$250 vented brake upgrade for KE30/35/55 also celica/corona

[BradW]

The RA40 celica shares the same strut as the XT130,

From this statement would it be safe to assume that RA40 struts could be used instead of XT130?

[PULSE]

Reading back over pms I'm about 90% sure they are RA40 struts. Are the RA40 struts exactly the same as the XT130 ones? So I could just bolt on RA60 discs and MX62 Calipers?

Whats the difference between the Ra40 and RA23/28 struts? Because from all the asking around I did when I was doing the RA strut swap, everyone said they were all the same.

Cheers, Matt

[twentyEight]

Matt,

Send Ed a PM... I have a feeling that he has a spare pair of the MX62 Calipers, and the rest can easily found by Ed or myself...

And RA65 discs are the same as RA60... But my suggestion would be to buy new ones...

[rob]

RA40 struts are not exactly the same as XT130

they are the same except for the caliper mounting bracket

XT130 caliper mount is cast into the strut and is 90mm bolt spacing
RA40 caliper mount is cast into the disc stone guard and is bolted to the strut and has something like 120 - 150mm bolt spacing

so you cannot use RA40 struts with this upgrade unless you want to go to the trouble of making a new caliper bracket. which is a waste of time and money.

[o_man_ra23]

Sorry... my bad. Wording should have been:

RA40 strut inserts (shocks) are the same as XT130 strut inserts.

That is what I meant to say. No, the RA40 struts won't work, as rob pointed out, the calliper mount is wrong. But, if you have RA40 struts, then whatever devices you have used to make them compatible with the TA22 can be used in the XT130 struts. If they were RA23/28 struts, then you would need to look closer at your insert spacer setup due to the different inserts.

[BradW]

Thanks for the confirmation guys.

[PULSE]

Ooh ok well thats good then, because I'm running a TA22 shock in my RA40 struts, I just machined up a small (20mm I think) spacer on a lathe so that the fit properly. While were on the topic, is there anything wrong with having the spacer underneath the shock? Would it be better to have the shock sitting in the strut, and then a spacer on top so that the locking nut can lock down on it. Because the way I see it this would be more like the original setup, as with the TA22 struts obviously the shock sat in the bottom of the strut.

TwentyEight - I'm spewing Shelldrake had a set of new RA60 discs for sale for $70 and he had sold them earlier on the day that I pmed him about it. Do you know how much they are new? I'm assuming about $200 which puts it way out of budget for me. I'll ask him about the calipers.

Cheers, Matt

[Sagluren]

so if i was going to do this conversion to my ra40, i would still have to get the xt130 struts, but my spring, bearing plate and shock absorber could still all be used.
Or are the spring seat deffrent between the two diffrent struts resulting in me needing to get some springs as well???

also would i still have to upgrade my master cylinder or would the ra40 item be ok???

sorry for the dumb questions.

cheers.

[o_man_ra23]

Sagluren, you need the XT130 struts. Shocks from RA40 should fit, if yours are getting tired, get new XT130 ones. Your standard MC should be fine if you keep the stock rear brakes. The RA40 has a proportioning valve in it from standard. If you upgrade to RT142 avante rear disks, then your bias should be pretty good anyway.

[Sagluren]

thanks o man, will the xt130 strut still hold my ra40 spring???

+rep (sorry need to spread the lovin)

cheers.

[o_man_ra23]

Yep... RA40 and XT130 share the same part numbers for aftermarket springs.

[Sagluren]

awesome cheers owen.


cheers.

[Hash_ra23]

oh damn.....i just used ra23 strut inserts in a xt130 strut without a spacer......its all bolted up already. I noticed the insert was loose in there, but figured with the car weight on it, it would be fine. Should i rip it all back out and put a spacer in?

[SeptemberSquall]

oh damn.....i just used ra23 strut inserts in a xt130 strut without a spacer......its all bolted up already. I noticed the insert was loose in there, but figured with the car weight on it, it would be fine. Should i rip it all back out and put a spacer in?

um... yes, you should

[Sagluren]

yea you should,

went to the wreckers today and got my parts, some really good looking struts and some calipers. so soon i will be stopping well.


cheers.