Adjustable front end parts, thoughts opinions

[Elliott000]

Hey guys, I've recently re done the front end of my 71 240z she had some good rust in there. I've triple measured before welding the TC rod brackets back on and did my best to ensure everything is as square as possible in terms of cross member and such. Ive been browsing around adjustable front control arms and TC rods. What's everyone's opinion on the home brew route? I like the technotoy tuning stuff but im not building a track car and don't really care about the "bling" value of em at this time. My goal is to have small adjustability to dial out any imperfections in the fabrication phase during alignment. Ive done lots of fab work with rod ends on my truck making a 3 link and all the steering etc so its not new to me the limitations and function of rod ends. Ive attached a couple pictures of ideas I seen online. I like the bung in the end idea especially since they wont see a lot of side loading. Any thoughts or pictures of other home made lower arms?

 

On the TC rod side, I want to put a heim on the end to not have the fear of a snapped rod with poly bushings but making the little adapter bracket and the mucking around to thread the rod. Maybe they are just easier to purchase.... Opinions? on the rods is it best to thread the stock rod and add a turnbuckle. If I want to add a heim to it seems like a bit of screwing around to work out length etc.

 

thanks in advance

 

[JMortensen]

Lots of us built our own, nothing wrong with that. I would suggest that you set up your arms so that you have a minimum amount of threads showing, so if you want the front arms to give you more camber, make them 1/2" longer or whatever with the rod end screwed all the way in, rather than making them stock length and then screwing the rod end out 1/2".

 

I like the idea of using an inner tie rod for the TC rod. If you use a rod end the clevis you make for it will take up some room and you end up with a shorter TC rod which is not ideal. Not the end of the world, but not ideal.

The TC rod does happen to be just about exactly the size to run a 5/8" die down it. I did that on a set, then ended up making something from scratch, but I can tell you that it does work.

[trackzpeed]

Maybe I’m just lazy or don’t believe enough in my fab skills. I bought the LCA from Silvermine and the TC rod from futofab and works great. HTH. Jim 

[seattlejester]

For minor adjustments that seems to be a viable option, just make sure to use a tube end adapter and reinforce it. I saw someone weld a nut onto a plate and run a rod end through that, ended up bowing the plate and wrecking the alignment while driving. 

 

If you want to bigger with the adjustments though there is probably some room for change. The TC rod bolts interfere with steering at as the bottom of the upright hits the bolt heads.  So engineering a clevis attachment point may be beneficial like the TTT GTX-2 arms or the AE arms. If you want to play with track width those would be a better option as well.

[Neverdone]

If you're not building a track car, why do you need to adjust your front suspension?

[seattlejester]

It is nice to have to dial in any slight tweaks in the chassis especially if you messed around with the TC bucket area and such.