Suspension for Rallycross, going from BC coilovers to something with more travel Options

[rustyspoon]

I have a 1994 celica GT4, it is a fabulous car, i really enjoy it. I bought it to rallycross in. nothing fancy, just amateur level. My dilemma (well, the most recent one at least) is that the car is currently on the BC coilovers that modified the stock setup with welding the original suspension. It turns out this set up is not suited for rallycross; at all. Great in autocross however!

Now, here is where my questions come it, I have been hunting the internet trying to get information on what I need to do to get this thing back into a rally friendly format. I have come up with little; well, other then lowering them seems to be the only thing people want. I am hoping I can stumble upon a great set of coilovers that will meet my needs for a reasonable price. In lieu of nothing being out there fitting that bill, what do i need to return the car to stock? or what do i need to do to make the car able to handle more then a slight dimple in the dirt?

does this help me at all? http://www.sunrisejapanese.com/parts-acces...prings-gt4.html

thank you all for the valuable information you are about to provide!

[BonzaiCelica]

whats your budget guy!?

[Nial]

The TRD suspension might help a little with travel, but is always find the spring rates a bit high, although that's not a hard thing to change. Problem is if you want competition worthy suspension you are going to have to spend a lot of money or be lucky and find some second hand, which due to the rarity of GT4s almost never happens, even in the UK where there are plenty of GT4s, good competition suspension is rare on the second hand market.

Last time I went to a rally suspension specialist I was quoted £4000+ for competition worthy suspension! I picked myself up off the floor and left

Personally I would look into putting the standard shocks back on and looking at getting some springs custom made at a suitable spring rate, then save up for something better.

I can't remember if I dreamed this or not, but doesn't BC offer a long travel version of their suspension?

[BonzaiCelica]

in honesty the company hotbits which mainly focuses on rally and is located in many countries does have out of the box. when i was looking for a custom set up for a track superstrut st202 celica they quoted me $1500. so you should be able to get a pretty good set up for no more than that. the pricing on the link is for street versions not the rally contact them personally. best of luck...


http://www.hotbits.org/catalogues-detail.a...&kitsid=353

[rustyspoon]

Thanks for the input. My budget is a few grand. I don't need something super competitive, but getting a used set of competition suspension would not hurt my feelings. But if they are rare, then I will not count on finding one. I am a bit confused about what I need to replace my current coilovers. Would that TRD suspension allow me to just unbolt the BC rig and replace it? The same site also has a set of tein. Would different springs make the TRD/tein stuff worth pursuing?

The hotbits stuff looks interesting. Do you know if it's a direct swap or do I need to further modify my car for them to fit?

[Nial]

I had the TRD suspension and yes it's pretty much bolt on replacement, nothing hard at all. I should have looked at the link really, the TRD "normal" suspension is fine, it's the coilovers that are a bit harsh. I used the normal adjustable suspension on my road car for years and it was great, not sure how well it would last in rally cross, I suspect not long and I think it would bottom out a lot and soon obliterate themselves. Might be worth asking BC about their coilovers, a quick google search brings up a few references to BC long travel coilovers, could be worth investigating.

[jordisonjr]

I think what you have on your car is the regular Macpherson style BC coilovers, that have been welded/modified to fit the super strut suspension of the gt four, which is probably why its not acceptable for rally cross. Im just speculating off the info you've posted

You would need to find a Coilover that's built for the Superstrut suspension ( I belive TRD and Tien make a susperstrut coilover). IN my opinion, if you're not super competitive and don't ever think you will be and are solely doing this for the fun of it, I would probably just go back to a stock superstrut suspension setup, and like stated above, get a set of springs that will perform slightly better than stock, however that may be difficult for the application. You could also keep it on stock springs, I think this would be the cheapest route.

[rustyspoon]

I had the TRD suspension and yes it's pretty much bolt on replacement, nothing hard at all. I should have looked at the link really, the TRD "normal" suspension is fine, it's the coilovers that are a bit harsh. I used the normal adjustable suspension on my road car for years and it was great, not sure how well it would last in rally cross, I suspect not long and I think it would bottom out a lot and soon obliterate themselves. Might be worth asking BC about their coilovers, a quick google search brings up a few references to BC long travel coilovers, could be worth investigating.

Is the one in the link the normal TRD suspension? What's the difference between it and the coil over version?

The longer travel bc coilovers do not seem to be an option for this car.

This post has been edited by rustyspoon: Aug 31, 2014 - 6:06 PM

[rustyspoon]

I think what you have on your car is the regular Macpherson style BC coilovers, that have been welded/modified to fit the super strut suspension of the gt four, which is probably why its not acceptable for rally cross. Im just speculating off the info you've posted

You would need to find a Coilovegoing for built for the Superstrut suspension ( I belive TRD and Tien make a susperstrut coilover). IN my opinion, if you're not super competitive and don't ever think you will be and are solely doing this for the fun of it, I would probably just go back to a stock superstrut suspension setup, and like stated above, get a set of springs that will perform slightly better than stock, however that may be difficult for the application. You could also keep it on stock springs, I think this would be the cheapest route.

The coilovers are designed for the SS suspension, They just use portions of the original set up to make it cheaper to buy. This is my problem, I don't know how to go back to stock. I want to keep the current BC coilovers as they are really great on the track and in autocross. Ideally I could find something that would allow me to freely swap between the two. I am just going for fun, so if the TRD or Tein coilovers will give me a decent ride on dirt I am a happy camper. The hotbits suspension seems quite viable, Looks to be about 3500 for the rally version, but I don't know if they are a direct bolt in or how much work it would take to make then fit.

I don't have any components of a stock suspension as the previous owner made the conversion. so I need help in finding the parts I need.