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1st gen lowering


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So I'm thinking about (going to) lower the GSR a little and was hoping for some advice.

In the front I was thinking about using brumby front struts with the adjusters on just incase it need to be wound up a little (eg- Making springs captive for inspection) and just cutting a few coils off some spare sets I've got kicking around.

And in the back.... Reclocking the torsion bar, What is the procedure for this?

 

How does the plan sound so far?

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My 1600 service manual states the following in bold;

 

"The vehicle height can be raised by turning the outer end and inner end of the torsion bar by the same number of serration teeth in the opposite direction of the arrow mark on the outer end surface of the torsion bar. Turning the torsion bar in the arrow direction lowers the vehicle height.

 

The changing rate of the vehicle height is 5mm (20 in) per tooth shifted"

 

I assume the 1400 and 1600 rear suspensions would be the same. Hope this helps!

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  • 2 weeks later...
I will have to try and out-do you har har har!

Just out of curiosity... Are your springs captive still? Or anywhere near it?

 

 

I don't know what captive means but I adapted adjustable coilover sleaves and the lip is from an old Volvo

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  • 2 years later...

Dragging up an old thread I know, but I finally got it done.

 

DSCN1127.jpg

 

Used '81 Brumby front struts and springs

3 coils cut from springs

Struts shortened by 50mm below the spring perch

Toyota corolla gas strut inserts (ae92?)

Roughly 30mm more removed from struts above the spring perch to get insert captive.

And another 20-30mm taken off the shock shaft to get the springs captive.

The adjustable spring perches of the 4wd struts mean I can wind the height up to get it above the legal minimum height at inspection time. :)

 

In the rear I just went down roughly 2 splines.

Shocks are for a c22 Nissan Vannette with the ends modified.

 

 

The front is nice and stiff and responsive, but the rear spring rate is unchanged (read - soft and wobbly in comparison), I was hoping to try and fit Gen1 4wd torsion bars to my 2wd trailing arms in an attempt to stiffen the back up a bit.

Does anyone know if this is possible?

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I've seen the back end stiffened up with a coil fitted around the shock. Sort of a DIY rear strut assembly. The one I saw looked pretty rude but its not a bad solution assuming the WOF inspector doesn't laugh at you.

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Cheers for the nice words guys.

 

Dirk, I think that I might definitely have trouble sliding something like that through a wof, and I'm unsure if theres the room. Clever idea though.

 

Overall it handles fairly well now though once you get it settled into a corner and have your line set.

 

_R070190.jpg

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Looks the bomb!

 

I lifted the back of my sedan via the torsion bars. Had to get slightly longer shocks to do this. They needed replacing anyway.

 

What a difference a new set of gas shocks make! Maybe stiff gas shocks would help for yours?

 

By the way, If you haven't already, you should look into making a strut tower brace for the front. It makes the car feel so much stiffer.

 

cheers.

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Cheers!

 

I fitted new shocks into the back & front at the same time as lowering, They're gas shocks intended for the front of a Nissan Vanette. So are hopefully a little stiffer than what was in there.

 

The shocks that were in there were too long and a Toyota shock, they were bottomed out at that height.

 

Here they are at full droop.

Image070.jpg

 

Compared to the old shocks

UNI_0003-1.jpg

 

I had thought about air adjustable shocks to stiffen things up a bit, and to get the back higher when I have a load/passengers, but I don't think they make anything that short.

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Looks fairly normal but its actually about 100mm higher at the back than it used to be.

 

Ill lift the front about 20mm when I get round to it. Would love new struts for the front but they are very spendy.

 

P1030696.jpgP1030697.jpg

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Sounds like you need some Brumby/4wd struts.

 

Heres a picture with them in the front of mine before I had the struts shortened.

 

Note - This is Brumby struts, with brumby springs, with 3 coils cut off.

 

I had to cut 50mm out of the strut to get it to a height I wanted.

 

DSCN1097.jpg

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  • 4 weeks later...

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