Leone/L Series Suspension Questions

[charliemi16]

Hi everyone,

I'm Charlie, just joined recently. Have already had some great advice from Bennie on engine swaps.

Now looking to find out a couple of things about suspension. My 86 needs a refresh.

1. Where do you guys order parts from? I'm based in NZ, and am struggling to find stuff over here.
2. What do you recommend for suspension bushes? Standard, poly etc?
3. I've measured the diameters of my radius rods and sway bars, both 18mm, but it's a little harder to establish the diameter of the lower are bush, which I understand to be 24 or 28mm. I'm edging towards 28, but does anyone know when the change was? Short of removing the arm (the car is in daily use) it's hard to tell for sure.
4. What's involved in raising the L series? What are the options? Pro's and Cons? Mine will be in daily use on the road, with a bit of light off roading at the weekends. What's road handling like when raised? What wheels do people run? On standard hubs or not?

Any advice would be really gratefully received.

Cheers

Charlie

 

[El_Freddo]

This is a big one! So many options.

1. Trusted local parts joint, ebay Australia, ebay America (use rockauto.com to cross reference part numbers to search on ebay with).

2. I've got Nothane (spelling??) bushes. I should probably swap my control arm bushes as they're the only ones not done.

3. you're talking about the control arm bushes? I don't know, but a good parts store should have a listing for them. I've not known there to be two different sizes of bushes but it could be down to one of two things - either series one and two bush sizes, or 2wd and 4wd bush sizes. Have you got a rear sway bar? Lucky fella - only the RX turbos and vortexes got them over here. No point changing radius rods...
You could pop a bolt out, drop the arm - bush end - out, measure and put it back in. It *shouldn't* take very long to do this.
4. Lift kit. Options are generally 2 inch, 3 inch. Body and strut blocks with a steering extension.
Don't put in larger strut blocks than the size of the body lift blocks, otherwise you'll wear out CV joints left right and centre. You get used to the change in handling due to the slight rise in Centre of Gravity - I can still flog my L in the twisties no worries.
I run the stock hubs with a set of standard offset 14 inch rims and 27 inch tyres - I've got a built gearbox to match the diff ratio to the tyre diametre (best mod!).
In NZ you've got some of the coolest Subaru gear around. I'd love to have an RXII coupe.

And EJ conversions - well, you've got a good selection of JDM options over there too!

My L's build took me a number of years to get to where it's at now and there's still things I want to do...

Ausubaru or USMB has some good info on lifting L's and MYs. USMB is pretty crazy with some of the stuff they do over there - it's America after all, they can practically do what they want over there...

Here's my L, Ruby Scoo:

I hope that info helps

Cheers

Bennie