370z Camber Arms and needed Track Settings
 

Well, if you haven’t modded your car yet with front camber plates – I will (finally) be testing the SPL Parts folks prototype 2 arms this Friday at Harris Hill Raceway. They tested the prototype 1 versions with the two 370z teams that ran Grand Am’s Continental American Racing Series last year so I have to believe they are very close to having a product for you and me. I personally have been waiting and harassing SPL to develop these arms for 2 ½ years. I didn’t want to buy the cheap, less structurally sound products (sorry if that offends anyone) that are currently on the market. If you saw the 350z camber plates SPL made, you know they were the best by far on the market and for my Nismo and all the track driving I do (twice a month & some OTD’s) I have to have something that is very hard to wear out. Plus after driving COTA last month, I definitely need more camber for those hairpin turns (and more brakes too). ;) Totally bad *** track. Wider than anything I have ever seen/driven and smoother than an airport runway.

I will keep you posted on the progress if you are interested and get some pictures out if they let me. Here’s hoping that we 370z folks FINALLY get we what we have been waiting for. At least what I have been waiting for anyway. lol

Cheers.

Here are the 350z arms I was talking about from SPL's website – you can see how stout and structurally sound they are - nicely built and should not fail:

https://www.splparts.com/store/produ...hp?pid270.html

Here is the latest from the Grand Am Series on the 370z’s progression by the Doran Racing Team:

Tim Bell Impresses in First Official Drive with Doran Racing in Nissan 370Z

Sweet, keep us posted. Do you know if these will be in the same price range as the ones for the 350z?

great news!

Sub'd!!!!

Just to correct a few things in your post.

First, it was NOT Doran Racing that tested the SPL arms. It was SFR Enterprises that ran two cars in the Pirelli World Challenge. Doran Racing designed their own arms in house and as of right now I'm the only one to have a set of these outside of the Doran Racing organization.

Secondly, the SPL arms are not a "shim" style like the ones for the 350Z were.

Picture of the SPL arm on one of the PWC 370Z's:
http://i1266.photobucket.com/albums/...s/IMG_4826.jpg


Picture of the Doran Racing arms:
http://i1266.photobucket.com/albums/...s/IMG_1739.jpg

looks like you have to remove the upper arm to adjust camber on the SPL units. am i wrong?

I dont think so. I think you can just rotate the two bolts from the back

Loosen up 2 set-screws per side, turn nut on back to adjust both camber and caster. :tup: Have seen set-ups close to this before. Just make sure you anti-sieze on all the set-screws and the heim joint threads. ;)

Waiting patiently for these SPL pieces too. :tup:

I ran the SPL front camber arms on my G35 back in the day and sold them for what I paid for them. SPL=Quality :happydance:

Well that sucks, so you have to use anti seize? What if you want to go back and forth between street and track settings? Theres no locking nut?

They should have made the front part of the bolt flat so you can add a locking nut there.

You anti-sieze to keep from gulling the threads. Anti-sieze is good. You tighten down on the set-screws to hold the adjusting piece from moving. It's a common piece of engineering. At work, I have some pieces of equipment with the same basic adjustments. works great. ;)

Going from track to street setting. All you need to do is loosen the set-screws. Turn the adjusting piece on each side of the arm, a set number of turns. Also when you change the camber settings. The toe setting WILL change too. No matter who's arms you use. ;)

oh yeah sorry, dont know why I was thinking of loctite for somereason. Im an idiot :tiphat:

I really don't know what Sean will be pricing these at. I am just helping out in the measurements and testing for him. We did all the testing on Friday and they will need one more minor redesign before SPL Parts gets them to the World Challenge guys for their March event in Florida. Sean is a very detailed orientated designer (which I totally appreciate) and won’t let anything out of his shop until he is 120% satisfied with the product. The good news is I can take them out to Texas World Speedway (TWS) on my next instructors weekend (3/9 & 3/10) and drive the **** out of them and see how they perform. No matter how you slice it – they are a major upgrade over the stock arms/settings and I am very excited to give them a work out. My new alignment is head and shoulders over what the factor settings were and with all this new found camber and caster I am looking forward to some fun.

Here are a couple of picx's of what is coming.

Ok.

Nope. You can adjust the arms without removing them. That is part of the new 370 design over the 350 design.

When we were doing the alignment on my car Friday, the mechanic just loved it. All he had to do was turn the wrench on the proper areas and watch his computer screen. Way too easy. :tiphat:

Should be out by late next month or April at the latest. :hello:

Of course there is a locking nut. These people are not stupid.

I got a solid woody going on. :yum::yum::yum:

Couldnt tell from the old pics but thanks for updating with the new pics, makes a lot more sense now. Design looks really awesome and easy to adjust, Ill be getting these when they come out.

