Options for lowering RA23/RA28

[The Real Roadrunner]

here are a couple of fixes for you.

1 fit s13 strut tops, it will drop your car by 3/4" straigt up as they sit the upper hat in a higher position (not sure if it suits the std spring hat as i havn't checked.

2 shorten the top of the strut to acommodate sw20 rear inserts (i think its about 35mm shorter but cant remember) then move the spring seat down the hieght you desire (1" from your 1st post)

3 fit coilovers and sw20 rear inserts.

now if your just after a nice ride/ cruisy car id go no.2 its a piss easy job and doesnt require much skill (just maths and welding) it gives you a couple of advantages
1 parts cost = inserts (KYB would be fine for your purpose and there cheap if you get non adjust)
2 cutting the strut does 2 things, 1 keeps the insert captive aswell as the spring 2 gives more travel to the bumpstop.

cut the stut near the top so when you weld it back together you can get to the penetration with a diegrinder, grind the weld off the base of the perch and just slide it down the desired amount as this is the only part that will affect ride height with your current springs.

cheers
linden

PS if you need me to do it PM me

PPS never cut a strut below the perch as it puts too much load on the welded area and it may snap so cut as high as possible.

PPPS cutting a spring will only increase its spring rate and cutting 1 coil is fine but you must look at where everything else rides to figure if its suitable for your combo.

[The Real Roadrunner]

and yes SW20 rear does fit as ive done it b4

cheers
linden

[willwal98]

From what I can gather you want the car to look low and don't seem too worried about improving the handling. Why not just get bigger wheels? Speedo reset is cheap (after market speedo is better).

If that doesn't suit I would go with T3 coilovers and tops since they make all that stuff to suit Ra2#'s anyhow.

[GTA22]

Paul
My Ta22 has RA28 stuts cut down, at the top of the strut and rethreaded for the holding nut . The Spring mount was machined off and rewelded to suit the Ta22 Spring and shocky. This will drop your ride height approx 1 inch. Engineering shop should be capable of this task without breaking your bank account.
If you need to burrow a TA22 strut, i have plenty.
Cheers Simon

[oldschool_mr18RG]

hey paul, just in addition to my last say, you will need to think if there is to be a wheel change in the near future, yes or no . then you will need to keep an eye on the rolling dia
of what tyres you select as this will also affect the final out come in ride height and in doing that you can keep with the std speedo, there is nothing wrong with them, i still have mine unless you need some..... bling, but it does not make you go any quicker.
i have my std struts with shorten inserts with super lowered springs which i have had since the the early ninties. the final out come is from a flat surface up the center of the wheel to the under side of my unmodified guard is 600mm. tie rods arms approx center to center will prop upwards towards the strut 40 to 45mm........ leaving you a total travel of 20 to 25 mm..but beware bumpstops do kiss from time to time but that's only the qld roads. remember this was all done in the days where bolt on shopping was not as common as it is now. in closing sometimes simple is better than tech in the way that it digs a your pocket....
hope that this has been helpfull.
CLIFF 18RG HKS 21 PSI

[Stefan]

Another option for SW20 rears is of course KYB AGX. I have them in my coilovers. Not cheap but possibly less than the Konis.

BTW make sure that, if you don't got the coilover route, whatever camber tops you use work with stock upper hats. Some are designed to, some won't without more mucking around.

[Esteban]

...popo love to pick on people with low rides, and you need to also remember that the ride height must be with the car completely full... ie with 4 people and a bootload of groceries

For the 23 anyway ...

1. Remove rear seats
2. Register as two seater
3. Fill boot with space filler
4. Lose weight
5. Hook up with an asian
6. Lower car to absolute limit
7. Profit

[pauljones1976]

I've been mucking around the last couple of weeks with the ride height. Even though I said I'd never cut springs, I've done so to get my ride height worked out. By cutting one coil off the pedders (red ones) I've ended up roughly where I want to be. The kings went lower than the original pedders but not quite this low. The Kings are for sale on Ebay now. Now I've just got to decide if I will go coil-overs or get shorter shocks. If I do get shorter shocks, can anyone else confirm that the SW20 rears will fit into my RA23 standard struts?





-Paul.

[Esteban]

Well it certainly looks good ... :-)