I've used 2 to make one so far

So yeah, by the time I'm finished I'll have used 4 to make 2. I didn't bother trying to economise by using only three, as I had enough spares lying round to use. BTW, 180B ones (which were my extra two) are identical. I used the original 1600 ones for the inner half as the bushes in my 1600 ones were good, and the 180B ones supplied the outer half.

As in the shot below, I made a "Z" shaped cut by offsetting the top and bottom cuts and then cutting down the centreline of the sides to join the top and bottom cuts.

The only thing I had to do extra was to take a little "V" shaped bit (shown in blue) out to get the tops to line up, as the arm tapers so when you join it up the top sections are different heights.

I also wrapped the bush end in strips of towel, the poured water over the towel to protect the rubber bushes from the oxy and associated heat.

Used an inner tierod end as the outer, and it all seems good.

I've yet to work out exactly what caster to run, as lengthening the LCA also causes the caster rod to pull the LCA forward and distorts the bushes a bit. I'm probably going to use a spacer to reduce this effect.

Also, not sure how the sway bar will go as again the mount points on the LCA's will be further apart.

I'll let you know how I go when I attack it again - probably on the weekend.

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1970 ex Group A Rally P510
1971 P510
1972 180B SSS
1965 SP310 Fairlady
1966 SP311 Fairlady

They look good dave, that is going to be alot of negative camber tho

I ended up buying a set of lengthened control arms off stewart wilkins for $140 exchange. They are lengthened by 15mm, which according to him, with offset strut tops, give about the right amount of camber (2.5 degrees I believe) for a street car.

He has put reinforcing on the sides of them, i'll take some pics when I get a chance to help add to the discussion. I haven't even had a chance to give them a close inspection myself:S

Its a track-only car, and should end up about 3.5 deg neg camber. I don't have adjustable tops that fit - the S13 ones I have use a different size thread on the strut cartridge - so the lengthened LCA's are all I've got to play with at the moment.

I wouldn't go that much for a street car.

Any more camber and it looks like I may experience tyre-to-guard clearance issues. I've still got to make sure that this isn't an issue with what I've currently built (which is why I only built one to start with ). Ideally, you'd use less length in the LCA's plus adjustable tops, as this would tuck the tyre in under the guard better for the same amount of camber, but this isn't within my budget

I'm running 195/60/15's on TRX rims and using 240K struts. I'd like to get some lower profile semi-slicks, but haven't found any of these within my budget either (ie real cheap). I've been led to believe I won't need as much camber if using this type of tyre due to the stiffer sidewall.

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1970 ex Group A Rally P510
1971 P510
1972 180B SSS
1965 SP310 Fairlady
1966 SP311 Fairlady

Close, but no cigar

195/60/15 tyres + TRX rims + 240K struts + 35mm extended LCA's = tyre JUST touching the guard

It would be fine if I roll the guard lip, but I don't want to do that on these guards as they are good straight ones.

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1970 ex Group A Rally P510
1971 P510
1972 180B SSS
1965 SP310 Fairlady
1966 SP311 Fairlady

I realise you are working to a budget, but if TRX wheels are touching the guards, just about anything else will.

Have you considered flared f/glass front guards?

Another option is to look for a pair of the 180B off set strut tops - not a lot of offset, but it will all help.

Would it be race legal to make some offset strut tops?? You can add around 8 - 10 mm offset to K struts/springs/tops before you hit the inside of the towers.

I have done this before if you want pic's.

_________________
'70 1600 - project
EVO I - toy
MX83 Cressida - daily

I'll probably go the flared guard option. I've got a few (admittedly shabby) spare guards, so I'll flare a pair of them, paint them up and put them on.

I've got a set of offset 180B strut tops that I'll be trying on to see how that works out, but that will raise the ride height by 25mm or so as the 240K tops I am using now are "thinner" than 180B tops. Then I'll want to get new springs .

When you made offset tops, did you start from scratch, or modify existing ones ? The ones I have are sort of a rounded triangle shape rather then round like 1600 ones, which means I can't really just add new bolts in an offset location. I've been looking at the 240K tops and thinking about modifying them to offset them a bit, and also reducing the LCA length a bit. Or I could just run less camber. Or I could get the S13 adjustable ones I have altered to suit. Plenty of options, just need to work out the most efficient one.

