snot35

Nearly there. I got some new brake lines made up and they are now in and I've done a quick bleed. I was hoping to bend up some new tube as well but the cheapo ebay double flare tool doesn't work as advertised! Damn! So the old stuff went back in and should be OK for a little bit. Also the middle holder on the brake lines is too close to the caliper to actually be able to clip to the strut, so they're floating at the moment. Once again, I won't be able to do anything about that in the short term. I might put an extra rubber sheath around them so they don't get damaged. So with the rally tyres on she looks like a bit of a tractor! It should do me for the event next weekend, but I need to do something about the height. Also when moving it I discovered some green liquid in the passenger footwell, which is just great! I can only guess that the heater core has corroded. Hopefully I can get away with the event...

I didn't see that coming :)

Where is that strut photo from Altezza? They look like TE72 struts. I'm curious about brake options for that strut type... :)

I like! What size tyres are you running on it?

So got any other pictures of your previous cars altezza, and what were the specs roughly? :)

I have new respect for you altezza, that's an awesome photo. There's a lot to consider if you want to do proper rally. Firstly, consider that building your own car is going to cost you a heap of money and think about whether you want to put that into a T18. Also consider that T18's are a little harder to find, you will bend it, finding new panels and shells might be too hard. At the moment I'm working on a KE70, a car I chose for a number of reasons: I wanted RWD Go fast bits like good suspension, brakes, motors etc are shared with the AE86 so they are fairly readily available There are still a lot of them around so if I roll it into a ball I should be able to find another one Lots of engine options, 4K, 4AGE (Classic), 2TG (up to 2lt) CAMS etc. The first thing to do would be join a local rally club, ask a lot of questions and be realistic about how much you can achieve. I use the KE70 in khana's at the moment which I think is a good place to start. You don't need many mods to run, they're cheap and you get your dirt fix. Doing a proper stage rally takes A LOT more effort in prep, money and time. Cars have to be a higher standard and have all the safety requirements covered. I'd recommend club, khanas, learn a lot, work your way to intro rallies, then club, state, national, then international in that order :P :)

Thank you for your encouragement gents. That's probably the biggest problem I'm working through at the moment, being able to practise! If this thing got pulled over it would be near to game over! So I got it moving after a bit of drama. I tried to reverse it out of the main parking spot and found myself having a hell of a lot of trouble. I managed to get as far as blocking the driveway before it wouldn't go any further (I live on a slope). Nearly had a heart attack because I was quite sure that my wife was going to kill me... :) As it turned out the calipers on a TE72 actually protrude past the face of hub, so when I tightened everything the mags where tightened against the calipers! Bugger. I'm going to need some spacers. Also need some brake hoses made, but we should be sweet after that's done. Setup wise I'm roughly following the Stanza, Escort, TRD AE86 setup details. They're all pretty much the same as far as spring rates/philosophy etc. go. I'm not sure what problem I'm going to tackle next. I'm not sure I'm happy about the ride height, a little more is good, but that's a fair bit! For rough rallies it would be ideal, but for khana it's probably overkill. Maybe I just need to get used to it. The rally tyres fill out the guards a hell of a lot more so it might not stand out so much :) For some reason I've got it in my head that I'd like to half link the rear end.....

Finally got to rebuild the struts. They're now in along with KE30 lower arms and tie rods/tubes for a bit more negative. We've got new rod ends, ball joints, TCA bushes, sway bar bushes, rack boots and rack ends. With a bit of luck the clunking that I had before should be gone. That shouldn't be hard given the steering arms were barely attached to the ball joints previously. So now I have springs of the correct weight installed so I'm expecting a reasonable handling improvement. I also managed to pick up some AE86 PS arms, so it's a bit under 3 turns lock to lock which should help the driving. The struts also fit the rally tyres that I have, where the KE70 struts didn't. The rack still needs a rebuild. That's next. I'm looking forward to the next event now! :)

My fingers are crossed too. Still waiting for that vid of it in action too ;)

At the moment, it's probably not work getting. It depends what car it's from. If it's a T18 diff they can go for as little as $150, but the ratio is crap and will make your car's acceleration slower. If it's a T series with a disc brake rear end, LSD etc then they are often 10 times the above price. It really depends what it is. If you're planning more power and a upgrades in the future then it's the way to go. It would be wasted otherwise.

