Suggestions and ideas... - Toyota Nation Forum : Toyota Car and Truck Forums

TRDV · 03-09-2005, 01:03 PM

Ok well I am just starting to build up my 73 celica... (I know its not an MKIII but keep reading)

I am doing major reconstruction of the whole car... alot of it will be round tubing. I just removed the complete rearend out of an 89 turbo supra, and am in the process of removing the complete front end.

All of this will be going into the 73 Celica...

My questions:

With all this work.. is there anything you would change in the supra suspension? now would be the best time.. (think big too, I am a fabricator by trade and am open to anything)

I am thinkin about using a hot rod type coilover, as they are shorter and easier to mount... bad idea? good idea? you have a better idea?

I will be running manual steering, can I do this with this rack and pinion, and just cap or loop the lines? or do I need to get a manual one?

what angles are your suspension arms? what is stock? is there a prime setup for this?

Well that should get us started...

as soon as I have some notable progress there will be lots of pics

Thanks in advance for any help..

Travis

Jeeves · 03-09-2005, 03:31 PM

There was a 5.0 steering rack I recall that was full manual and fit our cars with very minimal modification. I don't recall a good conversion for the stock unit. Search Supraforums.com for this.

Suspenion, that sounds fine to me. At this point my "Get rid of TEMS" comments are useless ;-)

Suspension arms, I have no idea nor a means to find out.

If I could change the supra in any way, it would be to have Strut tower bars from the factory and a lighter yet stiffer chassis. It's a ridiculous pig coming in at nearly 2 tons with the chassis flex it does.

***bgrieger*** · 03-09-2005, 03:59 PM

Specific measurements and arcs...never really looked into it. The online TSRM will have alignment angle information, and may be able to help you a bit in this regard. http://www.cygnusx1.net/supra/library/TSRM/index.html

Changes:

1) upper front control arms with replacable ball joints.
2) independent alignment adjustments for toe and camber in the rear. Currently, they are linked and fairly inseperable.

TRDV · 03-09-2005, 04:30 PM

Awesome thanks...

Well the adjustable arms for the rear would be easy as pie.... you think there would be a market for this product?? (I own a Fab shop ) :P

the upper replaceable balljoints... do you see much wear in those? finding they need to be replaced very often? would it really be worth it, is what I'm asking I guess.

Jeeves.. this car will be mostly round tubing structure, so there will "VERY" little chassis flex.. and this car will be alot lighter. Its smaller, and it will be reduced quite a bit, with fiberglass and what not...

I'm quite stoked about the car... 73 Celica, 89 supra suspension, 18rg with bigger valves, ported/polished, dual Dellorto 40mm side drafts, and ill be running an 84 supra transmission

Just wait till I unleash the pics of what Im building from the rest of the 89 turbo supra

***bgrieger*** · 03-09-2005, 05:16 PM

No problem.

Adjustable rear arms: The market would be fairly small (I wouldn't count on more than 50 sets total). Someone tried this last year and never made it past the prototype, but never got serious about getting the word out either.

Ball joints: They don't require frequent replacement, but are really expensive when the time comes (dealer only part, you buy the whole upper control arm).

Best of luck on the projects!

Bob

TRDV · 03-09-2005, 05:37 PM

Thanks...

So you think its a good idea to go with a standard coilover assembly, over a stock style replacement??

TRDV · 03-09-2005, 05:50 PM

TRDV · 03-09-2005, 05:52 PM

do you have any idea what kind of spring rates will be good for this.... or length of the shock/spring?

Im not really sure what it is going to weigh yet

***bgrieger*** · 03-09-2005, 10:41 PM

You suggested that the height was not available to do the stock replacement. To add to the dilemma, the weight will change and that will change the desired spring rates too.

Spring rate depends on the mounting location and angle of the damper to the rest of the suspension. If you intend to keep it near to stock angle using stock mounting points on the suspension arms, a good street setup might be 12-16kg/mm (671-895lb/inch) front and 6-9kg/mm (336-504) rear, but that is using the Supra as the target vehicle. Your weights are going to be different, likely lighter, and so you might come in 10-15% less than these ideas. A full out road race setup might go as high as 18 (1007) front and 10 (559) rear. A very harsh ride indeed!

Length again depends on mount. You mentioned you wanted to shorten it to fit your application, and that will determine the damper piston travel and spring length desired. Until you figure that out, there's not much to tell.