EHK - Enhanced Handling kit / SR CA FJ L-Series Fitting kit (Please e-mail regarding these)

When first asked to fit an SR20det into a 1600 we considered a number of factors.

First and foremost was safety. If you have a car with the type of power that a well tuned SR20 has then it had better handle well and have brakes to match. Lots to consider when designing a suspension and braking system. Cost plays a big part in any project, as well as availability of components.

Like any project we came up with a list of criteria.

First was that it must fit an SR. Ok then why not have it fit L & Z series, FJs, CAs too?
The steering must be precise, not heavy nor suffer bump steer. Have a low ride height with good ground clearance and nothing to drag in the dirt or get hooked in spoon drains. Must have negative camber and increased caster, be inexpensive, and use a maximum of easily obtainable Nissan components. So we replaced the complete 1600 front end!! After a few false starts we settled on a basic 200B front suspension design. Much the same as the 240K and Skyline front end. The mounting brackets and spacing on these cross members has been in use for many years and is almost a universal fits all for Nissan. Use the original mountings & brackets, of the engine you wish to use, then it will generally fit. L series require an L20b sump, engine mounts, & brackets.

The 200B type front end has many advantages over the 1600 unit. The control are pivot points are closer together and allow the use of longer arms to reduce camber changes & when used on a 1600 increases the amount of negative camber to over 1.5 degrees. The steering arms, tie rods, cross rod are all stronger than the 1600 part. No bending of steering parts is needed and they are all stock easy to obtain parts.

Selected cross members are sectioned at the mounting points to allow the cross member to fit neatly between the 1600 chassis rails, making a more rigid structure, increasing ground clearance & raising the control arm pivot points which eliminates the lowered 1600 bump steer problem. The combination of raised pivot points and longer lower control arms enables the use of struts that are 75mm shorter than the original units. In fact the shorter full travel struts can be on their bump stops before the arms assume a negative attitude.

The laser cut mounting plates on the member locate positively with the original 1600 mounting points without elongation of the holes. The cross member is mounted slightly further forward of the original position so as to maintain the lower control arm in the correct position decreasing load on the control arm bushes. Shortening the radius rods to increase caster on the std 1600 suspension pulls the lower control arms forward out of position marginally increasing positive camber & distorting the bushes. Two additional mounting bolts with plated crush tubes are utilised to further strengthen the attachment points and improve rigidity. Gussets are added and the assembly sand blasted & powder coated.

Lower control arms are stripped, have the bushes removed, and modified to accept the adjustable stabiliser bar ball links. They are blasted and powder coated ready for fitment of new black Whiteline bushes and the ball joints.