I CANNOT get the LCA installed. I've trimmed the bushing to the point that when I tried forcing the arm in with a jack the metal tube in the middle scraped the powdercoating off both sides. Any tips?

I'm going to take some pics tonight if it'll help anyone, but this is REALLY starting to bug me, and our auto-x season is starting up soon.

 

subscribed! i will be doing this mod very soon. i want to know if there are any hang ups with this install. my r&p has been sitting in my garage since new years... lol

 

I had this same difficulty.
I took a piece of threaded rod, put it through on of the LCA holes that I was not goine to use (there are three) with two nuts inside the crossmember, and gently spread the crossmember a modest amout buy turning the nuts outward and then installed the LCA. Then remove the spreader assembly. I did not have to spread it much and it did not deform it permanently. It was the only solution I could think of, and it did the trick!

 

Tips off the top of my head:

1. Use heat separating the upper and lower inner steering shafts after drilling out the plastic at the collapse joint. There's more plastic in between the two pieces, and I destroyed my old steering box forcing them apart.

2. Replace your ball joints (or LCA assmbly complete) and tie rod ends. This will let you remove the entire existing steering linkage without pulling all of the pieces apart, and won't introduce slop from old parts.

3. Install the lower control arms before installing the crossmember. I got looking at it after fighting with this thing and I think that would have been the way to go with this.

Suggestion for Sam: include (or publish to the instructions) pictures of the kit broken down with all parts labeled. I would have done it myself if I'd thought of it before installing a big part of the kit. I had a devil of a time trying to figure out what a couple parts were. Specifically the Delrin steering shaft bushing, which was in with the rack bushings, but I spent time looking through the kit for parts a few times.

 

Thanks, I'll try it tonight!

 

uh oh, and I will be putting that huge V8 on top of this thing ****, thanks for the heads up

 

Like Rwatson said, you need to spread the crossmemeber a bit, Even something as simple as a large prybar will do the job. Not really sure why they made that thing so tight though... The rear control arms were just as hard to install on mine.
Good luck!

 

82transam, I will need your help in two months. I told you why before. I hope I can get it to work out.

 

Opening the spacing up a bit with a screw jack (rwatson5651) or a pry bar (82transam) seems to do the trick. Welded assemblies "draw up" a bit in the final welding. Skidtron has a good install thread and shows how he used 2 pry bars -> https://www.rx7club.com/showthread.p...highlight=rack

We have always used a pair of the Energy suspension spacers between those plate when welding, only recently have they seemed to be to tight.

I believe Sam had decided to space them out a bit more when he welds them.

-billy

 

Yes I have opened up the spacing a bit more now. I haven't done any kits yet with the new redesign, but the opening is 0.045" bigger. Doesn't sound like much, but I believe it would be just right to get it in a little easier. That goes for both the rear LCA and the LCA itself.

 

Thanks Billy. I got distracted taking my son swimming and watching the hockey game, so I'll try that tomorrow. The prybars actually didn't spread it enough for me, so I'll try the threaded rod / screw jack method.

 

I actually was glad that it was tight, I would rather have it tight than loose, the aggravation of the install only last a few minutes, the good feeling of a tight, no play suspension is well worth the aggravation.

Thank You Re Speed!!!!!!!

 

100% agree.