DIY - SPL Upper Control Arm Install - Extra shims made!
 

Okay so took the time to take pics and do the SPL front upper control arms install.

Thanks to acidjake75 and AllstarE4 for helping me out.

This is the SPL instruction manual PDF:
http://www.splparts.com/doc/SPLFUAZ33v2.pdf

They simply states: "Remove the upper control arm" so i figured ill give a bit more insight to the install, rundown and quick review of the product, etc..

SPL's pics:
https://my350z.com/forum/attachment....1&d=1268162159
https://my350z.com/forum/attachment....1&d=1268162159
https://my350z.com/forum/attachment....1&d=1268162159
-J

Unpackaging - measurments of nuts/bolts/allens
 

Okay what you see is what you get.

https://my350z.com/forum/attachment....1&d=1268162367
https://my350z.com/forum/attachment....1&d=1268162367

Okay, I personnally didnt like this - but some of the stuff on the arms are SAE.....ya ya.....i should have them and i do, but that crap is in a tool box in the shed.........this was honestly the first time i have had to use SAE in a long time.

https://my350z.com/forum/attachment....1&d=1268162367

No biggy i guess.......but i figured i would mention it, so everyone knows whats all needed/involved.
-J

Camber and caster adjustability
 

Okay quick run down on the beauty of SPL upper control arms.

They are camber and Caster adjustable - and they do that independently of one another.

PIC:
https://my350z.com/forum/attachment....1&d=1268162860

Honestly, i don't know why other companies like cusco, etc don't offer thread rod end style attachment ends on their UCA's to adjust caster and offer them as "advanced" models or some crap to compete with spl but oh well.

To my knowledge SPC is the only other UCA out there that can adjust caster, but it does it at the same time as camber, so ya.....if you know anything about the two, you will know that bites.

CAMBER:
See the win situation is that you can roll around town all day long with say -1.0 camber up front and be within oem spec.

you can show up to an event, remove a shim! and KNOW you are at -2.0 or remove two shims and know you are at -2.5, etc.

SEE HERE:
https://my350z.com/forum/attachment....1&d=1268162860

Then after the event you can put XY amount of shims back into the spl uca and drive home.

OF course to be able to do this, the INITIAL alignment will have to be done twice, with XY number of shims for OEM spec and then experiment with XYZ number of shims for race spec, get what im saying?

Removal/installation
 

OKAY, Lets pretend you have the OEM strut bar.

1. Open the hood and remove the OEM strut bar - see you have to access the shock mount 3 each nuts and ONE is TRAPPED under the OEM strut bar.

2. loosen the 3 each OEM strut bar nuts and loose the shocks - aftermarket or oem shocks/spring assembly its easiest to loosen them.

NOw, i found that its best to use a swivel or a wobble extension at the most AFT nut because you dont want to damage or use impact guns and extensions that close to the AC lines. those lines are usually only .025 to .035 thick wall.

SEE HERE:
https://my350z.com/forum/attachment....1&d=1268163155

Removal of the two upper control arm bolts requires moving the oem spring/strut assembly, i have coilovers and it took the same:
https://my350z.com/forum/attachment....1&d=1268163155
https://my350z.com/forum/attachment....1&d=1268163155

The bolt there is too long and hits the springs. You can possibly turn the springs a bit - ie coilovers - if you loosen the spring perch as well....wiggle and finagle and viola...


-J

Grinding Away at Casting Bumps!
 

Okay, per SPL's instructions you have to grind off the casting bumps for FULL suspension travel. not a problem!

where are my tools!! :thumbup:
https://my350z.com/forum/attachment....1&d=1268163430

anywho....

https://my350z.com/forum/attachment....1&d=1268163430
https://my350z.com/forum/attachment....1&d=1268163430
https://my350z.com/forum/attachment....1&d=1268163430
https://my350z.com/forum/attachment....1&d=1268163430

Installed spl uca!
 

OKAY, so now is the work backwards part and install the SPL's...

https://my350z.com/forum/attachment....1&d=1268163639


-J

Shims!???
 

