Starlet Suspension - From N/A Perspective

[Jozinobi]

This is my current setup at my disposal:

Tanabe Sustec Pro OS Height and Camber Adjustable Coilovers

Cusco Front Type OS Strut Brace

Cusco Rear Type OS Strut Brace

Cusco Lower Arm Bar (off for now)

elSport C Pillar Bar

RS*R Adjustable Panhard Rod

White 22mm Front Anti Roll Bar

Whiteline Adjustable Rear Anti Roll Bar

Whiteline Anti Lift Kit

Whiteline Rear Adjustble Anti Roll Bar

Altho mine is the adjustable RARB, the fitting is almost the same.

Welding it onto the chassis is the easier job, however I believe the proper way to do it is to drill holes and attach the links that way. Mine is set on medium.

I got all my info from hardcore ep91's site which was very helpful, I send the pics to my mechanic and he fitted it no probs. The instructions you get are not that helpful tbh.

Hardcore Ep91 Rear Bar Installation

My ep91 rear has always been stiff after installing the coilovers, rear brace and c pillar bar altho there was still room for improvement. On stock it was crap and slid out easily.

Now with the RARB in place, there is even less chance of it slipping or understeering out.

I have the 22mm front ARB and anti lift fitted as well. Its a pretty good balance with the setup I have, you gt/glanza people will surely benefit more due to more power pushing the rear to the limits I believe, especially if you have problems with a twitchy rear. Best thing is to fit the arb on a ramp to save any complications, then you can have the ride height all level when you are doing the work, read the link and you'll understand.

The front upgrades will totally change the handling characteristics of your car so if have them arriving to you soon rub your hands with glee More improvements will be seen in handling if you have additional components. Braces are great and all but its the ones that get installed under the chassis that make the most difference.

Whiteline Front 22mm Anti Roll Bar & Whiteline Anti Lift/Castor Kit

Closer pics of both sides of the front

This is the complete setup Im currently running:

Suspension

Tanabe Sustec Pro OS Height and Camber Adjustable Coilovers

Cusco Front Type OS Strut Brace

Cusco Rear Type OS Strut Brace

Cusco Lower Arm Bar (off for now)

elSport C Pillar Bar

RS*R Adjustable Panhard Rod

White 22mm Front Anti Roll Bar

Whiteline Adjustable Rear Anti Roll Bar

Whiteline Anti Lift Kit

Braking

Cusco BMCS

3g 10 Groove Discs

Mintex C-Tech 1144 Brakepads

Motul Dot 5.1 Brake Fluid

Black Diamond Braided Lines all round.

Regarding handling I skipped lowering springs and went straight to coilovers because the money you would pay for adjustable shocks (i.e konis or kyb sr specials) and decent lowering springs you could easily get yourself a second hand set of jdm coilovers landed from Japan for around £450 or save just a little more and get D2s for a very good price from Dave Burwash.

Of course coilovers are for serious enthusiasts which most of us on here indeed are. Im in no way putting down users of uprated shocks and springs, I just believe that coilovers will give you all the adjustability you need depending on the model and allow you to genuinely push your car fully to the handling limits, they are however much more suited to track which in your case is a good thing where they will be used to their potential. Spring rates are another thing to look out for, the higher the rating in kg the harder the spring will be.

Mine are 4kg on front and 6kg on rear. Just about drivable for fast road use and good for light track use.

Don't expect to drive too fast on bumpy roads tho with coilovers as the ride will not be very forgiving.

It all depends on your needs and your budget and how far you want to take it

Coilovers or uprated shocks and springs are the fundamental components for which handling for your car will be based on.

Either will be fantastic to own, coilovers are more adjustable but the shocks and spring combo is good for people who don't want TOO stiff a ride and will give better damping. Coilovers are very stiff regardless of the damping settings, they are just solid but they can be pushed much harder than any other combo. People who have coilovers will understand.

Everything else listed assists either greatly or slightly, however every little helps on our cars. Think of them all as supplements to your handling setup.

Being FWD I honestly find the front components to give the most noticeable and satisfying difference. However you still want a setup with good balance. You dont want one end to be heavier than the other which could cause excessive oversteer or understeer, what I have right now feels just right.

There are what I found to make the most difference:

Front Coilovers (obviously )

Whiteline Antilift Kit

Cusco Lower Arm Bar

Whiteline Front 22mm Anti Roll Bar

These are the components that give you the best steering and grip improvements imo, along with decent tyres you will see exceptional gains, I noticed the difference straight away and turning was much tighter and true.

The front strut brace helps to reduce flex between the front struts.

A three point strut brace would be ideal and the third point bolts onto the firewall.

The lower arm bar completes the combo tying the lower wishbones and really makes a nice difference. It can have fitting issues with exhausts in the way tho and it is very low to the ground which means it will get scraped badly. I would recommend for track use only

The rear of the starlet is the weakest part of the whole chassis.

You will notice it when you push the car around corners it will slide out and produce understeer.

There is always room for improvement with it. I do notice a lot of gt/glanza owners have a twitchy rear. This is due to the solid rear axle.

These will make the rear much better:

Rear Coilovers

Rear Strut brace

Rear Anti Roll Bar

If lowered then a rear adjustable panhard rod will really help to realign your wheels as when you lowered, the rear axle gets pushed out to one side. This can cause rubbing on the arch and other problems. It replaces the oem one and seeing as it has uprated poly bushes it will make the part of the car slightly stiffer.

The rod itself although an improvement over the old rod does not really aid handling too much and is more of an alignment tool. It all helps though.

Note: The Whiteline goods all come with new polyurethane bushes where applicable so a bit of a bonus.

So my recommendations would at a minimum be:

Front:

Adjustable Coilovers (JDM or D2s)

Anti Lift Kit (Whiteline)

Front 22mm Anti Roll Bar (Whiteline)

Front Lower Arm Bar (Cusco or Whiteline)

Rear:

Rear Strut Brace (Cusco or Toyota 3 Point)

Rear Anti Roll Bar (Whiteline)

Adjustable Panhard Rod (RS*R)

Once you have everything fitted make sure to get your car fully aligned.

The rest you can add later if you so wish to further improve things. Im sure you have a toyota front strut brace so no need to change that unless you must have matching braces.

Camber bolts would be a cheap alternative to new top mounts although I have never used them, with coilovers you will find most of them are camber adjustable top mounted. If used with camber bolts you may get more negative camber but to be honest you dont want too much

You would be doing very well and have a weapon on your hands with the above. If you are going to be taking the track seriously I would get a decent setup.

Don't forget to upgrade your brakes too if you haven't already done so

p.s Im fixing this up lol - not final draft...