Chassis Strengthening of Old cars.

[wde_bdy]

Personally I would put a full cage in and race it, bugger the passengers.

Otherwise seam weld it, subframe connectors to tie front and rear chassis rails together and a triangulated strut brace. You could look at bracing along the the sills as well. Just remember though, the more you brace it the harder it can be to repair in an accident.

Callum

[KE25-KP30]

Haha, could be tempting, but with the time you'd put into it, I'd want it to be practical too

Awesome, thanks for all that, i'l go and do some thinking and no doubt come up with more questions!!

Thanks

[KE20]

hi, i had a 3sgte in my ke20, i put it in back in 2000, you definatly need to strengthen the back of the car, i split 3 fuel tanks, right in the middle behind the seat, just from the car twisting. a w55 supra box fits in the standard tunnel aswell. also, i went throough 5 engines(oiling not going back tosump) before i slanted it and the last engine lasted. you also want to put a hilux diff from an early hilux in, and put tramp rods in.

[Stu-]

Although this is in my starlet and not exactly a rwd, the same principle could probably be used. I've run some heavy gauge pipe as reinforcement around my engine bay running from the bulk head to the strut tops then down to the chassis rail where I've installed crush tubes that join (via high tensile threaded rod) into the next section that runs from the underside of the chassis rail and along the radiator support bar and back up to the underside of the opposite rail and up again etc. Its essentially a three piece assembly that ties together the strut tops (and also via the strut brace), strut tops to chassis rail, and chassis rail to chassis rail. Made a big difference compared to my other starlets and the whole front end feels solid as a rock. Sorry for the crap pic, the bars are powdercoated black in the photo.

[KE25-KP30]

Hmm, pictures sure do make things easier!!

As for the diff, I was toying with the idea of ("cringing as I wait for all respect to be lost, and to be laughed at") putting the IRS out of an MX71(??) Cressida or RA63 Celica (F series I think) in the Corolla. My thoughts for this were that i'd definatly have to change the diff, and with any diff which would stand up to the power, it would have to be shortened, so.... i figured that the whole IRS setup is pretty cheap to get hold of, and that the axles would have to be shortened anyway.

Plus's would be better handling, so it could be raced, possibly cheaper to get a F series LSD (over a hilux one??) and it would be pretty original.

I talked to that fella from Boosted Performance when I was in Auckland last, he did it to that yellow KE26, and he said it took about 6 months of saturdays in his garage.

Also, a heap of strengthening in the back with the IRS would sort out the problem of the rear end twisting.(I hope)

Tell me your thoughts on the whole idea.

(Sorry about the long post )

[wde_bdy]

Generally speaking the IRS will not be worth it if you have to shorten it, the KE25 is not a wide car so their is very little else suitable to adapt. When I did my Starlet it was because I wanted the extra width to match the front.
Do you know the width of a standard KE25 diff drum to drum? One option I had looked at was the Falcon Borg Warner diff, cheap as hell with LSD and discs and could possibly get away with only shortening one axle. They run one axle 95mm longer than the other so if you swap the short one in and shorten the long one by 190mm or so, giving around a 1360mm disc to disc width. Still have to narrow the housing etc but means at least one axle is easy to replace.

Callum

[KE20]

i used a f series diff from a rt154 corona, changed the mounts so it bolted on the factory leafs, and used fwd rims as diff is wider, the wheels were still under guards. the diff i used was also factory disc brake. irs would be a major and the one from a cressida is not adjustable(can't change toe or camber) if your going as far as irs, look at an old nissan 300z or a gx81 chaser, and then shorten axles and arms. an earlier hilux diff will fit with fwd wheels or 4 stud nissan ones. also for the front of mine i put in mr2 aw11 struts so i could run fwd offset wheels allround.

[KE25-KP30]

Perhaps it would be easier to just go with a hilux diff or the likes.

What cars do the Borg Warners come out of? Any idea of what sort of $$$ you may pick one up for?

How hard were aw11 struts to put in? Were they the same bolt pattern at the bottom of the strut or did you change to aw11 steering (what are they called?? )'s too? The arm that the goes between the ball joint and the shock.

Cheers

[KE25-KP30]

Sorry, also just wondering what series diff the gx81 will have, and how hard it would be to find a whole rear end.

Cheers

[KE20]

for the aw11 struts, i had already put a ke70 x-member, with r&p(modified to fit) too give wider track and larger balljoints on swing arms, then had bottom of the strut drilled to locate on ke70 steering arms. dont touch borg warner stuff, its not strong. i broke 2 borg warner gearboxes on my 3sgte then changed to a w55. you also want to slant engine, im in the process of making an addaptor plate so the gearbox can sit straight on the slanted engine. i also have a spare gx81 rearend,but there is one at pick-a-part. the rearends i have are 'g' series, but not sure on spare one? also i will have a hilux diff for sale by the end of the year, its the one that is the same width as the ae86 diff.

[KE20]

i will have a diff from a '89 hilux for sale in a week or so if you want? you can come look a my gx81 and hilux diff if you want to see/measure them?
if you go to http://garagedori.com/tech/3sgteke25.php has info on my first conversion, changed quite a bit over a few years, but might help.

[wde_bdy]

I have a Borg Warner diff from an XF Falcon that was running a 460 big block. 6 months of abuse and not broken but C&P was starting to make noises. They will handle the power, assuming the 4 pinion diff is used.

Callum