I hope this hasn't been answered elsewhere, I looked but couldn't find it....
Are front struts from a 1995 and up interchangeable on a 1993 Cavi? I know the 95-04 are interchangeable.
The reason I'm asking: I run a 1993 as a dirt track car (3/8 mile high banked). I've started running into the rev limiter too far before the end of the straights (running in second). Third isn't good--no rev limiter problem, but slow acceleration out of the corners.
I tried putting 15 inch tires/wheels on instead of the 14s I had on it. The LF was fine, but with 2 degress negative camber in the RF, the inside edge of the tire was rubbing the metal cup-thing at the bottom of the spring (don't know what you call it). I bent and banged it up out of the way as much as possible, but I still had a little rub problem.
I know some of the later 90s Cavaliers had 15 inch wheels stock on them, so I'm assuming that a strut from one of those models would have the necessary clearance below the spring seat to run a 15 inch tire. So, my question is whether a strut from one of those models will bolt on.
Or, other solutions to getting the necessary clearance that I'm missing? it is very possible that something simple hasn't occurred to me yet.
No. 95+ cars don't have steering arms on the struts. Struts from 82-94 are the same, and 95+ are the same. You can run an older strut on a new car (ie- 94 strut on a 95) by cutting off the steering arm. Or simply leave it there, since there is enough clearance for it in the tire well.
The metal cup thing is the lower spring perch. What size tire are you running? I've never seen anyone with a 2nd gen have any rub on the lower perch with 14, 15, 16, 17, and even 18" wheels, even with that much neg. camber.
Thanks for the info.
The 15 inch tire I tried was a 215/60 15. So, not anything unusually tall. It is entirely possible that the previous owners of the car (who also raced it) did something that cut down on the amount of clearance. I don't know though. The only thing I do know is that the 215/60/15 was slightly rubbing.
