Summit HEART

iTrader: (5)

keep on twerkin

RotaSpinna69

iTrader: (10)

Just picked up my modified knuckles from the famous drifter/fabricator Derrick Rodgers!!! His craftsmanship is superb. From 35* to 50* angle. I gave him a spare set to make a jig with, so if anyone is interested, I may start helping him get into the FC knuckle business

Looking at $225/$350 with/without core. These are modified, blasted and hi-temp painted to your liking. Will have pics up asap!

Thanks,

Andrew

slowgxl

wow thats a good price for knuckles.....got any pics of them?

RotaSpinna69

iTrader: (10)

Should have pics up by the end of today.

I'm trying to buy as many spares as possible for these guys right now!

Here are some pics of his 240 angle He made these back in 2006!

slowgxl

Damn that a lot of angle...look like once I get the money I'll have to have him make me some. Keep up the good work bro and can't wait to see your car done.

RotaSpinna69

iTrader: (10)

Fat stock tire hitting...

fidelity101

iTrader: (11)

I do love those wheels, I bought a set for my 240sx back when I had one but then I got home from the junkyard and realized the hub bore was too small

RotaSpinna69

iTrader: (10)

^Thanks haha. I just have those wheels on to roll the car around.

Since my thread about my knuckles was deleted, if you happen to have any interest or questions about The Awesome Shop products feel free to post or PM me.

Thanks,

Andrew

RotaSpinna69

iTrader: (10)

Finally got my wheel/steering system up to spec. Awesome Shop USA knuckles, SSR Type V 16x8" +35, 205/45/16, Mazdatrix Outer Tie Rods, and 10mm wheel spacers. 55* of angle no problem

XXR 962 17x9" +35, 225/45/17 out back

J.T.P.

iTrader: (13)

how's the ackerman on those spindles.. judging from the pics of the spindles it looks like it's gonna be pretty bad...

also, have you actually measured the angle? i'm wondering how it's possible to get 55deg of angle when you have 22mm less clearance than the effective offset of the wheel setup i use when getting 55deg of angle (which is only mm away from clearing the control arm/frame rail at full lock).. mathematically it doesn't work.

getting lots of angle is easy... cut and weld... getting lots of good angle... that's another story.

dcwfc3s

iTrader: (1)

True story.

RotaSpinna69

iTrader: (10)

Next week when the engine/trans is swapped in, I will get a good undercar picture. I will also try and have some numbers after an alignment!

Thanks,

Andrew

mikespeed95

That pic is of my car, with my knuckles I made 5 years ago, when all of you were still running spacers,, those are not his FC. And yes there is a ton of ackerman in those, and it also pulls insane-retarded angle that 5 years later, I still don't really see. On my personal car, an extra 5-10* and dragging the inside front tire is an okay trade-off. On the knuckle stuff it should be a bolt-on affair with no tradeoff, which is exactly what the FC knuckle's on rotaspinna's car provide. If he want's 91* of unnecessary angle, custom control arms, and all kinds of crazy doodad's, that can be done, but this is just a simple knuckle setup, not like what is done on my car (which is the one pictured).

Derrick makes the knuckles at Awesome Shop USA, which are the ones on rotaspinna's car and spends normally 1-2 days measuring things and designing them to make sure the ackerman/bumpsteer/bind/clearances depending on wheel sizes are okay. Wish we'd taken a pic when he had not-stock wheels on though. It does measure out to 55* of angle, when we have our shop's mock up wheels on there, which are a much lower offset. Obviously he's not going to have more than 30* with those stock things on there hitting. Knuckles can easily achieve a safe and well engineered 55* with no bad side-effects, but will (obviously) need the proper sized wheels (duh), with the intention being that the customer can swap the knuckle, thats it, and go nuts without worry of any adverse side effects. Derrick has never had a set fail, and has had several sets that are daily driven for 4+ years, and have smashed into walls/cars/other things and are still troopering along.

Carry on. 'Merica.


P.S. Attn Dan Chilton:

































Handhug.

RotaSpinna69

iTrader: (10)

Just went out and measured. Went from stock 35*(which was measured some time ago) to right at 50* of angle with current wheel/tire set-up. No front sway bar. I will throw on the 17x9s and check it out again.

This is with The Awesome Shop USA knuckles ONLY.

Thanks Mike!

