Project R32: Adjustable Suspension Links

When ya wanna go fast, you have to look at every nut and bolt on your car. Because when you are piloting a chunk of steel and composites at unreal speeds, you might want to have the most control possible. Stock suspensions are built for one thing - reliability. Sure some may be sportier than others, but the manufacturer doesn’t want to hear complaints of broken parts or noisy operation while these cars are still under warranty. They want them to last and not hear any moaning about warranty replacement.

After the warranty is up, well... it’s open season to rip everything out, drop a few dollars and let the aftermarket improve the handling characteristics of your car. The most popular upgrade today has always been lowering springs, with sway bars and coilovers closely behind. Often overlooked are the many suspension links that keep a car connected to the road. Many enthusiasts out there barely know what these parts do, let alone how to set them up correctly.

When upgrading suspension links, the main focus is on being able to take control of your settings. The factory parts often have little to no adjustability and usually have loads of play from the years of abuse.

Vuk Zivic over at Absolute Motor Specialties understands many older Nissans are still on the road and could use some links built to ISO9001 standards. Many Nissan suspensions share components, mainly the popular: Z32, R32 and S13 chassis. So all these links (with minor tweaks) are the exactly same.

The hot sellers according to Zivic are the Rear Upper Control Arms (RUCA). Many Nissans are lowered and that has altered the geometry causing too much camber wear. The handling becomes a bit more unpredictable. Or the owner wants to dial-in even more camber for aggressive applications. The AMS-designed RUCAs are mandrel bent tube welded to a bracket with extra gusset plates for strength. The active end features a stainless threaded stud, lock nut and a Heim joint for smooth operation. The whole piece is not only lighter than the pressed-steel original, but has less flex. The AMS RUCA is also adjustable with a range of up to 5-degrees of negative camber.

The AMS Front Upper Control Arms (FUCA) are another must have piece. More camber means simply more contact patch of your tire while the weight shifts. The more camber, the better on the race track. The downside is that if you operate the car on the street with aggressive camber, the tires will often last less than a season. Or it can even cause blow-outs when there is too much load (and heat) on the inside of the tire. With the AMS FUCAs you can dial-in up to 4-degrees of sexy negative camber but remember, we have issued the warnings of anything other than off-road use. The AMS FUCA are constructed of billet steel ends, Koyo bearings and feature threaded collars to dial-in the front camber. These are also much lighter and stronger than the originals.

Finally the AMS Tension Control rods (TC rods) were added. These pieces are used to stabilize the front lower control arms and adjust caster or toe-in. The skyline benefits from 1.5-degrees of toe-in for sharper response and the construction is both lighter and stronger than the OEM piece.

After a solid 25-30 laps on the track, the suspension is much tighter and GT-R just responds quicker as it dances around corners. Look for some fender-rolling and dumped ride-height soon!

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