,
 |
| The bender in action. |
To be able to adjust a little more negative camber into the suspension Whiteline supplied us with their camber bolts. The camber bolts have an eccentric cam built into them to allow a small degree of adjustability of the camber. The bolts are strong and unlike inferior quality camber bolts, they do not slip even when using sticky R-Compound tires. Adding negative camber is important because it helps keep the tires tread flat on the ground when the car rolls in cornering. Too much negative camber can have a bad effect on tire wear but we are not going to add that much for our first stage of modifications, in fact the amount we will add will improve tire wear in spirited driving. To get more adjustment, we replaced both the upper and lower strut bolts with the adjustable parts.
 |
| Bars stock into sway bar step one, a before and after look. |
The most interesting part in the handling pack and the part, which we think is responsible for the great improvement in balance under throttle application and braking is Whiteline’s caster/anti lift kit. The STi has a large amount of anti dive and anti lift geometry built into the suspension. Subaru’s intention was that this would help control body motion under acceleration and braking allowing the use of stock springs. Unfortunately what this does is cause a large change in wheel rate when acceleration and brake torque is applied to the suspension, effectively stiffening the suspension under these conditions. Stiffer front suspension causes more weight transfer to the outside front wheels under these conditions and an increase in understeer. By relocating the lower control arms rear pickup point, the amount of anti lift and anti squat is reduced to nearly zero. As an interesting point most true racecars have zero anti lift and squat designed into their geometry. We feel that this kit is responsible for the Whiteline’s cars great improvement in on throttle handling reducing the sudden swing to oversteer that plagues the stock car.
 |
| The rough bent bar is checked in a jig for the proper bend. This is critical because if the end heights are off, the corner weights of the car can be messed up. |
 |
| Next the ends of the bend bar are heated nearly white hot. |
 |
| The hot ends are mashed flat by a giant forging machine. |
 |
| Next another forging machine punches out the holes for the end link bolts. |
 |
| The still hot final product is a one piece end which has superior strength to the typical welded on part. |
 |
| The bar is given a final dimensional quality check to make sure all is well before painting on another jig. |
