Racecomp Engineering Yellow Springs and Cusco Lower Control Arm Review
 

Got busy this past weekend with

+ RaceComp Engineering Yellow Springs
+ OEM Front Camber Bolts (Subaru Part 901000394)
+ Cusco Rear Lower Control Arms (Part 692 474 L)

Thanks to Andrew/Myles/Dan at @Racecomp Engineering for their professionalism and expertise. Felt like I was making the right choice after our conversations. Very good to work with.

Their starting recommendation to correct the additional negative camber in the rear suspension was the Whiteline Camber Bushings for the upper control arm. I make it a point to do as much as I can DIY so I can learn, however installation/adjustment of these were beyond my skills/tools at the moment. After careful consideration and caution from Myles I went with..

Cusco Lower Lateral Links/Lower Control arm. Much easier to install and adjust, albeit with a higher cost. Since the rear setup is near identical to a 2008+ WRX/STi, this is a proven part. Appreciate Jeremy/Yo @FT-86 SpeedFactory for the assistance/speed in acquiring these arms. As with most Cusco parts, the manual was all in Japanese. Cusco USA has kickass customer service. After a call to them, I had an email with the English instructions.

The OEM Front Camber Bolts are just like the stock bolt except the Camber bolt doesn't have a widened girth to fill the top slot on the strut. Therefore you get some play and can add negative camber slightly for more grip in the corners.

In the end this setup allows me to get some negative camber in the front, and keep from too much negative camber in the rear. The drop is mild so I don't need to run any aggressive settings just to avoid rubbing. Eliminates the wheel gap while maintaining functional handling. Good in my book.

I haven't had a chance to get an alignment yet, so I will refrain on giving detailed feedback on the handling until so. Unlike @AVOturboworld, I installed these in one go. What I will say is the resulting drop is absolutely perfect. Definitely what the car should have been set to from the factory. It is also cool to be able to see the arms when you bend down. Go blue. This is my first lowered car, and it definitely feels like you are hugging the ground while driving. Noticed that most truck's low beams look like high beams now. The install went well, so far no creaks/vibrations/pops so far. Success for the amateur enthusiast.

Here are some car porn and notes from the install

Messing with iOS6 Panorama mode. Thanks to my buddy Nick for letting me crash his garage and helping me with the install.
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8034/8...acd56d68_c.jpg
20121005-RCEYellow-CuscoLCA-1 by VictorN07, on Flickr
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8171/8...1ed63cd6_c.jpg
20121005-RCEYellow-CuscoLCA-2 by VictorN07, on Flickr
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8042/8...f98418ea_c.jpg
20121005-RCEYellow-CuscoLCA-3 by VictorN07, on Flickr

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8173/8...a7a5a26e_c.jpg
20121005-RCEYellow-CuscoLCA-4 by VictorN07, on Flickr


RCE Yellow Springs vs OEM Front. The RCE Yellows are much beefier than the OEM one. Definitely feels like a quality product.
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8460/8...9e2a09c4_c.jpg
20121005-RCEYellow-CuscoLCA-5 by VictorN07, on Flickr

The Rear hats do not rotate freely like the fronts. We had to separate the metal thingy from the rubber piece that grips onto the top of the spring. The rubber has to be rotated to accomodate for the RCE Yellows. Otherwise the hat and the lower attachment point won't line up and can't be re installed in the car.
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8458/8...01c670a1_c.jpg
20121005-RCEYellow-CuscoLCA-6 by VictorN07, on Flickr


This is the proper way to break loose and tighten the top nut on each strut.
Make sure the springs are compressed for safety.
Use a 6mm Hex Key and 17mm pass through socket on the front struts.
Use a 5mm Hex Key and 14mm pass through socket on the rear struts
I could not break the nuts loose by hand. Using an impact driver, I tapped lightly until I saw the socket turn slightly. Then finish with the hand tools.
Using solely an impact driver may spin the inner shaft. If the shaft spins enough, the seals in the shock will break making for a blown strut.
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8040/8...d07bfca7_c.jpg
20121005-RCEYellow-CuscoLCA-7 by VictorN07, on Flickr

The Cusco Lower Control Arm has a pillowball bushing and adjustable camber. The stock one (black) has no adjustment. The Cusco is also much beefier than the OEM one. I think it'll take a lot to bend this arm.
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8313/8...290fc451_c.jpg
20121005-RCEYellow-CuscoLCA-8 by VictorN07, on Flickr
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8322/8...e1bd8a56_c.jpg
20121005-RCEYellow-CuscoLCA-9 by VictorN07, on Flickr


It's hard to see in this picture; the swaybar endlinks are weaksauce.
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8032/8...cd5fc175_c.jpg
20121005-RCEYellow-CuscoLCA-10 by VictorN07, on Flickr


Here is a picture of my car right when I bought it.
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8015/7...17d940d2_c.jpg
IMG_0301 by VictorN07, on Flickr

Oh my how have things changed
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8170/8...cf435ec6_c.jpg
20121005-RCEYellow-CuscoLCA-11 by VictorN07, on Flickr

Pre-Drop with the Weds
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8038/8...139b2d00_c.jpg
21020923-RallyArmorMudGaurd-01 by VictorN07, on Flickr

Post Drop
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8175/8...fa635734_c.jpg
20121005-RCEYellow-CuscoLCA-12 by VictorN07, on Flickr

Playing with the filters in Camera+
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8313/8...1483e2da_c.jpg
20121005-RCEYellow-CuscoLCA-16 by VictorN07, on Flickr

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8461/8...6116a06a_c.jpg
20121005-RCEYellow-CuscoLCA-17 by VictorN07, on Flickr

My Favorite Picture!
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8452/8...0cb122f0_c.jpg
20121005-RCEYellow-CuscoLCA-18 by VictorN07, on Flickr



Update:
Get the alignment!
http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showp...50&postcount=7

Camber differences visualized
http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showp...6&postcount=10

Looks sick! That is the same wheel and spring set up I am planning on, just a different color car.