Okay, per SPL. The arms come with only 3 shims! :dunno::dunno: :icon8: :confused::mad::mad::icon9::icon9::icon14::icon14:

Provided are the number of shim blocks:

Thick (~0.8”) provides 2 deg of camber
Medium (~0.4”) provides 1 deg of camber
Thin (~0.2”) provides 0.5 deg of camber

what the fk about .25 deg and .1 deg and well shitz man???

MAKE my own dammn shims!
 

Okay, so i got to busting out the enga-me-nering skillz

really the only critical dimension is the RADIUS used and the 2.14 center to center.....I found the radius to be 7/16"...
https://my350z.com/forum/attachment....1&d=1268163847

nom..nomm...nomm...nom...
https://my350z.com/forum/attachment....1&d=1268163847

One i made is on the left:
https://my350z.com/forum/attachment....1&d=1268163847

I made a few.........acidjake needs a few too......

Also, making a .1 thick shim isn't that bad of an idea...........but making smaller .050 thick ones would probably be better to make 1.050 and 2.05 thick shims (add the .050 into it) and replace the corresponding .1 or .2 thick shim..........get it?


also, doing so isnt cheap...........finding an aluminum supplier with the thicknesses you need AND them only selling you a 1 foot section of each is quite hard at times......most have a minimum purchase or wont cut off that small of a piece...........you could however pay some of those places a visit and measure off pieces they may have in their "scrap" bin and offer to buy that if they have what you want.......good luck...

**EDIT
Okay, i have gotten multiple PM's to make some shims for peeps, sure no problem, PM me..., but im a busy person so ill do my best to make them in my free time....
-J

SPL's 3 shims...
 

See SPL sends you 3 shims...

recap once again:
Provided are the number of shim blocks:
Thick (~0.8”) provides 2 deg of camber
Medium (~0.4”) provides 1 deg of camber
Thin (~0.2”) provides 0.5 deg of camber

Well, if you read their online description..........
noted here:

Camber adjustment range is -2.5deg to +1deg relative to stock arm; most cars will see actual on-car camber adjustment range of -4deg to -0.5deg, *depending on ride height.

I figured this out really quickly doing so....(you only have adjust ability in camber in " 0.5 degree " increments.

SO,
lets talk oem specs......for ease of explanation well use
.2 to -1.3 which is what local alignment shops round up to anyways..

SEE HERE:
https://my350z.com/forum/attachments...ment-specs.jpg
Notice in this pic that alignment is rounded up to .2 and down to -1.30

well anywho....you gotta think practical........in practice its hard to get .03 of alignment.....etc.... your alignment guy is just turning wrenches!

that being said.

You want:

(.2 , .1, 0.0, -.1, -.2, -.3, -.4, -.5, -.6, -.7, -.8, -.9, -1.0, -1.1, -1.2, -1.3 ) done..

you can obtain:

0.0 to -.5 to -1.0 to -1.5

Only in BLUE are you within oem spec!

Two points only.

Sure depending on your height you may end up with .6 and then subtract SPL's "THIN" shim and then you have -1.1



* note, Yes of course, raising and lowering the car adjust camber as well, but ya, thats not what we wanna do........

Caster
 

Caster is as noted in their instructions....

Turning of the rod ends at each end of the UCA's....

EVERY 0.3" gives 1 degree of caster.

Fully threaded in rod ends are stock 8deg of caster.
To increase caster thread out the rod end closest to the front of the car.
opposite for decrease of caster of course.


OEM CASTER SPECS are above as well on the pic given in post 9

On that note:
I have yet to see a 350z on the alignment rack with caster that is close to one another..........bushings people...check your bushings!

your compression arm to body bushing torn.........caster will be f'd up......compensating with adjusting caster on the arms is not the way to do it...........get new bushings...

Caster is what makes your car start to drift to the left or to the right on the highway when your cruising straight and let go of the wheel...

The Z's spec for caster "DIFFERENCE" is .75 ---- for those that arent familiar its the differnece of caster that really causes problems.........and .75 is a high amount!!! honestly i would call a .5 difference a "problem".

So your aim is to have caster matching from left to right front wheels........odds are on a completely stock Z they wont be..........and good luck at getting the oem 8.0 degrees.......even the guy's pic in the post above is 8.9(in spec barely) and 9.1 out of spec....

the out of spec wouldnt concern me at all.....the difference of 9.1-8.9 = .2 is what i would be more concerned out.........now, having caster at that upper limit of the caster "range" would just result in more turn in....

