The AUSubaru.com.au Forums

Hi All,
I own a 1990 L series, the 1600 push rod motor with 5spd Hi/Low ratio 4WD.

Went out on the weekend and got stuck in a river bed (had some water running through). The sub is stock so it needs some more lift & proper tyres.

I have 14" rims which I'm modifying to suit my standard 4 stud pattern and will likely fit 27" all terrain tyres.

Having a good read through the forum it looks like 3" Lift kit is the way to go as an all round option. That said I'm keen to purchase but I can't get hold of Suby won.

Does anyone perhaps have a second hand kit they don't want? Or is wanting to upgrade and can provide me with thier old kit? I don't mind purchasing a second hand kit that's still in good condition.

Look forward to any help/advice.

Thanks
Mark

OK, I'm planning to do my own lift as availability of second hand ones seems low (non-existent) and finding a new one at a reasonable cost is difficult.

From my reading, the general feeling is that lifting more than 2" without dropping back the rear diff & front engine/box will result in excessive CV wear.

Just so I'm clear, the drive axles in the rear are DOJ (not CVJ) and up front they are DOJ at the engine side and CVJ at the wheel side, is that correct? Chatting to a friend and he seemed to think that a steeper angle on the CVJ shouldn't be a problem as that is what the CV is designed for.

I have now fitted factory 14" wheels, found them over here for $200 including tyres, apparently the guy I bought them from usually sells them on this forum but I got in before he listed them.

If anyone can provide some clarification on the CV/DOJ questions it will be appreciated and I'll be making up my own adjustable lift kit. To give between no lift and 2" lift for street & offroad.

I've also picked up a whole extra car for $350 with an EA82T motor with 170,000k's on it which is going into my L also.

Nice find on the extra car. Strange your L has a 1600 in it now, I've only ever heard of these in very very old MY based cars, must have been custom swapped at some point.
If you increase the angle of the CV's you will reduce their life quite a bit in an L series.
People do strut-top only lifts in Liberty's because the CV angle is very flat to begin with so this is acceptable, but with an L series you really have to do a full body lift.

Quite interested on how you plan to achieve an adjustable kit - I've always though this would be good,what are your ideas on this?

The guy I got the wheels from also seemed to think the 1600 might have been swapped in. It's strange model though as it's a 1990 but is very basic. Only has power steering & air con, everything else is "manual" control such as non-power windows/mirrors, no central locking, no rev gauge, vinyl interior etc...

Have been throwing around some ideas with a friend of mine about adj lift, the obviously thought is to make threaded adj collers sitting inside the spring. Modding the std lower spring seat to float and be adjusted like with racing coilovers. But also having an adjustable lower control arm to correct front camber. Unfortunately it doesn't address axle angle and adjustment time might be lengthy. I'd like to be able to adj in no more than 5mins per corner if poss.

In terms of adj camber, we had also considered adj camber plates on top of the shocks but you need more movement at the top than the bottom.

I think the main issue is being able to adj the height and the CV angle, that's the most critical items.

We want a simple solution that doesn't "look" over engineered so come warrant of fitness time (every 6 months) you don't fail.

Have you had any thoughts yourself?