schmykel

Now it's the moment most of you (and me) have been waiting for... it's lowerin' time! The other day I picked up a pair of second hand rear leaf springs that had already been reset. It was cheaper and easier than taking my ones out, taking them to a suspension shop, waiting around while they reset them etc etc. Here's a pic - original leaf spring vs reset leaf spring. Can you tell which is which? :lol: The guy I bought the leaf springs off also threw in a pair of 3" lowering blocks and U-bolts. He used to run the reset leafs and blocks together. But once I fitted the reset leafs to my car, I was left wondering how it was even physically possible for him to run the blocks as well. With the car back on the ground the leafs flattened out completely, and the diff was only about 20mm from the bump stops - even if I took the bump stops out I don't think there would have been 3" of space between the diff and the floor! So I won't be running the blocks. I'm happy with the new ride height anyway, it looks good and is above the legal minimum, so I'll leave it as is. Those 3" blocks might find their way onto my Corona instead. :mrgreen: I also fitted the short stroke rear shocks I bought. Turns out short stroke sedan shocks are the same length as standard stroke wagon shocks lol. No matter, they still function ok with the lowered leafs, plus my current shocks were stuffed, so I fitted them up. And I had to get the guard roller back out to pump the rear guards just that little bit more, as the new Equips stuck out further than the old MK2s. They are now flared out as much as they can go, and 'just' cover the wheels. :) Now all suspension mods have been done, the car is going for a wheel alignment tomorrow!

Been working on the car this week. Bought and fitted new wheel bearing kits to the front. Old ones weren't too bad but it was bugging me that I had refreshed everything else on the front end except the wheel bearings. So out with the old, in with the new: Also fitted the AJPS RCA's while I had the front end up in the air: before: after: That should correct any bump steer caused by lowering the front end. Doesn't leave me much clearance for the ball joint grease nipples once the wheels are back on though. I swear, these wheels are right on the clearance limits in every direction!

Thanks Matt! You and me both Glen! Hopefully I'll get the reset rear leafs in today. I hurt my wrist yesterday so I'll see how I go.

After I fitted the fender mirrors I removed the driver's door mirror. That left me with this hole: So I cut out some sheet metal, painted it, and attached it with sikaflex: AND more parts arrived yesterday for my build! - KYB Excel-G short stroke shocks for the rear, for when I lower the back end. - AJPS 40mm RCAs (Roll Centre Adjusters) - These bolt in between the front struts and lower control arms, to correct the changes in steering/suspension geometry caused by lowering the front end. Yeah! --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- well looky what we have here... ;) --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- FRONT REAR Work Equip 01 F: 14x8.5 +6 R: 14x8.5 -9 Tyres: Hankook Optimo H426 195/60/14 Fronts: Rears: Clearance of front wheels to front struts: Clearance of front wheels to castor rods on full lock:

sounds sweet. yeah sorry, been a bit slack on updating my build thread on here. Just been updating my JDMST one. here's a dump from that thread: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Got the chrome front bumper fitted. Had to fabricate some bracket extensions which took a while. Fits pretty sweet now though, almost looks like it is supposed to be there (and not on the holden gemini that it came off :P ) Still need to modify and fit some end caps for the bumper. And check out the 4wd ride height! Don't worry, it'll be sitting a lot lower soon. Just waiting for some 14x8.5 wheels to arrive. I want to fit them before I finish off the wheel arches and finalise the ride height. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Got around to fitting the black plastic end caps for the bumper. At first I chopped up the original corolla bumper to make end caps that would fit the indentation on the front guards, but they really didn't fit onto the gemini bumper very well. So chucked them out and got the gemini end caps and fitted them back onto the bumper. However they looked like this: Well that looked pretty shit as expected, wasn't gonna leave it like that. So this happened: Will do final paint when I finish the guards. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Maintenance work today (boring). Decided to change the gearbox and diff oils since i wasn't sure when the last time it was done. Turns out it can't have been that long ago as both came out fairly clean. Put fresh oil in anyway. Here's a sign of originality - these ID plates are usually lost over the years. It states the diff's part number, ratio (3.89:1), and serial number. Nice! I took the rear cover plate off to drain the oil, which gave me a chance to have a look inside. Everything looked in good nick, and it should seeing as the car has only done 103,000kms. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This post contains fender mirrors. And not the Taiwanese ebay specials... These are genuine vintage JDM (electrically adjustable!!) fender mirrors. I'm not exactly sure what they're off, but it would have been something of similar vintage. At any rate, they suit the car well. I haven't hooked up the wiring for them, as I didn't think it necessary (plus there is no switch on the dash for them, and I'm planning to keep the interior as original as possible). These have proper spring-loaded mounts too, so if you bump em they won't snap off. The plastic bases were pretty rooted when I got them: So I found a good use for the black rubber bump strips that I removed from the sides of the car: They work a treat! And you would probably wouldn't even have noticed them unless I told you :-P Keen eyes will notice though that I took the Toyota badge off the front grill, for a cleaner look. The grill is nicely faded everywhere except for where the badge was, so I'll give it a quick hit of matt black paint when I get a chance.