-J

nice writeup J...those extra shims are going to make things easier for the small changes you want to make..

Track side Camber adjustment - HOW TO
 

Okay, so I took these pics to show track side camber adjustment.

First you need to jack the front of the car up and set the front on jack stands. You can jack one side at a time if you like as well.

From that point, the wheel and suspension will droop enough to gain all the access needed to do your camber change.

Just to review the array of SAE sizes again: :icon22: (I hate SAE!!!)
https://my350z.com/forum/attachments...made-sizes.jpg
You need:
14mm socket
3/32 allen
3/8 wrench

Shown below to loosen the rear long bolts that allows the top to slide in or out is a 14mm socket on a short extension and my handy dandy ratchet.
http://i232.photobucket.com/albums/e...g?t=1282160204
Note - my ratchet is called the "rotator" and allows you to twist the handle to turn the socket. its a nice feature.

Here you can see my 3/32 allen key and 3/8 small goose neck wrench to loosen the bolt and nut:
Attachment 426877

once all 4 points are loose you can remove X number of shims as you wish to adjust your camber track side.

I was daily driving with -1.7 so i removed the medium shim for an additional 1 degree so i can autoX with -2.7 for the day.

Note,
I would suggest getting solid rubber hose and shoving it in the holes shown here: you can use heater hose, rubber stopper plugs from autozone, etc. anything that will fit snug in the holes that you can easily pull back out.

holes on top:
Attachment 426878
see road grime and grit builds up inside the long bolt holes and i had to use compressed air can to blow the junk out of them so the bolts could thread smoothly.

-J

:werd:

Did you use steel or aluminum for the shims? I agree they should have added another 0.25 degree shim. I actually used a square sander with 60 grit sandpaper and it took about 20 mins to grind those bumps flat. The tool you pictured is used more for cutting and they are supposed to be used on edge, correct? I almost bought one but the guy at Lowes said that you weren't supposed to use the flat surface and sent me home to use my sander. :dunno: It worked though it wasn't quick.

Aluminium...the 3 shims they are providing are aluminum as well..

-J

square sander i agree would work.............

if you look close, i used the thick "grinding" blade......not the " thin cut off wheel" blade....

so you can use it to grind down a part like that...

Space is limiting, so i should have just busted out my palm sander too.......

-J

Nice write up, I didn't have to remove the strut bar or strut to get the arm bolts out. If I remember correctly, I just jacked it up and rotated the spring on the strut so the bolts could slide just past it.

I second using a grinder for those nubs, hand filing those down was a beotch even though the aluminum is very soft.

Didn't end up lubricating that top joint, simply because there was no lube there to begin with. I don't remember it being in the instructions either... but I could have missed it. Don't think it'll hurt either way.

Thanks...

yes, you "can do that" but i have my coilovers preloaded so i would have to release tension on the spring perch inorder to get them to turn.. but on oem springs you can do that too....its a wiggle here, wiggle there kinda thing, but yes...

its not, but i figured it was good practice.........

-J

Do not lubricate the tapered part! This part is not supposed to move, all movement is supposed to happen at the bearing only; there has to be sufficient friction between the upright and the ball joint adapter to ensure all movement happens at the bearing. There also has to be sufficient friction so that the retaining nut will not loosen.

ruh-oh.

Sick DIY as usual dude.

noted......ill edit that from the top..

-J

thanks..

Wow, nice write-up. I wish all the DIY threads were like this. Good job..

question- for the shims is it possible to tell you how thick we want the shims and make one big block?

My thought was have a monster solid aluminum block to put in to drive stock. Get to the track instead of taking out a small shim just put another solid aluminum block in thats a predetermined size to give you the camber you desire.

Good idea? Bad idea? You'll always have the other shims to play with but i think it would be easier and not as easy to lose (knowing me).

^ I see what your saying, but i say thats a bad idea and this is why..... with height, adjustment camber , if your a track guy like me and your constantly adjusting coil overs and altering height, etc your gonna be changing camber with changing height.

