The Complete SPL Front Suspension

Rusty · 10-30-2013, 11:09 AM

The Parts.

The lower control arm bearings and sway bar end links.

Rusty · 10-30-2013, 11:25 AM

Install of the upper arms.

1st pic. What it looks like.

2nd pic. Remove the bolt that holds the ball joint in. It will pop up by it's self. Use a zip tie to hold the spindle from falling. I tied it to the spring.

3rd pic. Remove the bolts that hold the control arm in place. This is where I found out, that they WILL NOT come out.

4th pic. Remove the 3 bolts that hold the coilover in place at the top. Pry down on the coilover and move towards you so that you can finish removing the control arm bolts.

Rusty · 10-30-2013, 11:29 AM

This is what the control arms look like. Compared to each other.

Before I installed the SPL arms. I put anti-seize on all threaded parts. You never know whhen parts will seize up.

I adjusted the heim joints to about the same distance as the stock arms.

Rusty · 10-30-2013, 11:34 AM

Now reassemble.

1st pic. I had a bolt sticking out of the fender on the right side that was hitting the control arm. I ground that bolt down so that the control arm could move freely.

2nd pic. You will find out now that you can freely put the ball joint out in place.

3rd pic. This is what it looks like finished. Before you tighten anything up. Make sure that the heim joints ARE positioned correctly

Rusty · 10-30-2013, 11:38 AM

Ok, the upper control arms are taken care of. Now for the bearings in the lower control arms.

Rusty · 10-30-2013, 11:52 AM

Ok,

1st pic. Remove the sway bar end link from the sway bar.

2nd pic. Remove the nut from the lower ball joint and pop free. You can let the spindle hang free.

3rd pic. Remove the nut from the outer tie rod end. Most people would remove this before the ball joint nut. But doing this after. The spindle will not turn on you when trying to remove the ball joint nut.

I had only had to lightly tap on the tie rod end to get it to pop free.

4th pic. Remove the sway bar through bolt that holds the bottom of the coilover. This was the hardest nut I had to remove. It took some muscle to get it to break free.

5th pic. Remove the nut and bolt on the front of the lower control arm.

6th pic. Remove the 2 nuts and bolts on the rear on the lower control arm. now wiggle free the lower control arm. If you wiggle towards the front. It will come out.

Rusty · 10-30-2013, 11:58 AM

Now you have both lower control arms off. Take them to a shop that has a press. You ain't getting these off without help.

The shop told me that they had to torch the rubber out of the big bushings and used a die grinder too. Cost me $80.00 to let them have fun with them. LOL

Rangerz · 02-01-2014, 09:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rusty

Now reassemble.

1st pic. I had a bolt sticking out of the fender on the right side that was hitting the control arm. I ground that bolt down so that the control arm could move freely.

2nd pic. You will find out now that you can freely put the ball joint out in place.

3rd pic. This is what it looks like finished. Before you tighten anything up. Make sure that the heim joints ARE positioned correctly

Good instructions. Just got mine on this afternoon. Only difference was if you don't lift both front tires off the gound like I did. You will find it much easier to drop the front sway bar in order to get the strut to rlease from the tower. They sure look good

Rusty · 02-01-2014, 09:44 PM

Thanks for the words.

I had both front wheels removed when I did this, and removed the both end links from the sway bar first. It's the stock rubber bushings on the lower control arm not wanting to move that won't allow the coilover to drop out.

Rangerz · 02-01-2014, 11:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rangerz

Good instructions. Just got mine on this afternoon. Only difference was if you don't lift both front tires off the gound like I did. You will find it much easier to drop the front sway bar in order to get the strut to release from the tower. They sure look good

Also the instructions say to align the hiem joints. The pics with mine were very dark. So just adding a pic to Rusty's showing the aligned joints.

[IMG]

[/IMG]

Rangerz · 02-24-2014, 09:53 PM

Anybody else having the hiem joint rotate out of how they are supposed to be aligned? Seems to only hapen on the driver side. The rear most one. I torqued it down pretty good but! It still moves out of whack a little.

