Hey all,
This is my little buzz box. Pretty stoked picking this thing up! Has a bride drivers seat and a crx passenger. Coilovers up front and very RARE choppies in the back!
660cc of pure happiness, also came with a NOT FITTED turbo kit. Keen to build another engine (1 litre??) And make it track worthy!
Welcome. Great L200. Glad you have joined us. When you say “track worthy”, what do you expect? They really aren’t a track car or worth going down that route in serious way. Short comings are four turns lock to lock steering, expect $2000 or more to the steering “quick”, the only Dai gearbox will be from a Sirion and then the ratios aren’t great, will need an LSD (good luck finding one), drive shafts won’t be cheap if you want strong vibration free ones. There are limited decent tire options in a 13", nothing in a 14" and getting a 195 15" to fit takes a lot of fab work. The front end needs proper radius rods and not rely on the sway bar to locate the control arms. If you want to do something within Motorsport Australia stick with motokhanas and khanacross. Outside of this, I am sorry to say, it won’t be competitive and there are better cars with better fun for return on investment. When I got to the point of realising I needed a Sadev gearbox to be competitive and the class I wanted to run in wouldn’t allow a proper radius rod most progress halted. Have a good look through the race car builds here. I’d recommend keeping it as an occasional track day car and briskish road car. Go L700 front control arms with M100 hubs, uprights and brakes. Applause rear disc conversion. Get the sprign rates right, that means front at std and rears 400-500lb/inch. An NA ejde with a light EF-EL flywheel and a gearbox from a an M100 or L700 and get an lsd. Stick with a Nangkang AR-1 185/60/13 and make the car work around them, they’ll be great for everything but wet days when they won’t get any heat into them.
Welcome to the forums mate! Your mira looks great!
Fun track days are great. I have had Dais on track and both have been fun.
Track days for me is about having fun and just competing with myself and the dai track days we have had in the past have been great to have fun with other dai’s on track that are about the same.
Make sure when you turbo the ej that you have some spark control as ej’s with boost tend to pop really quick without timing/ ignition control.
Hopefully within the next few years we get some motivated dai owners again and get a track day happening again.
The last one was a big flop with only 2 dais on track and people ghosting the organiser which ended up coming out of his pocket.
Mr_Gormsby, thanks for all the helpful info about parts!! Cant wait to peruse marketplace and the wreckers. I’ll make it my own fun as i have with multiple other L200s ive owned. Cheers man
Hey @evilhighway, tha ks for the gday. Fun is fun aslong as your the one having, right ?! Ill make sure to have proper protection when boosted! Looming into a link ECU (G4x atom x)
Cheers man
[quote=“Mr_Gormsby, post:2, topic:7101”]…The front end needs proper radius rods and not rely on the sway bar to locate the control arms…[/quote]Has demand for radius rods been great enough for series manufactured conversion kits or is this sort of conversion usually done in one’s shop or garage?
I could picture radius rods harvested from some old Ford Cortina, cutting the threads and rod’s length to fit. A non-related sway bar would be difficult to adapt, given that the original one has a clearance dip.
Even if one isn’t taking these to the track, converting these over to radius rods is a practical solution to the inherend corrosion sway bar ends of this type tend to suffer in harsher climates. My first 601 had its sway bar ends rusted down thin to the point to where I was avoiding motorway driving as much as possible. I contemplated welding beads on alternate sides, cooling down the bar’s end each time, so as to restore the end’s thickness, without corrupting the bar’s hardening properties. The big issue was finding someone to machine these ends down to their original dimensions
Zero demand for radius rod kits. But I think this is due to lack of awareness. I have experienced the “before and after” on a number makes. Where I’ve had to keep the std config of sway bar/tie rod bar and wanted a diff diameter bar or adjustable ends I’ve bought spring bar, machined up and bent to shape.
How do you bend a spring bar, without heating it up to do so? Will hardening it afterwards restore a spring bar’s metalurgical performance?
Yes you heat it. The spring is in the torsion along straight/linear sections. Where you need bends, heat it to the temp as given by the supplier. Normally, cherry glowing and not red/orange hot. Bend a little over a mandrel. If it does not easily go the full distance keep repeating/adding heat. Reheat and quench afterwards. The spring steal supplier should be able to provide exact heating and quenching details. Hardest part is making jigs to get symmetry left to right.
Oh, okay. I’ve seen people lower their suspensions, also through heating up their coil springs. But didn’t know, you could restore springing properties once again, through hardening them back up
You can get coil springs reset. Leafs I just do cold in a press. Heating coils to set height lacks any precision. Might as well chop them if they will remain captive and if the seat matches.
