A while back, I bought and fitted a rear ARB courtesy of Whiteline. It's preaching to the converted on here about how much of an improvement it makes no doubt.
But I still wasn't completely happy with the set up. A set of Cusco coilovers came into my posession yesterday which will obviously improve things further (already have poly bushes all round), but I still wanted to improve the front end which had a tendancy to dive a bit under hard cornering, potentially upsetting the balance.
Closer inspection reveals a 15mm ARB up front - obviously quite 'weeny' for a car of this size. I know why it is fitted by Toyota, but it certainly doesn't help the handling
A search for a bigger bar proved fruitless - doesn't mean that there isn't one - I just couldn't find one! So, with the car in pieces, I took the OE ARB along to a company here in Auckland and said -'Replicate this using 19mm bar". No problem they replied, having it ready within a week. And here it is...



Fitting was very simple as it was an exact copy of the original (albeit 4mm thicker) - just a new pair of bushes with a larger ID were required.



Now I've been able to drive the car with the new bar fitted, I am extremely happy to say that it has made a HUGE difference! Through the corners and especially at roundabouts, the car is so much 'flatter' with minimal bodyroll - before the front corners of the car used to 'dip' quite a bit which had the potential to lessen the load on the opposite rear wheel. Now, the car digs in with pretty even grip all round and has been transformed because of it. This is one suspension mod which I can thoroughly recommend. Can't wait to get the coilovers on too Especially as I also run Toyo RA1 road legal slicks
Gary

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1994 Toyota Celica ST205 GT-Four Group A WRC - running in rebuilt engine....

nice work - Good to see someone actually getting off their backside and fabricating stuff up if it is not avilable.

How has this mod effected the understeery nature at higher speeds?

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JP
GT4DC Treasurer

Grey St185 RC
Silver BMW E46 M3
Multicolour yawn Honda VFR400
Silver Honda Civic Type-R

Fitting a larger diameter front ARB should give you more understeer. I'd be very interested to hear how your car handles on track with this mod. I find if I set the rear ARB to full stiff the ride quality suffers but its great on track. The only downside is a tendency for the drop links/ARB arms to occasionally foul the body when the car leans going round high speed corners.

I don't know about the Cusco coilovers but the tarmac spec TRD coilovers I fitted to my ST205 completely ruined the ride on normal public roads here in the UK. The TEIN Super Street units Kris and Loosey have seem be be a good compromise. AFAIK TEIN recently revalved the dampers to suit the poor quality roads here in the UK. IIRC the spring rates were identical between the TRD and TEIN kit so the secret is mainly in the damping.

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Don
GT4DC Chairman
1994 Toyota Celica GT-Four ST205WRC JDM 269bhp @ 0.9bar
1994 Toyota Celica GT-Four Special GT 590bhp @ 1.8bar
1989 Van Diemen RF88/89 Formula Ford 1600
2008 Nissan Patrol GU 3.0L ZD30DDTi 154bhp

Cracking pictures Gary

Just for interest, how much did this company charge to fabricate the bar?

Was it just plain old mild steel, or was it from a super duper material?

Fitting stiffer springs is also going to help flatten out the car, that was the biggest difference I notced with the Tein kit.

Datajon mentioned a while back that he had a considerable improvement when racing by altering the ARB properties, even though he had a good setup to begin with, I wonder what difference I would notice with some different front and rear ARBs as well as the Tein suspension?

Tein quotes the dampers as 16 way adjustable, but I have found them to be 26 way

On the softest setting the shocks seem to almost not control the springs at all and the ride is fairly bouncy I have only tweeked them and played with the shocks a few times but I have found setting 8 to be a good compromise for everyday UK roads and handling.

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Kris
95 ST205 - slept for 10 years, now waking up...
Avensis
http://www.gtfours.co.uk
_______________________________________
Turbocharging - the replacement for displacement

I agree totally that a larger ARB up front can increase understeer, but only if you go too large a diameter. I feel that 19mm is just the right size.
I went out for a drive last night (trying to get a few kms on the new engine) and went round a largish deserted roundabout much faster than I had been able to do in the past without the car losing grip. In fact, I buttoned off a bit as I was bottling out of it far sooner than the car would have done!
Stiffer springs do help keep the car flatter while turning, but they will also greatly affect the ride quality, especially on public roads which is why that isn't an option for me.
At this stage of bedding in the motor, a high speed run isn't an option, but the max legal speeds I have done so far have shown good stability. I see no reason why that should change at higher speeds.

The Cuscos are low mileage second hand units from a mate's GT4. Not sure what the spring rates are at this stage, but will take them to a local specialist to get them tested. Will then look at getting something slightly softer to cope with everyday driving. I will also have the option of changing the damping too if necessary such is the availability of specialist shops out here. I currently have OE shocks with TRD springs and while the ride and handling is excellent, I just feel that coilovers will give me a bit more flexibility. They also come with adjustable op mounts too

Kris
IIRC, the bar cost me about NZ$300 and was made from standard ARB material.
Cheers
Gary

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1994 Toyota Celica ST205 GT-Four Group A WRC - running in rebuilt engine....

Dont suppose you could find out if he is willing to ship copies to the UK???

Mat

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1995 ST205

Indeed plus1 what Matt said

I feel that stiffening up the GT-Four with massivly overrated springs is not the way forward

Stiffer ARBs all round sounds just the ticket

What horrendous price do you think the shipping would be on say 5 ARBs to the UK Gary?

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Kris
95 ST205 - slept for 10 years, now waking up...
Avensis
http://www.gtfours.co.uk
_______________________________________
Turbocharging - the replacement for displacement

Good question. A standard ARB is approx 1kg. So assume that a 19mm one is (at worst) 1.5kg which makes 7.5kg.
Looking at the NZ Post site - http://www.nzpost.co.nz/Cultures/en-NZ/ ... finder.htm - it's NZ$121.90 for economy and NZ$143 for air.
Gary

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1994 Toyota Celica ST205 GT-Four Group A WRC - running in rebuilt engine....

Group Buy Kris?

I was also wondering if the design of this thicker bar could be modified to include three holes similar to the Whiteline rear bar to give an element of adjustability.

_________________
Don
GT4DC Chairman
1994 Toyota Celica GT-Four ST205WRC JDM 269bhp @ 0.9bar
1994 Toyota Celica GT-Four Special GT 590bhp @ 1.8bar
1989 Van Diemen RF88/89 Formula Ford 1600
2008 Nissan Patrol GU 3.0L ZD30DDTi 154bhp

Im in

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1995 ST205

Always a possibility, but without any testing on a car, it would be pure guess work as to how to space the holes etc and as to how it would add, if any, benefit.

Otherwise, I'm more than happy to sort things out this end if there is enough interest.
Gary

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1994 Toyota Celica ST205 GT-Four Group A WRC - running in rebuilt engine....

If theres a group buy on these put me down for 1... then I could get my camber sorted so i wont have to buy new tyres every 3 months!!

So will that be a fitting BBQ party @ Kris & Looseys then...

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ST205 WRC #0002249

Or come over to mine. After all, I have access to a fully kitted out workshop with a hoist
Gary

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1994 Toyota Celica ST205 GT-Four Group A WRC - running in rebuilt engine....

1. Mat
2. DIV
3. TrackToyFour
4. Kris

,,,just to get us going

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1995 ST205