The Project SL: How Low Can We Go?

18 Jan The Project SL: How Low Can We Go?

This is the second entry in our Project SL build. Last time, we looked at the modification of the control arms. Now it’s time to see just how low these modifications have brought us.

So now that we’ve got four modified arms, let’s take a look and see exactly how different the arms look now.

First, the OEM front and rear arms, respectively:

And now the OEM+ front and rear arms, respectively:

So now, the question is, will Tom’s glorious welds fail on the spot, causing the vehicle to comically land on its frame, kicking up a pile of dust amongst a sea of sad faces?

Or will the control arms end up being TOO strong, causing them to begin an endless rampage that will stop at nothing short of world domination?

The answer to both of those questions…is no. Instead, they worked as intended. Which, in retrospect, is the best thing we could’ve asked for. Except for, you know, a million bucks or whatever.

But onto more pictures! Before we cut the arms, we kept the old ones on the SL, and measured the wheel gap to see what we were starting with. Here’s what our original numbers are:

So the fender rests 27.5″ off the ground. Not bad, but we knew we could get lower. Besides, that’s not a very pretty amount of wheel gap. So once we cut the arms, we decided to measure again, and see how it worked out.

In the front control arms, we cut through about an inch or so of material, and in the back we added about an inch and a half. Let’s see how we did:

Right about 25.5″. That puts us at a roughly 2 inch drop. After measuring the other corners, we were pretty much spot on that number for all sides. Not too bad for a car that, in order to lower it, requires either work of this caliber or spring cutting. And like I said two days ago, we’re not big fans of the latter.

Here’s some stanced shots for you folks. Don’t worry about the wheel and tire setup that’s currently on the SL — we’ve got something big in store for that department.

Next time you see the Project SL in the blog, it’ll be all about the exhaust! Don’t miss it, especially if you’re a big fan of admiring Tom and Craig’s welds.