McPherson to Superstrut Conversion Options

[Trodai]

Hi I have a st205 gt4 which i have converted to Mcpherson and from Ireland, sorry If im mistaken iv been trying to follow this and correct me if im wrong you a fitting the superstrut system into your McPherson built cars? the opposite to what i have done haha, just to point out that there is a difference in the subframes for a McPherson and Super strut system the mounting brackets for the steering rack itself are welded in different positions this may be part of the problem for your clearance issues.

[yellowchinaman]

yes I too find it strange when people go from McPh to SS when we do the opposite with the fours.
Trodai, have you kept your stock brakes from he ST205 or did you upgrade them?

[Trodai]

yes I too find it strange when people go from McPh to SS when we do the opposite with the fours.
Trodai, have you kept your stock brakes from he ST205 or did you upgrade them?

I have the stock 205 brakes directly mounted onto the hub using 305mm diameter machined st205 discs, the stock brakes have well enough stopping power, plus i wanted to keep the 16 inch rims... i have both a superstrut and Mcpherson st205.. and I prefer the McPherson setup personally i think it depends on the road surfaces the SS likes smooth roads like motorways surfaces where the McPherson setup is still good on these surfaces i rate the McPherson setup better on less perfect roads, but it depends on driver style and the rest or the car setup. the Mcpherson set up suffers more when lowered than the SS

[enderswift]

yes I too find it strange when people go from McPh to SS when we do the opposite with the fours.
Trodai, have you kept your stock brakes from he ST205 or did you upgrade them?

I'm doing it because the entire suspension came in good condition with my clip. I already paid for all of the parts so why not? saves me the effort of 'making' st205 brakes fit. Plus its pretty much plug and play aside from a pair of inner tie rods. Oh and if parts are too expensive/ hard to find in the futurethen swapping back over to McPherson again will be no issue at all.

This post has been edited by enderswift: Nov 25, 2013 - 2:28 PM

[bri-boy]

This is not only possible but actually very easy to do, I done this to my uk GT about 4 years ago and at the time I was the only person in the world mad enough to do it. Especially when everyone said whats the point and superstrut is expensive when it breaks Blah Blah Blah

anyways what you need is as follows for a perfect fit

1. all suspension arms + hubs with brakes + uprights(shocks, springs)
2. Steering rack and rack ends
3. anti roll bar and drop links

an easier way to do it is buy a front cut with SSS or buy a car as I done with SSS and drop the entire subframe and rack as one unit. then just bin your own stuff and lift the new complete subframe with SSS and quick rack up underneath. your original ABS will still connect if you have it but you will need the brake lines for the twinpots on the SSS

this transformed my car instantly and was by far worth more than any other mod i done

[enderswift]

If you are trying to convert your car to superstrut, you only need to buy inner tie rods from a MKIV Supra! They are the perfect length to fit superstrut outer tie rods to a USDM steering rack

Observe:


Stock st205 inner tie rod on the left, 1994 Supra rod on the right. The ST205 joints are a little too short to work on a USDM steering rack, but the Supra part makes up for this difference perfectly. No need to custom machine anything, no need to weld anything, just buy the supra parts and bolt all of the superstrut parts right on



As always, this is a custom application for my specific car. Your experience may vary and I cannot be liable for damages resulting from attempts to copy my work

This post has been edited by enderswift: Sep 1, 2014 - 3:46 PM

[DST94]

1054344[/url]']
If you are trying to convert your car to superstrut, you only need to buy inner tie rods from a MKIV Supra! They are the perfect length to fit superstrut outer tie rods to a USDM steering rack

Observe:
Stock st205 inner tie rod on the left, 1994 Supra rod on the right. The ST205 joints are a little too short to work on a USDM steering rack, but the Supra part makes up for this difference perfectly. No need to custom machine anything, no need to weld anything, just buy the supra parts and bolt all of the superstrut parts right on



As always, this is a custom application for my specific car. Your experience may vary and I cannot be liable for damages resulting from attempts to copy my work

Perfect. I was getting custom tie rods made as well as my bearings replaced so I will just buy these instead of going custom. Thanks ender, I tried Avalon inners and outers to no avail. I'll take pictures of the alignment and everything when it's all finished.

[BonzaiCelica]

not to confuse anyone else but the 93-98 supra and SC300/SC400 1992-2000 share same inner tie rods.

