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| TREAY81 |
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Hi Ford Fans, I am currently awaiting the completion of my new engine which shouldn't be too far away. Whilst it's out I am respraying the engine bay of my XP Coupe and also looking at notching the shock towers. I have been looking into a few different options and am seriously thinking about dropping some money into one of the RRS kits as per below:
RRS Rack & Pinion Steering RRS Front Strut upgrade RRS Shock tower notching kit I believe all up there is over $4K in there?... (But not entirely sure as I am awaiting a quote from RRS) But has anyone here used these items?... if So are they truly worth the outlay? and should I be fitting them all myself or getting someone at a suspension place to do it?.. If anyone has any pics or better yet has experience driving a XP with this upgrade i'd love to see / hear it as I'm a little cautious about spending that much cash on these items. Appreciate your help.
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| tearlejc |
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Don't know how far your queries with RRS have gone yet but I enquired a few years ago and got sent a DVD free that showed them fitting their stuff to an XM-XP...looked good but I have to agree the price is a bit of an eye opener...maybe ask for the free DVD? (or better yet look below - found the same clips on youtube - hope they help...reading the comments might be useful too)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a_GuddwSs0Y http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kDFke4tw ... re=related
_________________ 351 4V XB Coupe running LPG |
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| fairlane6970 |
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One of my mates has his ZD and his son's ZC Fairlanes done and they couldn't believe the difference it made to steering and braking, he now has his Ford Torino done as well!
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| TREAY81 |
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Thanks for those links. I'll watch them tonight when I get home.
I'm all for a quality job but I need to justify the spend is all. I have found setups that are cheaper (Such as the Mustang II IFS) but they weld to the chasis meaning they remove the stress from the shock towers and place it on the chasis alone. This worries me a bit, Although they are only $1,995 and look hell cool as they look like a hotrod front end. I'll see what RRS Quote me and see if I can get that DVD then make a judgment call. Thanks for the replies guys.
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| TREAY81 |
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BRACE YOURSELVES!!!!
RRS Got back to me today, the prices for the kit are as follows: Rack & Pinion Steering Kit (Manual) - $2,150 or Pwr Str Kit = $3,900 (inc hoses and pwr str pump) Shock tower Notching Kit = $300 Front Coil Over Conversion Kit = $3,690 (but requires a brake kit to suit, again from RRS) Brake Kit = $ didn't get that far. I pulled it up there and stated I am not willing to spend that amount of money on just my front end, So Perhaps the Mustang II kit is the one for me?... The lady said she will send me out an email with a package price and see if I likie it etc. But I'm not confident they can even be competitive. I wonder how hard it would be to buy myself a decent set of tein coil overs and modify the top of the shock tower to suit the bolt pattern of the strut. The hard part after that is finding a spindle to fit my application?... But how hard would it be?... I'm going to put some research into action here and see what I can find out. I certainly need to think it throguh as I reckon $6,140 buys alot of stuff, But is it truly worth the outlay?...
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| sooty72 |
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Maybe look at using an E-series strut & arms......
Or maybe an L300 front end.....
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| TREAY81 |
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I had a slight look into the L300 but I have not seen many finished examples (Other than Rods)
But I will look into it if I can't manage the costs of the front end I want. Cheers
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| Disco Frank |
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Fork out the cash!
bar the tower notching iirc it is all bolt in stuff u will be amazed at what the car will be like when done if u dont like the price stick to ford factory stuff
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| tearlejc |
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just thinking out loud here, a thought I had a few years ago when doing up an XM was using LH/LX torana from crossmember...to be honest I never did much other than think about the idea, but you'd get a one piece suspension setup (no real geometry issues?), disc brakes, rack and pinion steer, etc. Having said that no idea if it'd fit but could be a cheap alternative, and lets face it those toranas handle and steer nicely...
just a thought...
_________________ 351 4V XB Coupe running LPG |
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| Mitch_ |
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Posts: 6168 Joined: 5th Nov 2004 |
A mate throws these setups in his 'stangs and rekons the difference is like chalk and cheese!
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| TREAY81 |
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Have a plan of attack, Just need time to start working on it all.
Basically, Drove an XM ute today fitted with Full front end kit, and this has cemented my decision not to buy it. Hopefully I can get some progress up in pics later in some kind of a project showcase. Cheers for the replies.
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| tearlejc |
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TREAY81 wrote: Have a plan of attack, Just need time to start working on it all. Basically, Drove an XM ute today fitted with Full front end kit, and this has cemented my decision not to buy it. Hopefully I can get some progress up in pics later in some kind of a project showcase. Cheers for the replies. I am intrigued - I've half looked at these kits for years but the $$$$$ have always put me off (but I always assumed they must be awesome for what you are paying...) - so, was it not that good a drive experience in the XM? Very interested to hear your opinions...
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| TREAY81 |
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Well, The drive was fine, I'm certainly not one to bag out peoples hard work and idea's, RRS Have created an item that fills a major gap in the market and they have done a fine job of that. But I simply can't justify the asking price of $3,300 (Struts only) when I could perform some upgrades for much less and get an improvement (maybe not as much but still an improvement)
The path I am looking at is to look at the geometry and setup, then I am going to try out a few struts for fit (off the shelf units only) Also looking at making my own lower wishbone and stub/spindle. But nothing is concrete just yet, Hoping to get a decent look at it all once I get my engine back in. RRS would be a much easier path to take, I just think it's worth spending a bit of time to think about the job and see what I can produce for cheaper whilst still having some level of effectiveness. cheers
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| tearlejc |
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TREAY81 wrote: Well, The drive was fine, I'm certainly not one to bag out peoples hard work and idea's, RRS Have created an item that fills a major gap in the market and they have done a fine job of that. But I simply can't justify the asking price of $3,300 (Struts only) when I could perform some upgrades for much less and get an improvement (maybe not as much but still an improvement) The path I am looking at is to look at the geometry and setup, then I am going to try out a few struts for fit (off the shelf units only) Also looking at making my own lower wishbone and stub/spindle. But nothing is concrete just yet, Hoping to get a decent look at it all once I get my engine back in. RRS would be a much easier path to take, I just think it's worth spending a bit of time to think about the job and see what I can produce for cheaper whilst still having some level of effectiveness. cheers Yep, everything you say makes sense - there must be cheaper alternatives out there albeit maybe needing a bit more work/mods to get them to fit. To my mind the solution would be one that uses a complete front suspension setup - the idea of trying to set up control arms and getting the geometry to work is a bit daunting. So if it was me I'd be looking at setups like LX Torana, L300 Mitsi van, maybe Mustang II or US aftermarket Mustang II replacement - there would undoubtedly be fabrication etc involved but even with RRS this isn't going to be a quick job...any of these suggestions should also give you an easy method for disc brakes, rack and pinion etc too at a hellova lower cost than RRS...
_________________ 351 4V XB Coupe running LPG |
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| TREAY81 |
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I was thinking of that but I will need to see what the end result is if I can find a finished version.
There don't seem to be too many completed examples running an L300 or Torana setup. That worries me a little. Might mean its harder than it appears? I'll weigh it up as much as I can before I commit to too much of the conversion.
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