Quote:
Originally Posted by MFGJR
Any update on the FCABs? |
Alright so work has been progressing and he has what has been done so far.
Before Ben went and designed a new set of off set bushings he wanted to see what effect an E46 M3 centered bushing would have on the car. So we used my brothers car as the guinea pig. What we did was to go to Rogues trusted alignment shop, Northeast Motorsport, and have the car aligned and corner balanced with the stock bushings to my brother preferred track specs. Then after that we took out the stock bushings and installed the Rogue E46 M3 bushings. After those were in the car we aligned and corner balanced the car again. The reason this was done was Ben was thinking that with the centered bushing we would not be able to get the correct caster settings. Turns out we were able to align the car perfectly. Next up we put the bushings to the test and took both of our cars to a two day track day at NJMP and the results were promising but not perfect. Overall the bushings really helped the car. Turn in was improved and handling throughout the corner was more consistent especially in the high speed stuff. Combine these bushings with his spring weight (700lbs front/850lbs rear) and the car was razor sharp! I was jealous he has them and I didn’t. Now for the down sides...
By using a centered bushing it moves the wheel towards the rear of the wheel well. This can be okay if you are using a skinny tire like we use but if you were lowered and were using a thicker OE style tire it would cause and issue with rubbing the center rear of the fender liner. In addition these could only be used if you had after market camber plates. This is okay for guys like us who have all the suspension mods but for guys that don't have camber plates these bushings could not be used. So back to the drawing board! An offset bushing will have to be used. So his current thought is to machine a new housing similar to the OEM housing but to machine it so we can use the RE E46 M3 bushings but instead of the bushing being offset he will machine it so the whole housing is off set.
After all the work we have done so far I can understand why people have said they will make the bushing but then they end up not making them. There is just no easy solution. Fear not though... Ben and the guys at Rogue are going to come up with a solution!