Posted: Fri Nov 22, 2013 12:46 pm Post subject: keepin it low
what are people doin to keep there cars low
my tie rod ends hit on the front shock towers
my question is can u buy smaller tie rods or modify the wish bone or has any one modified the strut tower to give the tie rod more room to come up
new to the aristo only had it 2 days so any help would be appreciated
thanks
my exhaust has been modified so it sits level with the rails and don't hang down
it sits nice it can go lower but hit bump in the road and hit tie rod hard against tower
how do I load pics
computers and me aren't great friends haha
Joined: 22 Apr 2007 Posts: 4010 Location: Perth, WA
Posted: Fri Nov 22, 2013 3:54 pm Post subject:
I use imageshack.us ... sign up there and upload. it will resize the pics for you if you tell it to.
I think we may have a terminology problem. There is no way in hell you're bashing your tie rod ends on things... Perhaps you mean your upper control arms? They will definitely hit the body if you get low enough. _________________
1994 Black JZS147 Aristo - RIP. Went swimming
New 1992 Aristo Project
Joined: 22 Apr 2007 Posts: 4010 Location: Perth, WA
Posted: Fri Nov 22, 2013 4:35 pm Post subject:
You have a few options then:
Get a bodykit and oversized wheels so the car is lower to the ground without changing suspension height.
Bash/cut your wheel arches out where the tie rod hits.
Cut the vertical arm from your hub down an inch or two and re-weld the balljoint further down.
Both B and C are blantantly illegal, but do-able.
B is "damaging the chassis" so is unrecoverable as far as if someone catches on, your car is an instant write off and not claimable under insurance/etc.
C is "modifying suspension system" so requires engineering approval if someone catches on.
A.. if you do it right you will probably be able to achieve the look you want without needing to touch the UCA's. But you will never be able to lay frame on a Aristo without doing something to your UCA's. _________________
1994 Black JZS147 Aristo - RIP. Went swimming
New 1992 Aristo Project
thought there may of been a aftermarket control arm or something that's why I asked before I started cutting or panel beating.
not really into body kits
and already got 19x9.5+19 front
and 19x11+23 rears
Joined: 22 Apr 2007 Posts: 4010 Location: Perth, WA
Posted: Sat Nov 23, 2013 3:21 am Post subject:
I meant oversize wheels as in.. oversize the tyres and all. If you get big rims and skinny tyres the rolling diameter ends up the same anyway, so no difference.
If you actually oversize your wheels you can scrub your tyres onto your guards without needing to lower drastically, thus your UCAs will fit fine. There is enough room in these wheel arches to oversize by a fair bit and still not scrub so you can get the car "looking" crazy low (as there is no clearance between wheel and arch) without it necessarily being that low. 19s are not really that big though would be enough if you just get fatter tyres to fit them. _________________
1994 Black JZS147 Aristo - RIP. Went swimming
New 1992 Aristo Project
I Put this in another post, but I will add it here as it is relevant:
Now I don't want people to get butt hurt here.
But if you want to be low in the front you need to do 2 things (unless you want to do things badly).
1st
You want to have LCA spacers... like the nightpagers shown in this pic here.
These will automatically lower you 30mm without any spring change but MORE IMPORTANTLY it will LOWER (in relation to the ground) you lower control arms 30mm, which means the first 30mm of lowering you get with NO negative benefits to the lower arm angles and therefore angle between your tie rod ends a LCA.
But your upper arm will now be 30mm higher and the angle of that ball joint is getting to the point were it will not work effectively and wear out alot faster.
2nd
You want to take atleast 30mm (more like 50+mm if you want to be stupid low) out of the hub/upright so that will bring your top wishbone/LCA back to a more factory angle. So you are low due to spacer as well as spring, then you bring angle more inline with factory via shortening upright which will bring the upper control arm back via the amount its shortened.
Any capable engineer could cut and shut the arm for you and I would expect the pair could be done for about 1-2 hours labour.
THe part that needs to be shortned
Any other way of doing this is a compromise on handling, safety and reliability. Ball joints are not supposed to be run at big angles and they will/do break.
None of this stuff is complex, uprights can be found cheap and the nightpagers are only a couple hundred dollars. So for less than $500 and about 1-2 hours to fit the parts depending on how you are with some spanners, you can have your car stupid low and get the arms reasonably close to how the factory intended.
Joined: 22 Apr 2007 Posts: 4010 Location: Perth, WA
Posted: Sat Nov 23, 2013 7:35 pm Post subject:
*nod*
I agree from an engineering point of view, cutting your upper arms and shortening them is much much better for your suspension dynamics than cutting out the hole in the strut tower for your UCA to poke through. It has the added benefit of if somehow it gets picked up on (very doubtful) you can just swap our your hubs and pass inspection then swap the modded ones back in.
The only real negative is that you will need to be careful about clearance between the balljoint knuckle and your tyre. _________________
1994 Black JZS147 Aristo - RIP. Went swimming
New 1992 Aristo Project
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