Project DBA R35 GT-R, Putting the Suspension All Together With SPL Parts and Whiteline

Project DBA R35 GT-R: Putting the Suspension All Together With SPL Parts and Whiteline

by Mike Kojima

Now we are in the home stretch for upgrading our GT-R’s underpinnings with our quest to improve its on-track staying power and to reduce its propensity to understeer. In previous editions, we did the suspension basics and upgraded the brakes on the car. Now it was time to finish this part of our project off.

One of the keys to getting a car to handle well is to get it to use all of the tires’ contact patches under cornering load. The GT-R has an issue to where the front camber and caster is not adjustable from the factory, and being able to add more negative camber in the front is critical to reducing understeer.

Being able to increase negative camber and keep the caster in check as well is also critical. Really wide tires do not like an excessive amount of positive caster, so being able to adjust the caster is important as well.

We will also be adding more adjustment capability in the rear suspension and getting rid of squishy rubber, so read on to see what we did!

Read more about Project GT-R!

 

To bring adjustability to Godzilla’s suspension, we applied the whole gamut of adjustable suspension links made by SPL Parts. SPL’s links are very high quality and have features that make them easy to use. We will get more into this in a bit.

Perhaps the most critical part in the quest for GT-R handling improvement is SPL Part’s PRO adjustable upper control arm. This gives you full adjustability of both camber and caster, and it eliminates rubber bushings in the upper arm.

The SPL Parts upper arm is CNC-machined from 6061 T-6 billet aluminum. The arm was designed using FEA (Finite Element Analysis) to assure that the arm would be both stronger and lighter than stock. The arm itself is hard anodized for durability and corrosion resistance.

 

The SPL Parts PRO upper arm uses super high-quality, teflon lined FK spherical bearings for the rod ends and the ball joints. We have found that FK bearings are the most durable of the high-end rod bearings that we have used in racing.

The bearings ride in 4130 chromoly adjusters that support the entire bearing shank to reduce the chances that they can bend. The adjusters allow the camber and caster to be adjusted quickly without removing the bearing from the chassis side greatly speeding set up time. A 6061 lock ring keeps the adjuster from moving once they are set.

The adjusters are electroless nickel plated for extreme corrosion resistance and smooth operation.  All hardware on the arm is lightweight and corrosion resistant titanium.

 

You can see the elaborate FEA guided CNC milling done to reduce the arms weight without sacrificing strength.

You can also see the sturdy FK ball joint with its high misalignment spacers that allow a lot of safe articulation over the suspension’s stroke. We should have weighed the arm and gotten an exact comparison to the stock part, but by hefting, it was considerably lighter.

 

 

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