Looks great! Wheel tire combo is awesome.

Love to see someone building a car correctly. Great job!

-Jeremy

So much win in this thread!

Car looks great, Victor! Very clean and classy, the way the car should be.

Keep up the good work:thumbup:

Nice write-up, Victor... damn, and I was going to hold-off on the springs!

nice !!!!!! been waiting for these :) send u pics up to WEDS USA !

Alignment is in
 

Took my car in to get an alignment. I now understand the significance of getting one after doing major suspension work like installing springs/coilovers. Pre-alignment the car would feel very twitchy, floaty, and I could break traction even on my 245 star specs easily. Scary.

Andrew with @Racecomp Engineering said to take it easy because my toe could be off. Watching the screen while taking baseline measurements confirmed his suspicion. It was definitely out of spec.

Friend pointed me to this shop and I got aligned by a Hunter Hawkeye Elite. Not sure if that machine any good but it seemed legit. His computer didn't have the twins in it so he just picked a Avalon for the first go round, and a Scion iQ for the second. Overall I liked that he did it twice to be sure.

He did not like the design of the Cusco control arms. He had to drop the arm to make adjustments since the turnbuckle was in the subframe and a wrench wouldn't fit in there. If the adjustments were more out in the open he would have been golden. Dialing in the adjustment in the rear was difficult overall, when he adjusted camber the the toe would fall out and vice versa. I'll take his word for it because his experience trumps mine.

Overall he got it to a good setting as indicated in the printout below. He said when I sit in the car it'll be closer to the targets RCE recommends. I noticed an immediate improvement in stability and road going manners. The twitchiness/grip issues are gone. Need to take it out to find the upper limits :thumbup: I'll post more when I can ring her out.

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8312/8...9db3d917_c.jpg
20121008-RCEYellow-CuscoLCA-Alignment by VictorN07, on Flickr


For reference here are the factory alignment specs for the 86 (Courtesy of the FR-S Service Manual from this forum)
I believe it's missing thrust angle and SAI.
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8318/8...1b64da80_c.jpg
20121005-86-Alignment-1 by VictorN07, on Flickr

In summary, get the alignment!

Nice thorough writeup! Real happy you're digging the springs. Yes the alignment can have a huge effect on twitchiness and stability. Glad you emailed me since its a big deal. Now go have fun.

- Andrew

Damn i didn't think of using another vehicle to get aligned with, our machine at work doesn't have them either we have been trying to get the specs from Hunter but they are saying december.

Camber visuals post alignment
 

I will admit helping the poke was some motivation to get the springs. At the time I didn't know that negative camber would help front grip so bonus points for that. Always great to look good while being functional.

The 17x9 ET35 wheels do poke a bit up front with the stock camber settings (stock is 0 degrees). The rears are already good without the extra help. Overall the negative camber and drop helps the look, but it still pokes. I could add more negative camber at the expense of uneven inner tire wear. I'm conservative so I'll leave it alone. This fits the bill exactly.

Whole car
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8033/8...7ed75a72_c.jpg
20121008-RCEYellow-CuscoLCA-Alignment-1 by VictorN07, on Flickr

Here is a photo with 0 camber in front
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8037/8...44d365c6_c.jpg
20120922-TC105N_Z1StarSpec-30 by VictorN07, on Flickr

From the same angle you can see it sticks out much less.
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8452/8...2e95ce16_c.jpg
20121008-RCEYellow-CuscoLCA-Alignment-2 by VictorN07, on Flickr

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8036/8...9ee9b8dd_c.jpg
20121008-RCEYellow-CuscoLCA-Alignment-3 by VictorN07, on Flickr


Rears look super good
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8454/8...ac547779_c.jpg
20121008-RCEYellow-CuscoLCA-Alignment-4 by VictorN07, on Flickr

i love my rce yellows, ive been riding on them for almost a month now with no alignment yet lol looks like ill be needing one asap.

That looks great! Good job on picking the right parts. :)

Glad i'm not the only one riding around with no alignment, if it had been in our machine it would have been done same day i guess i will try tomorrow using a 350z its pretty close in size should work ok.

I've also been driving around on yellows without an alignment for about 1.5 weeks. The shop I want to go to for my camber bushings install and alignment can't get me in for another 1.5 weeks.

You can definitely see that the rears have added negative camber. I put my stock wheels/tires back on so I wouldn't mess up my new ones. So far really enjoying the yellows...no real issues yet and the drop looks great. I can't wait to see how the drop looks on my Volks!

One minor thing is that, for some reason, my left front wheel gap is 1/16"-1/8" taller than my other ones. I tried checking that strut out but didn't see anything wrong. Oh well, it's pretty minimal.