I'm not intending to start a physics argument here but "back pressure" is not something ANY vehicle/engine requires. What they do need(this refers to any vehicle) and what you may be referring to is exhaust flow velocity. The faster the gas flow, the better the scavenging effect to 'whisk' the exhaust gas away. The problem is, small exhausts suit low engine speeds but then sacrifice top end as the small pipes then become restrictive as the volume of gas is obviously greatly increased.
An intersting topic you raise though!

Been busting my arse to get the ute in some sort of condition before the cruise. Pushing a whole lot of #OOPS# uphill at the moment!
Got the 'new' engine in, got it sort of running, starter motor shorted internally and caught on fire, literally!!
Replaced that, running pretty #OOPS#. Did a comp test, 100 on cylinder no.1, doh!!! That's the crap thing about buying something sight unseen and condition unknown! Lesson learnt. Might have another A14 lined up anyway that I may plonk in if the current one isn't up to it.

Been slowly working on my front struts as well. I ended up getting a fair bit of machining done on the coilover kit to make it all happen. I'll take a few photos tomorrow when I'm welding them up.
This is the progress so far-

Something along the lines of the end result-




Cut down, welds ground off, ready to prime (weld through primer just to seal under the coilover sleeve a bit-







Primed, ready for welding coil over sleeve on tomorrow (hopefully!)-




Hopefully all done in time for the cruise.

looking good shoota!
keen to see wat happens with the top spring perch and camber tops.

cheers
rob

Hi shoota,

Keep the pics and explanations of the strut mods coming, I for sure will be using them as a reference for my own job. did you cut the strut housing on a lathe? or can a cheap tube cutter do the job?

Cheers

Ed

I'm sure like a man named Keith he used his teeth, it wasn't for leisure or pleasure but to get to the cheese underneath!

Hey Ed, a pipe cutter might work but they're actually quite thick walled tubing so it might take a bit!
Good old drop saw does the trick on the tubes. I chamferred the edges for better weld penetration. Again there's plenty of meat to play with. They actually took a lot of amps with the mig to get decent penetration.
Hopefully the coil over sleeves are nearly as thick or it will be a bit tricky to weld without melting the sleeves.

Rob, I'll take some photos and measurements of the upper spring perch and the camber plates tonight. A fair bit of machining was required to thin out the top plate and spacer that goes into the strut bearing so there was enough thread to bolt the insert retaining nut on. Even still the top of the insert threaded section won't protrude through the nut. I'm going to put a grub screw in the top to act as a locking nut. Might make it clearer with photos I think!

Hopefully you can get an idea of the mods to the camber tops and the upper spring perch-






















I got one of the coil overs welded on. The other I just may have fu(ked up!! I wasn't paying attention and welded one on upside down!!! What a c0ckhead!
Ah well, #OOPS# happens!




Upside down Miss Jane!!!!!




Painted up, one side anyway!!

Nice job on the tops, shouldn't matter if upside down unless you wind all the way up or down, it's the lock rings that lock them in place nit the thread direction I thought

The otomoto set up looks good, I like the doings, especially the helper set up. But then my dodge eBay ones are holding up well.piggy has same and is satisfied what rate springs are they

You are correct apart from one small omission..... The top (should be bottom) thread 'finishes' at a dead end rather than being a starting position.
Basically it won't screw off. Trust me, I tried!!
The angle grinder will get a workout tonight and hopefully salvage some sort of a positive result!
Cruise is still a distant possibility.
My wife will disown me though as she aint gunna see me till Sunday night!