Not sure but the monroe gas struts that are in mine run right down to the bottom, so the spring coils would hit each other before the shock bottoms out.

Update.

Got the stanza struts in. As datsic said they give about a 2" lift and sh!tloads of positive camber. no good.

the problem: 1200 struts are 615mm from hat to control arm, stanza & 120y are both 660mm, so you have 45mm to make up. When you combine this with with the stiffer stanza springs it blows out further.

I replaced the stanza springs (400mm free length, 11 coils) with the 1200 springs 325mm free length, 9 coils. this gave an approximately standard ride height.

I then cut down the stanza springs to 320mm (which is the shortest you can go on them and still maintain some pre load) and got a ride height that was a bit lower ( I have yet to measure it, but 2 1/2 to 3 finger gap between tyre and guard instead of 4-5 finger as standard.

All measurements were done using the stock rims. (brake calipers were not on the struts at the time)

I am concerned about bump clearance for this conversion. You are supposed to maintain 2/3 of original bump, so to keep this conversion legal, I suspect you would have to keep a stock ride height.

DTW got back to me on the PM with some really good info on his setup (a couple of months after I asked but well worth the wait )

Quote:
Brake upgrade I did used 1981 stanza rotors and girlocks, and I just used them with a 200B (??) master cylinder. That was what I dropped off to have reconditioned and the brake guy that did it just supplied all new parts...so I assume that's what he gave me back.

When I first put it in I didn't have the remote booster (VH44) hooked up. Pedal was a little hard but I guess that was only because I was used to the one in my GTi.

I had that small original 1200 proportioning valve thing sitting around and since I did the brake lines myself I just included it in the system. Several "brake professionals" in town didn't know what the thing was, and others told me that I didn't really need to run it in the system.

In any case the 1200 ute drums I'm running on the rear don't lock, and the system runs well.

I've only just hooked up the booster/vacuum pump setup and it works very well. Pedal feel is heaps better...and still nothing locks up.

I did the same and ran the Stanza lower control arms atc and the track is about 25 odd mm wider. Egineer has just had a look at it all and measured everything and had no problems with it.

The only thing I had to do was to roll the lip on the guards. I'm running Yokohama C-Drive 185/55/15 on the front, and 195/50/15 on the rears. The fronts would have rubbed if I didn't roll the lips. The tyre only just clears the front edge of the guard at the bottom by about 3-4mm....and when reversing the car they do just touch if you turn the wheels to the right spot.

If yours isn't painted yet I'd probably trim the front edge of the guards just to be sure. I may end up doing the same.

I know the guys on the site talk about removing things from the master cylinders when running drum/disk combos but I just dropped it to the brake shop and told them what I was going to run in the car. He gave me back a new Master cylinder to match. It bolted up without modification, and only cost me $115.

The Stanza struts, rotors, callipers and lower control arms etc.. cost $125 for both. I trimmed about 75mm off the top of the struts and welded on a threaded sleeve to accept the top cap. Overall it ended up reducing the length of the strut (the bottom peice) by 50mm. I only did it that way to prevent the possibility of the strut bottoming out on the top part, and because I already had a set of adjustable koni's sitting around and that worked out to be the perfect length to fit them without any slack.

By the way... a small amount needs to be trimmed off the castor rod (if you use the 120y ones) near where the flat part bolts to the lower control arm. I think I used the stanza castor rods. That was a while back so I'm not too sure there.

End Quote

Im running bluebird rear springs the progressive rate ones

I then cut the thick end not the thin end

these have turned out well matched to the stanza standard rate inserts

i own a '79 sunny, im currently running the standard sunny struts with monroe gas inserts with 280zx springs. Im yet to upgrade the brakes but they pull up fine, well atleast for now lol. This setup has a vast improvement over the standard struts (springs are like No#2 gauge FENCING WIRE!!)

Big V- I'll look into that- I'll probably get springs made up, but that may help calculate rates.

BTW- what is that setup you have on your avatar? looks interesting. can you chuck a couple of pics of it up in your album?

EFI turbo A15 all made buy me

Stanza control arms,steering arms. 1600 struts shortend with adjustable platforms,tokai green shockers. Nissan 300c front brakes.
REAR standard springs 2inch lowering blocks & monroe gas shocks

Just about sorted out. The conversion is done, I just need to get the wheel alignment done properly and hopefully get a full set of steering angle stats out of them at the same time (i.e castor & camber @ differnt amounts of lock)

My car- 1978 ute

The bits I used:

early 80's stanza struts with alloy girlock calipers & 245mm solid rotors. (Pre 7/1979 stanzas had the crap calipers so stear clear of these)

Lovell super low stanza springs

monroe gas shocks (came with the struts but presumably std. stanza ones)

stanza brake hoses

Stanza Lower Control Arm's

120Y radius rods & sway bar

nolothane bushes all round.