Also, got my rear assemblies back from Race Lab Fabrication here in Houston. Pressed out the old and in with the new! Extended studs, new bearings/seals, and MMR toe eliminators.

Thanks ajhehr!

J.T.P.

iTrader: (13)

mike, i wasn't referring to your s13 pics... it's pretty obvious that's an s13 pictured with an absurd amount of ackerman

I was referring to the picture of the fc knuckles... (gold)

I don't have a problem with other people making parts.. (AWR, DCW, Mazdaspeed, Mazdatrix, etc....)
I do have a problem with people making false claims to try and sell their products to mis-informed consumers.
we haven't seen any pictures of a measured amount of angle,
we haven't seen these spindles in action
we haven't seen them producing any results..

therefore all the claims about these knuckles haven't been "proven"

driftfcbuckey

iTrader: (8)

oh hey mike peters is still alive?

you mad bro?

driftfcbuckey

iTrader: (8)

new signature pic is dope!

driftfcbuckey

iTrader: (8)

how does it take 1-2days to measure/fit the spindle end after you guys have already done it once? did you not make a jig the first time around or are you guys jerking off in-between jobs eye balling ****?

RotaSpinna69

iTrader: (10)

I believe he means 1-2 days to measure/fit the spindle and jig for the first set. Now that there is a jig made, should be easy breezy.

Speaking of jerking off, you sure do have alot to say after Justin chimes in haha

RotaSpinna69

iTrader: (10)

Didn't mean to create the other thread to sell these. Just meant to bring The Awesome Shop to light and allow people to BE informed. Especially those who might be in and around Houston.

I will take measurements tomorrow.

Car won't see action until Oct. 15/16th.

Results will follow.

Justin, your comments and constructive criticism are more than welcome.

Thanks,

Andrew

mikespeed95

Its nice to know that people actually give a crap about what is being put up on here. Gives me some tiny bit of faith in the drifting community.

Heres a couple things that may clear up some the genuine concerns here you obviously have:

- I'm just going to clearly state, when everyone else starts taking a HD Vlog of their process for measuring angle, we still won't. I've got an awful memory, whatever we told Andrew it measured out to, is what our anglefinder measured it at. Derrick measures all the cars at Fabricated Motorsports tech days, and uses the exact same procedure every time he installs a set of his knuckles.

- I'm going to have to disagree with the claim that 'we', specifically you haven't seen the knuckles in action. If you've ever seen, or driven with (and you have) Chelsea DeNofa, Aaron Losey, or most anyone else from Texas with knuckles, you've seen Derrick's/ these 'Awesome Shop knuckles' in action.

- Also have to disagree with results. The same design and engineering process that went into XDC Champ Chelsea DeNofa, and mini-season Nopi Champ Aaron Losey's knuckles is exactly what is on Rotaspinna's car in this thread. Made and designed by Derrick Rogers. You've been to these events, and can also vouch for this.

In addition, would like to clear up the claims (even though they don't really agree with each other) that we "Eyeball stuff" and "spend too much time on them". Derrick normally spends 1-2 days creating a new knuckle setup before he makes a jig, to make sure they are the best they can be, and they are perfect for what the intentional use is. I do not know off the top of my head if he has done these int he past, however I do know that he worked at a shop owned by Ameen and Amir Rizvi, who stole a lot of parts and money from him during his stay there before he decided to come share some shop-space with me (which has been pretty fun). When you have to heat up, cool down, install, measure, measure measure, measure, raise car, measure measure measure, lower car, measure measure measure, repeat, repeat, it consumes a lot of time. But to get to the point, yes Derrick probably does spend more time than most would say is reasonable to get these things to where he is happy with them.

We're both in college, and "The Awesome Shop USA" is our facility we play with cars at, and Derrick works out of. For the most part we both do our own thing, but he does all of the knuckles/fab stuff that comes in/out. He's been donig it for a long time, started when I lived in Florida. If you've seen a set of gold, or lime green spindles, they are probably Derricks, either sold out of our shop (started last year), or sold by DeNofa as "Level7tune" (I think that's how he sells them). Derrick has built at least 50 sets of knuckles, that have been on some cars as long as 4 years, daily driven, slammed into walls, winning events, and has never had one single failure. Most customers are in our home state of Texas, and I've seen boxes coming and going as far as Maine and Canada.