This may be the catalyst to drive me towards what I wanted to do anyway - drop back to 14" wheels under flared guards. The logic behind using TRX rims was to avoid having to do so, as I couldn't find a cheap 14" rim with a similar offset to TRX ones and didn't want to have to flare the guards.

_________________
1970 ex Group A Rally P510
1971 P510
1972 180B SSS
1965 SP310 Fairlady
1966 SP311 Fairlady

Here is a pic of the stewart wilkins extended ctrl arms. Looking at them, he must use 4 and make 2 out of them. And use the rest for adjustables maybe?

that is a damn good idea using two of the longer tie rod ends. I never thought of that!!!

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Circuit Race 1600 in the build

It's all worked out nicely for me.

I ended up using LCA's that were lengthened by 30mm in conjunction with offset 180B strut tops. This gave the tyre to guard clearance I needed.

According to the wheel aligner, the end result was 3.75 deg neg camber on one side, and 4.25 on the other. Not sure why the difference (perhaps I can't measure too well ). Using a 10m spacer on the rear side of the caster rod bushes (ie the side pointing towards the rear of the car) to reduce the amount of caster added by the lengthened LCA's ended up giving 2 deg caster. I would have liked to have run more, but was getting close to having tyre clearance issues on the front of the wheel arch at this setting.

Took it down to Wakefield Park yesterday, and managed to reduce my lap times by at least 9 secs . That was on the initial results that were posted, and I feel I reduced my times further as the day wore on. Have to wait till the complete results are published to find out.

As well as the lengthened LCA's, I've lowered the car by 80mm front and 35mm rear, fitted better brake pads and new rotors, fitted a steering brace, and had the car dyno'ed. I guess a bit more experience on the track helped too .Not sure how much the lengthened LCA's played in the lap time reduction, but it was a completely different car to drive No more severe understeer - the car handled much better, with just a slight tendency for the rear end to want to lead the way round corners (which it did a few times )

All in all, I reckon the LCA's have been a cheap and easy modification.

Here's how it looks now

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1970 ex Group A Rally P510
1971 P510
1972 180B SSS
1965 SP310 Fairlady
1966 SP311 Fairlady

compared with a pic i took from the last track day

_________________
'70 1600 L20

Damn nice work dude! Looks like the rear could do with a little more neg too? What camber on the rear do you have?

Dave

_________________
USA Daily: 2014 Nissan GT-R, very minor modifications for the track
USA Project: 1978 280Z, minor suspension upgrades, VK56DE conversion in progress. SOLD
AUS Race Car: 1973 240Z, L28ET, Autronic, GT35R. SOLD
AUS Project: 1972 1600, 3200km old S15 SR20DET, ground up rebuild. SOLD

The rear has 1.5 deg neg camber.

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1970 ex Group A Rally P510
1971 P510
1972 180B SSS
1965 SP310 Fairlady
1966 SP311 Fairlady

Interesting, doesn't look like its leant over at all in that pic. Possibly still cornering a little? Movement in bushes can be alarming I have heard so maybe the whole rear was shifted over to the right (right in the pic).

On this note, has anyone rod-ended their A-arms?

Dave

_________________
USA Daily: 2014 Nissan GT-R, very minor modifications for the track
USA Project: 1978 280Z, minor suspension upgrades, VK56DE conversion in progress. SOLD
AUS Race Car: 1973 240Z, L28ET, Autronic, GT35R. SOLD
AUS Project: 1972 1600, 3200km old S15 SR20DET, ground up rebuild. SOLD

Not sure why it looks like that in the pic. Possibly still cornering as you say ??? I'd prefer the rear to be a touch lower, but didn't have the time to set up the rear crossmember to be adjustable, and thought anymore than 1.5 deg camber on the rear may have been too much.

I'm waiting for someone else to post photos to see how it looked when cornering. I got a shock when I saw photos from the last track day like jginn's - didn't realise how bad it was

_________________
1970 ex Group A Rally P510
1971 P510
1972 180B SSS
1965 SP310 Fairlady
1966 SP311 Fairlady

Dave have you seen this thread >> http://www.ozdat.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=8016 . We've been discussing this exact topic, if only I could round up the 1k needed for the mod I'd love to know if the money was justified.