The GS300 and LS400 chassis have a different passenger inner tie rod as I have seen on Toyota diagrams and pics online

This post has been edited by BonzaiCelica: Jun 13, 2015 - 12:55 AM

[njccmd2002]

buy new, not used... they last longer.

[enderswift]

Guess I should post this here. NOT CONFIRMED YET:

Superstrut outer tie rod USDM equivalent:

http://www.moog-suspension-parts.com/prodd...rod=MOOG-ES3561

This is also off of the 1994 Supra. I have yet to compare these to st205 parts, but the measurements given on the MOOG website imply they should work. This would be a great ~$25 alternative to buying oem parts

Your particular application may vary and I therefore cannot be held liable for damages resulting from attempts to use the parts listed above in your particular projects

This post has been edited by enderswift: Sep 9, 2014 - 11:01 PM

[BonzaiCelica]

even though the bottom of this superstrut cartridge has ridges on it. the inside bottom part of the superstrut shock is flat just like you'd find them on the mcpherson rebuildable front shocks.



p



STROKE LENGTH


If you take a look on the first page you can see the length differences between the mcpherson and superstrut shock. the superstrut has a slightly shorter stroke over the mcpherson design. I have tanabe df210 with claimed 2.2 inch drop on the fronts and my shocks have never gone bad in over 3 years. So my guess is that even though the mcpherson cartridge you buy from kyb or stagg or bilstein is a tad bit longer, with the slight bit shorter stock springs on GT4 and added stiffness (to compensate for the heavier ST205 chassis) it'll act like a lower spring. I can even cut that bottom nipple of the front cartridge found on the mcpherson set up and install it in the superstrut housing. Stay Tuned

This post has been edited by BonzaiCelica: Oct 11, 2015 - 5:23 PM

[BonzaiCelica]

Edophus was right the shock housing is pinched on 2 sides in order that the skinny insert sits centered Im the larger diameter housing. I was even looking at the kyb super street adjustable shocks and they too are rebuildable and have that pinch in the shock housing.

Their exists a tool called an exhaust pipe tail expander, but it's not strong enough to push out the dimples on cast iron shock housing.

This post has been edited by BonzaiCelica: Oct 11, 2015 - 5:19 PM

[enderswift]

Aftermarket source for st205 bearings confirmed:


Aftermarket Febest bearing on the left, OEM Koyo bearing on the right


Koyo on bottom, Febest on top


Koyo on left, Febest on right

The important dimensions including OD, ID, and height are identical between the bearings. The only difference is the way the inner race wraps over the front of the bearing. So as I suspected, Toyota used similar bearings for multiple AWD models and assigned different part numbers.

Link to ebay listing for the cheaper aftermarket bearing:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/251822010433?_trks...K%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

Hope this motivates more people to give superstrut a chance!

[BonzaiCelica]

So I failed my friend and I'm still wondering why it didn't work. Btw enderswift you are right.

As seen here


So he said the inner 3rd GEN celica tie rod is 1.5 inch short which doesn't make sense according to the measurements above. he won't be able to get an alignment. He can bairly get the superstrut tie rod to thread on...

This post has been edited by BonzaiCelica: May 22, 2015 - 1:29 AM

[mi645]

Takes math class and still fails. Whats going on???????? I will try to post pictures.

[enderswift]

Sigh. Bro, why are you driving urself crazy . Just buy the 94 supra inner tie rod, keep the usdm subframe and steering rack, and literally bolt on the superstrut stuff. It's that easy

[qatar11]

I can confirm all you need is an off the shelf inner tie rod...

[BonzaiCelica]

bump added pictures to the 1st page. like the inner tie rod combo and superstrut and mcpherson cartridge inserts....

[BonzaiCelica]

Well as this thread was created to make a super strut budget friendly conversion. All measurements are in here (added to first page). Except I have yet to find an alternative ball joint available here in USA. Would have to be pressed out and measured(which I believe I can do sometime soon)

Both Toyota ST202 Super Struts, from TCB Parts are $329 shipped (to California)


ST205 OEM front struts, are twice the amount of the ST202's super struts. At which point if your also replacing the rear. Just get some weld in Coilovers

This post has been edited by BonzaiCelica: Jan 20, 2022 - 2:34 AM

[BonzaiCelica]

https://youtu.be/mvxi3qYj5Is?si=qkf1qXb7wusPFmsn