front lower control arm

  • #1

    front lower control arm

    Are the front lower control arms interchangeable from year to year? Can someone post 84-86 front control arm next to a 87-89. Im trying to figure out why my tire is leaning in towards the body at the bottom. Thanks for your help.
  • #2


    I can verify that 87 & 88 differences are negligible, there are minor stamping variations but nothing that would make a visible difference… I don't have any zenki arms anymore
  • #3
    If nobody post up I'll try to help you out…I have a set of both flavors somewhere.
    Cha iro

    enjoy building it yourself.
    if it fails, fuck it.
    at least you gave it a whirl.
  • #4
    Well according to:

    http://www.z31.com/mods/suspension/

    the 87-89 ones are 10mm longer which gives 0.4 degrees of camber.

    I'll let you know for sure some time the next month. I've got a set of 87-89 ones down in the shop 2 hours away that I've been saving for my brake upgrade.
    Life's short
    Go fast
    Have a blast
    Leave a good looking corpse
  • #5
    Thanks for helping out guys! My issue must be something else because those two control arms are too close to make any noticeable difference. My front camber is way off and since theres no way to adjust this I'm guessing at this point something must be bent.
  • #6
    84-86 are the same length. 87-89 are the same, and 10mm longer than the 84-86. All of the extra length is between the tension rod mount and the ball joint. From tension rod to bushing is the same for all of them. I don't know what the difference is, but the strut tubes are also designed to go with their own style of LCA. Putting 84-86 tubes on 87-89 LCAs will cause negative camber. 87-89 tubes on 84-86 LCAs will cause positive camber (sounds like your issue). This is mentioned about 2/3 down this post. http://z31performance.com/forum/z31-…210#post348210

    I don't know if you noticed, but G-E said those are 87-88 arms, so they would be the same length.
    Prius… because Pretentious wouldn't fit across the back of the car…

    Cheap, Fast, Reliable - pick any two

    My 1986 Turbo Build
  • #7
    jaqattack02;n768569 wrote: 87-89 tubes on 84-86 LCAs will cause positive camber
    Hmmm. I didn't know that before! Interesting. I read that doing this adds track width (because of the 87-89 spindle), but didn't realize it had anything to do with camber.
    Justin
    1986 NA 2-seater
    SCCA Solo E-Street Prepared #31
    Race Videos
    Build Thread
  • #8
    Just to keep it simple, I just swapped all of it over to 88T suspension parts rather than have to worry about mixing and matching parts.
    Prius… because Pretentious wouldn't fit across the back of the car…

    Cheap, Fast, Reliable - pick any two

    My 1986 Turbo Build
  • #9
    Jaqattack02, my friend, That's the info I was looking for. I'm going to start tearing down my front suspension and start verifying part #. I believe the previous owner switched a few things with the front suspension without having this information.
  • #10
    Back to the OP wanting a side by side of the 84-86 arms next to the 87-89 arms.

    Check out the pic about half way down the page.

    http://www.redz31.net/pages/frontarms.html
    Life's short
    Go fast
    Have a blast
    Leave a good looking corpse
  • #11
    Corrected link…

    Originally posted by flatfoot
    Back to the OP wanting a side by side of the 84-86 arms next to the 87-89 arms.

    Check out the pic about half way down the page.

    http://www.redz31.net/pages/frontarms.html
    Link on post#10 didn't work for some reason… vBulletin messed up the hyperlink.

    Try clicking on the link in the ^quote^…
    '86 NA - original owner (1986-93) and final owner (2005-present)

    My build thread: http://z31performance.com/showthread…-Got-mine-back