20Rear/20170414_155640.jpg~original

 

Here is the height difference

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Cars/00%20G20t%20KH3/Suspension/Brakes/Spec%20V%20Rear/20170414_155815.jpg~original

 

Spec V vs P11 rotors

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Cars/00%20G20t%20KH3/Suspension/Brakes/Spec%20V%20Rear/20170414_160217.jpg~original

 

First fitment issue is the rotor dust shield is way too close and needs to be bent out

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Cars/00%20G20t%20KH3/Suspension/Brakes/Spec%20V%20Rear/20170414_161042.jpg~original

 

Second fitment issue is the hand brake, it will have a hard time reaching. I had to play with it and stretch it as much as possible until it fit

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Cars/00%20G20t%20KH3/Suspension/Brakes/Spec%20V%20Rear/20170414_181240.jpg~original

 

This bracket uses the same pads, just moves them out for better leverage

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Cars/00%20G20t%20KH3/Suspension/Brakes/Spec%20V%20Rear/20170414_164447.jpg~original

 

Finally the new taller rotor fills in the 17" wheels much betters

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Cars/00%20G20t%20KH3/Suspension/Brakes/Spec%20V%20Rear/20170414_182906.jpg~original

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Cars/00%20G20t%20KH3/Suspension/Brakes/Spec%20V%20Rear/20170414_182907.jpg~original

[fedaykin]

That's a nice little upgrade.

[covertrussian]

Yeah not bad at all for $40 worth of brackets and $40 worth of rotors that I needed anyway. Break bias hasn't really changed either, but I haven't driven the car much, so will hold onto that thought until after .

[covertrussian]

Got the car inspected today and had the guys put it on the alignment rack to see if my home brew alignment tools were even close. No adjustments were done, all these adjustments were done at home with my crude tape measures.

 

Mods that would influence the alignment

FA500 Coilovers

Stock UCA

Modified UCA brackets

Stock Front LCA: Moog front bushings, SuperPro +0.5 caster rear bushings

Panhard bar

 

 

Car heights

Front Left: -23mm (-0.91")

Front Right: -28mm (-1.10")

Rear: -23mm (-0.91")

 

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Cars/00%20G20t%20KH3/Suspension/Alighnment/G20%20Alighment%20-%2005-19-2017.jpg~original

 

Previous measurements from 2013 when car was mostly stock.

Front:

Camber Left: 0.0* Right: -0.1*

Caster Left: 3.3* Right: 3.1*

SAI: Unknown

 

Rear:

Camber: Left: -1.5* Right: -1.4*

Toe: Left 0.06* Right: 0.28*

Thrust angle: -0.11*

 

Take aways:

Front

- Caster is excellent at 4.5*, looks like the mods I've been doing are working, and as the suspension compresses it should gain more caster too.

- Camber is good on the right, for my right height, very bad on the left (I wonder if it's from left being 5mm higher then right)?

- SAI: This one is way out there, not sure what's going on here. Maybe my UCA bracket mod is better done on the right side, thus it pulls in more (causing more neg camber too).

 

 

Rear:

- Toe is usually inconsistent on these beams, so total toe is what matters. Was 0" when I bent it originally, I am measuring some wheel bearing runout. Which translates to 2/16" total toe wobble when measuring toe and pushing the car forward and back at home.

- Camber: Could be off due to wheel bearing runout, 2/16" wobble could easily cause that much camber change.

- Thrust angle: is excellent thanks to the adjustable panhard bar and my 2 hours of measurements and adjustments.

[fedaykin]

Get some camber adjustability in there? Top hats?

[BDII]

Perhaps I missed it; is there a dyno plot with the tune/turbo?