Im about to pick one of these cars up and get to work on development.
First up, knuckles.
UNfortuantely these f**kers are cast so there will be no reliable welding modification for roll center. The knuckle has to be replaced with a new aftermarket piece for that. Fortuneately they are thick so you can just redrill and reface the steering arm for more angle when combined with an aftermarket rod end type tie rod end with straight shank.
Mega measuring session on the FRS went down. This thing has some major issues with getting lowered. Don't plan on getting a set of coilovers only and rolling around town looking all gangstaa. This thing needs a full suite of modifications to overcome some obstacles! 1. rear coilovers are still too high even with the shortest damper. 2. the axle angle sucks. 3. the knuckles cant be welded. Luckily we are on the case and we will offer new drop knuckles, solid sub frame riser, solid diff riser, all arms and rods, and coilovers. It will require some grinding and welding on the sub frame. 4. The wheel wells are rather narrow so I think if there is lots of steering angle and power that needs to be put to the ground or just a low offset wheel is desired for looks, the body will need to go wider and we will have the adjustable arms to accommodate a wider stance.
Update - First proto test fit is adjustable wheel spacers. This is a different spec than any of our other applications 5x100 56.1 center bore. Looks like it needs 20mm to flush the rear wheels or 22mm to stick the OEM tires wheel lip protector edge out. ~ Please note the OEM nuts cant be used with slip on spacers, the last few mm of the nut has no threads, and slipping on a spacer to the OEM studs does not leave much thread either so upgrade the nuts when you use spacers. ~ THIS CAR USES 12x1.25 thread lugs/nuts UNLIKE ANY OTHER CAR SOLD BY TOYOTA! Jeez.
You know it needs this!
Sorry Mr Axle = (
you know were here puttin in mad work !
List of the goods in process
~ Coilovers ~ FLCA ~ Sub frame Risers ~ Solid Diff Risers ~ RLCA ~ Trac rod ~ Toe rod ~ RUCA ~ Super steering angle knuckles ~ Rear drop knuckles
The process of the subframe bushing removal starts with slicing off the rubber that will bounce back your knock-out force
next, get a huge socket or a 2&1/4" pipe and beat out the old bushings.
support the underside firmly with wood
You can see the diff front mounts have a top and bottom half. Be careful not to stab the old bushing when knocking it out because its filled with OIL!
The rear solid diff mounts weld into the subframe.
Two of the subframe bushings are recessed when you put them in place. this is your guide to grind the top flush for maximum subframe rising.
After the grinding...
This is the rear coilover, installed here with our shortest damper, and its MAXed out, so in the production version we will let the spring touch the top plate directly to give some more low range ride height adjustment
Subframe is put back in place...
Diff mounts back in place with aftermarket riser installed...
You can see the the SF rising leaves an opportunity to shorten the exhaust hangers by the amount of the airgap shown below, to keep the pipe from scraping the ground.
so at this point we have the wheel spacers in stock and the coilover stock is about 4-5 weeks away. Bushings and RLCA to follow. Current development efforts are being applied to front angle and rear drop knuckles and other arms / rods.
so basicly its going to be a bitch to get this thing super low huh ? or are you working on a dif damper size and spring size to go lower without maxing out?? either way this is inspiring stuff right here bud. love it