In all honesty its fine and dandy that the concern was raised towards the legitimacy of an unknown product, as sadly the industry is cluttered with shady people who will do anything to lie/steal to other enthusiasts in the community. Ameen and Amir Rizvi are shining examples of high-profile theives that have ruined a lot of people's desire to enjoy automobiles and drifting, and due to the chosen behavior of people like them a valid concern towards new products is totally acceptable. Unfortunately Derrick used to work with them for a while, and some people still make the association, and it will take time to separate Derrick from the crooked thieves that are the Rizvi's. Bottom line though is we're in both in school, and this is a fun way to work for us as of right now. Derrick also works at a machine shop that builds LS and other V8's, and one of the engines from there just today won a C-Prepared championship at Solo2 Nationals in Topeka. The results will speak for his work.

I didn't come here to sell anything, and other than when I need crap for my Lemons car I don't really post here or lurk here much. Our customer told us this thread was going on, and I thought it would be best to clear up some of these concerns.

Also, as established 5 years ago, by the fact that I'm not blind, my one-off 5 year old knuckles, the 1st S-chassis knuckles I knew of in the country when I did it, have a bunch of ackerman, and also have an incredibly ridiculous amount of angle. On my personal car, the trade-off is worth it, on customer stuff we let them decide, on our off the shelf stuff (what Rotaspinna has), the most achievable angle with no trade offs is offered. I've got an awful memory, and I'm sure Andrew knows what we measured them at, I don't remember off the top of my head.

Good day.

J.T.P.

iTrader: (13)

good story...

but like i said there's no results and nothing has been proven on an FC, which is what we're talking about..

that's great that there's other chassis' running your setup and they did well on a pro-am level, but they still haven't been "proven" at a professional level. this is what i'm referring to.

when statement's have been made about a product being "the most proven" you better have results to back it... and from what you just explained.. you don't have them at a professional level. (not to discredit chelsea or aaron) but they aren't competing at a professional level and therefore your product isn't "the most proven"

like i said, i don't mind other people making parts, but don't come on here or have a customer come on here to sell your product as "the most proven" unless you have real results that back what you're saying. for example, i don't try to sell s-chassis stuff because i haven't tested it to make sure it works as well as i might say it does... however, i know my FC stuff works, why? because it's tried and true... and has had the best results in the united states of 'merica, not only on a professional level, but currently in grassroots as well.

mikespeed95

It is quite clear someone has pee'd in your cheerios, so I'll ask for a quote to validate your claim that we've even compared our knuckles to yours, or that we instructed anyone to sell our stuff on here. We don't know anything about your knuckles, nor do we really care, as we design our own stuff in house. All of our customers are more than welcome to share how they feel about work coming out of the shop, good or bad, but I don't know where you're getting any of these claims you're making in your post. I would assume that since you own a shop, this would be common sense to you...

Customer has our stuff, is excited about it, is there a problem with that?

Our knuckles have won an XDC Championship, and a Nopi championship. I'll wholeheartedly agree that is Tier II stuff, and absolutely not FD. I think this is the 1st time I've heard someone who drove in those admit they aren't pro-level at all. Confused by your post though are you claiming that your knuckles have won an FD Championship? Really confused at what your post is really trying to convey here. Seems like you are trying to start a pissing match, on the sole act that one of our customers is genuinely excited about getting our knuckles on his car.

driftfcbuckey

iTrader: (8)

lol nahh i just noticed that this thread was getting posted in it once justin posted in here.

im not running justins spindles but i understand firsthand as to what he is talking about because mine were made custom by one of the best dudes in the drifting community, and after speaking with him i understand why mine arent as good as i was "hyping them up to be" after getting a few events in on them and noticing some things with how they react at lock.

i don't have to "back up justin" because he's not giving me anything to do this - however i am trying to help you because these spindles are garbage and the proof is all in this photo man... it's not like i'm popping up out of no where.



you guys posted a photo on a public forum. it's open for criticism. well there it is...

RotaSpinna69

iTrader: (10)

^You do know that isn't my FC or even an FC at all, right?

Haha Unfortunately my build thread has gone a little off topic. But, since there are grown ups conversing here about steering geometry, i suggest you chime in on the paint/flake/body kit section instead. Until you know more about the builder of these knuckles, I would suggest not calling them "garbage".

Well there it is...