Hey guys, in an attempt to ditch the stardard brakes, bad shocks and cut springs of me ke55 coupe, id love to do this particular upgrade (180sx struts, springs, brakes).

The reason i've purchased stuff from a 180 is that thats just what was available on pay day, and at a decent price, and id rather keep this cheap! Obviously, upgrades from this strut are everywhere too (coilovers etc)!

 

What i have bought:

- 180sx struts/ strut tops/ brakes etc with some sort of aftermarket springs in there (chopped tho :no2: )

- 15's to fit the brakes (came bolted onto the struts)

- sr20 crossmember (came connecting the struts), which id be happy to sell on the cheap to anyone who can use it.

 

What i have read already:

 

- various people have talked about how this upgrade effects steering and handling geometry.

- various people have done this upgrade to AE86 and ke70s and have had sucess.

 

What i want to know still:

 

- What exactly needs to be modified or bought to make this set up fit, and work decently well (from anyone experienced pleaseee), in a ke55, or if even this is possible.

- Any tips from members in setting it all up.

 

Keeping in mind my only experience with suspension is pulling standard stuff apart/ swapping springs and reinstalling the standard stuff.

I can't weld or fabricate stuff and have minimal tools, but I'm happy to get someone else to make something up or whatever is needed.

 

Yeah anyways ill keep trawling for info but anyone with any relevant experience would be an awesome help.

I'd be heaps keen to work this out and share feedback once it all goes in and is sorted out for anyone else looking to upgrade!

Sorry about the length!

Cheers, Ro

 

Edit, Found a few good links so far for anyone else interested, here are 2:

 

http://www.toymods.o...conversion.html

 

http://www.toymods.o...-fitment.html

Edited November 22, 201114 yr by rowantsarolla

I've been trawling forums and getting PM's off members and have worked out that for a KE70 i would also need for the conversion:

 

- Celica RA60 rack ends. Not sure whether to try and find some at a wrecker or source them from somewhere like repco?

- Bluebird TRX tie rod ends

or

-AW11 rack ends and s13/180sx (are they the same) tie rod ends.

- Camber tops? Not sure if i need them, or even whether to use ae86 or ke55 or 180sx tops. Obviously these might not all fit the spacing of the strut top holes hmm. Chillin had to drill a new hole for his AE86 strut tops hey

 

Are there any differences between ke55 and ke70 that i will need to take into considerations for this conversion?

 

Ro

Still after any help for this. Mainly which strut tops can i use?

You may be able to find strut tops for a KE55 otherwise when people do conversions in the ke70/ae86 they normally use the S13 or 180sx camber tops as it generally only requires the holes to be drilled out a bit, ke70 ect are not an equilateral triangle so they might be different to your ke55 ones.

Rack ends? You have to remember Ke70 is rack and pinion and you ke55 is steering box so ke70 doesn't perfectly interchange.

 

People use r31 lca's in ke70's doing the conversion which from memory are 300mm but ke55 stock is 315mm From memory s13 is 330? Could be very wrong here!

 

So s13 lca's into Your ke55 crossmember, You *should* be able to bolt your ke55 strut tops onto the 180sx gear, if not camber plates are avaliable from otomoto

 

http://www.otomoto.com.au/p/4116516/hsd-universal-camber-top-kit.html

 

 

Don't forget you'll need brake hoses made up for the nissan front brakes.

I would advise that you find someone who has done this to a ke30/55 rather than reseaching ke70's.

There are two many diffences between the two as mentioned, and you have already said that your experience with steering is limited.

 

It would take a fair bit of knowledge to get this conversion to work even close to as well as the standard steering on your car, so unless you find someone who has got this seriously sorted on their ke30/55, you should likely go with one of the usual setups that are much easier.

Yeah cool, thanks for the info/ advice. Unfortunately i havent yet found anyone who has done this conversion to a ke55, and have never really been a fan of pioneering this kind of stuff. Maybe ill offer what i have up for cheap sale to a ke70 owner and suss out other alternatives. Really, id just be doing it for the bigger brakes, and because i got stuff cheap!

Thanks, Ro