kit cat

iTrader: (6)

So I tried putting on my LS400 calipers thinking it'll fit with just a little bit of shaving. But holy crap, those puppies will not fit w/o almost completely taking out the castle nut on the tie rod and that bolt sticking out from the tie rod!! Well, I wasn't brave enough to shave the caliper or tie rod bolt like some of you guys did with the LS400 caliper so I was wondering how much clearance it needed. So I just sandwiched some washers (well I guess these are nuts) I found around the garage.



Now, this works as long as the car isn't moving and probably will with the appropriate grade bolt (I'm guessing grade 8) but this scares me due to...

1) torsion. If you notice on the lower ball joint, there are something that look like cylinders that goes into the knuckle...I am assuming that's there for a reason (probably to relieve stress on the bolt).
2) I cannot find a grade8 or stronger bolt thats long/strong enough.

I thought I could make this work w/o shaving or purchasing RCA blocks but looks like there is a reason why those blocks do sell...time to call Exact or get JZA80 calipers instead.

Lesson: always do a thorough and complete research.

To those guys who shaved the calipers, how much did you guys friggin shave???

GSteg

iTrader: (15)

1. the sleeves are there to indeed relief stress when you turn the steering wheel. Also, it keeps the knuckle and balljoint from being misaligned. There are still some tolerance between the bolt and the hole for the balljoint itself. Without the sleeves, your toe will be off practically instantly.

2. Grade 8 is below OEM spec. When you have longer bolts, you're going to want something at least if not higher in grade. OEM is 10.9. Exact supplies you with 12.9 grade bolts. I also have 12.9 grade bolts in my car that I bought for about $0.50-1.00 each. The only downside is that these kinds of bolts requires hex socket instead of the traditional sockets.

kit cat

iTrader: (6)

GSteg>

I love your posts, they're so comprehensive.

Anyways, Grade 12.9 bolts!? Holy crap. And OEM is 10.9?? I thought it was about 8 since it had 6 marks on the top. I found a couple places that might have grade 8 or better bolts so thats no biggie but it's the block. I'm going to see if a local friend of mine would fab one up for me. As much as I appreciate Exact, Youzealand and them making respectful product, if I can draft/AutoCAD and my friend and fab them up, I may go that route.

GSteg

iTrader: (15)

If you can fab it, then do it! The spacer itself isn't the most important thing. It's the bolts themselves because believe it or not, they are what's holding your car together. All the weight is pulling down on the bolts, hence you need something stronger to withstand the shearing. You can still get away with using OEM grade, but 12.9 is so cheap that you shouldn't even have to think twice about it. All the GS I worked on so far had 10.9-11 grade written on the bolt.

My RCAs were made by a friend who used AutoCAD. They came out great and til this day, I haven't had a problem. When you make your RCA, be sure to use steel for your sleeve, which means you'll need to make the sleeve separate from the block itself.