Description
Box-stock, the Blitz is quite a rugged truck but hard-core racers and bashers are managing to find its weaknesses. That’s where RPM steps in. RPM A-arms and Bulkheads for the HPI Blitz, Firestorm RTR, E-Firestorm & E-Firestorm Flux are designed to eliminate those minor weaknesses in these otherwise strong competitors. Our goals were simple: Make them strong, make them slop-free and make them look great on the truck. Mission accomplished!
Strength is always a number one priority when we design aftermarket parts for any vehicle. By increasing the thickness of the material around both the inner and outer hinge pins, splitting A-arms at the hinge pins will be a thing of the past. Our front A-arm design eliminates the stock front bulkhead in favor of a new design that spreads impact forces over a much larger area. This distributes those forces more evenly and helps prevent breakage of the more sensitive, more expensive and fragile inner components. We also focused on the hinge pin retaining system used on the stock A-arms. Using a small screw hole so close to the hinge pin like the stock arms do weakens the A-arms at that point. We moved the hinge pin retaining screws in-line with the hinge pins, significantly strengthening our A-arms in the process.
Our next objective – eliminate the slop – was a simple matter of using closely controlled materials processing and tight mold tolerances to allow a free moving suspension system without unnecessary free play. We tightened the sizes around the hinge pins and eliminated fore and aft movement at the inner and outer hinge pins (the stock front end, for example, allows over 1/16” (1.5mm) of forward and rearward movement)! The end result is a suspension system that will hold camber, toe and caster settings nearly perfect, even under the toughest of conditions.
Our final objective – to create a great looking set of suspension arms – came from our standard practice of beveling the leading and trailing edges of the A-arms. The 30-degree angles create a slim profile, which not only looks great but also cuts through the dirt and air to help reduce overall drag. Form and function, all rolled into one!
Tech Notes: RPM Front A-arms for the Blitz, Blitz ESE, Firestorm RTR, E-Firestorm & E-Firestorm Flux require the use of the included RPM front bulkhead. Stock and aftermarket bulkheads will not work with RPM front A-arms.