Sway bars and stuff

wildfaye · Post by **wildfaye** » Sun Oct 05, 2003 1:19 pm

Hiya,

Can anyone enlighten me on what to sway bars do? Are there any aftermkt makers of these for the FTO?

What about castor/anti-lift kits and camber kits do?

Sam

Deeps · Post by **Deeps** » Sun Oct 05, 2003 3:09 pm

Did you mean strut braces?

wildfaye · Post by **wildfaye** » Sun Oct 05, 2003 4:46 pm

nope...its those stuff undercarriage...needs bushes n stuff...
any idea?

dumbfounded...

MattG · Post by **MattG** » Sun Oct 05, 2003 5:07 pm

The camber on the FTO is factory fixed. You can get aftermarket caber kits. Whiteline makes an anti-lift/camber kit.

Eseentially what the castor/camber/toe does is change the angle of the wheels, this can improve cornering. These are common settings that are changed during a wheel alignment, however some vehicles have one or two of these factory "preset" and cannot be changed, this is where aftermarket productswork well.

The anti-lift/dive kit reduces the amount of travel the nose of the car does. Lift occurs when accelerating heavily (ie nose goes up), dive occurs when braking heavily (nose goes down). By reduing the amount of lift, it should improve traction when taking off.

As most factory vehicles are biased towards understeer (seen to be a safer alternative than oversteer), fitting of the larger rear swaybar will help in providing a more neutral characteristic in the handling at the limit. This is due to the increase in roll stiffness at the rear, which loads the rear wheels more unevenly and provides slightly less grip at the rear than previously.

For more info see www.whiteline.com.au

Yes they do make products for the FTO.

M@

Jeff · Post by **Jeff** » Sun Oct 05, 2003 5:13 pm

I agree with all the above.
I just recently had all my suspension done. A firm in Brisbane Fulcrum. Ask for Warick he knows a hell of a lot about suspension. He took multiple drawings and readings from my FTO and has done a lot to reduce understeer. I can highly recomend them.
Jeff

D-TRAIN · Post by **D-TRAIN** » Sun Oct 05, 2003 6:00 pm

I think it comes down to how old, or what the condition of your FTO is. FTO handles pretty well out of the box.

Lower swaybars and strut bars help in providing less chasis flex. Bushes also provide rigidity to chasis flex. On an stock FTO, these bushes are rubber I believe. Aftermarket ones like Whiteline are made from polyurethane, which means it will last longer than rubber and have less compression (greater rigidity).

Another popular brand besides Whiteline with a range of swaybars and struts are Cusco: http://www.cusco.co.jp

wildfaye · Post by **wildfaye** » Mon Oct 06, 2003 12:17 am

wow, there is just so much 2 learn on suspensions!

my car is 5yrs now from new...needs an upgrade...keke...

so u guys mean that the bushes that come with the whiteline ones are not rubber and polyurethane rite?

i know cusco has struts for the FTO but do they do sway bars for FTOs too? i done seem to be able to find this info in their catalogues...

thanx mates
sam

D-TRAIN · Post by **D-TRAIN** » Mon Oct 06, 2003 7:26 pm

Yeah the Whiteline ones are polyurethane. The only downside from replacing the rubber ones with these is that you will probably get a harsher/less comfortable ride. But if your bushes need replacing or worn, you might as well go with the polyurethane ones. Once you replace them, you probably won't have to look at them for a long time.

Cusco have 2 different types of the lower arm brace:

(FRONT)
Type 1:

Type 2:

(REAR)

I have the Creative Sports version of the Type 2 front lower arm brace, and I must say it must be one of the best mod I've done to the car.

wildfaye · Post by **wildfaye** » Mon Oct 06, 2003 7:30 pm

oh yeah...these r beautiful baby...

i heard e type 2 fronts can onli fit manuals rite?
so i assume u got a tip n used e creative one instead am i rite?

so do u know y cant we fit e type 2 cusco on our tips?

sam

ps: does cusco do the sway bars for FTO?

D-TRAIN · Post by **D-TRAIN** » Mon Oct 06, 2003 7:43 pm

Yeah not sure if the type 2 Cusco will fit. I wasn't game enough to try so went for the one that would work.

No Cusco don't make the sway bars like the Whiteline ones. These are the only chasis strengthening stuff from Cusco. Should be adequate for daily road use.

If you're looking at taking your FTO to the track, then the Whiteline ones are probably what you should go for. But with day to day driving, the Cusco ones are well their worth.

I'm just more partial to the Japanese brands because I know with some confidence that they know what the FTO can or can't do.

wildfaye · Post by **wildfaye** » Mon Oct 06, 2003 11:32 pm

how much do u get those creative front under H brace for?
I am in Perth.

I agree with the part on Jap brands, hence trying to find if any Jap makers do those sway bars...hmm..seems like none...

WILL · Post by **WILL** » Tue Oct 07, 2003 12:53 am

Tanabe makes front and rear swaybars for the FTO GPX, GR and GS

Post by **smorison** » Tue Oct 07, 2003 10:26 am

i have sway bars already from Japan. Shortly we will be developing similar ones as part of our Unique FTO project. these will be a lot cheaper than buying the Cusco or other Jap ones.

The rear one is a fixed position one.

The front is adjustable so you can control the stiffness you want as well as allowing for camber to be adjust so you don't have to worry about getting sway bars developed for different camber settings.

We have almost finalised the Master Cylinder support bracket to go with our strut braces and will have this ready for production in the next few days with any luck.

SilentBob · Post by **SilentBob** » Tue Oct 07, 2003 12:15 pm

smorison....very exciting...what other mod's is Unique developing??(or is that top secret?)

SIlentBob

Post by **smorison** » Tue Oct 07, 2003 12:44 pm

what are we developing? well check the FTO Project link for updates plus they will all be announced on this site.

We are starting with handling products and Intake modifications to start off with. I want to look at throttle bodies and possibly other products soon. There is also the possibility of a turbo kit if we can get enough interested buyers. Unlike the RPW one this kit won't have to be shipped off to the UK for testing.

I'm looking at cosmetic modifications as well but these are taking a bit of time to get sorted out. I'll advise more in the near future on this area

SilentBob · Post by **SilentBob** » Tue Oct 07, 2003 2:26 pm

smorison-excellent....handling upgrade is high up on my 'to do' (money permitting of course

)

SilentBob

Post by **smorison** » Tue Oct 07, 2003 2:51 pm

front strut brace cost will be somewhere around the 250.00 mark made from titanium. the equilivent CUSCO product will set you back about 500.00.

so what's the difference?

none! Infact this one will be better cause we've taken a CUSCO strut brace and improved it, so you're getting a better product for about half the price.

Adriano · Post by **Adriano** » Tue Oct 07, 2003 3:00 pm

how do you think it would compare to the whiteline strut brace that retails for $180?

wildfaye · Post by **wildfaye** » Tue Oct 07, 2003 3:00 pm

i found the tanabes on Tension
http://www2u.biglobe.any.jp/~fto/fto/parts/ashi-e.html
rite at e bottom of e page.
seems very expensive thou

will e ones UNIQUE be deleoping be cheaper than e WHITELINE ones?

Q: why is Unique doing adjustables for fronts but fixed for rear?

sam