The BMR adjustable upper control arm, loaded with their poly bushing, should appeal to
the S197 owners out there who want to upgrade the factory option, but more importantly,
want a way to adjust and correct pinion angle on lowered Mustangs.
Now, this becomes especially problematic on cars with a one piece drive shaft and are
lowered more than an inch in the rear, but can still be an issue on stock two piece drive
shaft cars as well.
Now, taking things a step further I would say the polyurethane bushing would be a better
choice for the owners out there who plan on spending most of their time on the road or
on the street, but with an occasional track or strip day mixed in for good measure as
the polyurethane will be a little bit better at soaking up any extra noise, vibration,
or harshness when compared to your other option, which is the spherical bearing.
Now, the BMR poly will be one of your pricier options in the category, around the $180 price
point, and it will get a 2 out of 3 wrenches on the difficulty meter from me, but we will
have some more detail on that later in the video.
So, for those who don't know, the S197 does feature what is called a three link style
suspension with a panhard bar.
You have the upper control arm and two lowers controlling the front to back or roll movement
of that rear axle, while your panhard bar is going to help control the side to side
or lateral movement.
The problem is, the factory components are loaded with those soft rubber factory bushings
which can oftentimes deflect under load or hard acceleration, causing poor traction or
that dreaded wheel hop.
On top of that, the factory components don't really allow for any pinion angle adjustment
on lowered Mustangs which alone can cause their own issues including your driveline
vibrations, premature wear and tear on your pinion bearings, or even your U-joints.
But first up let's break down the construction, and on the surface you're looking at a very,
very beefy part, one and five-eights inch DOM steel tubing to be exact, loaded with
BMR's 95 durometer polyurethane bushing, which is internally fluted.
And basically what this means is it's going to help keep the grease in the bushing at
all times, increasing the lifespan, but also keeping the noise levels down a little bit
which can sometimes be problematic on other non-greasable polyurethane bushings.
The center section, or adjustable portion of the upper control arm, is going to feature
CNC machine chromoly steel with rolled threads, and this will just help make on-car adjustment
relatively easy when it comes time to dial in your optimal pinion angle.
I do say relatively easy because you are going to be working in a tight space above your
pumpkin, especially for you owners out there who have larger hands like myself.
I do want to point out that BMR does like to recommend installing their corresponding
upper control arm mount, which I don't have on the table with me in this video, and that
not doing so might result in some clunking noises coming from the diffed [SP] area while
driving.
And ultimately this is going to be your call, right, because you can totally install the
BMR upper with the factory mount and take a gamble on the noise, but in my opinion,
the mount is only going to help further solidify the rear end and the factory part you're going
to be replacing with that mount is made from thin, stamped steel.
The BMR mount, on the other hand, quarter inch thick welded steel plating and is the
perfect compliment to the upper control arm, and of course you can check that out here
on the site as well if you're interested.
Now, if you did do a bunch of drag racing and maybe you're building more of a drag focus
Mustang, and you want to minimize as much movement as possible with that rear axle,
I would suggest checking out BMR's spherical bearing option as well, also available on
the site, but be warned, you're almost certainly going to be introducing a little bit more
noise vibration or harshness over the poly option that we currently have here.
Another thing to consider is your color, not nearly as important obviously, but you can
grab this in red as you see here on the table.
It's also available in BMR's other signature color, their hammertone finish.
Again, both options are available on the site.
But let's switch gears and talk about the install quickly here, guys, and honestly,
it's going to go down one of two ways.
Now, the upper control arm by itself, two out of three wrenches on the difficulty meter,
maybe an hour or two from start to finish depending on your setup.
Now, if you did want to install that corresponding BMR mount that we talked about a little bit
earlier at the same time, will stretch the install time a little bit in addition to the
difficulty as well, as there are going to be some steps involved including the removal
of that massive bolt underneath the rear seats.
But since we are focusing in on the upper here for the purposes of this video, let's
talk about that.
And on the surface, guy, you're going to need to get the car in the air and use an assortment
of sockets in addition to a pretty burly torque wrench that is capable of 200 foot-pounds
for the main bolt.
Now, once you remove that factory upper control arm, set it and the BMR option on a table
side by side and adjust the BMR to be the same length as your stock upper control arm.
At this point you can reinstall and torque everything down, and your installation is
complete.
Now, if you were going to adjust your pinion angle, now would be the time to do so.
You're simply just going to need to grab an angle finder, take some measurements, and
make your adjustments to dial in your optimal pinion angle with the suspension loaded up.
That's very important.
Now, stick cars should be around the negative two to negative three range, while the auto
car should be a little bit closer to negative one or negative two degrees.
So, if you're looking to correct the pinion angle on your lowered S197 while helping to
eliminate any wheel hop in the process, the BMR upper control arm would be an awesome
choice.
And you can grab yours right here at americanmuscle.com.