Lowering the C30

[Eric]

I have a C30 Laurel which basicly is just a large 510, i installed an sr20de engine in it and did that by using an s14 front crossmember. After that i bolted on s13 lca's and s13 hubs and coilovers. All fits nicely but now i found a bit of a challenge..

the C30 has the tension rod facing backwards, like the 510 but the s13/s14 etc has the tension rod facing front. But the C30 has nothing to attach the tension rod to on the front.

I cant use the c30 standard tension rod because the steering rack is on the back of the crossmember and the c30 has its steering rack in front of the crossmember.

Anyone else tried this and found a clever way to fix the tension rod issue?

[Eric]

anyone? am i not explaining my problem correctly or doesn't anyone have a clue?

[bludestiny]

Time to fab up some front brackets and use s13 tension rods. 

[datzenmike]

You don't mention moving the steering rack to the rear of the cross member? I assume the steering on the C30 crossmember is on the front? else how does the stock tension rods fit to the rear otherwise?

[Eric]

thats correct, steering rack is on the front on the c30, now its on the back because its an s14 crossmember and steering rack.

 

i tried fabbing up some brackets but thats no succes since there is limited space on the front. so i hoped someone has done this before and came up with a clever idea for this :)

maybe relocating the steering rack is a better idea.

[bonvo]

pictures are better at explaining then words

[datzenmike]

I'm for putting the steering back where it's supposed to be at the front. Moving it to the rear will introduce all kinds of steering geometry problems. Then the C30 rods can be remounted properly and bolted to the LCAs.

 

You sure that the tension rods are going to hit the steering tie rods? Above or below, the steering and the tension rods travel up and down together.

[Eric]

 

Here is what i have, laurel with s14 crossmember, s13 lca and front hubs and anti rollbar. The space in front of the anti roll bar mount is the space i have left to create some sort of new tension rod bracket.

 

 

the bit of metal with the thick layer of bondo on it is the front lower valance. if my new bracket will be to chuncky it will stick out underneath the valance and will look awfull. not to mention that it will prevent me from going low as the bracket will hit speed bumps and other stuff i will come across on the road.

 

another issue i come across is the space between the tension rod and the anti roll bar, how much room to move does an antir oll bar need?

 

 

if i just bolt the tension rod to the lca it sits to low, or i have to make an enormous bracket

 

 

if i put some washers underneath one of the tension rod bolts it creates a bit of an angle so the tension rod is moroe or less were i want it to be.

i fabbed up a bit of bracket to see how that workes out. i know that bracket needs to be a bit more rigid because all of the forces acting on it when braking etc.

 

will the tension rod be ok when i use the washers underneath it? or is this a stupid plan and should i just stay with the standard suspension parts etc?

 

I looked at putting the steering rack back to the front size of the crossmember but that will create completely new problems with exhausts and power steering pump etc.

[]2eDeYe]

Looks like you might need to design a bend into the tension rod to get to where you need to be.
 

 

I'm with Mike, what was the reason for switching the rack to the back?

[Eric]

switching the rack to the back is caused by using the s14 crossmember. i used the s14 crossmember so i could fit the engine easy and have acces to an unlimited supply of coilover sets, knuckles with loads of different brake options, power steering etc.

maybe bending the tension rod is an option but i dont know if that has a negative effect on its performance.

[datzenmike]

So shifting the steering to the rear hasn't affected where they connect to the struts?????

[Eric]

Well i am using s13 knuckles now so all sits were it needs to be because the steering arm is bolted to the 'rear' of the knuckle but the setup is different than the old setup. so i didnt really shifted steering to the rear, its always on the rear on any s13/s14 240sx.