oldManTan

i have coilovers, MKIV LCAs with poly bushings, front strut brace, and poly bushings in a few other places. what else can be upgrades and where are parts available? tie-rods, sway bars, and so on?

also pictures and write ups of your set ups!!

jgdynamics

iTrader: (16)

tons of bushings and arms..check here
http://www.driftmotion.com/category-s/1831.htm

oldManTan

bookmarked all the rods lol

KahnBB6

iTrader: (5)

You can also upgrade to a 1993-1996 Supra MKIV rear sway bar (22mm) and a match set of MKIV Supra subframe mounts. This also significantly changes the car's handling characteristics.

The 97-98 Supra MKIV rear sway bar was 20mm in comparison, so use the former. Find one used.

You need the subframe mounts to make this work, however. There is a writeup for the process somewhere. I did it myself over a long evening in my garage.

Once you do this, however, look into getting a Lance Alignment (or have your alignment guy modify the specs if he knows what he is doing). You can't replicate every Lance figure on the SC's rear suspension but you can get close. It removes the tail-happy nature of the car with the factory Lexus alignment settings and makes it a far more compliant handler. My last alignment guy in Florida was very skilled and set up C5 and C6 Corvettes for road racing. Since the Lance settings are very aggressive on the rear tires (BMW-like) and were intended to improve track handling for road racing he toned it down just a bit to preserve inner tire wear. I have his adjusted settings in my records.

Look to MKIV.com for the specs.

Good luck!

oldManTan

thank you for this great info. i've heard of the lance alignment but i've also heard it's not great for the tires. i don't really have cash to throw into tires so i'm sticking to stock alignment for now. i've tried looking for sway bard and there's not much to pick from?

also strut braces for the rear, have some strut brace in the front don't know what brand.

i remember when i had the xB there were so many strut braces and sway bard to choose from it was weird because it's not a performance car. definitely way more than the SC but that's probably because it's newer and the aftermarket is fresh.

KahnBB6

iTrader: (5)

You're welcome. No, it isn't great for tires by sticking to the exact Lance specs but the way I had the settings modified seems to be a good balance between handling and longevity. I run BFGoodrich Comp2 tires and they have very good tread wear with those settings. I'll try to locate the document and scan it to post up.

No, there aren't many sway bar options. There are Whiteline and Daizen rear sway bars which use the factory trunk floor mounting points with extremely stiff bars and then there are OEM (and aftermarket) Supra TT rear sway bars as I mentioned which require the MKIV subframe mount swap. Personally I feel an OEM Supra rear sway bar swap is all that is needed. Coilovers, alignment and tire combinations do the rest. The front sway bars are functionally the same and don't need to be changed. The Supra TT front sway bar is only needed for factory intercooler piping clearance.

TRD and plenty of companies make strut braces. You may need washers to fit them over the 1UZ in your car. Not sure on that. The SC isn't as stiff as many modern performance cars but it is stiff enough and was in its day. It's not needed in the same way a Mustang needed a "Monte Carlo" strut bar decades ago. I'm not surprised the xB has so many bling options-- it's all refrigerator and no "go".

And I really like the xB series as a commuter and work vehicle. It's like a little GM van.

oldManTan

the xB really was great. i already have a front strut brace and the front of the car is stiff as a rock. the tail seems to wash about a little still so i'll probably be getting a strut brace for the rear and maybe the TT sway bar, what exactly needs to be modded for it to fit though?

AnonymousG

iTrader: (2)

Get poly bushing in all your arms front and rear, change out your subframe bushings and diff bushings. You will notice a huge difference.

I know I did after I did all that.

KahnBB6

iTrader: (5)

There is a PDF document floating around detailing the installation of a TT rear sway bar and subframe mounts into an SC. I do believe a thread or two on CL has it listed. I may have it somewhere myself. You will need to retain the TT sway bar end links as I recall but you will need the two subframe mounts from a Supra MKIV (I think NA and TT cars use the same mounts). In short, you have to get under the car, unbolt the stock sway bar, undo some big bolts and take out each SC subframe mount and replace each with a TT Supra subframe mount. There is minor drilling required to some of the bolt holes on the TT subframe mount.

What you will notice is that 70% of either mount are IDENTICAL. It is just that a sway bar mounting plate has been precision welded to the top of the TT mounts whereas the SC version has none. Also the rubber formulation might be stiffer in the MKIV version but I doubt it.

Once those mounts have been replaced you install the TT sway bar to anchor *onto* those mounts and not in the trunk area where the SC bar is anchored. Buying new TT rubber mount bushings, bolts and U-clamps is recommended unless they came with the used sway bar you have purchased.

The sway bar and mounts you can find listed on the Supraforums classifieds sometimes or you can use their WTB section.

It's a very worthwhile upgrade. Just be aware that you will get some tail-happy action with the factory SC alignment. I found that a Torsen LSD helps a bit but fundamentally it's tweaking the suspension alignment that cures too much tail happy behavior. I didn't even think of this but you could also try getting a shop to use stock MKIV Supra TT alignment settings since they were designed around that sway bar, wider tires, etc.

oldManTan

that's awesome info, thanks for that

KahnBB6

iTrader: (5)

No problem. It's not an overly difficult swap, just time consuming at the time of the two mounts.