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5 lug, 4 wheel big disc brake, and coilovers for pennies using 2014 mustang spindle and brakes


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  • 4 weeks later...
On 1/13/2018 at 10:52 PM, Invincibleextremes said:

Parts breakdown.

 

2004 dodge neon srt4 coilovers.  --- I bought mine for $180

2014 mustang spindles ---- $100 a pair, all day.

2014 mustang brakes.--- $100 to $300 a set, easily found.  Mine were $150...

 

What's needed to make them all work together is two 1/4 plates with 3 holes each and a welder per spindle.

 

And a hybrid 240z lower control arm that uses a mustang ball joint.

 

In my case I'm just welding a mustang control arm stub to the 240z one.

I can certainly appreciate where your going with this but I figured I would chime in.  First, I certainly respect the need to build on a budget but is someone wanted a nearly all Nissan there are options.  

 

I purchased a complete Nissan S14 rear subframe that included VLSD differential, axles, 5-lug  hubs, calipers, rotors, e-brake cables as well as front rotors, calipers, spindles, 5-lug hubs.  This was a very complete front and rear suspension minus coilovers.  It set me back $799 shipped to my door.  I removed my S30 front struts, spindles and steering knuckles and mocked up the front suspension with the S14 spindles (left spindle on the right side and vise versa) which bolted right to the existing S30 lower ball joint.  I attached the upper part of the S14 spindle to a hybrid/custom coilover supplied by BC Racing ($630).  This S30 outer tie rod is too long to accommodate the S14 steering knuckle so to temporarily allow me to roll the car around I cut 37mm out of each outer tie rod (they were junk anyway) and welded them back together.  The car now has 5-lug hobs and 4 piston S14 brakes up front for what I consider to be a pretty good deal.  I was leaning toward the T3 outer tie rods to solve my tie rod length issue but after reading another post on this forum I think I will manufacture tie rod adjuster sleeves that will accept 79-81 outer tie rods that will then mate to the S30 inner tie rods... 2 '79-'81 S130 outer tie rods, 2 M14x1.5mm Left Hand Thread inner tube adapter, 2 M14x1.5mm Right Hand Thread inner tube adapters, 4 appropriate jam nuts, 12" of 4130 Chrome Moly 1"x.063 tubing and a new inner tie rod for the left side of the vehicle can be had for about $140 (such a deal) combine this with a little TIG welding which I'll do myself means I can have great adjustability for around as the same price as the T3 outer tie rods.  And I wouldn't have to drill my steering knuckle which really doesn't excite me.  I was gonna have to buy new outer tie rods even if I stuck with the S30 original stuff so the real excess cost of the custom tie rods is only about $80.

 

As for the rears, I don't see many options to get a real upgrade without spending big bucks.  I bit the bullet and invested in the T3 rear end conversion (I'm in their 4-6 week waiting period right now).  I guess someone could also buy some off the shelf 5-lug stub axles ($330), some weld on coilovers ($630), and rear disc brake upgrade ($685) or $1675 and still have a R180 or R200 open differential.  When I think of it in those terms I don't feel bad about spending the bucks with T3.  

 

 

56209502225__5DB26B0C-3662-4182-A8A7-E2E006BB6B0B.JPG

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17 minutes ago, Jethoncho said:

I can certainly appreciate where your going with this but I figured I would chime in.  First, I certainly respect the need to build on a budget but is someone wanted a nearly all Nissan there are options.  

 

