control arm brace idea from a civic

[fastivaB6TG25MR]

i was working on a 2000 civic and notice a 2 piece control arm.

[htchbck]

I noticed the same thing on Friday replacing a wheel bearing on an '02 for a guy at work. I'm stocking up ideas for when/if I build another performance festiva. Have four right now, all but one is one the road, and that one will be tomorrow when I get to the tag office. But still all of them are B3 lol.

[Christ]

Are we fascinated by it being 2 pieces? Cuz theyve used braced lower control arms for years..

Even the 88-91 civic has braces holding the lca in alignment with the front lower crossmember.

[fastivaB6TG25MR]

i am because the lower arm looks similar to the festy's and the gap between the brace and the lca looks to be just enough to accommodate the sway bar bushings.

im very interested in this cause when i launch my front wheels move forward even with my poly lca bushings. maybe i just need to make some sway bar bushings and get to a dyno so i can get a better look at whats going on.

[Movin]

excess weight !

[fastivaB6TG25MR]

lol. i think the added rigidity will more than make up for its weight.

[zoom zoom]

Wouldn't it be nice if you could delete the stock sway bar and adapt theirs! The shorter/thicker bar would probably help alot with keeping the weight distributed.

[sasquatch]

enough stock parts... someone needs to make some "proper" controll arms... ones with heim joints and chromoly tubing.... like so...




they look awesome and are a wack load stronger than anything offered from the junkyard...

[NicholasJackson]

lol. i think the added rigidity will more than make up for its weight.

X infinity

[shorestiva]

Im working on some. I wouldve started on them today buuuuuuuuuuuuut I ordered the wrong size tubing.

[blkfordsedan]

I've wondered if it would be possible to use a length of aircraft cable to keep the LCA's from pulling forward on launch. What if you attached one end of the cable to an eye-style bracket that would attach to the excess threads of the sway bar that stick through the back of the LCA. On the other end, you could maybe attach it to a bracket welded or bolted to the front subframe behind the wheel. With the proper pre-load, the cable would be in tension during launch but still allow the LCA to articulate up and down. Plus, it would be light and easily removable.

I've never actually looked at it close to see if it's feasible, and it may not work.
It was just a thought I had.........which contrary to what my wife says, does actually happen from time to time.

[FestYboy]

the cable you suggest would work to a point, but only in a straight line. you'd loose a great deal of turning capacity because the wheel will contact the cable in a sharp turn.

[htchbck]

I think that was his whole point though... it being easy to install/remove so that you could drive to the track, put it on, race, take it off, and then drive home. But it would be a pain making more than one pass though because you'd have to take it back off to line up for your next one . Unless you have three or four buddies at each end of the track to pick the car up and turn it around

[blkfordsedan]

the cable you suggest would work to a point, but only in a straight line. you'd loose a great deal of turning capacity because the wheel will contact the cable in a sharp turn.

LOL, yeah OK.............so there may have been a couple small details I overlooked! Maybe there's a way you could use an offset bracket to keep the cable away from the tire enough to allow some acceptable amount of turning? Maybe it could be more of a "drag race only" type of deal?

Like I said, I've never really looked at the front suspension close enough to decide if it would be feasable. With all 40WHP I currently have, traction is not much of an issue, LOL.