AE86 will handle 13", I'm pretty sure they're 13" from factory. It will need to be shortened though. I think that will be your main challenge, there won't be too many diffs that aren't too wide. Cool 20 though.

You'll find that the stok shocks are effectively a twin tube design that use the strut as the outer tube. That top seal/bushing holder will have a tube attached to it that actually houses the piston. At the bottom of that tube is some valving. The top bushing holder has holes in it to get shock oil up to lubricate the gland nut, rather than for you to put a pin spanner in it :) Inserts are the go for anything. This design doesn't allow you to gas charge the damper, which is bad :)

Yeah, that bit is held in with a rubber seal. It should come out easily enough though. Invert the shock over a bucket if you haven't already and cycle the shaft up and down, it should pump out oil. You'll get messy :) Once most has come out bolt the strut into a vice. Put the top hat and bolt back on, grab the hat, compress the shaft and then extend it with as much force as you're able too until it's fully extended. You should find that you're slowly able to hammer that seal out of the strut. If it's stuck fast you might need to think a little more about more force/leverage :)

Oh, and you might as well budget for new bushings and joints throughout front and rear. No point having nice shocks and the thing still clunks when turning and floats and speed. :)

I think AE86 power steering racks have different mounts, but you might want to search on that. A manual rack will bolt in, I'm pretty sure. I'm pretty sure I've seen reconditioned KE70 racks on ebay for just over $100. They're probably worth a look if you're putting this much into suspension.

I'm pretty sure the brakes won't bolt on. What you're looking at is the bolt distance on the calipers/backing plates depending on what they supply. You'd have to see what they give you. 114.3 is just the pitch of the wheel bolts on whatever hub you use. KE70 and AE86 both have that pitch, but brake calipers and discs are all different. You will need steering arms and you'll need to find out if caliper mounts are included, or you'll have to find some, along with calipers, hubs and discs. I wouldn't get KE70 anything if you're going to spend that sort of money on a setup. The brakes are tiny.

God that thing would be horrible to drive! I remember when my wife's car used to get stuck in 4wd mode (locked centre diff), it was a pain in the arse. Add locked and front rear diffs and it would be near impossible. I'd go for an open front diff at the very least. You'll probably struggle to find LSD's or anything similar though.

Let alone 10's! Unless there's a turbo or two in there?

I reckon I had one at some stage. If it's new I reckon that the holes were a smidge above 40mm, but not much. Personally I'd stick with the down draft until I could afford EFI or twin side drafts. :)

Buy some AE86 struts converted to coil over. Easy to get many different spring rates, ride height adjustment, plenty of shock options and brake upgrade kits. You'll be able to tune the handling now and then easily tune it again when you change to a bigger engine and brake setup. Rear just good shocks and springs that are reasonably matched to the front.

No, they're all the same.

Looks awesome. What sort of wheels are they and where did you get them from? They look a hell of a lot like the old Enkei wheels the classic Datsun's used to run. Super cool!

Do some searching around toymods. You'll want to think about something like the Corona Pug Hilux upgrade. Stock KE70 struts are too small for anything other than crap shocks. You want bigger diameter struts and big brakes, so the CPH upgrade or something custom. Consider that there are a lot of brake upgrade packages for AE86 struts, but they also have smaller spindles which you may want to think about if you're putting a fair bit more weight in the front.

Those nut seats don't look tapered at all, so as everyone has said get some centering rings. I think just using tapered nuts wouldn't be a good idea as there doesn't look like there is a hell of a lot of seat.

How thick is the steel in that seat mount? My mounts are 5mm plate. I'd probably be more worried about that than seat belt angles myself! I want to fix the seat belt angle at some stage, but at the moment I'm only doing khanas, so my speeds are much lower than yours would be.