After 3 damn months of my car getting repaired (dont ask) I got it back today and have a couple of niggles with it. Main one is that the new suspension seems higher than the (im pretty sure it was stock) suspension in there before it had to be repaired. The main way i can tell is the height between the top of the wheel and the wheel arch. Seems really high. Im pretty sure im not imagining it.

Will this eventually drop once ive driven it around for a while, or is that how its going to stay.

Also i have a strut bar that ive brought since and its too long. I think this is for a gxe10 not a rs200 sxe10. Its about 5cm too long for the rs200 from what i can see.
Its for sale, pm me or leave message for offers.

Can you take some photos of the suspension?

The Strut bar for both cars is interchangable so it's possible you've got something entirely different or the ends are on the wrong way around perhaps?

i would take a pic if i could but unfortunately my d-camera broke.

I think you may be right that the blue bits are on the wrong way round. ill look on the net at other pics to confirm.cheers for that

if they are new springs then yes, they will settle. give them a couple of months depending on the kays you're doing

also, did you pull heaps of shit out of the car before it was repaired? is the petrol tank bone dry? My car is a bit lower with heaps of shit and fuel in the car

Nah- they stole your coilovers & put stock springs back in! :P

i got sum springs lying round home if you wont 2 get it a bit lower bro... i upgraded 2 adjusties a couple of months age and they just been lying round.... can post up a pic of my car with them in if your keen :) LOL

yeah mate im keen,

cheers

sweet pm me and we will sus sumthing out :P

Could the car have had IS200 springs fitted, rather than altezza springs? I know for a fact that the IS200 sits much higher in stock form.

Alright so guys i got some pics. The quality isnt great because its taken with my cell phone.

Strut below:

Strut right


Strut right


Whole view too long


Without Strut

Height:

Pic before new springs (and crash lol)

New springs

Hope they all work :)

Looks lower to me :wacko:

any ideas regarding the strut?

Tried putting the base bits on first and seeing if the bar fits from there? (Feel kind of silly for asking)

then have you tried every direction they fit? Pretty sure they should only fit one way.

And then finally have you tried swapping the left and right over without the bar?

Just added a pic to of my one, pretty much the same as your strutbrace apart from the little triangle on the back.


Click here to read on hosting images
Nick

can anyone who has the same cusco strut as me confirm that mine is on the right way round? as far as i can see it is but maybe somethings round the wrong way.

Hey mate, I don't have a cusco brace but I do have a greddy (which are very similar) and from the look of your pictures it is the correct way round. The cusco label facing out is a good hint, and the bends are the correct way round for the sxe10.

Try fitting the other side first by unbolting the fuse box first (3 x 10mm, from memory), or as others have suggested, separate the ends from the cross bar, fit the ends then see if the cross bar with then fit in place.

And there's no difference between the gxe10 and sxe10, pertaining to the strut brace length, same brace for both models.

Found these pic's on trademe of a cusco front brace, looks the same as yours mate,

Thanks for that. Ive tried putting it on the fuse side first (by unbolting the box) but the end of the other side is around 5-10cm out.

Its got me. Ill try undoing the ends and fitting them first but i cant see how that would help. Hopefully im wrong though. I really want to chuck her on :D

Dont suppose anybody has a strut bar they want to sell? Doesnt have to be a cusco.

If that one didnt fit id be seriously like wtf <_<

***UPDATE***

Today I got the TRD strut bar. After quickly opening the bonnet and attempting to fit it (just by covering it over the struts bolts) it seems like this also will not fit. Its out by around 1-2 inches, fits fine on one side but out on the other <_<

I really am like WTF about this. The car is SXE10 says so on the plate under the hood, as well as 3sge etc etc.

So basically ive tried the cusco strut bar for altezza, which the holes matched perfectly and had been used on a tezza before, and now the TRD genuine one that also does not fit.

I am going to post pictures up tommorrow of the engine bay with trd bar fitted and not fitted. Im just wondering if anyone has any ideas about this (did you have to mega force it on or did it just slide in easy), the car was crashed pretty badly around 9 months ago. The car jumped off a metre drop down onto gravel. Could this have done it? Surely if this had happened it would have been noticed and written off. Driving the car now seems fine but im just uncertain about whether or not the crash could have done this. Seems really unlikely to me to push it out a few inches. I tried putting it on on flat concrete btw.

The engine bay seems to be normal, everything else seems fine its just these damn strut bars that will not fit my engine even though they are designed for it.

:angry: :angry: :angry:

Something weird is going on.

