Shortened GX71 Struts in an AE86

[AE86fan]

Im looking at doing this upgrade as I have a GX71 Cressida rusting in my driveway and Im not to keen on chopping up my original AE86 struts.

Im wanting to put the complete GX71 strut (bottom arm, ball joint and steering arm) into the 86. Im hopping this will give me 10 inch rotors with slightly larger callipers, an extra 10mm track and a little negative camber and shorter steering arms as the Cressida has power steering.

I also want to shorten the strut to run the TRD Ae92 short stroke shock with my TRD blue springs.

Im sure theres a few people who have tried this combination and Im keen to know how it went and if there are any major problems.

[AE86fan]

Ok so I pulled the struts and bottom arms out of the Cressida and compared to the 86 it all looks bloody industrial. Much beefier looking steering arms, bottom ball joint and control arm. The sway bar is huge compared to the 86 but I would say that it would be far to wide to suit the Corolla.
Still keen to hear if anyone has managed to use the GX71 bottom arms and struts in a Corolla??

[AE85coupe]

I've used TA63 which is very similar, except the balljoint size is the same as ae86 so you don't have to swap the lower arms or anything

GX71 struts will actually be fairly difficult to put in, as the kingpin angle is totally different to AE86, so you will find you will have positive camber (same thing happened on my car with the ta63 struts) so you need longer lower arms, or camber plates anyway

forget the GX71 and get some MA60 TA63 TA60 AA63 etc. struts, this way you don't have to worry about balljoint size, then just use KE30 lower arms (they are the same as AE86 but slightly longer) to correct the camber

I also shortened my struts by about 20mm to keep things nice and low

[Mr Revhead]

i have just done the same in my ke70
i used aa63 struts, and lengthed my lower arms, made them adjustabe at the same time.
the other thing to consider when doing this is where the sway bay mounts
if you lengthen the arm, then the holes for the link moves.
i made mounts on the strut body see here for pics etc.

the other thing i had to do was get brake hoses made up

[AE86fan]

Hmmm ok, thanks guys thats great info. I might have a go at lengthing the bottom arm and changing the holes for the sway bay and Radius Rod. If I cant get it to work it hasnt cost me anything!! and I can always use my original ae86 stuff for plan B.

[Mr Revhead]

things to remember when lenghing arms:

any welding needs to be tested.
you will need a cert
measure carefully!!!!
you also need to elongate the holes for the caster arm

[JustinSpiderholden]

to much work, just get some revoler rca's if theres enuff intrest in these a few sets could be made up

[Mr Revhead]

depending how things work out RCAs may not give enough extra length
i think you will find you will need more than 10mm to get correct camber
for me with aa63 struts and steering arms i needed about 35mm.