AE86 Handling/Suspension. Your thoughts? Research? What have you done?

[Aus Silicon Direct]

Hey everyone,

Well some of you may have seen that we were chasing a AE86 shell which we have found and picked up. Now we are planning what to do with the shell for next year with drifting and promotional use! We will be running a SR20DET in it at this stage and trying to decide if we want to run Toyota front suspension, or convert it across to Nissan s13 front end. I have had a brief discussion with Matty Russell about him running S13 front gear, but we want more options and your thoughts about this.

Should we stay with the Toyota Suspension and just modify the Cross Member to mount the SR20? Or should we convert it to S13 Suspension in the front end? If we do convert to S13, there will be more track gained which will effect what size wheel and tyre we can run on the front. At this stage we are looking to run a 15x8 all round but with changing to S13 front end I am not sure if we will be able to run that size wheel on the front.

We will be getting modified knuckles either way that we go also. What are your thoughts on springs rates to run as the car will be running on coilovers also!

All thoughts, suggestions, ideas, or shit dribbling will be very helpful!

Cheers,

Barnzy
Aus Silicon Direct

[jakel]

Pretty much from what I have read there is a bit of work in getting s13 front to drive as good as the standard gear with coilovers, ect. Some people love s13 stuff.

[Matt]

If you're serious then go for the shockworks gear, you can't beat it for value, handling and bling factor too.

Chat to Chris (shift_rook) and he'll give you advice wether to keep the s13 gear or retain the ae86 stuff

[dove grey 64]

i've got shockworks too, cant beat it really. will easily stand up to your motor sport needs, fraction of the cost of bigger brands and you'll have local tuning support.

[Aus Silicon Direct]

I have looked into the shockworks gear and Matty R almost highly recommended them... Just need to decide whether or not to stay with the Toyota front end or convert to Nissan. I have done a ke70 with a S13 front end but didn't get much time driving it.

Keep the thoughts coming guys! Cheers for the comments so far!!!

[Delazy]

ae86 setup is superior..the only benefit you gain by going s13 is easy sr20 and big brakes...

[Rice86]

Just jump on the T3 website and order everything they make for the ae86, That's what I did and was the best move ever! Street driven car so can't go too crazy.

As for coilovers, anything from off the shelf to full custom

If you don't have a budget then anything is possible, but I say ae86 aftermarket support is large enough that it's proven to win competition all over the world already with now easy off the shelf items.

[AJPS]

Just jump on the T3 website and order everything they make for the ae86, That's what I did and was the best move ever! Street driven car so can't go too crazy.


dont do that, better products are available from local suppliers and sponsors on the forums

to the OP - will talk to you on msn about set up advice etc

[Delazy]

^^^ agree with Lawson...worst advice soo far, closely followed by anyone mentioning s13 suspension...

I honestly wouldn't run any of the t3 suspension in my car if it was given to me...some of the engine related products however are magic and I do have a couple of those...

[jakel]

I've got T3 rear end bits, RCA's and cambertops and all have been good so far.

[timbo]

I wait for the day where there is an unbiased debate over brands and their products on here... Stay AE86, build some coilovers and get a big brake kit like the T3 one that uses specific parts rather than bits and bobs and redrilling rotors. Those shockwork struts look pretty darn good for the price though!

[anastasios]

I personally prefer the AE86 strut, i have not had a chance to speak to a guru who has a properly setup s13 front end though.

[fantapants]

ive run both, i prefered the s13 setup, from a motorsport point of view, i recon you could go further with s13, but in reality, the 86 will be more than capable.

not interested in arguing with anyone, but if you want more detail of my opinions, hit me on pm and ill be happy to chat.

or listen to lawson lol. he knows a thing or three.

[Gunner]

S13 is far too much dicking around, it can work but its never as good as std geometry. Rebush everything, shockworks, bolt on brake kit and a good diff and your done.

[AJPS]

fantapants - s13 makes the car ineligible in some categories doesnt it?

[ke_70]

i see no advantage to the s13 convertion.

it stuffs with the geometry and any coilover you buy will not be valved correctly for corolla chassis.
that and it's very hard to adjust roll centre on the s13 setup

[jakel]

You can adjust roll center with tie rod ends?
That ke70 in tas with the 1uz used whole S13 xmember and everything but looked to be done properly though...

[Delazy]

Lloyd's ke70 had relocated mounts on the strut towers, redrilled the lca mounts on the cross member and host of other "corrections" ...

[ke_70]

im no expert in geometry but im pretty sure spacing the tierod doesn't help much with roll centre.
might help with bump steer abit

[fantapants]

fantapants - s13 makes the car ineligible in some categories doesnt it?
indeed, but for general thrash about classes, i dont think anyone would even question it.

i cant recall if the op specified classes etc, but for local tassie hill climbs, time attack, drift etc etc it would be fine doing most anything?

[Gunner]

Lloyd's ke70 had relocated mounts on the strut towers, redrilled the lca mounts on the cross member and host of other "corrections" ...


Exactly, a whole heap of dicking around.

[jakel]

Yeah I know about all the effort that they went to, to get it to work. And yeah I was thinking bump steer not geo, sorry.

[matt99]

As you already know (in further detail) Barnsy, im using a S13 set up here.

However using it on a S13 crossmember NOT a *E7*, *E8* crossmember, which is a whole different kettle of fish, not to mention the S12 LCA's and S12 rack. Also using the Shockworks S13 coilover revalved to suit my set up.

How does it handle? Fu*king awesome.

Yes I have tried basically every other set up. No im not interested in your argument.

[Aus Silicon Direct]

As you already know (in further detail) Barnsy, im using a S13 set up here.

However using it on a S13 crossmember NOT a *E7*, *E8* crossmember, which is a whole different kettle of fish, not to mention the S12 LCA's and S12 rack. Also using the Shockworks S13 coilover revalved to suit my set up.

How does it handle? Fu*king awesome.

Yes I have tried basically every other set up. No im not interested in your argument.

BOOM!!! Thanks mate, I think that this is the way we are going to go... At the end of the day, if we don't like it! Then we will try Toyota stuff