Plz help

mate reading through your thread.....

when i re fitted our after the dealer took it of because quote " most people don't wan't to have them" !!!!!<-- it was a close fit but i had no where near the trouble you are having.

i'd suggest finding another 'tezza near by by and break out the tape measure between bolt points. I hardly think it likely that the brace is too long from the factory....... maybe just maybe you car isn't straight ? <_< <_< .

definetly would be worth spending the time to check it out, do you have abnormal wheel alignment / adjustment/ tyre wear ?

Mine went straight on with no issues at all. Sounds like something is out after the crash repair.

Yeah, I've just had mine on and off a couple of times, no problem at all. They overbored the holes where the bar goes to allow for chassis differences.

So, I would assume accident damage... How are the wheel alignment figures, and what sort of tyre wear over the last six months?

If you put both mounts on and the bar bolted on one end, how much does it miss by?

Does it seen the strut tops have moved inwards by much? Any kinks in the chassis panels anywhere?

Does it seem the strup tops are at too steep an angle inwards?

We ran cross strut bars on the rally car in the 1970s/80s to stop this exact problem after landing off a jump, so if you dropped a metre down to a flat surface that's exactly the same... You could do the same and make up an adjustable one that screws outwards to push the struts out under pre-tension.

Between the bolts on my bar its 860mm

Between the guards across the engine bay where the struts are is 1450mm.

That's measured under the cable and the tape runs across the inlet plenum and engine cover.

Can a couple of other people check also.

Regarding the questions...

Havent seen any wheel alignment figures since the crash, as they got a warrant for me (took it to another place i think), I will be getting two new tires in around a week as I need a warrant and the two rears will likely fail.

When they repaired it they gave me two new tires at the front. (Others were wasted). These seem to be wearing evenly after I just checked before, ive traveled around 5/6k km in them since the crash. So seems to be no issues with front tyres wearing unevenly yet.

It misses it by around an inch (strut is too long).

No kinks in the chassis panel that I can see.

I measured between the two centre bolts- I got 890mm, as you got 860 we probably measured differently. The engine bay measured the same as yours. 1450mm.

Chassis silver plate thing says sxe10 3sge so that seems fine. Can I lookup anything with my VIN plate number?

High quality Pics are coming (not camera pics like last one), uploading as we speak.

Thanks for the replies

And heres the pics, let me know if you need any other as I took heaps.

They may take a little while to load.

http://img329.imageshack.us/gal.php?g=dscf2930.jpg

Cheers guys

Ok, different bar mounts so my 860 is meaningless... and with low mounts your angle of the top of the strut is not crucial to the distance between them.

So, panelbeating has been done well, wheel are running true from the tyre wear, so we assume the car body fits the factory jig in the right places.

..and that's the second bar you've tried. All you can do is pop around to another member's place and try it on his, then find the exact difference.

maybe you have to force it in there to give it pre-tension..

I've seen one that stresses the bar as you do it up, and that was the stiffest of the three we tried.

What area do tou live

Plimmerton area

How bad was the crash? Bad enough to damage the strut towers?

Couldn't you measure between the centre nut on the top of the struts? Should be the same for all Tezza's

Would let you know if its a chassis problem or the strut bar mounts

Engine bay is 1450 guard to guard, so the strut tower centers must be in the same place unless the tower has stretched an inch!

Do you want to check with yours Leiden? Tape goes under the cable, sits on inlet, inside of one guard to the other. Basically the bonnet width.

I got the same 1450mm between the inside of the guards

I measured between the centre bolts on the struts and got 895mm, may not be 100% accurate as the tape sat on the inlet manifold and also the plastic cover on the motor

Yeah i measured between the two centre bolts and got 890. measured flat with no bumps. (tape measure horizontal over top of it)

Its around an inch too short for the bar.

Hmmm, could the bar be bent at all on the curves?

If something really heavy was sitting on top of it and flatened it out a bit? That would cause the mounts to push outward slightly

Nah im 99% sure theres nothing wrong with this trd strut. I also had a cusco one that didnt fit (at start of this post).

Seems to be something up with my engine bay :unsure:

Are you sure you have got the strut bar sitting in correctly, seams high on passengers side.

I'm in Paraparaumu I've seen your car in Plimmerton, if you want could get together. I've got a strut bar on the front of my RS200 if you wanted compare.

Yeah it is high on the passengers side, but thats how it sits when its sitting flat on the other side.

Sounds good will have to work out a time to check it out & meet. tbh i dont think its the strut that has the problems.