:iagree: Will be giving these bad boys a full test at TWS on 3/9 & 3/10 over the 2.9 roval.

Not sure about the picx gomer_110 supplied - I didn't talk to Sean about the proto 1 installation. All I know for sure is that I got the best of what SPL has to date so far and it is head and shoulders about the stock setup - just not perfect yet. March can't get here soon enough. :happydance:

This is the weekend. I can't wait. I have a little leak in my diff but I am not going to let that stop me after waiting almost 3 years. I will keep you posted.

:happydance:

Any update?

Sorry for the late response – way too much going on.

I did indeed run the arms at TWS for 8x25 minute sessions and they were fantastic. Everything I was hoping for. The final setup for the proto II’s were
DF PF
Camber -3.0 -3.0
Caster 4.3 4.3
Toe 0.01 0.00

I had the rear camber set at -2.3 for both tires.

Note: That is all the proto II’s could give me in camber and caster hence one more version (the final one I am sure after all the testing we did) will be coming out.

Compared to stock setup, this was an out of this world configuration for me but I would like a touch more camber and more caster up front at the end of the day. The final version should be coming out next month if the machine shop does their job.

It felt very strange after 3 years of actually being able to turn the car more in a corner once I set my hands. Normally, all I could do is point and shoot and then the car would understeer through the corner and then I would try to throttle steer as best as I could to bring the rear around (all you track hounds know this feeling). This setup gave me all the front end grip I have always wanted but I had no snap oversteer tendencies with the rear alignment setup. The rear end was totally planted and I never once felt it trying to come around. I guess I just didn’t push it hard enough although I was running just 1 second off my best lap times. :driving: I run Nitto NT01’s with 18” rims – with 275/35’s all the way around. After the event, it was the first time I ever had tire wear on the inside 1/3 of the tire. Pretty amazing what camber will do. :tiphat:

Well the proto II’s are now on their way to the Pirelli World Challenge folks to see how they work for them. I can’t wait for the final product next month.

That’s what I know for this moment. I am running COTA this weekend and I sure wish I had those arms. Oh well, back to point and shoot with throttle steer!!!!!! No worries, I have had lots of practice doing that. lol

Cheers. :happydance:

Thanks VDC for linking me here. Nismo09 mind if you con confirm fitment to the G37's? In particular the sedan. ;) LOL Have all SPL on my Z33 and looking to upgrade my G37S sedan now. THANKS!

How much is you car lowered before adding the upper-a arms? Can you compare the range, both upper and lower bounds, to SPC and stock?

You will need to contact Sean at SPL about this. All the measuring and testing so far on the arms have been on 370's. Mine is an 09 Nismo.

My Nismo is stock in height (all I have added to it is an oil cooler and brake pads) but of course it got lowered a touch by going to 18" rims with a squared setup. Best guess is that it is around 5" from the ground to the underside of the bumper with the plastic "engine under cover" piece.

What camber where you at before the arms? -.7? Lowered an inch you will be -1.7 or so that means possibly up to -4 for us that are lowered, which is probably more than needed. At the track, I get a lot of outside wear at -1.7 and if you got wear on the inside at -3 I might go for -2.7 just to get even wear.

I called them today and got the default 2 months answer when these will be selling.

Errrrrr!!!!:mad:

I blame Nismo09 :icon17: If he didn't ask for even more negative camber they might have gone to production with the second prototype..

I called today, got through on my third attempt, seems like they are now doing a v4 for more caster adjustment, and aiming to be tested with Nismo09 in approximately 2 weeks.

Production + assembly are estimated to be 2 months. Theoretically, the fastest we will be able to get it is about 3 months from now.

I hope this is the final version

after all this r&d, im scared to know the price.

:iagree: :ugh2:

Won't be the cheapest, but definitely not the most expensive

Lol VDC you have top secret intake listed and you are scared of the price of these arms?

I think you meant World Challenge (there were 2 370 entries in WC last year), the Doran 370Z in Grand-Am has their own custom designed and engineered control arms. Doran does produce and sell them in small quantities as of the end of last year but they are super expensive and for the die-hard track rats and race cars only.

None the less I think these will be a huge step up from the SPC control arms who's bushings and ball-joints require annual replacement in a track environment. If it is like the 350 version it should have real spherical bushings and be billet aluminum instead of steel and rubber like SPC.

I'm such a nub... I keep getting SPC and SPL confused... :shakes head:

Yup, thats why Im scared, I know more sacrifices are ahead. I had to have the Top Secret parts and I know I need these camber arms next which means more Ramen noodles. :icon14:

You could always get the Doran arms. Surprised no one else has got a set of the Doran arms yet.

It will be interesting to see how the SPL arms compare to the Doran arms on price once they're finally released.

I doubt it's as expensive as the doran arms....don't scare me now