Z31 Tension Rod Progress

Yeah put me down for a set.

Well on closer inspection of the picture, it looks like an early style bracket. Also the way the rod end has an adapter piece on it. Looks nice!

I am also in, if these are applicable to the later style. Glad to see my early rods and brackets finally went to use

I'm in for a set

I`m in for a set too

Thanks for the replies guys. I'll be making M12 version only. M10 guys will have to drill out.
We did test the FK bearings and we found the Aurora bearings to have less friction and higher misalignment angle. We have these bearings made in mass qty, as we use them for all of our rods, so as long as we can utilize them we should be ok with pricing.

The final production version will have more angle than the OEM tc rod, as we found the stock angle to have high misalignment angle at lowered ride height. We're only adding small amount so it doesn't affect the guys at stock 4x4 ride height :P

I'll be working on the CAD drawing this wk and hopefully we can go into production soon.

Thanks!

Yes, it'll come with new grade 8 or equivalent hardware for mostly bolt-in affair, except for the M10 guys, will need to drill out the holes.

The problem with stock TC rod is that it uses rubber bushings, which are designed to isolate noise and vibrations. They are not designed for performance at all. Your caster will change under braking, cornering, even over bumps. When caster changes, your toe, camber changes as well. Not to mention, loss of feel. I'm designing the TC rods to be solid mount with Aurora rod ends, which will eliminate these problems. You'll also be able to adjust the caster to add/subtract and most importantly even out both sides.

I was pointing this out specifically because _all_ the early style bracket people will have m10 holes…

If the kit works with both style brackets, then some will have m12, but I understand if they are just easier to produce at m12

What about the side attaching to the tension rod brackets? The early style and later style are markedly different.

This design is for early style tension rods only, as seen in the original picture in this post.

GE brings up a good point, the early style LCAs did come with M10 holes, which can be easily drilled out. Later Kouki arms came in m12 and also have a reinforcement plate spot welded underneath. My speculation is probably from stress cracking. Its has been documented on here that people have cracked LCA over time (specific one that comes to mind was just lowering springs after a few years of use).

Now with roll center adjusters available, and aftermarket tension rods, this will alleviate a lot off stress seen on the LCA seen from the stock setup (tension rod). With cars starting to get lower, products like this will greatly resolve the moment created by the tension rod setup with the added benefit of adjustability.

Myself, prior to after market tension rod available has always switched to kouki m12 LCA adding in cross bracing and cross brackets ( ie. boxing them in) to compensate for the higher stress. Now with products like these, peace of mind can be had.

So for a direct bolt-on, one would need newer LCA's but older tension rod brackets? Hah, I guess I'm all set then.

Yes m12 LCAs (stock or stock drilled) and early tension rod mounts.

Examining my early brackets, I'm finding they are all structurally rusted where the bushings were, I wouldn't trust them with something solid putting full load on them… I hope this kit comes with donuts to sandwich that part, I can't be the only one

I doubt you are the only one, you also live in Ontario. Not all Z31s are structurally rusted.