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AE86 Pillowball strut rod install on Mk2 Writeup

43K views 66 replies 29 participants last post by  G-Force 
#1 · (Edited)
It really was just as easy as drilling out the holes a bit, like someone said. Anyway heres a detailed install with pictures. I did the whole thing including stopping to take pictures and back and forth trips to my apartment for the right tools in about an hour and a half. It should be under an hour following this for you. Let me know if you see any glaring errors or something that doesnt make sense.

http://www.tscperformance.com/supra_strutrod.html
 
#4 ·
Dangerous Ken said:
Wes, another great writeup!
Can you try to put into words the way it 'feels' before and after (during hard cornering and braking)?

Ken
After a few days, I have only been to the grocery store and back so far, I need to see how they are in several different conditions.
 
#8 ·
Very nice write-up Wes. Thanks for photographing the process. For those of us with trouble reading, the photos really help! Looking forward to hearing how much of a difference there is. Only slight typo I noticed was the sentence about the hammer being used to "ound" the bolts. ;)
 
#10 ·
Don L. said:
Wes, great job as always on your writeups!

btw, do you run much caster for your autoxs ? I would imagine this mod allows good caster AND free suspension movement.

thanks.

Don L.
I am going to go back and fix the numerous spelling errors soon, I was watching a football game and just posted it without editing.

Don-Unfortunately I have been guilty of doing ghetto tape measure alignments on my car for a while now because I have not been able to find a shop that fits my wants and needs. Its really hard to find a place that will even touch a modifed car at all around here. The tape is good enough to keep the tire wear in check but thats about it. Some friends in the local car club have sugested I try a frame shop here that has been very helpful and patient with them, I wanted to get these on and the 245 tires before I spent the money and time there getting things dialed in there.

The camber plates allow for so much camber I am really not sure I even need beyond stock caster settings. Whats your opinion? If I am getting enough camber with the plates to keep the tire even is there any benefit to more caster?

By the way, I am glad to see you posting here again :)

Robert, thanks for the offer. I did this as a spur of the moment purchase, I didn't think to ask. Gabe said they were dissapointed in the response for the MK2 specific parts when I contacted them so I thought I would give these a try and maybe create some buzz. The standard price is amazing as it is for the ammount of work and materials that go into these things, the huge heim joints alone are $$$, I know I have priced them. I was floored, the pictures do not do these babies justice.
 
#11 ·
Dammit, I just realized I put M-X-63 in the title of this thread. Obviously I have been spending way too much time on the cressida board recently :) LOL If a MOD would change that to MA63 I would appreciate it.
 
#12 ·
SupraWes said:
The camber plates allow for so much camber I am really not sure I even need beyond stock caster settings. Whats your opinion? If I am getting enough camber with the plates to keep the tire even is there any benefit to more caster?
from what i understand, by running more caster, you can reduce the negative camber you need to run. that way on straights you have a larger contact patch for better stopping, but on turns you get increased negative camber because of your caster settings.
 
#13 ·
I concur with Ken on the caster benefits. Just not sure how much is too much caster. I've seen some BMWs with 6+ degrees caster, but there must be a point of diminishing returns. I'll try some caster changes this year.

Hoping this will be a comeback year for me. The Supra has been inactive for too long. Got some interesting mods in my head for the car.

Btw, I just loved reading of the budget BBK, and the strut rod. I just can't find verification it is legal for my DSP class. I'm too modified to fit under the Street Touring Unlimited allowance for DSP, and DSP doesn't seem to allow the same mods as STU. Kinda caught between a rock and a urethane bushing.

Great mods though!

Don L.
 
#15 ·
Don L. said:
I concur with Ken on the caster benefits. Just not sure how much is too much caster. I've seen some BMWs with 6+ degrees caster, but there must be a point of diminishing returns. I'll try some caster changes this year.

Hoping this will be a comeback year for me. The Supra has been inactive for too long. Got some interesting mods in my head for the car.

Btw, I just loved reading of the budget BBK, and the strut rod. I just can't find verification it is legal for my DSP class. I'm too modified to fit under the Street Touring Unlimited allowance for DSP, and DSP doesn't seem to allow the same mods as STU. Kinda caught between a rock and a urethane bushing.

Great mods though!

Don L.
Well at least the BMW should be gone this year! They are bumping them up 2 classes lol. The brakes won't be alowed in DSP, nether will the strut rod because it replaces a rubber bushing with a solid one, I *think* that would bump you right to a mod class (E mod).

On the flip side no one is ever going to know about the brakes or Suprafiends gts steering arms. They look stock, other then maybe 4 or 5 of us across north amarica no one in the solo sceen knows any thing about these old cars. It's deferant with miatas and such were every other guy there had one at some point and was bending every rule in the book as fast as they were being writen.
 
#16 ·
BuddyJ said:
Aside from camber plates, has Gabe made any other Mk2 specific parts? Nothing is listed on the website.
Right, there is no section for MA61 in their products page, and I sure dont see anyone from T3 posting here letting us know of new available parts. If they want response, then they need to advertise in the correct place.

Wes, thanks for doing this community such a service, trying out new products to find out what works.
 
#18 ·
Yup neither one is legal in DSP. I bet you could replace the 2 CNC'd metal spacers they provide for the front mount with derlin and flat washers and it would be legal, since derlin is an alowwable bushing material and it would be located in the factory location. Theres loopholes in everything :) For some reason it seems like the struts are working better now, maybe the binding issue was as bad as I thought it was. Brake feel is also better as expected, I got on them pretty hard from 120 ish and I could comfortably use more than I ever had before.
 
#20 ·
I have no doubt those replacement strut rods work much better. The freedom of suspension travel is obvious. I'm also jealous of everyone who has better brakes than me (thats just about every integra, bmw, civic, neon, suby). These are great improvements to the cars that Wes describes. If I were just looking to improve my car for the street, with no limitations....yeah, in a heartbeat.

Don L.
 
#21 ·
Wow! Very nice R&D Wes! This is the kind of thing we need to get us fired up about a particular chassis. It's often times not feasible to come up with something completely new for a very niche market chassis, but many of our parts are semi-modular, so we can put something together that will work or make the few parts that would make it work.

Wes,

Very nice writup, and we really appreciate the hard work!
 
#22 ·
hey gabe, what parts do you have for us? i have the camber plates and now these strut rds on my to buy list. got anything else for us?
 
#25 ·
Don, do you have any opinion on the idea I put forth to make these DSP legal? You have experience with regional and national tech inspection/protest that I don't.

Thanks again Gabe for the killer parts, those things are really impressive in how well they are built.
 
#26 ·
I don't think that these would pass in DSP, even if you put bushings on the front mount because the pivot point has been changed. The fact that they're bright red would stand out during impound, when everyone is looking at your car. Its possible it can be overlooked if you painted them black.

Wes, any feedback on ride harshness on the street, yet. I'm curious to see how they feel on rough roads.

Gabe, How long are the spherical bearings typically good for. I see these units are much beefier than the others offered for AE86s. I was hoping for at least 2 years out of a set before replacement.
 
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