folks w/lowered cars, please comment...

[sfwilliams@comcast.net (Scott F. Williams)]

> That shouldn't be so difficult, except that you have to deal with
> that tapered hole in the arm.

You're on the right track, Ron. The hole in the arm would be enlarged to
accept a tapered bushing which would be pressed in from underneath.
Essentially, the stock taper would be recreated to accept the stock
tie-rods. The whole conversion would require removing the hub assembly,
getting the holes machined, and having the bushings installed. You'd then
flip the tie-rod upside down and bolt it back together. That's it. These
bushings should be very inexpensive to make, and the arm drilling should be
cheap as well.

What is *very* expensive is the spacer to relocate the a-arms downwards.
Such a spacer would have to withstand some extreme stressloads. Of course, a
failure could be catastrophic. So, the design would have to be carefully
engineered to eliminate stress points, etc. The ideal alloy would have to be
used and then heat treated.

The good thing is that the part is already designed and tested on several
autox cars. The horrible thing is that the regular price is $375! DOH!!! I
know for sure that the price will come down substantially if we make a bunch
of them. I'm sure that it cost at least $200, though. This is a hardcore mod
that should deliver huge benefits in handling. The spacer installation is a
20 minute bolt-on affair for both sides. However, the price tag is pretty
scary. Then again... swaybars cost almost as much, so...
--
Scott F. Williams
NJ Scirocco nut
'99 Subaru Impreza 2.5 RS
Mazda 323 GTX turbo "assaulted" vehicle
Golf GTI 16v "rollycar"
ClubVAC: "Roads found. Drivers wanted."