Merli's R32 Track Bitch

[shawnography]

sweet

[Beer Baron]

merlin, 1 piece of advice from my experience. the cusco arms are good but the ikeya arms are miles better when talking lower control arms. they are in a whole new league when it comes to LCA's.

the ikeya front lower control arms are a serious piece of gear. much different design and incorporate the castor rod with a better mounting and much beefier all round. the rear lower control arms are great too.

tops are much of a muchness, but definitely go ikeya for both front and rear LCA's. you wont regret it.

the suspension and brakes both will be awesome.

but I would avoid the pedal box unless you really need it, or at least go for hanging pedals instead. they are more trouble than they are worth in a skyline. have a look at mark and russ, they ran one in the 32 and have found the same as I have in that they take some getting used too and with the way the driving position is in a sedan floor mounted pedals can be hard to use. looking at lots of the serious cars in japan the quick guys were not running them, and many guys that were running them were struggling. consequently when doing the R34 which is no holes barred mark chose NOT to run a pedal box this time.

I would also not do the hydraulic handbrake unless you really need/want it. the stock handbrake is quite good, and chuck in some endless handbrake shoes and a pair of new handbrake cables (not expensive) and it will be toit as a toiger.

[Beer Baron]

oh, and swaybars. don't do the whiteline thing. go cusco. much nicer fit, and they are hollow which makes them much, much lighter. pick up a whiteline bar, that should make up your mind! or if the ARC ones are better again. but the cusco ones are reasonable money, the ARC ones are $$$.

oh, do the ikeya tie rod ends too. they are good and not too expensive.

[JiN_MaN]

Retail pricing was $2300.00...

You should be able to get it for under $2000.

Can I ask what the g-sensor is actually hooked up to. I cam across it in when stripping my GTR but im not sure what part of the car and why it monitors it.

[Merli]

Beer Bitch: I haven't bought LCAs yet... only the uppers. PM me a price for the front and rear LCAs... I can't find anyone who sells the FRONT Ikeya LCAs, only the rear seem to be available.

Cusco swaybars aren't adjustable, which turned me off them.

JiN_MaN: The G-sensor sits just behind the handbrake, and is wired into the ATESSA computer and ABS... Mainly, it's used by ATESSA to determine when to transfer torque to the front wheels. Without this stupidly expensive part (or if it is busted like my old one), a GTR is effectively a RWD.

[JiN_MaN]

Geez, Im surprised you could understand my question it was that miss worded.

Cheers for the response.

Actually now that I think about it my 4wd and ABS light are on, Ive only just got it running last night so havent had time to look into the problem. I assume this is a relatively common problem for the g-sensor to let go?

[djr81]

Beer Bitch: I haven't bought LCAs yet... only the uppers. PM me a price for the front and rear LCAs... I can't find anyone who sells the FRONT Ikeya LCAs, only the rear seem to be available.

Cusco swaybars aren't adjustable, which turned me off them.

JiN_MaN: The G-sensor sits just behind the handbrake, and is wired into the ATESSA computer and ABS... Mainly, it's used by ATESSA to determine when to transfer torque to the front wheels. Without this stupidly expensive part (or if it is busted like my old one), a GTR is effectively a RWD.

If you haven't bought LCA's then have a think about the Nismo LCA plus upper link bracket plus castor rod kit. Bin the castor rod but the other two bits are worth having. As ever with Nismo they are standard Nissan bits just with the holes drilled in different locations. The LCA gives about +5mm per side and the upper bracket moves the locating bolt holes to twist the upper arm & hence reduce the tendency to bind with more castor added. Just understand that you need to remove the ABS etc to get at the damn things.

As for Cusco sway bars - big tick. The rear is slightly stifer than the Whiteline gear (20%?) & the front is alot stiffer. I haven't found any adjustable Cusco ones for the R32 but there are a few references to them & they may exist. You may not need both ends adjustable anyway. I set my front Whiteline to soft & the rear to hard. Never moved either of them off those settings. Replaced the rear with a Cusco & felt happy about the near on 4kg savings.....

[Merli]

Jin Man: Nope, not really a common problem... But all it takes is for a careless workshop apprentice to hit something against it, or whatever, and it'll stop working.

It's normally well protected under the centre console/armrest area, surrounded by plastic bits, so it's not easy to get direct impact against the g-sensor... Only in stripped out cars, where they're exposed, will you risk damaging it.

djr: thanks heaps for that feedback mate, I'll take it into consideration.