What about settled springs over time? if you dont have coilovers??

Plus its not like the smaller shims fly out or anything....... I think good practice would be to tape them together if anything! wrap them one time with masking tape or that thin strong aluminum tape or something.

OR,

I figured if anything you can drill a small hole in them and screw them together with a counter bore in the thick one for a small nut, and a shallow countersink head in the thin one for the head of the screw, but not too thin to have it crack....

-J

I totally get what you're saying and agree. I like the tape idea. Not bad. Thats why this board is so great, bounce ideas off others and come up with even better ideas!

:werd:

pictures aren';t loading for me :(

toe adjustment...
 

What an outstanding write up. If you dial in -2 deg camber do you know roughly how much the toe will change? The adjustability of the camber from home to track sounds great. Does the toe change so much that you need to adjust toe at the track? (stock ride height...03 350Z)

Thanks!

About 0.009" of toe change for every 0.5deg of camber change.
https://my350z.com/forum/7913758-post41.html

So you essentially you would dial in your daily driving toe in spec, but at the bottom of the range to where when you change it at the track your at a toe you want to be.....

EITHER WAY
1. --- While getting an alignment you should have them align the car into factory specs or whatever you want for daily...

THEN

2. Before they remove the car from the rack - jack the car up, remove the wheels and adjust the camber to -2.0 degree's, put everything back and then have them RE-SHOOT the lazer alignment and see where your at on both toe and camber?!?!

This will ensure your where you want to be for either case...........or adjust accordingly...

-J

Did this today, didnt remove the spring/strut, just took some wiggling around and the bolts pop out.

Ratcheting wrenches definately made the job easier to get into the tight space.

Grinding off the casting nubs was probably the longest part.

Snapped bolt - replacement
 

I snapped this lil bolt that I'm removing here track side this past weekend:
Attachment 426881
.........I only snapped one, so I figured I would rock on..... and I did.


FYI:
The bolt is a machine screw pan head allen that is a #10-24 x 1.25" long.
nut is a nylon lock nut that uses a 3/8 wrench/hex.

I just purchased spares and keep them in my trackside tool box.

This is the oem bolt for reference:
https://my350z.com/forum/attachment....1&d=1288096540

I'm replacing with aerospace 12 point bolt:
https://my350z.com/forum/attachment....1&d=1288120114
https://my350z.com/forum/attachment....1&d=1288199392
If anyone wants some, pm me....(head height is a non issue as im set up to where i clear and don't hit....hi-loks can be used as well as they have allen key hole in shaft if you want a lower head height.)

-J

also found these:
Attachment 426885
3/8 hex head #10-32 pitch 160ksi bolt - aerospace spec

-J

So, just take all 3-shims out when you get to the track, so there will be no shims in the arm? Then on the ride home, I am just thinking about using the one large shim for daily driving, which should be alittle less than stock camber.


How do you have your caster set on your arms?

Thanks Jason, as always

The retard that I am, I broke the same bolt today. I'm glad I remembered you doing this so now I know what to replace with.

The bolts included seem brittle or I'm just a beast.

Rather than remove the strut bar. and loosen the shock mount, I found it easier to put the front on jack stands, then use my hydraulic jack to compress the spring to get the coils out of the way.

(Just put the jack under the point where the lower part of the shock mounts to the arm.)

I have done this job quite a few times now and found this technique very helpful.

Another add if I may. A buddy of mine and I were discussing the SPL arms about 4 months ago and lamenting the fact they didn't offer more positive camber adjustment. I've had mine on a G for almost 2 years and I'm dropped 3" but the best front camber I could get with all the shims was -2.2*. So he called Kuah and was told that by rotating the heim joints at the end of each arm equi-distant to each other another 1.5* positive camber adjustment was possible. You pull them out 1" to achieve this and Kuah said that leaves plenty of the bolt seated in the arm to be safe, even for tracking and heavy driving.

So I tried it and glory halleluja, it freaking worked like a charm. So now I'm running stock camber and toe and sitting pretty. Life is good and so is tire wear. :D


BTW I'm local to SPL in Austin and the last time I was at the shop Kuah gave me a free upgrade kit with the V3 heads, heim joints, and bushings to replace my V2 parts. I believe he's still offering that to original V2 owners that can prove purchase from an authorized vendor. You guys might want to hit him up if you have the V2s and see if he's still offering that. Great guy IMO.

