RA28 Help

[RAd28]

and hopefully one i won't regret... Volvo diffs are friggin cheap up here, so i figured i'd wander down that path...

[rancidpunk]

nah thats a fair enough call Timbo, it's just as I said this is my 1st ever project and I'm trying to get the concepts down pat. The diff might be a good place for me to start though, then work the back end out from there.

[RAd28]

just a thought dude... you probably don't even need to touch the diff if your not planning any engine work for a while, especially if your not overly interested in a LSD... I ran the standard celica diff behind a 1GGTE for quite some time (infact, the 1G died before the diff did), and the only thing i had to do was swap out axle bearings once or twice, if your planning on keeping the stock 18R then a hilux diff is just over kill...

Having said that, plenty of people will tell you the standard diff will "snap like a twig", and i've even heard of people having trouble with standard engines... it really comes down to how you drive... if your left foot can't let the clutch off smoothly due to medical (or mental) reasons, then yes, you'll probably kill diffs, but learn to drive, and you'll be fine...

[timbosaurus]

I agree with Rad. The standard diff is still fine in mine.

I drive it sensibly, and will continue to do so until I have fitted something "unbreakable", just for piece of mind.

The benifit with the standard diff is that you can use the standard tailshaft too... saves you a lot of money up front.

[rancidpunk]

well my brother and uncle both tell me I have mental problems for even thinking about trying to pull this conversion off, but other than that I usually drive like an old granny who thinks she's got a bucket of sewage in her boot.(lost my license once and it's never happening again.) Thats sounds like good news about the diff, I kinda just assumed as i'd have nearly 3 times the power it'd/I'd rip it apart.

[thomasbl]

As the boys were saying too, your brake conversion could vary a lot in its costs. For what its worth, i got a set of corona struts to do my brake conversion for about 40 bucks, they were struts and shocks only though as i didn't need calipers. I removed the old springs and but another set in, added the 4 spot hilux calipers, used a slotted peugot rotor and was pretty much in business. Ill look at the coilover setup at some stage once i have made some more progress and test a few things out on the road.

[RAd28]

yeah... i agree... there's a huge variance with the price of parts, depending on how much your able to scavange yourself from wreckers, calipers can cost a small fortune if you can't find your own, struts are typically very cheap, but these days there's an issue with rotors, it took us a few months to get a set when we bought new because DBA have dis-continued the peugot ones, RDA don't make them i think... basically these days it's a matter of custom rotors, there are other options, but they won't end up costing any less... I'm currently working on a combination of RX7 callipers, and Suziki Grand Vitara rotors, so far as i can see, it'll be a case of getting blank rotors having them machined, and makeing a bracket for the calipers (this is where i'm at now, hopefully have a prototype by next weekend). other then that it will fit the celica strut, so no need for any additional suspension bits, but they'll be pretty huge, so kiss 14" rims good buy...

[timbosaurus]

If that's the case, and you don't need to go crazy, then you'll be surprised how good (and comparitively easy) the 1G conversion is.

Your best bet is get a GA70 manual halfcut (should be around $1800), this will give you the engine, W58, wiring, ECU, and all the bits you need like coils/dump pipe/etc.

You will need to modify the sump, modify the gearbox xmember, and get some N/A steel mounts and modify them too. This will have the engine and gearbox sitting in the car, and the tailshaft mounted up to the diff, all for around $2000 and a bit of time.

Then you need to:
- wire the whole setup (plenty of info and help on Toymods),
- setting up the fuel system,
- and getting the exhaust and intercooler setup fabricated.

The above three can get expensive if you do it yourself (expect no less than $1200 materials on top of the halfcut) and REALLY expensive if you get omeone else to do it ($3000+). That is why people say a $4000 complete setup is cheap.

You still have the brakes to do, but you can save for them while spending weeks sorting out the wiring and fuel system.

The diff can wait until your bank account has recovered from the conversion

[timbosaurus]

I'm currently working on a combination of RX7 callipers, and Suziki Grand Vitara rotors, so far as i can see, it'll be a case of getting blank rotors having them machined, and makeing a bracket for the calipers (this is where i'm at now, hopefully have a prototype by next weekend). other then that it will fit the celica strut, so no need for any additional suspension bits, but they'll be pretty huge, so kiss 14" rims good buy...

And I'm working on setup that uses RA2* struts, custom hubs, BA 298mm rotors, and skyline calipers on custom brackets. Likely have to say goodbye to anything smaller than 16" rims, and the hubs/discs/calipers/pads/brackets is likely to cost about $1200 all up. But that's pretty much the top end of the scale, and will only be need to be done once.

[thomasbl]

RDA do make peugot rotors, i bought them for my conversion and had a mate a brake place slot them for me. Unless of course since then the have been discontinued?

[rancidpunk]

What do you mean if that's the case Timbo? About how I drive, it's terrible, my girlfriend teases me. I know this is a loooooooooong shot, but no-one would happen to have CAD drawongs of the xmember mod, engine & gearbox mounts? I've got a mate who's a fabricator so if I could get some CAD drawings that'd be awesome. I'd still like to do the brakes and suspension 1st so I can stop! I understood from my reading that the pug/hilux brake conversion was relatively simple but by the sounds of things it not so cut and dry, is it just a matter or aquiring the set up or does it need to be built? I've searched for a link dedicated to this but I can't find it, if you know of one can you give me a link? Speaking about wheels, I've already bought some(pre-mature I know, but it was a good deal) ther're 17" 100 spoke wires, I don't think that should cause me too many problems but what do you think?

[timbosaurus]

Yeah, I meant "if that's how you drive". I also lost my licence at a young age... and I reckon was the best thing that happened to me!!

It's not common for people on here to draw up CAD for simple things like this, they just weld it in position so they know it fits

The mods required are pretty straight forward... and there are always a few ways of doing them

1) The xmember mounts aren't necessary... they just move the engine lower and further back. It gives you more clearance at the front for fans etc, and more clearance at the top for a strut brace.

I used Strad's engine and gearbox xmember and engine mounts. Here is a pic of it on his site...



You can also see the steel engine mounts above. They need to be the non-cast steel mounts (from a N/A 1G), and need some "loving" to get them to fit onto the forward four bolt holes on the block.


The gearbox crossmember needs to be moved about an inch rearwards. The front holes on the xmember will actually line up with the rear holes on the body, so you can sit it there just like that. But to make it strong enough, you will need to weld a piece of reinforcing steel to allow it to also bolt up through the front holes.

Here is Strad's setup again. He took a more serious approach which is tough, but maybe even overkill.



Best to borrow your mates welder and tack it up in your car, then drop the xmembers and mounts off to him to weld them up neatly.

[RAd28]

Timbo,

we might have to compare notes on the brakes... shoot me a PM, i'd be interested to know more...

[rancidpunk]

What do you guys think of this? http://toymods.net/forums/showthread.php?t=39605, It still needs bearings for the axel, diff, rotors and pads $510, I think it's not a bad deal, might be a good oppotunity to upgrade my diff if finances permit. I've read some threads about people having trouble finding rotors though, is that still an issue?

[timbosaurus]

If I understand correctly Mate, it's still the standard '28 under all that disc brake goodness.

Disc brakes and all that are good, but I would say you'd be better off saving the money in the unlikely event you break yours and need a stronger diff.

Cheers,
Timbo