http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R4uuM3QlTRQ

I slam it into ruts and dips hard enough to bounce the inside tires off the ground, sometimes all four...

No signs of cracking or weakness.

The steering has a noticeable amount of play in it, though, about 1/2-5/8" slop at the steering wheel rim. About as bad as my FB power box was.

 

Don't forget to factor in wheels/tires. You'll need to address that somehow also.

 

Im looking at buying an entire FC parts car and using the 13B. As for teh wheels, its a 5-lug car Im looking at, so I was thinking about running the stock 16's with some 45 (?) series tires and buy 5-lug rear axles and do the same in the back. For the time being anyway, until I can afford the wheels I want.

 

4-lug FC wheels fit (obviously), as do S13 240SX and whatever car the OZ Lancer is...

 

The one Im looking at isnt 4-lug though. I was hoping to do the conversion with a 5-lug front end.

 

Either way, FC wheels will fit the front and rear with an FC subframe and factory FB width rear axle. You'll be limited to those stock FC wheel sizes though if you want them to fit the stock body.

Finding a staggered set of wheels with the right offsets was pretty tough from my experience. You can easily fit a 7" wheel up front and an 8" wheel out back.


This may be a non-issue for you. Just a heads up for something that might slip your mind that could turn into a hassle depending on what you want to do.

 

Thanks How well do the stock 15" FC wheels fit the FB? Just out of curiosity

 

a stock 15" GXL or 16" turbo wheel will work fine.

Word of caution...if you run a 16" wheel, you need to be wary of your offsets up front and use no wider than a stock 205-55-16 tire or it will rub badly. out back same story except you can play with the offsets a bit but finding the correct one will be hard to do. Tire sizes are a little more forgiving as well. That is to say, if you run stock turbo wheels and stock rubber, you'll be a-ok!

If you plan to slam the car, you might be interested in tubing the front wheel arches from the core support/frame to the top of the strut tower. This will give some more room to play and will allow you to run a larger tire with out internal rubbage! Ask me how i know! lol

 

oh yeah! that's right. about a 60cm tire is the most you can fit without major reconstructive surgery unless you start limiting your bump travel and steering lock. steering lock comes way before running out of bump travel.

this is why i went texas sledgehammer massacre on the inner fenders. it's not that bad but even if I kept the stock axle center, there's bad rub issues happening when the steering is turned. it was a problem i'd been fighting for a long time otherwise, so i figured, well, it's not like i don't have to massage the inner anyway, might as well do the job right.

These are 195/60-15 tires, so about the same as a 205/50-16 or 215/45-16 height wise:



Notice the area around the 10:30 position on the tire. That is severely in the way. Pay attention to that small hole.



After clearancing. Had to move things a lot more than an inch!

Good thing I didn't need more clearance, as this was the absolute limit before the headlight mechanism needed to be removed. As it is, I still get a *tiny* bit of rub with my 185/60-15 front rally tires, which are smaller in diameter, and these pics were taken without bumpstops in place...

 

Hmm. Im not as worried about the top clearance (bump travel I guess?) as I am the steering lock. I think we can do similarly to what you did peejay and run 205 45 R15 up front. Thanks again for the help

 

you could just tub the wells if you are really worried about it. Takes a good Saturday start to finish and about $15 in materials.

 

Like with trailer fenders? I've seen it done that way on 240SX's. The only reason I'm concerned is because at some point the steering will be modified for more angle

 

yes, with the use of trailer fenders. There is a thread in the FC non-technical about it.

 

Way cool!

 

has your's been wheel alligned yet? i'd like to know what the castor settings were with the sub frame that far back. i'm wanting around 5-6 degrees castor (stock is 4deg) but i dont want to modify the front arches to have it.

I did my struts, there the same as yours but different (pic is prior to being welded).



I've kept the standard FB distance from the stub to the lower spring mount, as well as the standard FB distance from the top of the strut tube to the lower spring mount (its actually the factory weld on the springseat).
This will give me the FB ride height i had (lowered coils) and keep as much travel in the shock i as i had before :-)