AE86 ( Dropping the engine cradle 1" ) ?

[Red_85_AE86]

I would like to make a 1" spacer for the cradle and drop the engine a bit ... what precautions should i take ?

Will the drive-shaft and steering-shaft be ok ?

[Rust_bucket]

dont do it! You will get some serious vibrations from the rear end due to the fact that you just changed the whole geometry of the drivetrain...

[Red_85_AE86]

the stock drive shaft is 2-piece .... so should it not be able to bend a bit ?

so how about when the rear suspention travels up and down when you go over bumps ... it changes angle than ... no ?

[Rust_bucket]

whats the reasoning behing lowering the motor though?

[Red_85_AE86]

Originally Posted by Rust_bucket

whats the reasoning behing lowering the motor though?

- the HKS Turbo Kit
- ITB/MAP setup
- lower center of gravity
- Mr. RE-Amemyadoes that to his cars ( drops them down and pushes them back )

i have seen the insert plates on a Japanese company's page .... lost / forgot the link, but all it was is:

- 2 plates for the cradle
- 2 or 4 round washers for the trany

[Chris Corolla S]

It makes sense weight-distribution wise. They do that with open class rally cars.
Wether or not the drivetrain will be OK I have no idea.

[Red_85_AE86]

Check out this motor ( nice-n-low ) )

[CUCUY]

if you do it...make sure you do it right and everything is secure and no slop. how ever much you drop the motor, you should drop the tranny the same. and yes, the drive shaft is 2-piece, but i don't know if it'll stand that much of angle. you might have to buy a kit and "re-level" your whole rear end.

[Red_85_AE86]

Originally Posted by CUCUY

if you do it...make sure you do it right and everything is secure and no slop. how ever much you drop the motor, you should drop the tranny the same. and yes, the drive shaft is 2-piece, but i don't know if it'll stand that much of angle. you might have to buy a kit and "re-level" your whole rear end.

My plan is to get a custom aluminum one-piece shaft once the motor/trany is lowered

[CUCUY]

Originally Posted by Red_85_AE86

My plan is to get a custom aluminum one-piece shaft once the motor/trany is lowered

i dunno about a 1-piece...geometry offset might be too much

[Foolish86]

i would stick with the two piece...i mean...the second piece would be level with the rear end

[Red_85_AE86]

Muscle car guys get one-pice aluminum shafts for their cars, because you lose power with a 2-piece and a lighter rotating mass will send more power to the wheels .... there is a guy here that already has one in his corolla .... i want to hear what he has to say / add about his experience with it.

[Foolish86]

i know i bunch of older mucsle car guys and most of them have two piece alluminum...why would the second piece make it lose power if it was allumimum aswell

[project trueno]

I would love to get some Cusco lowering mounts, lower engine=lower CG guys, think boxer engines.

1-piece driveshafts eliminate that rotational "lag" caused by the U-joint between the two half shafts. However I'm not sure if it will yield significant amount of power, but it'll do wonders for direct response and pick-up.

I personally would stick with a 2-piece driveshaft for its adaptibility to movement, its more forgiving when the drivetrain geometry is slightly out of shape. With a 1-piece, having setup the shaft to be in the same center axis as the transmission and diff. may cause problems if suddenly your car has to endure over pavement with uneven elevation. (For a strictly off-road race car this is not a problem.)

Whatever your decision may be, adjust the mounts until you have the transmission center axis parallel to the diff. center axis, even if they are not on the same plane.

[Foolish86]

you guys are cool....
when i get my new engine, i am going to drop mine about an inch.