I purchased a complete Nissan S14 rear subframe that included VLSD differential, axles, 5-lug  hubs, calipers, rotors, e-brake cables as well as front rotors, calipers, spindles, 5-lug hubs.  This was a very complete front and rear suspension minus coilovers.  It set me back $799 shipped to my door.  I removed my S30 front struts, spindles and steering knuckles and mocked up the front suspension with the S14 spindles (left spindle on the right side and vise versa) which bolted right to the existing S30 lower ball joint.  I attached the upper part of the S14 spindle to a hybrid/custom coilover supplied by BC Racing ($630).  This S30 outer tie rod is too long to accommodate the S14 steering knuckle so to temporarily allow me to roll the car around I cut 37mm out of each outer tie rod (they were junk anyway) and welded them back together.  The car now has 5-lug hobs and 4 piston S14 brakes up front for what I consider to be a pretty good deal.  I was leaning toward the T3 outer tie rods to solve my tie rod length issue but after reading another post on this forum I think I will manufacture tie rod adjuster sleeves that will accept 79-81 outer tie rods that will then mate to the S30 inner tie rods... 2 '79-'81 S130 outer tie rods, 2 M14x1.5mm Left Hand Thread inner tube adapter, 2 M14x1.5mm Right Hand Thread inner tube adapters, 4 appropriate jam nuts, 12" of 4130 Chrome Moly 1"x.063 tubing and a new inner tie rod for the left side of the vehicle can be had for about $140 (such a deal) combine this with a little TIG welding which I'll do myself means I can have great adjustability for around as the same price as the T3 outer tie rods.  And I wouldn't have to drill my steering knuckle which really doesn't excite me.  I was gonna have to buy new outer tie rods even if I stuck with the S30 original stuff so the real excess cost of the custom tie rods is only about $80.

 

As for the rears, I don't see many options to get a real upgrade without spending big bucks.  I bit the bullet and invested in the T3 rear end conversion (I'm in their 4-6 week waiting period right now).  I guess someone could also buy some off the shelf 5-lug stub axles ($330), some weld on coilovers ($630), and rear disc brake upgrade ($685) or $1675 and still have a R180 or R200 open differential.  When I think of it in those terms I don't feel bad about spending the bucks with T3.  

 

 

56209502225__5DB26B0C-3662-4182-A8A7-E2E006BB6B0B.JPG

So you spent 3 times as much money for weaker parts with bad geometry... brilliant.

 

All jokes aside, if the s30 tie rods are too short, you have serious UNCORRECTABLE bump steer issues.

 

See, the s30 rack is already too short for an easy replacement to be found for power steering add ons etc....  and that's with stock steering knuckles.

 

The mustang knuckles allow the use of factory length Subaru racks to be used with either Celica inners or s80 Volvo inners, depending on the year of the rack... all the while maintaining correct geometry for bump steer and improving geometry on lowered cars over stock s30 setups.

 

And BC is a great company, they offer custom coilovers for the neon as well for a great price.  So getting high end custom valved and sprung bc coilovers from them will still leave you with a cheaper, stronger and better stopping set up.

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3 minutes ago, Invincibleextremes said:

So you spent 3 times as much money for weaker parts with bad geometry... brilliant.

 

All jokes aside, if the s30 tie rods are too short, you have serious UNCORRECTABLE bump steer issues.

 

See, the s30 rack is already too short for an easy replacement to be found for power steering add ons etc....  and that's with stock steering knuckles.

 

The mustang knuckles allow the use of factory length Subaru racks to be used with either Celica inners or s80 Volvo inners, depending on the year of the rack... all the while maintaining correct geometry for bump steer and improving geometry on lowered cars over stock s30 setups.

 

And BC is a great company, they offer custom coilovers for the neon as well for a great price.  So getting high end custom valved and sprung bc coilovers from them will still leave you with a cheaper, stronger and better stopping set up.

I think you may have misunderstood the intent of my response to your posting, I meant no disrespect I can appreciate your goal.  I can also certainly appreciate your comments well except for the wise crack but hey your entitled to respond however you like, LOL.  

 

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This is kind of off topic, jumping into a pretty specialized topic.

 

I would suggest a new thread if you would like to display your findings for others to question and comment on regarding the S13/14 front end swap. My recollection was that you could buy almost everything from Silvermine and just invert the left and the right to get the steering assembly to work. I guess the only real new thing is the off the shelf solution from one manufacturer for the coilover, I think previously it required the use of a pillowball mount from T3 or GC or what not.

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On 10/30/2018 at 4:13 PM, seattlejester said:

This is kind of off topic, jumping into a pretty specialized topic.

 

I would suggest a new thread if you would like to display your findings for others to question and comment on regarding the S13/14 front end swap. My recollection was that you could buy almost everything from Silvermine and just invert the left and the right to get the steering assembly to work. I guess the only real new thing is the off the shelf solution from one manufacturer for the coilover, I think previously it required the use of a pillowball mount from T3 or GC or what not.

