New 80 series front springs fitted to Fierys rear end

[Chris]

To get you somewhere close Steven, you could stick a couple of clamps on the front springs to stop them expanding, detach the three top bolts than jack up the car 'til it's level then measure the gap between the top of the strut and the spring mounting - couldn't you?

Also, to prevent having to disassemble the strut to put longer bolts in, you could actually extend the studs with a sleeve and new stud on top. The spacer slot might need to be made slightly wider but that's nothing. The bolts don't really take any load unless you drop you wheel into a bottomless hole very quickly. All the force is upwards on the strut. OK there's a degree of twist, but the bushes limit that. It would certainly work as a demo. Follow me?

Chris

 

[sae70]

Yea, I need to get back outside again for another fiddle me thinks, but lots to get done before I can do that. May be able to grab an hour later on

 

[Shayne]

Stands to reason the linear multiplier reduces in correspondence with the spacer thickness or height . If 20mm results in x2 = 40mm lift then i imagine a 10mm spacer is likely to result in a 15mm lift . and anything below that would likely be unnoticeable .

 

[clivehorridge]

Steven has done the same as me and mated the 80 fronts up with IM +5-100mm shocks (Or whatever size they are calling them now) so shouldn't be quite as bad as with standard shocks. I am still on the lookout for some 80 rear shocks to complement the spring I have on the back just to gain that extra inch or so.

There's a shame, I've got a full car set of 4 standard 80 shocks, they're far from new but no rust, no leaks and they work. Trouble is I'm several miles from you and I don't suppose postage/carriage would be viable. Maybe Karl could help you if you haggle him down to earth. If you're passing -) pop in, they're yours for the taking! We can fit them and do a bit of an offie.

 

[Chris Green90]

Roughly where are you clive?

Sent from my GT-I9000 using Tapatalk 2

 

[clivehorridge]

Roughly 2,000 km East of Hull (sorry Ull) in Bucharest Romania.

 

[Chris Green90]

Roughly 2,000 km East of Hull (sorry Ull) in Bucharest Romania.

haha oh yeah. I couldn't see you location on my tapatalk. About 2000km So thats not far off a 3000 mile round trip and I get about 30 miles for a tenner so thats about a grand in fuel. hhmmmm the trip would be nice and i could use a holiday but I think it may be excessive for some used shocks I should get round that way when I do my europe tour (currently planned for 2020)

 

[clivehorridge]

You're welcome anytime Chris, it would be great to have a visit from a LC enthusiast. There's the shocks, a few beers and accommodation waiting if you fancy an overland....

 

[Doodle]

Quick pic to show the front arch clearance, I'll get some measurements when I can find a tape measure at work!

 

[Shayne]

[h=1]hallelujah[/h]

 

[Chris]

Nice Shayne, well done. How did you get those then, finally?

No stopping you now.

Chris

 

[Shayne]

Plan B worked i went and bought the nylon then drove around all the same places again , avoiding the office , and instead walking into the workshop to talk to the olds guys deep in the dungeons . The full bill with bumpstops and custom made spacers is now £140 but i will only pay it once and i got exactly what i wanted in the end so worth it in the long run i guess .

 

[sae70]

Quick pic to show the front arch clearance, I'll get some measurements when I can find a tape measure at work!

Did you manage to get those measurement Doodle? I'd be very interested in what you have there from the bottom of the molding to the top of the rim and the rear also if you could, oh and some idea of loads/fuel in tank

 

[sae70]

Time for an up-date

As most of you are aware I asked your opinions on what look you found more pleasing to the eye with regards to the three photos of Fiery I posted in the Poll Thread that I started http://www.landcruiserclub.net/foru...photo-of-Fiery-is-most-aesthetically-pleasing and the results were a surprise me. I thought that the voting would be between photos 'B' & 'C' with 'C' getting more of the votes, but how wrong could I have been!!! Almost equal votes between photos 'A' & 'B' (14 & 15) with photo 'C' getting only 4 votes!!!

Here's the photos again but this time with a little more information.

All of the measurements were taken in this way;

The next three photos were taken with the truck standing on her new standard 80 series front springs in the rear and the 2 plus year old IM 'B' springs up front with a load of 150Kg in the boot, 70Ltrs of fuel and a 45Kg winch and winch tray installation up front.

The underside of the body molding to rim top measurement on the rear remained the same throughout and was 365mm.



Photo 'A' The measurement from the underside of the body molding to rim top on the front is 325mm.

Drive shaft angle.

Top Ball Joint angle.

Photo 'B' The measurement from the underside of the body molding to the rim top on the front is 355mm.

In this photo I've jacked the front of the truck up by 30mm to simulate the look one could expect from a 15mm strut top spacer.

Interestingly I had to jack the front of the car up 55mm to get the molding to rim top measurement to increase by the 30mm?!

Drive shaft angle.

Top Ball Joint angle.

Photo 'C' The measurement from the underside of the body molding to the rim top on the front is 365mm.

In this photo I've jacked the front of the truck up by 40mm to simulate the look one could expect from a 20mm strut top spacer.

