DIY knuckles and extended lcas

I decided to try make my own Knuckles and Lcas the other month as a small welding project. I ended up using them on the 180 to test out the design.

I made a “design” which was basically shorten the steering arm a lot and straighten it out to reduce the Ackerman. I ended up grinding a bigger bevel before welding but forgot to take another photo. 

Comparison to stock.

Made the other side too which ended up looking a lot nicer.

I then painted them and pressed in some new wheel studs as they didn’t come with any. 

Next task was to extend some lcas 25mm to give a bit more clearance and to fill out the guard a bit more too. 

Lock stops were cut off then paint ground back. 

Chopped in the band saw and old ball joints pressed out.

Big bevel grinded on the edges of all surfaces that were going to be welded to ensure full penetration.

Welded up and the excess cut off. I went back and welded the underside to be safe as well.

Welded on some bracing and painted them silver. Bracing is usually unnecessary as it makes the LCA too strong but it was my first time making anything structural so I wanted to be safe.

Pressed in the new ball joints too.

Then rounded up the rest of the gear to fit into the 180.

- Uras rack spacers

- A33 maxima rack ends from roadsafe (longer to suit the knuckles and lcas)

- S14 tie rod ends from roadsafe

- Gktech solid steering rack bushes

Removal of the old gear was pretty straightforward since so much of it was coming out at the same time. 

Quickly popped in the sleeves as required for s14/15 knuckles on s13 coilovers.

And fitted everything else. 

This was the result. 

After and before shot. 

I probably need to make some lock stops as the rim is hitting the castor rod and tie rod on full lock. 

The lcas helped to fill out the front guards so I’m pretty happy with that. Also the knuckles feel quite good to drive around on the street and have plenty of lock without binding. I’ve also put them through some strength testing which they’ve held up to.

Keen to get a little more power in this car and to take it to Calder or Winton for a proper test.