[nfi]

oh, and swaybars. don't do the whiteline thing. go cusco. much nicer fit, and they are hollow which makes them much, much lighter. pick up a whiteline bar, that should make up your mind! or if the ARC ones are better again. but the cusco ones are reasonable money, the ARC ones are $$$.

oh, do the ikeya tie rod ends too. they are good and not too expensive.

Those weight savings are really nice but given the whiteline/roadholder/selby/redranger swaybars are solid they are probably a lot stiffer than the hollow cusco's.

Are the cusco's thicker than the whiteline's to counter the reduction in rigidity due to it being hollow?

[Angus Smart]

+ For the Arc bars i was lucky enough to get them on my car from japan

I was looking at Lcs's the other day the nismo setup looks nice but not as adjustable as the Ikeya which could quiet possibly be overkill???

[Beer Baron]

Those weight savings are really nice but given the whiteline/roadholder/selby/redranger swaybars are solid they are probably a lot stiffer than the hollow cusco's.

Are the cusco's thicker than the whiteline's to counter the reduction in rigidity due to it being hollow?

no the whiteline bars are NOT stiffer than the cusco ones even though they are solid and more than double the weight. the cusco ones are lighter, stiffer, better made, come with all the parts needed, and not very expensive. the whiteline ones are ill fitting, cheaply made, and don't always come with all the required bits. and they are damn heavy. simple as that. the only advantage the whiteline ones have is they are adjustable.

[Blitz]

no the whiteline bars are NOT stiffer than the cusco ones even though they are solid and more than double the weight. the cusco ones are lighter, stiffer, better made, come with all the parts needed, and not very expensive. the whiteline ones are ill fitting, cheaply made, and don't always come with all the required bits. and they are damn heavy. simple as that. the only advantage the whiteline ones have is they are adjustable.

Solid case for Cusco over Whiteline right there.

I wasn't overly impressed with the Whiteline bars I had in the R33 either.

[zebra]

Sorry to go a little bit off topic here, but since were on the topic of sway bars, wheres the best place to look for the Cusco ones? and are they much more expensive than the whiteline ones?

Also Merli, are you going to run a bias adjuster for the brakes, I saw you wrote you were thinking about a bias bar later on, Willwood make a proportioning valve that you could use on the rear brakes as an intrim.

[Merli]

Sorry to go a little bit off topic here, but since were on the topic of sway bars, wheres the best place to look for the Cusco ones? and are they much more expensive than the whiteline ones?

Also Merli, are you going to run a bias adjuster for the brakes, I saw you wrote you were thinking about a bias bar later on, Willwood make a proportioning valve that you could use on the rear brakes as an intrim.

Slide is a forum sponsor, and is able to get you any Cusco parts you require.... Alternatively, Beer Baron seems to have some hookups too

I have a Tilton lever-style bias adjuster that will be installed in-cabin... There should be a photo of it a few pages back. That only gives you fine tuning bias adjustment though. As I said, I think I'll be massively rear biased, so I might need to go for dual master cylinders and balance bar (the best way to set brake bias adjustment) or a pedal box.

[Swiper the Fox]

Slide is a forum sponsor, and is able to get you any Cusco parts you require.... Alternatively, Beer Baron seems to trade on here too

I have a Tilton lever-style bias adjuster that will be installed in-cabin... There should be a photo of it a few pages back. That only gives you fine tuning bias adjustment though. As I said, I think I'll be massively rear biased, so I might need to go for dual master cylinders and balance bar (the best way to set brake bias adjustment) or a pedal box.

fixed...lol

[zebra]

lol

cheers guys

[djr81]

no the whiteline bars are NOT stiffer than the cusco ones even though they are solid and more than double the weight. the cusco ones are lighter, stiffer, better made, come with all the parts needed, and not very expensive. the whiteline ones are ill fitting, cheaply made, and don't always come with all the required bits. and they are damn heavy. simple as that. the only advantage the whiteline ones have is they are adjustable.

A sway bar is simply a torsional spring. The larger the radius of the bar the stiffer it is. It is actually a fourth order relationship. Hence the steel at the centre of the Whiteline bar does next to no work but just adds weight.

This is why you use tube instead of rod for torsional anything (Springs, structures whatever).

I bought my Cusco bits from Greenline. Try them.

[evl gsr]

great read keep it up

[Dahtone Racing]

if your after cusco sway bars im pretty sure we have a pair for GTR in stock

[Majanal]

Very nice work, another Merli Masterpiece on the way!