Again interestingly I had to jack the front of the car up another 15mm to get the molding to rim top measurement to increase by the 10mm?!

Drive shaft angle.

Top Ball Joint angle.

So after much pondering and consideration I've decided to fit a pair of 15mm strut top spacers up front as I'm still very happy with the ride and the flex of the IM 'B' springs, but just need a small bit of trimming lift to even the front up to the rear with its new 80 series springs.

Oh, and to help compensate for the 5mm drop in suspension height as a result of the winch installation.

More to follow, as you can't just buy a 15mm spacer from off the shelf!

 

[Chas]

Still say 'C'

 

[Jon Wildsmith]

the extra jacking may be the weight you're taking off the tyres so they expand, if I've understood what you're measuring.

 

[sae70]

Still say 'C'

I can totally understand why your saying that Chas, there is very little between them in all honesty. In fact with less weight in the boot 'C' would look very much like 'B' and that's the point really, what I'm after is a compromise between loaded and unloaded. If I was to fit the 20mm spacer for a 40mm lift up front she'd probably look OK as she is, but stick another 150Kg in the back for a weekend away and the back end will defo drop below the front and this is the issue that I'm trying to correct as this is what I've been living with since fitting the IM 'B' lift more than two years ago.

 

[sae70]

the extra jacking may be the weight you're taking off the tyres so they expand, if I've understood what you're measuring.

Ah, very good point Jon, I reckon that your bang on the money there. Mmmmm......so maybe I should have ordered a 20mm spacer after all!!!?*! As Chris said it's not an easy thing to emulate the effect of fitting a strut top spacer without actually doing it or at least putting some temporary spacers in place for a look see. We will know soon enough now though as a 15mm spacer has been machined and was posted out to me yesterday at 16:30Hrs along with a diff drop kit

 

[sae70]

So decision made on the thickness of spacer required, time to find one

Whilst this thread has been progressing I've been exchanging PM's with Chris as a lot of the historic suspension threads that I've been reading through from 4/5 years back Chris (LandCrusher) was involved in. As I said previously the 80 series front spring modification has been known about for a very long time and the strut top spacer has been about even longer. The strut top spacer is a mod that our Chris did a long time back to Lil-Blue and it was these spacers from Lil-Blue that between myself and Chris we were in discussion about turning down from 25mm to 15mm. On further investigation though it turned out that they are made of a non machinable material Chris then offered up a couple of alternative suggestions involving getting hold of some suitable Aluminium bar and some dimension information and making a set from scratch possibly even from a plastic product that Chris has in stock. So armed with all of these ideas I went away and started looking at getting hold of some 115mm dia x 100mm Aluminium bar, this was coming in at about £30. The next stumbling block was to try to find out some dimensional information with regards to the suspension top plate and the PCD of the studs, this is where I wasted my Friday evening. I spent hours searching the net and posting questions on other forums trying to locate any dimensional information even using Google translate to glean information from forums in different languages, but all to no avail!!! I ended up falling asleep in the arm chair that I was sat following all of this tedium and a couple of large glasses of red wine.

The next morning (Saturday) whilst sat up in bed with kids using me as a trampoline, iPad in had I started to research a link to a 1/2" spacer from FatBobs that Chris had PM'd me http://4x4.fatbobsgarage.com/toyota-4runner-05-front-aluminum-leveling-lift-kit-1996-2002-p9677.aspx the idea of ordering one started to appeal to me. It worked out to be just £72 delivered and although 2.5mm thinner than what I was after it started to look like the easier option, everything else considered. So I set an alarm on my phone for 16:00Hrs to remind to phone FatBobs in America at their opening time of 10:00Hrs for a quick chat about postage times.

Still looking for a solution I then stumbled over this web site http://www.outrageousoffroad.co.uk/ and as I was already intending on calling TBR and Devon4x4, I added this number to my list.

When I called Outrageous Off-road the land line number was not in use! So I called the mobile number, this was answered by a very pleasant chap called Neil. We got chatting, I told him what I was after and he said that in fact he'd just returned from picking up a new batch of 25mm spacers that he'd had water jetted. I had already explained that I was after a pair of 15mm spacers and he replied 'That's no trouble. If you go onto my eBay account buy and pay for a set, I'll get a pair in the lathe for you and post them out'. Cool I said and did just that This was at around midday, I then got a message from Neil at about 17:00Hrs to say my order was in the post at 16:30Hrs Now that's some pretty hot service is that

This is what I bought http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/251240853564?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649

As it turns out this is the same chap that Shayne bought his spacers from and linked to earlier in this thread

I spent more than an hour on the phone to Neil talking all kinds of bollocks as you do, but it was all very interesting. He's been modifying 4x4's for many years becoming embedded into the world of the Hilux. Although his DD is a Mk6 Hilux that he speaks very highly of his toy is a lightened racing Colorado with more than 200Bhp!!! So I've invited him along to the forum for a look around I hope that he will drop in as I would love to know more about his Collie and to see some photos

Can't wait to get my hands on the spacers, fingers crossed I've made the right choice with regards the thickness

 

[Shayne]

I sincerely hope i'm wrong about the x2 factor changing with the spacer thickness