[jinstall]

OK i HAVE BEEN DOING SOME RESEARCH ON COMPANIES THAT HAVE BUILT mUSTANG lca'S. Ii have sent out a few emails and asked them to look here at our site. The following emails went to:

Griggs Racing engineering@griggsracing.com

X2C Racing info@x2cmotorsports

Maximum Motorsports tech@maximummotorsports.com

SLP Sorry no email addy only a form

SLP is in the process of looking for cars to build products from. I told tham that mine would be back in the US around Sep 04 and would be glad to loan it to them for R&D purposes. I can get a rental for a few weeks if need be. So please email these companies and ask them to get interested in the Focus.

 

[jinstall]

ME:
I noticed that you are now building Mustang parts.
> I currently race with F-body cars with your
> components and are very impressed. My problem is
> that I auto=X and road race a Ford Focus and race
> spec suspension parts are rare. The WS6 and SS I
> race with are loaded with your company's products.
> Although I have done good at holding them at bay on
> the Auto-X, I feel that it will be short lived. On
> the Nurburgring I am completely out powered but
> still faster in the curves. Many Focus racers in
> the US are looking for a manufacurer that makes a
> sturdy kit for the Focus. One company makes a front
> and rear kit but reliability issues have come up. I
> cannot put my life and car on a real racetrack with
> a "maybe" suspension item. My car will return to
> the US in Sept 2004. I would be more than happy to
> leave it at your shop for fabrication and testing.
> After all other modifications are done to the car I
> plan to return to Germany to compete in 24
> endurance racing. Thank you for your time. If you
> need more information on possible sale please look
> at www.focaljet.com for other Focus racers in the
> US looking for these same items.

SLP:
We are currently focusing our efforts on developing Mustang parts. However, we are in the process of researching the Focus market. If we find there is sufficient demand for Focus parts, we will begin to develop headers, exhaust, and suspension parts. As always, the phone and e-mail demands of customers, like yourself, are taken into consideration

So if you want it flood them with emails

 

[P-51]

Where's the demand though? Our stock arm is plenty strong and tough, and doesn't weigh any more than a tubular arm.

Mustangs have a demand because the stock arm is a massively thick, heavy stamping, because it's a modified macpherson strut design. Once you go coilover, you can remove 20lbs from the nose by changing the arms. On the Focus, you'd be lucky to save 2.

 

[jinstall]

I still don't trust the stock LCA at the Nurburgring. I am building the car for the 24 hour event and well things do happen. Same weight or a little lighter would be great.

 

[SlickShoes]

Well, for those that haven't heard yet, a local SoCal track racer (I'll let him speak up if he wants) here had a rear LCA fail on him which resulted in a rollover and a totaled car. Apparently the insurance company confiscated the failed LCA and everything.

This was with stock sway bars and stock bushings. He had KW coilovers and R compounds on for two track days before the failure.

Not good. Especially for those of us pushing the car hard on a regular basis. I would be first in line to buy some good, high quality, track tested, aftermarket LCAs for this car.

Email sent to the above three...

 

[SlickShoes]

Wow!

Already got a response back from Maximum Motorsports.

Your e-mail has been forwarded to the man in charge. He sounded interested and will consider your proposal.

My proposal was they tell me how many guinea pigs they'd need and from where, and I'd handle coordinating the effort.

And these guys obviously are hard core track dudes too.

http://www.maximummotorsports.com/

Ohhh.... here in SoCal too..

 

[jinstall]

Wow I did not get a reply back from them. Hmmm.

 

[CharlesWA]

Well, for those that haven't heard yet, a local SoCal track racer (I'll let him speak up if he wants) here had a rear LCA fail on him which resulted in a rollover and a totaled car. Apparently the insurance company confiscated the failed LCA and everything.

That's got me a little worried... Many autocrosses with H&R coilovers and a Progress rear bar (stock front, hopefully going to the H&R pair this year), but no track days (yet). All on street tires (and not particularly sticky ones at that). Plus 75k+ worth of "daily driving". How often does everybody think we ought to be changing the stock arms out? And is it just the rears that I ought to be worried about or the fronts AND rears? I know some of you have a TON of track miles... Maybe I'm worried about nothing? With the revised STX rules I might be able to get away with swapping the rear out IF there was a good aftermarket option out there. Of course then I'd be running STX so I might as well add then...

It'd be a good excuse to change out a bunch of bushings while I'm in there I guess.

 

[P-51]

Well [censored] me...

Where did they fail, at the swaybar mount? That is really unusual. I would think that might have been a case where... we know the arm design is marginal. And this poor guy must have had a small defect in his.