Thanks Jason! I just installed my SPLs this morning using your DIY. The front strut was really in the way, and there isn't much room to do the grinding.

Got myself a 6' stick of 1/8 6061 bar stock and a 7/16 endmill. Gonna use a bridgeport at work to make me some 0.100" shims Monday. I'll likely make a bunch more in inbetween sizes like 0.150, .175, 0.225, 0.250 so I can really dial things in.

Can't wait to get my suspension all done....

Thanks for this write up. I was seriously considering buying the SPL arms to fix the caster.

However you made me aware of the fact that some of the bushings might be torn, and that's whats giving me the caster differences.

FL is 8.3
FR is 7.8

That's .5 difference. Do you think this is caused only by bushings or could it be a compound effect by damaged body control arm mounts? (was in a small curbing incident where most of the right side arms were replaced)

As far as the camber goes, it is also off.

FL is -2.0
FR is -1.52

So if I want to have symmetrical camber, do I need adjustable camber arms? I would like symmetrical numbers whether in spec or not.

yes, it could be bushings alone...as i myself would have .5 or greater difference before changing out to the spl compression arm bushing.

as for the damage - who knows..that also can be part of the reason...after you get new bushings in, and if the numbers are still OFF then look to replacing arms/components.


YES, you would need adjustable camber arms....

for you, i WOULD recommend SPL upper control arms, because with them you CAN dial in both camber and caster incrementally.........

see, in the end, you don't know whats bent, tweaked or torn that can be causing your mis-alignment.....so, if changing bushings along doesnt fix it, then i would get spl arms and dial it in, cause who knows, your unibody mounting points can be tweeked, the K member can be tweaked at the transverse arm mounting, or the pin at the compression arm to body mount point...

after a wreck, i would remove, inspect and check alignment on everything...

i myself own digital angle gauges, etc....my car itself has a level mounted on it by the mirror (like a RV bubble level).....

from there, only other thing you can do is lazer shoot the car at a auto repair shop that has lazer repair alignment machine and the 350z data in their system..

-J

yes, of course, adjust the unibody mount rod ends equaly is making the upper control arm GROW....to the positive direction...

i should have noted that, but i left it to obvious....sorry..

-J

As far as checking for torn bushings, how would I go about doing this? How would I narrow down which ones to replace? I will probably be replacing with whiteline.

As well as the front suspension bushings, I think I will also do the differential mounts and the subframe sets.

Not sure if rear arm bushings will help much, my alignment is within spec in the rear and I am not sure how the ride will suffer. Yes I plan to start tracking now that I have a second car, but I still want it to be usable on the street.

Absolutely. If, after replacing the bushings that are identified as bad, the caster is still way off, my next step will be the spl arms.

After the wreck (low speed curbing incident with drunk driver road rage) the insurance collision repairs replaced:

rear R camber toe and control arm and shock; wheel

front L+R compression rods (worn), lower control arm, and shock; wheel

Only the right side was impacted. If by K member you mean part # 54400M in the attachment, that part is undamaged.

What methods are there to detect any damage to the mounting points?


I don't own any of those measurement tools, however I have some access to computerized alignment racks.

I also believe the spindle/knuckle has been replaced. (#40014)

FYI, extra shims can easily be made, precision is not that important. I just grabbed some 1/8 aluminum from Home Depot and cut the pieces out , a little filing and dremel work. I made 8 in about 30 minutes.

^ ya i agree, it doesn't take much to make some..

-J

Install looks simple and straight forward. I'm currently at -2.3 and -2.1 up front.

So would I just install the medium & thin shims and call it good? I took care of my rear camber, but never purchased the front upper control arms. I got 13,000 miles out of the tires and just purchased replacements. So I am now looking to correct this issue. Hoping to avoid an alignment this year. Tires, SPL control arms, new TPMS sensors is enough $$$$ for this year.

???

you dont have any shims in there at all right now?

I ever corrected the front camber. I did the rear. Last lazer align has me @ -2.3