14x6" wheels (+30 offset) with 185/60 R14 yokies

standard twin resivoir master cylinder with the check valve removed from the front circuit.

My rear brakes needed an overhaul as well, so I replaced the wheel cylinders with coupe ones (smaller piston diameter) to ensure they didnt lock first. There is a bit of debate over weather this is required or not. Easy enough to try it without and then change them if they lock before the fronts.

Summary of the conversion-

The good:
Good basic conversion- gives a massive improvement over the drums, but it won't have you outbraking any porsche's into turn 3.

Can be done without replacing any brake lines, changing the master or adding a power booster.

Feels pretty good on the road- the ride is solid and businesslike but won't rattle your teeth out, there is very little body roll & I have not yet hit the bump stops. The stanza shockies seem to be a good match with everything else.

Gives a reasonable pedal feel but not perfect.


The bad:

There are several MAJOR limitations of this conversion if you are in Australia and want to keep things legal.

You are supposed to maintain 2/3 of your bump clearance which means that my ute is about as low as you are supposed to go. The bottom edge of the headlights are at 525mm, and there is heaps of clearance underneath the car so it could be dropped a fair bit further (to 500mm which is the minimum for the bottom edge of the headlight) but with this conversion, you would run out of bump clearance.

The other major issue is trackwidth. in most states you are not supposed to increase it by more than 25mm total without engineering approval (although you're not supposed to mix & match brakes without engineering either ) Final trackwidth depends on the offset of the wheels you choose, but with a +30 offset, my trackwidth came in at 1290mm: about 50mm over standard. Because I have one of the later utes, my standard LCA's have the same bolt pattern as the stanza for the bottom ball joint, so I can put the stock LCA's back in to get a 1270mm trackwidth which is probably close enough to standard argue the case.

BUT- there may be positive camber issues if I go back to that setup.

There may be a reasonable arguement to consider the front end of the car 120y spec equvalent instead of 1200. in that case It may be within the regs because presumably the 120y has a wider front end due to longer LCA's. either way the track increase is immediatley noticeable when you look at the car so you would have to get a pretty slack inspector not to pick it.

This conversion also adds significantly to unsprung weight- 16.5 kg to 22 kg per corner.

The Ugly:

EDIT: The steering arms on the stanza struts are longer than the 1200 ones. the stanza steering arms are 146mm &1200/ 120y ones are138mm they have different bolt spacing and cannot be interchanged., so steering rate is decreased slightly, plus or minus any bump steer issues associated with this kind of change.

Other notes:-

The 14X6" (+30) rims & 185 tyres I used left me with 7mm tyre to strut clearance, so theoretically a 195/50 R15 should fit with this setup with around 2mm clearance (perhaps a bit more because the bulge will be further up). 195/50 R15 are almost exactly the same diameter as 185/60 R14 so no other worries there. Both of these options are a fair bit bigger than the 155/80R12's though 553mm vs 576 or 578mm.

The guards needed to be rolled for clearance at the top, trimmed slightly at the front and pumped about 10mm.

Finding 15" rims that will fit and will look good on it is a major headache (which is why I settled for 14") I also noticed that there is a fair bit of difference between different rims- one 15 x 6" +40 (hyperfang) will clear the strut (without tyres) with a few mm, whereas a 15x6" +35 (blade) only had a couple more mm of clearance than the +40. I am not sure why this is- presumably just differences in rim wall thickness- but make sure you check the rims on the strut with tyres before you buy them!!! I almost had some "RJR Racer" rims 15x6 +35 ordered in, because on paper they should fit, but looking at the clearances on the car with the current rims I reckon I would have had to use spacers.

6.5" rims pretty much can't happen with this conversion, whereas they can with a R31 conversion.


And before there are any smartar$es no- I wasn't ever considering putting blade or hyperfang wheels on it.... although I was so pissed off with looking that I almost went for 13" jellybeans at one point.

All in all I am pretty positive about this conversion at the moment- but I have not decided yet weather to run it past the authorities or not. My attitude may well change If I get a sticker that matches my paintwork.

Hope this is useful to a few people

I think I am talking to myself in this thread but if anyone is still interested:

Before you rush out and buy stanza struts, be aware that the final alignment specs arent that encouraging.

camber: pretty much neutral -0.2 deg.

caster: Not enough, even with the shorter 120y radius rods 0.7 deg. the mechanic suggested another 5mm of thread on the radius rods would be required for decent caster.

Toe: the toe was set to 2mm of toe. With his weight hanging off the sway bar to simulate weight transfer from breaking, this swapped to 2mm of toe out. This is about normal for an old car, so no major issue. Could be improved by(cold) bending the steering arm down by about 5mm.

The main issue is still trackwidth. These suspension specialists that I went to recon the +25mm trackwidth rule is set in stone, and the only chance iof getting it through is to keep quiet and hope they dont measure the track