 

[Laser]

Well, for those that haven't heard yet, a local SoCal track racer (I'll let him speak up if he wants) here had a rear LCA fail on him which resulted in a rollover and a totaled car. Apparently the insurance company confiscated the failed LCA and everything.

This was with stock sway bars and stock bushings. He had KW coilovers and R compounds on for two track days before the failure.

Not good. Especially for those of us pushing the car hard on a regular basis. I would be first in line to buy some good, high quality, track tested, aftermarket LCAs for this car.

Email sent to the above three...

This ties into the Canadian insurance thread.
He really expects his insurance company to pay???

 

[jinstall]

Plus how much hammering from a 400hp motor will they take also? Oh yeah be sure I asked for front and rear set-ups

I am willing to go $500 each, front or rear sets.

 

[SlickShoes]

This ties into the Canadian insurance thread.
He really expects his insurance company to pay???

This failure did not occur on the track. He was driving down the freeway, the LCA failed, and sent the rear end of the car off in it own direction, and he ended up rolling down the side of an embankment. Thankfully, he escaped pretty much unhurt, but had that ditch been filled with water, or had a light post been right there, this could of easily been a fatality.

So yes, defect from a Ford part = absolutely the insurance covers the loss and they deal with Ford. No doubt this is the reason the insurance company confiscated the LCA.

 

[SlickShoes]

Where did they fail, at the swaybar mount? That is really unusual. I would think that might have been a case where... we know the arm design is marginal. And this poor guy must have had a small defect in his.

Not sure. I'm getting all this through email. I'll try to drag this person over to this thread.

EDIT: This just came to light...

The LCA bent near center, inwards towards the middle of the car. The effect was my left rear tire positioned as though it was a front tire making a left hand turn.

 

[Laser]

This ties into the Canadian insurance thread.
He really expects his insurance company to pay???

This failure did not occur on the track. He was driving down the freeway, the LCA failed, and sent the rear end of the car off in it own direction, and he ended up rolling down the side of an embankment. Thankfully, he escaped pretty much unhurt, but had that ditch been filled with water, or had a light post been right there, this could of easily been a fatality.

So yes, defect from a Ford part = absolutely the insurance covers the loss and they deal with Ford. No doubt this is the reason the insurance company confiscated the LCA.

I'm really glad no one was hurt.
Disagree with defect from Ford statement. Did Ford design that LCA for those struts and tires and that driving stress?
I doubt it. I'm only giving an opposing viewpoint.

I've read of two LCA failure and both were from modded cars.

 

[CharlesWA]

Does anyone have access to look and see if the rear LCAs were ever revised from the 2000 MY to present? Maybe it's just the older ones that had some sort of a design flaw? Or they got cheap on the new ones and introduced a flaw or manufacturing error of some sort to make them more prone to failure?

 

[Laser]

Ford has a V8 conversion kit for the Focus. Has anyone looked at the suspension pieces? I would think they would be beefier? Maybe a source.

 

[SlickShoes]

This latest failure was in an '02 SVTF.

 

[SlickShoes]

Disagree with defect from Ford statement. Did Ford design that LCA for those struts and tires and that driving stress?
I doubt it. I'm only giving an opposing viewpoint.

I'm glad we can agree to disagree too.

Yes, his car was slightly modded, but it hadn't seen but maybe 3 track days, with only the last two with R's and coilovers. Streets here in SoCal are considered some of the best in the country because of the lack of severe weather so its not like they were pounded on a daily basis.

I'd bet that those 3 track days, by himself, were equal to the amount of suspension "abuse" a car would see driving in Detroit with a family in the car. Or a simple trip up the curvy coastline with a few friends in the car. Certainly things that Ford's tolerances should take into account.

 

[teamDFL]

I think that this, and the other one other recorded LCA failure, are just random failures. Hate to say it, but tihs happens. If you condider that there are 12,000 or so Jetters, and we each have a minimum of 2 (I have 4, P-51 has like 10) LCA's that would mean 2 in 24,000. I am not sure that we can draw too much from that.

I am in no way saying that your LCA's should not be checked, just trying to make sure that no onw jumps to conclusions on what is really minimal evidence.

 

[Laser]

Glad we can discuss this without everyone getting defensive.

Rich, I agree on your facts but not your conclusion. 2 in 12,000 failed, yes. But the two that did had things in common, aftermarket bars, and I think shocks? So what percent would that be 2 in 200? It's anyones guess. But I don't think we should get lulled into a false sence of security. What I'm getting at is, are these aftermarket suspension component companies ensuring the existing Ford components are up to the task?

Kinda like IF Saleen blamed Ford for defective pistons. When it appears Vortech didn't give enough attention to the stock MAF. (I know it's more complicated than this but just for the sake of discussion.)

In a nut shell if I had a modded suspension I'd be looking for better LCA's.