10-14-24 - I couldn't let the front suspension have all the fun, so I also added rear camber and toe MPP adjustments to the car.  As I had put new tires on the rear of the car at the start of the summer, and the front tires didn't pass inspection, I had to replace the front tires.  I didn't want the new tires to have too many miles on them before I had another alignment done, so I got these installed before getting an alignment at Duncan's Automotive in Londonderry, NH.  They did an OK job, but they didn't listen when I told them they could dial in the front caster due to the parts shown below.  I am working with them to get it back on the rack and make the adjustment next week. 

The camber and toe arms are supposed to come set to the factory length, but I double checked with my large set of calipers and they were not properly set.  I made them the same length as the arms I was removing, and double checked them by  laying them side by side with the old arms and putting the bolts through.

Apparently I did pretty well, as the alignment was still in the green (except for the passenger side front caster, which likely moved when they loosened the joint for an adjustment).

1-22-22 - Time to upgrade the front suspension to be rid of the squeaky upper ball joints!

Following the refusal of Tesla to cover my squeaky upper ball joints when I was jut past 50k had irked me, however, this is a chance to upgrade while I'm at it.  I had greased the ball joints for the last 10k miles, but the squeak is still intermittent.  With these Mountain Pass Performance upper A-arms, the ball joint is better quality, has a better seal, and is replaceable if it ever wears out.  These cool upper A-arms also allow for quick changes in the front wheel camber, so you can have a setting for street driving, or set it more aggressive once you drive to the track.  As I hope to try out road course driving this summer, I wanted the ability to make these quick camber adjustments.

One of the other adjustments you need to make when changing the camber for track use is to adjust the the toe-in/toe out.  While MPP has some great instructions on how to count turns of the tie rods, however, I can just picture myself loosing count even with sharpie marks.  To prevent this, I have designed a threaded 2 piece clamp that will clap around the exposed threads with two socket head cap screws, and is left in place.  It is installed after you have a proper alignment with your street camber setting.  This creates a fixed reference on your toe-in/toe-out adjustments to get it exactly back to where it was before you made the camber change.  The fork has machined steps in it to use as a gauge to the lock nut that is locked against the tie rod end.  The steps on the fork correspond to the different shim stacks that you add or remove from the upper a-arm.

The two lower control arms in the top picture are for the lower left drivers side.  I wanted to replace these while I have the front end torn apart, just as a precaution.  I had bumped that granite curb about a year ago, and I may have damaged these lower ball joints.  As the ball joints are not replaceable, you must replace the entire arm, so these are factory Tesla lower control arms. I hope there will be aftermarket ball joints available in the future - to prevent the need to replace an entire lower control arm.

The two main rubber joints on these lower control arms and the two on the passenger side will be replaced with Mountain Pass Performance joints as well.  The CAD model and the image to the right of it are a 12 ton press I am making with a bottle jack I already have, along with a bunch of scrap steel I picked up at our town transfer station (dump).  It will allow me to easily press the old rubber bushings out and press in the new MPP parts.  I decided to change these parts while I am rebuilding the front suspension because I noticed that the rubber is torn on the drivers side lower rear control arm.  I apologize for the disgustingly dirty picture, but this car is driven on the NH roads in the winter.  I am not sure if this damage occurred when I clipped the curb, or if it is just normal wear for this mileage.  Either way, these will be significantly upgraded with the new parts when they are installed.

And not to be forgotten, in the upper image is the stainless steel braided brake lines that will replace the factory hoses, along with a flush of the brake fluid so it can be replaced with a racing grade fluid.

UPDATE 3/27/22:

I was able to remove all the old suspension parts and clean the front wheel wells.  WOW what a mess!  Just below the two upper a arm pivots are a couple pockets that are full of wet dirt.  About 2" deep, 2" wide and 4" long.  Likely about a pound of damp dirt in each.  I had to vacuum it out and blow it out with the air hose.  I think this could be considered a design flaw - this is in a critical point of the frame/body and it will certainly cause corrosion issues in the future.  I will definitely be putting this on my regular maintenance routine when I swap wheels a tires before & after winter - just like how I already clean behind the mud flaps.

All the suspension parts have been installed, going for an alignment, SS brake line upgrade & performance brake fluid flush tomorrow at Electrified Garage.

The hydraulic press I made made quick work of pressing the old bushings out & the new parts in.  My tape-measure alignment tracks very straight - I only had to tweak the toe in 1.25 turns on each side.

If you choose to install Mountain Pass Performance suspension parts like these, I would suggest changing the hardware to stainless and using larger tie wraps than the ones provided with the kit.  For the flanged bolts, washers & nuts for the fender wells, I used McMaster 94302A114, 95211A160 & 97400A101.    For the washers under the 12 point bolts, I used 98017A199.  I am working to source equivalent strength or stronger 12 point bolts for attaching the ball joints to the upper a arms.  

I expect this upgrade will have a noticeable effect on the handling of the car, and I suspect that the torn front bushing was a result of me bumping the curb last year.

UPDATE 4/1/22:

The difference in the precision of the steering and handling is very noticeable.  The change from rubber brake hoses to braided stainless lines and the brace for the brake booster really firmed up the brake pedal.  I'm really impressed with the quality and improvement using the MPP parts.  I highly recommend Mountain Pass Performance!