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Perth (the happiest place on earth) is finally catching up and apparently the DPI are in the process of changing to the national code of practice, rather than their own rules which were (and still outwardly appear to be) "not more than 25mm. No...... No..... does not matter.....no. not more than 25mm!" I got a pdf of the national code and it is consistent with what you are saying Page 39/LS72:

"Where non-original axle or suspension cross-member components are fitted, the offset of the wheel in relation to the axle or hub assembly used, must not be increased by more than 12.5mm each side of the vehicle based on the specifications of the axle components used. If an axle assembly is shortened then the track width limit is taken as the axle manufacturers original track dimension, less the amount the assembly has been narrowed, plus 25mm;

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Maybe rethink that. The thickness of the threaded ends originally is strong enough, But 15mm more of exactly the same size threaded bar is weak?
Its different if he thinks the original bar is weak.

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NSW light vehicle guidelines ( Which I am sure is treated the same in this case )
Track width for a vehicle fitted with different suspension or brakes from another vehicle - is now the original track width of the donor vehicle minus the measurement of which they were brought closer together for mounting in he new vehicle. Basically you could have your stut towers 2 inches apart and alsong as your engineer was happy with the mounting it will pass.
Just putting wider or narrower wheels to change the track width by more than the specified 25mm - whether engineered or not, is non registerable ( said to be! but being enforced is another thing )

Thanks 1200 coupe,
That's useful to know.... now all I have to do is find a wrecker that still has an LJ torrie sitting on the bottom of the pile in the back corner!

EDIT:
Any Idea what size the threaded end of the LJ rod is? I suggested to the suspension guy that I should get 15mm extra thread put on the 120y rod to allow for whatever adjustment I want, but he reckoned that it would be way too weak. Based on that, you would want the LJ threaded section to be the same diameter as the datto non threaded section...... pretty damn fat

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I suggest you try LJ Torana castor rods as they are thicker and stronger and have heaps of adjustment - only mod necessary is to drill out the two mounting holes in the rods so they suit the mounting bolts on the bottoms of the stanza struts and open up the holes at the front mounts. Gives you over 5 degrees castor if you wish.
See someones still reading your posts

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

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

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

EFI turbo A15 all made buy me

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?