Did some very effective traction upgrades

[Jorday]

This was my very first batch of mods for this car. The traction situation was not good with the stock Goodyear tires.

I added
Michelin Pilot Super Sport tires in the stock sizes
BMR lower control arms, non adjust, spherical bearing one end, poly on the other end
BMR upper control arm, non adjust, poly bushing
BMR poly differential bushing
BMR lower control arm relocation brackets

I'm VERY pleased with these mods. Man, its like a different car it hooks up so well compared to before. Hooks up in 2nd no problem every time now. You can actually go to WOT in 1st and it spins some but is still moving out, then you hit 2nd and it hooks right back up now. No more sitting there roasting the tires.

Note: I would not recommend skipping the differential bushing upgrade. It's a little bit of a pain to drill the stock bushing out, so I tried using all the parts except without the differential bushing. It's definitely worthwhile, it didn't drive as well without that upgraded along with everything else.

 

[2112]

Differential bushing? The one up top for the UCA? Did you drop the axle to get to it?

You seem mechanically inclined, why did you choose to go the non adjustable route?

 

[Jorday]

Yup, that's the one I'm talking about. Yeah, I did lower the axle a little to get a little bit more room, but I only removed the shock bolts and the sway bar mount. Just those four bolts and it will drop down pretty far. For me, the trick was to us a good 1/5" hole saw and drill from both sides. Then, I used a small wire wheel, a little smaller than the diameter of the bushing itself, to clean out the remaining rubber. It worked out nicely, removed every last trace of the original black rubber in a few minutes. I was initially hesitant to mess with it because it kinda seemed like it was maybe going to be a pain in the butt to remove the original bushing, but it actually wasn't that bad. Probably no more effort than muscling the relocation brackets into place because they fit so tight lol.

I was considering adjustable upper and lower arms initially, and I talked to BMR directly when planning this batch of mods. BMR said that as long as the car was stock ride height and it was always going to stay that way, then the additional cost of the adjustable arms was probably not worth it for me in their opinion. So, I went with the non adjustable arms, relocation brackets and the diff bushing. For stock ride height they suggested the relocation brackets on the top hole to reduce wheel hop. And he did say definitely do the differential bushing because the stock one is soft and the axle gets way outta shape with that thing still in there lol.

 

[2112]

I have removed that bushing with the axle on the floor.

I did not enjoy that process. Kudos for getting it done in the car with skin still on your knuckles.