Hey Nick, thanks for the info. how much of a drop in ride height did that give you? In other news, finished off flaring all the arches, adjusted the tappets, did an oil & filter change, took the car back to the RWC place and it passed! Happy days. now to finish off the mods! - repair/modify/fit/polish Gemini front bumper - remove rear bumper - modify rear leaf springs and make more low - fit jdm fender mirrors - fit chin spoiler

Update! well i took the rolla for a RWC the other week, and they knocked me back for a few things: front suspension bushes and ball joints, inner rack end, rear tyres, etc. so I've been busy fixing all that stuff up. Pulled the front end apart and replaced ball joints and all new Superpro poly bushes. New inner rack ends for both sides too. wheel bearings were ok so just cleaned and regreased. Also fitted JDM AE86 calipers (not pictured), vented discs and power steering arms, as they came with the used coilovers I bought... They consist of: AE86 strut housings XYZ coilover sleeves with springs XYZ 30 way adjustable shock absorber inserts XYZ pillowball adjustable camber tops I disassembled them and gave them a clean. Then test fitted them, but decided to cut the original spring seats off. I'm sometimes reluctant to make modifications that can't be reversed, but it looked like it was going to be a bit tricky accessing the height adjustment nuts on the coilover sleeves at the lower end of the sleeve - the original spring seat was kind of in the way. So I cut them off, and gave the strut housings a coat of paint: looks heaps better! plus makes it much easier to get my C-spanners onto the adjusting nuts now. Also had to make up new metal brake pipes for the back end as the current ones had surface rust on them :blinks: RWC guy was fussy!! Then fitted up the front brakes and flushed & bled the whole system. Then I had to do something about the tyres. I originally took the car to the RWC inspection on the standard 13" stockies. The tyres had plenty of tread left, but the rears had cracks starting to appear between the treads so they didn't pass (told you the RWC guy was fussy!) I was planning on putting my MK2s on anyway, which have brand new tyres, but couldn't just chuck them on and take the car back to pass the RWC as they stick out past the guards. So this forced me to flare the guards now, rather than later. Started on the left rear today, here are some progress pics: I separated the outer arch from the inner arch by drilling out some of the spot welds and levering them apart, and cut a section out of the inner arch so i could get the roller onto the back of the outer arch properly. I then had to weld in new sheetmetal to join the two arches back together: I should be able to finish flaring all the guards in the next couple of days. I'm expecting the fronts to be quicker and easier, as they only have a single (outer) arch. I'll take some more pics once its all done. .

thanks for the advice guys, sounds like resetting the leaves is definitely the way to go then. will have to find a good suspension shop on the sunny coast that can do it. going for a rwc tomorrow, wish me luck! then the modifications can begin... :rocknroll:

Guard roller has been purchased and has arrived :-) Gemini bumper has been purchased and is on the way :-) Picking up some coilovers today for the front. Will need to lower the rear to match. Here's where I need a bit of advice. Been researching online the best way to lower the rear on leaf springs, seems there are several ways; 1. Lowering blocks 2. Get the leaves reset by a suspension shop 3. Flip the leaves 4. Remove one (or more) leaves Seems like flipping/removing leaves is the most common way people do it, however I haven't found any info anywhere on the specifics ie. which leaves to flip, or how many to remove and which ones etc. Anyone got any advice for me? I guess I could spend hours mucking around with different combinations, but haven't got much free time at the moment and really want to get the car ready for the All Japanese Day next week. Thanks

Thanks Cool, thanks for the tip! Yeah I figured out the panel van bumper is different and isn't gonna fit. I'll have a look for a Gemini one! :)

Hi guys I'm pretty new to this forum, previously hung out at AE86DC, JDMST, MX5CarTalk etc, basically whatever ride i'm rolling in at the time. Just sold my Evo 6 and have moved on to an AE71 wagon (who does that, honestly?), but yeah, the Evo just wasn't me. I would have preferred a low roof & flat front wagon, but this came up for sale so i grabbed it. Links to other current & previous build threads: Shakotan Corona Turbo MX5 ITB AE86 So here is my new daily: DETAILS: Stock as a rock AE71, 4AC & 5 speed. 103,000kms & 2 previous owners. Good service history. Pretty good all round really. Passenger side panels aren't quite as good as above, originally owner (old fella) side swiped something at one point so the paint is a bit scratched up and has been touched up with house paint lol. I'll tidy that up along with a couple little spots of rust. Nothing major. Very good interior. Currently modelling my MK2s (15x7.5 -6). As you can see i'm in the process of removing the black side strips. Plans include slamming it, chrome front bumper, delete rear bumper, fender mirrors (geniune vintage jap ones, no taiwanese ebay rubbish), maybe fender flares. Engine wise it'll either be getting a 20V or Beams. Either way it needs ITBs. I miss the induction noise my AE86 used to make! anyone know if this chrome bumper will fit it? http://www.ebay.com....984.m1423.l2649 and these end caps look right i think? http://www.ebay.com....=item3ccbe913cf cheers. will try to update this thread when i get time.

the Racing Forg wheels listed as Weds are actually made by Furalco. how do I know? because I have a set. :wave: