1991 capri XR2 front brake swap.

[chrisofna]

Since it's been ressurected...

Been running the Capri XR2 front brakes for a while and love them with one caveat: I wish I had the ability to run 13 inch wheels. I might swap them out for BF 323 front spindles which are the same other than the brake setup being smaller. I read that first year NA Capris have the same brakes.

[firebush357]

Wow... I just checked the price for Aspire LCAs and they are $88 each on RockAuto!

[TominMO]

nope the reason you need the aspire LCAs is because with the festy LCAs, you bind the axles in the diff (you wind up crushing the spider gears together) even with the car on the ground.

and the camber you see os only about 2.5* on each side wich isn't bad and i have yet to see any detrimental tire wear because of it. once i aligned it and gave it .05* toe in, i let it go and havn't touched it since.

Yeah I kinda like the NEGATIVE camber; it corners real nice.

[FestYboy]

nope the reason you need the aspire LCAs is because with the festy LCAs, you bind the axles in the diff (you wind up crushing the spider gears together) even with the car on the ground.

and the camber you see os only about 2.5* on each side wich isn't bad and i have yet to see any detrimental tire wear because of it. once i aligned it and gave it .05* toe in, i let it go and havn't touched it since.

[TominMO]

tom, you're using the aspire LCAs? you should have NEGATIVE camber if that's the case.

Yes, Aspire LCAs. I might have the terminology backwards. My tires lean in at the top and (obviously) out at the bottom. I thot that was positive.

Edit: right, just checked the terminology via Google. I have negative camber. So now I'm wondering why I had to use the Aspire LCAs at all. Seems like with the Festy LCAs I would have camber more near stock. I'm thinking that people have gone to Aspire LCAs because they couldn't get the lower strut bolts in with Festiva ones. But since Greg ground off some of the angle on the lower part of the knuckle, thereby giving the LCA more range of motion vertically, maybe Festy LCAs would now work.

[FestYboy]

tom, you're using the aspire LCAs? you should have NEGATIVE camber if that's the case.

[TominMO]

With the Capri knuckle and Aspire LCAs will I have to worry about my axles "popping" out as others have mentioned?

I will be using the G5M-R trans and axles from the same XR2 that is donating the brakes. From reading this thread and others that I searched it's not clear to me what trans/axles people are running when commenting on a Capri brake swap.

Also when swapping to Aspire LCAs do I also need to get a Aspire swaybar or will the Festy one work?

Update: Greg installed the XR2 knuckles just before FM4. He did grind a little off the bottom of the knuckles, to reduce the angle a bit so that the LCA would fit better, and we would end up with less of a camber issue. There is still too much positive camber tho, which I can at least partially correct by rotating the upper strut mount. I have stock Festy springs and am using the Festy 5-speed and axles. After driving it about 3000 miles or more, no axle popout has occurred. I have the Aspire swaybar, but don't see why the Festy one would not work as well.

[FestYboy]

three years of beating on this swap and NO axle problems (aside from my tearing the left outer boot durring a test fit 3 years ago).

logic would dictate that if the G5MR and capri axles are used with the factory knuckles and brakes, the total length of drivetrain is the same as a factory festy drivetrain, BUT if you swap the capri brakes onto a factory festy you have to use aspire LCAs. therefore, if you use the G5MR with the capri brakes, you still have to use aspire LCAs.

also, i used the festy sway bar with no fitment issues.

[marty!]

Bringing another dormant thread back to life hear.

Couple of questions.

With the Capri knuckle and Aspire LCAs will I have to worry about my axles "popping" out as others have mentioned?

I will be using the G5M-R trans and axles from the same XR2 that is donating the brakes. From reading this thread and others that I searched it's not clear to me what trans/axles people are running when commenting on a Capri brake swap.

Also when swapping to Aspire LCAs do I also need to get a Aspire swaybar or will the Festy one work?

Thanks in advance.

[Aaronbrook37]

I would completely agree with you, Tom. I look forward to seeing what you come with!

[TominMO]

ok, yeah, if you have that much differance in spring length i can see you're point, BUT, i'm using an uncompressed strut assembly with either factory or FMS springs installed. in either case the length is the same because of strut travel (the spring is always slightly compressed, even when unloaded).

then on to the jacking issue you describe. so far as i can tell, the spring doesn't care (look at fox body mustangs for an example). yes you may be stressing the strut to one side durring install, but once you're back on the ground, that stress goes away because there's no stress on the LBJ. and really, how often are you having your car sit in an uncompressed state?

again, the binding is only durring install process. once together, there's nolonger any binding in the LBJ area. shaving that 2mm you speak of won't get you anywhere because the knuckle never touches the LCA, the LBJ just runs out of travel.
as for the need for the aspire LCAs, you need them for length to keep the axles from binding in the trans. the XR2 knuckles sit in further than festy knuckles when attached to the festy LCAs so you need to lengthen the LCAs (aspire units) to make up the differance. i tryed using festy LCAs, and it was horrible! install was a nightmare and steering was impossible. swapped in the aspire units and it was like nothing ever happened other than a slight camber gain which was what i was after to begin with for auto-x. aligned the car with 2.1-2.3* of camber on either side. 3 years later and still no wear issues. just have to make sure you're toe is good.

Shaving the knuckle below the LBJ is intended basically to increase the travel of the ball joint, and relieve stress from being shoved up against the knuckle. Since an increase in camber is also reported, due probably to that travel restriction from the design of the XR2 knuckle when it is mounted to the Festiva, shaving the knuckle should rectify that too. Maybe none of these issues are as important as I think, but still it doesn't seem right to have to force parts to work together with a jack. My reasoning is: just alter the design a tiny bit, and they should work together very well, with no issues.

[FestYboy]

ok, yeah, if you have that much differance in spring length i can see you're point, BUT, i'm using an uncompressed strut assembly with either factory or FMS springs installed. in either case the length is the same because of strut travel (the spring is always slightly compressed, even when unloaded).

then on to the jacking issue you describe. so far as i can tell, the spring doesn't care (look at fox body mustangs for an example). yes you may be stressing the strut to one side durring install, but once you're back on the ground, that stress goes away because there's no stress on the LBJ. and really, how often are you having your car sit in an uncompressed state?

again, the binding is only durring install process. once together, there's nolonger any binding in the LBJ area. shaving that 2mm you speak of won't get you anywhere because the knuckle never touches the LCA, the LBJ just runs out of travel.
as for the need for the aspire LCAs, you need them for length to keep the axles from binding in the trans. the XR2 knuckles sit in further than festy knuckles when attached to the festy LCAs so you need to lengthen the LCAs (aspire units) to make up the differance. i tryed using festy LCAs, and it was horrible! install was a nightmare and steering was impossible. swapped in the aspire units and it was like nothing ever happened other than a slight camber gain which was what i was after to begin with for auto-x. aligned the car with 2.1-2.3* of camber on either side. 3 years later and still no wear issues. just have to make sure you're toe is good.

[TominMO]

tom, to get to the bottom of this: spring length doesn't matter, period. here's why: no matter what spring combo you have, the strut determines the unsprung assembly length. i'm running GR-2s which have the same extended length as factory. so that solves that issue.

then there's the LBJ angle that you are finding trouble with, don't grind, there's no need to really. once everything is in place, the LBJ has room to move even with the the suspention completely unloaded... the strut length keeps the joint from reaching it's limits, you just have to get it assembled before this can happen though.

to do everything correctly without issue, assemble the LCA-knuckle combo and attach to swaybar and chassis, then lift to the strut. attach the LOWER bolt on the strut, then use a jack to compress the strut a bit via the rotor and install the upper bolt (the jack will help the upper holes to line up because of the knuckle wanting to fold into the LCA under the weight).

i had the fortunate option of doing all this on a lift with a screwjack to act as the floor jack in your case. thought i recalled mentioning how and in what order i did things in the write up.... guess i should update it.

oh, and why, WHY, WHY didn't john call me when you ran into the issues you were having? he has my number....lol

Festy, I have to disagree with the idea that spring length doesn't matter. If you have an 18" long spring and a 9" long one, both their unsprung assembly length and their compressed length won't be the same. If the spring length didn't matter, there would be no market for lowering springs and lengthening springs. However, you may well be correct in saying that, for this discussion, it doesn't matter; that the proper assembly procedure and order is the real issue.

The problem I have with the Capri setup is that, as you describe, you need a jack to force the upper strut-to-hub bolt in. This shows that the outside of the spring is going to be more compressed than the inside. Is that not a camber issue? Possible handling and tire-wear problems may well crop up. Also, if the spring is more compressed on one side than the other, maybe this would cause some binding of the strut shaft on the compressed side.

I still feel, unless you can explain why I am wrong, that the best solution is to avoid camber issues, binding issues, and the need to compress the spring by simply grinding something like 2mm off the inside bottom of the balljoint mount. I'm even wondering if we could then use the Festiva LCA instead of the Aspire one. To just assemble the XR2 knuckle onto the Festiva, unmodified by grinding, is to be using the part in a way for which it was not designed--which is what causes the binding and camber issues.

[FestYboy]

tom, to get to the bottom of this: spring length doesn't matter, period. here's why: no matter what spring combo you have, the strut determines the unsprung assembly length. i'm running GR-2s which have the same extended length as factory. so that solves that issue.

then there's the LBJ angle that you are finding trouble with, don't grind, there's no need to really. once everything is in place, the LBJ has room to move even with the the suspention completely unloaded... the strut length keeps the joint from reaching it's limits, you just have to get it assembled before this can happen though.

to do everything correctly without issue, assemble the LCA-knuckle combo and attach to swaybar and chassis, then lift to the strut. attach the LOWER bolt on the strut, then use a jack to compress the strut a bit via the rotor and install the upper bolt (the jack will help the upper holes to line up because of the knuckle wanting to fold into the LCA under the weight).

i had the fortunate option of doing all this on a lift with a screwjack to act as the floor jack in your case. thought i recalled mentioning how and in what order i did things in the write up.... guess i should update it.

oh, and why, WHY, WHY didn't john call me when you ran into the issues you were having? he has my number....lol

[FestYboy]

What about with the Aspire rear struts....higher perch...should fit right?

true, but it really depends on tire diameter/section width.... there's only so much room that you can play with.