2014 Base GT Autocross Suspension Build Discussion

[gregb]

What I meant by multi-piece bushing is the Steeda dual durometer bushing with a hard inner and softer outer bushing material in the chassis end of their control arm. I have also seen a Whiteline UCA with their Max-C bushing which I like in their lower control arms. It sounds like the Steeda spherical is the way to go for the diff bushing. Any comments on the Steeda vs. Whiteline upper control arm?

 

[gregb]

I'd appreciate hearing from anyone who has run the current version of the Whiteline rear upper control arm (KTA205) with the Max-C bushings in a track or autocross car. How did it work for you, were you happy with the "feel" during hard cornering and transitions?

I'm currently running a spherical bushing (great) in the differential and the Steeda adjustable arm with the poly bushing and I am not sure I'm happy with the poly bushing. I'm happy with the Whiteline LCA with Max-C bushings on my car and thinking of trying their upper.

Any feedback welcome, especially from Terry if he sees this.

 

[Vorshlag-Fair]

I'd appreciate hearing from anyone who has run the current version of the Whiteline rear upper control arm (KTA205) with the Max-C bushings in a track or autocross car. How did it work for you, were you happy with the "feel" during hard cornering and transitions?

I'm currently running a spherical bushing (great) in the differential and the Steeda adjustable arm with the poly bushing and I am not sure I'm happy with the poly bushing. I'm happy with the Whiteline LCA with Max-C bushings on my car and thinking of trying their upper.

Any feedback welcome, especially from Terry if he sees this.

We are getting our hands on one of these for an in-house Mustang build VERY soon and Jason just added these to our website yesterday. There was some question regarding what they come with that was answered to use yesterday, as the price dropped significantly and the WL website text was talking about the old design.

Our website entry for the KTA205 has the correct images and text, and might be the only one that does on the planet until everyone else catches up. This was released a few months back but we didn't get around to adding it until this week, then noticed the images and texts weren't the latest/greatest. They are now.

We will test this on the Spec Iron S197 above (moving up to American Iron with a Gen II Coyote) when we complete it, later this summer. If we can get our hands on an S197 to test on track with this sooner, we will. But we HAVE worked with the MAX-C bushings already and they are amazing for dual-purpose street/track cars. Unlike traditional stiff polyurethane, these dual durometer bushings can ROTATE and PICOT on two axis, which is damn sure what you need up top.

At $139 they are also a lot less $$$ than the noisy spherical units we have seen out there, and the new WL design checks all the boxes: strong, adjustable length, made to fit the OEM upper bracket, and the dual-axis pivot bushing. Should be a nice upgrade over what you have.

Cheers,

 

[gregb]

Terry, thanks for the feedback. I'm going to give this one a try as soon as I get back from vacation.

I tossed my oem arm but am using the oem bracket. I had my shop install the spherical diff bushing and the Steeda adjustable UCA so I am not sure but I think the Steeda arm used a smaller than oem diameter bolt with stepped washers (14mm bolt per their documentation assuming it is correct). So I will either need to find the equivalent oem crossbolt to use my oem mount or use an aftermarket mount - leaning towards the BMR mount at this time.

Even with the spherical in the diff, on hard cornering that poly bushing still seems to be binding and groaning from the abuse. I think the Max-C bushing on the chassis end and the spherical in the diff will give me what I want for my perfect CAMC Lite street car build.

 

[gregb]

Quick update time... 2014 Mustang GT lightly prepped for SCCA CAM-C class autocross.

I was running the Steeda adjustable UCA with their spherical diff bushing. I also had the Fays 2 wattslink. I have now ditched both.

I don't daily drive the car but do occasional errands around my small town (once a week or so a few miles at a time) and drive to autocross events (about 40-50 events a season). It's a semi-dedicated autocross car but I got so I couldn't stand the noise on the street. The rod ends on the watts link kept getting louder and louder so I did R&R but that didn't last very long before the noise was back. The axle clamps slipped. I never liked the way the Steeda poly UCA felt and the spherical diff bushing loosened up and added to the knocking and banging. Called Vorshlag and out with the Fays 2 and in with the Whiteline diff mounted watts link, out with the Steeda UCA and bushing and in with the Whiteline Max-C adjustable UCA and oem diff bushing. I now have almost all Whiteline rear (UCA, LCA, reloaction brackets, watt link). Much better NVH and the same or maybe a bit better handling.

I am also running ST Suspensions XTA rebound adjustable coilovers (with 400lb front and 300lb rear springs) which I thought were fairly decent, then a front strut blew out on me this past week and all of the damping on the inside became dampening on the outside of the strut body. It should be covered under warranty but I have to send it in, wait a week or so for it to be inspected and decision made as to whether it would be covered under warranty or not (they do not warranty if excessively lowered, however much that is). I couldn't be down that long as I have several weekends in a row with autocross events, so I had to buy a new strut. I'll get my bad one rebuilt and then have a spare just in case.

Lesson learned, I will be getting with Vorshlag to get MCS single adjustables before next season.

 

[gregb]

Ok, I have now ditched the ST XTA coilovers and installed the Vorshlag MCS TT1 setup with their camber plates and springs. It was great at first but is now making noises from the camber plates... kind of a low, rattle sound. Anyone have ideas of what to check for or are the bearings just noisey?

 

[oldVOR]

I've got Vorshlag CC plates on two cars, one with roughly 20K miles and lots of AutoX's and one with roughly 10K miles and lots of HPDE's. Both Mustangs driven in the rain, etc. and neither Mustang has any suspension noise.
Are you sure it's the CC plates?
Have you checked the swaybar link bolts?

 

[gregb]

I haven't had a chance to check anything yet. I did install new Whiteline adjustable end links when I installed the new struts and camber plates. I'll double check the end links when I get a chance to work on it.

 

[gregb]

My noise was coming from the front sway bar end links.