RA28/23 rack and pinion + 5 stud parts list?

[matt84]

Hi guys,

I've tried some searching, to not much avail. It seems there are multitude of starting points for an RA series rack and pinion swap, all with varying amounts of fabrication and customisation involved. My question is, does anyone have suggestions for a definitive list of parts required to do both a rack and pinion and larger brake 5 stud (supra/soarer stud pattern) conversion all in one go? I'd like to hear from guys who may have this exact combo on their RA's at the moment and could tell me what they're using?

Cheers,

Matt

[stidnam]

Yup I have this exact combo at the moment and a few recommendations for you

Parts needed for one option would be

1. xE70 crossmember
2. Standard lower control arms
3. XT130 struts
4. MS65 hubs for 5 stud
5. R33 calipers and rotors
6. Capiler mount adapter (I can source these for you if you want)
7. S13/14 camber tops

There's a whole bunch of fabrication required with the lot of it. A little too much for me to explain right at the moment.

My best recommendation is to read up on the rack and pinion thread that covers the ke70 rack into car and abandon any 5 stud conversion. You can still do a big brake upgrade without 5 stud and really at the end of the day 5 stud seriously limits your options for wheels if you don't want to run spacers.

Another reason not to go 5 stud is that most 5 stud wheels are going to be 17" and in my own opinion anything larger than 16" on these cars looks out of place.

Regards

Brad

[matt84]

Cheers Brad,

I've found a KE70 front end, so I just need the x-member and rack? Steering column, steering knuckles etc, anything of use?
Probably will stay with 4 stud, per your advice.
This would mean I could go XT130 struts, pug, lux brake upgrade.

Matt

[stidnam]

Sorry forgot about the steering column. Easiest option I've found is to obtain an RA60 non powersteering column.

But yes just grab the column and rack including tie rod ends (probably want to replace those anyway)

4 stud will be the easiest. The front requires either 7" +25 (maximum offset) or 8" +15 (unconfirmed max offset. Just my calculation). 8" is going to require a bit of guard work though keeping in mind that the crossmember adds 15mm off track either side I think. Now to reassure yourself of your decision trawl the net for 5 stud wheels in those widths and offsets. Will guarantee you'll find very little. I hate spacers so ordered a set of wheels from Japan that would specifically fit.

XT130 lux/pug upgrade is fairly straight forward but it's not as cheap as everyone makes it out to be. To give you a rundown of the costs I spent on the upgrade

$140 - Struts
$200 - Calipers
$180 - Brake pads
$180 - New discs
$120 - Machining and redrilling of discs
$40 - New bearings
$40 - Caliper rebuild kit
$40 - New studs
$40 - New bearings pressed in
$x - hours and hours of my time rebuilding calipers and time collecting parts and putting it all together - I recall not having a car at the time wheeling the stuff around in a trolley to the machinist

So in total it came to $980 for me. You can cut a few corners if you want but you're still looking close to $1000 for a setup and you should also factor in an upgraded master cylinder (ga70 etc) and a new set of brake lines.

In comparison you can buy a brand new hoppers stoppers kit for $1300 and everything is new and fits your car as is. Also I notice the hoppers kit has 290mm discs. You'll only get 268mm with the lux/pug upgrade. Personally if I was doing it again I'd look more closely at the hoppers kit. Maybe someone else can comment on experiences.

Anyway if you have money to burn you can put together a coilover conversion with konis and r33 brakes for a little over $3k (including fabrication costs) and maybe a tad less if remaining with 4 stud. I've driven with both lux/pug and r33 on a celica and can say that the r33 setup is miles ahead.

What engine conversion are you doing by the way if at all? And what do you plan to do with the car?

Brad

[matt84]

Cheers for the info!

Re: engine swap. I pulled out the 1g-gte and w58 i'd put in several years ago with the intention of restoring/spraying the car. With the engine out, I thought, the steering box looks a bit tired, why not upgrade to R&P.

This means of course that my mid sump 1g won't fit. Then I thought, why bother finding a front sump for the 1g, why not go jzx100 vvti 1jz if its R&P and so on and so forth until i've gone from a tidy up and restoration to a 1jz, w58, r&p volvo diff ra28, at least in my head.

The wife and wallet would have something to say about those plans.

Goal for the car is to be tidy, relatively quick, that isn't too boat like in handling and I shouldn't be up its arse every other weekend fixing something.

[stidnam]

Here's some reading on others opinions

http://www.toymods.org.au/forums/tec...e-upgrade.html

Good choice on the engine. Having done both 1g and 1j I wouldn't hesitate doing the 1j again. Worth every cent.

You're running the exact same setup including driveline that I am except for the vvti motor. Hope you plan to be nice to that w58 otherwise consider some tunnel mods and an r154. When you put the 1j and gearbox in you're probably not getting the gearbox out without pulling the motor out. Just another word of warning and food for thought.

The r33 setup can be done on the cheap as well by the way. I estimate under $1500 for a basic setup. It starts getting costly when you do coilover conversions, putting decent shocks in etc. But those things aren't really brake related.

[matt84]

Again, thanks for the insight. When the project starts to get more traction, I hope you don't mind if I hit you up for some info. Going to pick up the KE70 bits tomorrow!

Plan to be somewhat nice to the w58. Did you go the dellow bellhousing or the 2jz-ge one?

Not set on the vvti motor, I've read things and I'd like to go that way, single turbo etc etc, but really I'd be happy with any tidy 1j.

[Bazooka]

My setup is quite similar to those above with a few differences. The front brake upgrade is here;
http://www.toymods.org.au/forums/tec...e-upgrade.html
I used an AE86 cross member for the power assisted rack and pinion but this fits similar to the KE70. I chose an RA60 steering column simply as it also adds tilt adjustment to the equation.

[stidnam]

Went with the 2jzge bellhousing.

[alexlegault]

good luck man