Works been a little slow so had to change plans. Instead of sectioning the stanza struts and having to buy inserts I went out and got a set of R31 struts thinking it would save me $200... Pulled the springs off the R31's and the inserts are original and loose as.

I was also going to get 4kg/mm coil over sleeve kit but to save money for now I'd like to use either the 1200 springs or stanza springs.

Questions:
What is the spring rate of stanza GL front springs?
If they are stiffer than the 1200's I'll cut them off and use them but if its not much different then I'd be better to keep the stanza struts complete so I can sell them.

Is it possible to replace the R31 strut oil with engine oil to get them working again until I can afford some nice inserts and springs to match?

Does it matter that all the rubber boots around the ball joints/rod ends I want to use have perished? Stanza they came from was sitting for a long time so the joints are ok but boots gone.

Thanks for the help

(ps, I know I should probably wait until I have good inserts and springs but I'm well keen to fabricate something for the ute at the moment).

Out of curiosity any idea what shock length bluebird 910?

Yeah will get the caster rods later, probably when I start upgrading disk's, calipers and diff.

lightload,
I am not sure why you would bother, both Maddat and datsport make them and they are not very expensive.
maddat also do adjustable caster rods, which I currently have in my coupe (you will need to enlarge the holes in the chassis mounting part to fit the larger diam rods though).

1985

I wonder how hard it would be to design a CNC drawing for a roll center adjuster that spaces down and angles parallel with the brake disk. It would bolt to the strut then another set of bolts for the steering arm. The offset from the strut would also increase camber.

Probably cost more than custom struts tho.

what year is the ute you are putting it into? it may be even easier if its a later model ute.

The only other thing you will need is the late ute or late 120y radious rods. or to mod yours if its an early ute

mcgee, roll centre adjuster...yeah thats the name i should have really used i guess, bad habbit from always seeing them refered to as bump steer spacers. sort of know the theory but have never really bothered doing anything about either on my 1200
cant say i really noticed too much bump steer in my 1200, probably due to the vary small amount of suspention travel

This is starting to sound very easy. I can literally take the struts with arms attached straight out of the stanza, swap the tops, do the sleeves, put in the inserts and bolt into the ute.

I have some ZG flares in the shed from a zed project that should fit too.

Thanks again for the info

PIGDOG I was half tempted to put something in about "Bump steer spacers" in my last post, but took it out.
These are actually roll centre adjusters and in theory should not change bump steer, which is caused by the arc of the steering system being in a different plane to that of the LCA (sorry if you already knew it).

i.e when the suspension moves in jounce or rebound, the different arcs cause a steering input to the wheels.
A spacer between the Steering arm and strut does not change the relative arcs of the Steering system and LCA so should have no effect on bump steer.

Having said this sometimes the bump steer is not a linear effect over the rang of suspension travel (Which is bad), it therefore would change the static point on a bump steer curve which would in turn change the rate of bump steer for jounce and rebound.

having answered this question so many times, the parts list is etched into my brain

can get bump steer spacers to space the steering arm away from the strut. to get a better angle between the control arm pivots.
But from the setups that i have seen the spacer runs into the disc pretty quickly. The spacers can be ran more easily with the r31 brake setup as the disc is less of an offset (closer to the hub face) than with the eariler stuff
the downside to this is that its harder to fit large brakes into a given wheel size with then with the older disc offset...if that makes sense. just think floating disc setup vs disc behind the hub setup

This is where i'd imagine a custom strut with a raised stub axle would be better, as the car gets low without changine the control arm angle as much
Or an S13 type front end as the stub axle is a fair bit higher than the balljoint compared to older strut setups, once again making the car lower without changing the arm angles