i am putting s13 coilovers into 180b
was going to make up adjustable control arms, and i was pulling out an old r31 pintara control arm to make sure that r31 ball joint can be used on s13 hub (which it can), than i thought about how far off r31 arms would be

they are about 30mm longer, and the bush is the right diameter, but it take up the whole length of the crossmember bolt

i was thinking about just putting a 20mm longer bolt through the crossmember, than all i need to do is make a new hole for the caster arm, which will become more adjustable using an r31 arm, than using the s13 camber tops to take OUT the excess camber and enjoying the extra track

will still be putting a rose jointed tie rod end with spacers to cancel out the the bump steer

so this will bring the whole conversion to a nifty $500 for height and camber and caster adjustment with extra track and a brake upgrade, and great availability of dampening adjustment for down the road

i am a bit worried about 30mm of extra length, but when my car comes back ill test it up and see how it looks

just wondering what peoples thaoughts are on this and help me poke holes in this plan, seems to simple to not be a common upgrade

_________________
SSS610: The Nicer daily
STK610: The Original Daily...Now The Hills Car

S2 TRX: SuckThru Turbo: RETIRED
MR30 Hatch: Daily Driver: SOLD
720 King Cab: Daily Driver V2: SOLD

30mm extra will give *about* -3 degrees of camber, depending on ride height, and will push the top of your wheel slightly further out towards the guard
just trial fit it and see how it goes, because i was thinking about this and i thought it'd work so yeah

im not so worried about the extra camber, more worried about whether the strut will still fit in the tower being moved that much, even with the smaller coils, its a big move, about 10% longer

upon further inspection the bolt is pressed in, so i think i will have to spin up a new appropriately sized one, and get it pressed into my spare crossmember, than swap cross members over, so its is not as simple as swap bolts over

i measure the 180b arms to be between 280-290mm, was gettin dark so it try measure again later
what out of bluebird/r31/gazelle/s13..........whatever with the later style ball joint is closest to this length
from memory, r31 is longer than bluebird, s13 is in between and gazelle is similar to bluebird, wondering maybe z31, any other suggestions

cheers for any input

_________________
SSS610: The Nicer daily
STK610: The Original Daily...Now The Hills Car

S2 TRX: SuckThru Turbo: RETIRED
MR30 Hatch: Daily Driver: SOLD
720 King Cab: Daily Driver V2: SOLD

from what i've seen, S13 is longer than R31 because people are putting them in 31's and getting loads of negative camber
the strut should clear, especially with coilovers, because i extended my control arms by 20mm and they are nowhere near the tower
also, my mate has bluey LCA's in his 180B and he has about -2.5 degrees and his wheels sit a fair way out of the guards(about 15mm), but he has good offset
he doesnt have clearance issues with strut on strut towers, and he is running conventional struts so there you go

so how did he put the bluey lca's in, by changing the bolt
so its between bluey and r31, should pull out my bluey cross member next and measure them up

_________________
SSS610: The Nicer daily
STK610: The Original Daily...Now The Hills Car

S2 TRX: SuckThru Turbo: RETIRED
MR30 Hatch: Daily Driver: SOLD
720 King Cab: Daily Driver V2: SOLD

i never asked, i just assumed it was a straight fit haha
and he's just gone offline
i'll ask him next time i talk to him and get back to you

I have 240K struts with stock diameter springs in my 1600, and 40mm extended control arms.

No probs with clearance of spring to strut tower. And around 4 degrees neg camber.

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

i also have 240k struts and springs
i took a measure in the strut tower, being my thumb, and i figured there wasnt much wiggle room, thats why i opted for s13 gear, being smaller spring diameter and lots of damping adjustment available and a brake upgrade, got fair brake fade with 240k brakes

so 30mm sounds like about the right length, using tops to adjust as i wish

dave, are yours custom made arms, or cut and rewelded arms

_________________
SSS610: The Nicer daily
STK610: The Original Daily...Now The Hills Car

S2 TRX: SuckThru Turbo: RETIRED
MR30 Hatch: Daily Driver: SOLD
720 King Cab: Daily Driver V2: SOLD

I cut 4 arms up and and rewelded them to make two longer ones..

They now sit at something like 25mm extended, plus I use 180B offset strut tops.

I gave up on the 40mm extended ones with standard strut tops as I was having problems fitting the tyre inside the guard with that combo.

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

i was still undecided how i was gonna make my control arms

was gonna do fixed, basically by cutting up a 180b arm crossmember end and r31 ball joint end, but they didnt mate up to well

or i was gonna make custom ones, making a housing for 180b bush, having a thread come off of that and to a lock nut attatched to a tube with a plate welded on for the ball joint, then i could adjust the length by one half of a turn at the bush end

having a rose joint replacing the bush carrier would be easier, but im not so keen on it as it is my daily car, which is why i would prefer to use a standard part

so dave, is yours a predominantly street given car and are you comfortable with your welded arms??

_________________
SSS610: The Nicer daily
STK610: The Original Daily...Now The Hills Car

S2 TRX: SuckThru Turbo: RETIRED
MR30 Hatch: Daily Driver: SOLD
720 King Cab: Daily Driver V2: SOLD

Track only, and they have survived numerous track days / hillclimbs so far. I wouldn't run quite as much camber if it was regularly street-driven.

I cut them in a "Z" shape - ie cuts in the top and bottom of the control arm are offset by 30mm or so. Then re-inforced the sides as you can see in the pic.

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

Dave, do you find there is enough ?range? in the ball joint to allow the angle created between the extended LCA and strut at full droop?

_________________
http://www.capitalsteering.com.au - Steering you in the right direction
http://www.fifthgear.com.au - Get the Driver's Edge

Seems OK ?

I can fit the strut by bolting it into the strut tower, then aligning the LCA and bolting it up. I would have thought if the ball joint didn't have enough movement, I would have had difficulty fitting the strut in this way and would have had to compress it to get the bolts lining up properly ?

Although I did have a go at fitting bump steer spacers a few months ago, and couldn't get it lined up - they were hitting on the brake backing plate, but I seem to recall not being able to get it on the correct angle as well ?? I assumed it was because they were hitting the backing plate, but perhaps dropping the LCA the extra inch (for the spacer) I hit the limit of the ball joint's movement ? I gave up as it was the night before a track day, and I didn't want to pull everything apart to remove the backing plate (which was the most obvious problem)

I'm going to have a proper go at fitting the spacers sometime soon, so will find out then.

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

dazdas point is why i first looked at s13, as the later style ball joint have the LCA on an angle to allow for an increased camber angle without having the ball joint on a terrible angle

i think i will dummy it up this weekend without changing the bolt and see how the clearances look, as i now have my hands on R31 and bluey LCA's

_________________
SSS610: The Nicer daily
STK610: The Original Daily...Now The Hills Car

S2 TRX: SuckThru Turbo: RETIRED
MR30 Hatch: Daily Driver: SOLD
720 King Cab: Daily Driver V2: SOLD

Kinda along the same line. I got a pair of R31 struts to soup up the Bee, but have read posts about the R31 strut reducing the amount of available travel. Does the S13 coilover conversion get around this ? Is the S13 coilover conversion, just the coilover, or are you using the strut as well ?
And what sort of spring rates are you dudes using ?

_________________
Happiness is watching the race.... in your rearview mirror