JARblue · 05-14-2019, 08:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rusty

Install of the upper arms.

3rd pic. Remove the bolts that hold the control arm in place. This is where I found out, that they WILL NOT come out.

4th pic. Remove the 3 bolts that hold the coilover in place at the top. Pry down on the coilover and move towards you so that you can finish removing the control arm bolts.

How did you pry down on the coilover? My regular spring seems like it's much more in the way than your Nismo springs. I couldn't even get it halfway compressed enough to remove the bolt and then the top mount plate made a horrible noise ...

**update** The top mount plate is fine. It appears the noise I heard was the stud(s) threads rubbing past the holes in the fender well. Before reinstallation I will check the threads and see if they need any repair (a proper tap and die kit might be in my future lol)

As for the bolt... I'm just an idiot. Even after getting the bolt clear of the spring, I was still having trouble removing it. The bolt head was pushing up against the top of the dust boot where the rubber is thicker (see attached photo). Finally, I realized I could just pull down the dust boot completely out of the way and have a ton more room

Rusty · 05-14-2019, 10:28 PM

Did you unbolt the sway bar like I told you to do?

JARblue · 05-15-2019, 06:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rusty

Did you unbolt the sway bar like I told you to do?

I removed the nut, but I never actually took the sway bar off the bolt. Just sliding the dust boot down was enough.

blkwlf · 02-18-2021, 10:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rusty

The Parts.

The lower control arm bearings and sway bar end links.

Any regrets with going solid bushings everywhere? I'm worried about too much vibration on the street.

10-30-2013, 11:38 AM	#5 (permalink)
Rusty A True Z Fanatic Join Date: Dec 2011 Location: Fayettenam,Pennsyltucky Age: 70 Posts: 35,571 Drives: 2011 Nismo GM 6M Rep Power: 2684440	Ok, the upper control arms are taken care of. Now for the bearings in the lower control arms. __________________ 浪人 - 殺し屋 "The Difficult Anytime, The Impossible By Appointment Only" http://www.the370z.com/members-370z-...o-journal.html

02-01-2014, 09:44 PM	#9 (permalink)
Rusty A True Z Fanatic Join Date: Dec 2011 Location: Fayettenam,Pennsyltucky Age: 70 Posts: 35,571 Drives: 2011 Nismo GM 6M Rep Power: 2684440	Thanks for the words. I had both front wheels removed when I did this, and removed the both end links from the sway bar first. It's the stock rubber bushings on the lower control arm not wanting to move that won't allow the coilover to drop out. __________________ 浪人 - 殺し屋 "The Difficult Anytime, The Impossible By Appointment Only" http://www.the370z.com/members-370z-...o-journal.html

02-24-2014, 09:53 PM	#11 (permalink)
Rangerz Enthusiast Member Join Date: Jun 2013 Location: Northern Utah Age: 60 Posts: 476 Drives: 2012 370 Nismo Rep Power: 13	Anybody else having the hiem joint rotate out of how they are supposed to be aligned? Seems to only hapen on the driver side. The rear most one. I torqued it down pretty good but! It still moves out of whack a little. Rusty likes this. __________________ Stillen Gen III/ NST/ Fast Intentions Non-Res HFC & 12" Resonated CF TDX/ Setreb series 9 OC/ SPL upper control arms/ Whiteline front & rear swaybars/ Uprev tuned by Seb@specialtyZ/ 319HP 262TQ/ Z1 PS Cooler/ Z1 SS Premium break lines/ CJM Road Race pump/Carbotech F:XP10 R:XP8 Nismo OC DIY

05-14-2019, 10:28 PM	#13 (permalink)
Rusty A True Z Fanatic Join Date: Dec 2011 Location: Fayettenam,Pennsyltucky Age: 70 Posts: 35,571 Drives: 2011 Nismo GM 6M Rep Power: 2684440	Did you unbolt the sway bar like I told you to do? __________________ 浪人 - 殺し屋 "The Difficult Anytime, The Impossible By Appointment Only" http://www.the370z.com/members-370z-...o-journal.html

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