Good point

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  • 1 month later...
  • 1 month later...
On 1/19/2018 at 1:59 AM, 260DET said:

To each their own and if someone comes up with something that satisfies their requirements DIY then good, relying on off the shelf solutions  is becoming a habit and is not what this forum should be about.

 

All I'm trying to do is to recommend a better starting point, to put it practically wide front wheels requiring zero off set put a lot of leveraged load on the stub axles which then are likely to flex and throw the suspension alignments out under heavy cornering. But if that is not relevant to the OP's use then ignore.

That's an eminently fair point; we're all better served by comparing the existing options with some newfangled innovation.  Novelty by itself is no advantage, and is perhaps a disadvantage, being untested and probably more costly.

 

But we should observe: this is (now) 2019.  Options that were current and available in 2005 or 2012 aren't necessarily still so.  Our cars are becoming rare.  Junkyard parts no longer fit.  Suppliers have moved on to other markets.  In some cases, venerable vendors have quite literally passed away.  Now more than ever, we have to improvise... especially since 4-lug wheels from any manufacturer in any size - and at ANY price - are becoming a rarity.  What was 10 or 20 years ago a vanity project - big brakes, big wheels, whatever - is now becoming a necessity.  Some of still have semi-complete Z-cars that have been hibernating in garages for quite literally decades.  When will they emerge?  And when they do, what about bushings, ball joints, brake calipers, wheel bearings and the like? 

 

Here's wishing the best to Invincibleextremes, and here's looking forward to more progress!

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ride height will be a little higher than this... but i lowered it to almost maximum, just absolutely slammed with large portions of my fenders cut out...

 

And took a quick pic to show how much this setup corrects bump steer and roll center on very lowered 240z cars.

 

Part of it has to do with the placement of the tie rod in relation to the ball joint, and the other part of it has to do with the spindle pin being 2 inches higher in relation to the ball join...

 

Its essentially a drop spindle that has built in bumpsteer correction as well, especially when used with T3 tie rods.

IMG_20190131_210723_215.jpg

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Mocked up the 2015 gt mustang rear brakes and they fit perfect on a datsun if you have the wheels for them.  Might be a little tight with these 17 inch wheels but they're perfect in the wheel well.  As a side note, i can still mount the 11.8 inch 2014 rear brakes to run a 15 inch wheel for drag racing.  I'll just need a spacer at the mount points for the caliper for the offset to match.

 

Can't beat the price.  These are insanely large brakes...  fronts 13.2 and rears will be 13.

IMG_20190208_195748_472.jpg

IMG_20190204_225144_543.jpg

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  • 7 months later...
  • 3 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...

Chiming in after installing and putting a few miles on the mustang 5 lug swap. The install it’s self is fairly straight forward. One thing to note off the bat is this will move the wheel forward in the fender well about 3/4 of an inch. Not a huge issue if you are doing flares or If you are planning on smaller tires. I am running a tallish tire up front at 25.4” so my clearance may be more exaggerated than others. This seems to be the only side effect that I found installing everything.

 

Here is what I used

-2014 Mustang spindles w/ wheel hubs

-2014 Mustang LCA’s (only use the ends of them where the balljoint is

-Apex Engineering Bump Steer Kit (for these I found it best to grind the little lip off the taper to follow the taper to better engage the knuckle.)

-2003-2005 neon srt4 BC Coilovers (cut the ears off and made new ones to mate to the knuckle

-silvermine camber plates

-2012 GT500 Front Brembo Calipers 

-Stoptech 14” rotors

-Hawk pads


The car drives great. Goes dead straight to 160mph. No weird vibrations. And I actually feel that my steering feels lighter with a 265 wide tire now compared to 225s.


Overall very happy with the swap. Brakes are badass. I don’t have the nasty vibration in my Steering wheel I used to have. Alignment was easy to setup. And I have all the adjustability I’d ever need

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  • 3 months later...
  • 3 months later...
  • 4 weeks later...
On 10/26/2019 at 5:26 PM, DcrDavid said:

-Apex Engineering Bump Steer Kit (for these I found it best to grind the little lip off the taper to follow the taper to better engage the knuckle.)

Hello ive been fallowing this thread for a while, what do you mean by this apex bump stear kit, not finding results besides a whole front suspension kit.

Im in the process of purchasing everything for this swap and was curious about this comment.

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