Feroza narrow to wide track conversion?

[mrpham]

Hi everyone,

I'm a little curious about the NT to WT conversion. How hard/easy is it to convert a 04' NT Feroza to a WT. I'm not really interested in doing the conersion any time soon, just thought it might be a nice topic to discuss

Would this conversion need to be engineered to keep it legal? And would I be correct to assume that the WT flares will fit on my NT? I just recently had a Tough Dog suspension kit installed on my NT, could this still be used with the WT?

Just thinking out loud:
- brake lines will need to be replaced with longer ones
- bump stops changed
- mounts on chassis for shocks/torsion bars/springs may be different?
- new torsion bars

Would this be a feasble method of increasing track width? I know a lot of people run spacers/large offset wheels so this could be another option for them?


John.

[r0ck_m0nkey]

MightyMouse will step in as he has made a "widetrack" out of a Narrow track but it's anything but a factory copy.

They have a lot of major differences in the front suspension area amongst other things. Unless you're prepared to do some major custom work, just go with a big offset rims and be done with it. A nice set of 15x10" rims with a -50 offset will get it sitting pretty wide, but you'll have some clearance issues and your wheel bearings will love it.

[MightyMouse]

I can't resist.....

This is what my research on the actual differences between a narrow and wide track are....

1/ Chassis rails are wider at the front - note the suspension is exactly the same.

2/ The front drive & steering is different to make up for the extra width.

3/ The rear axle is wider and has different lower shock mounts.

4/ The body mounts are different ( can't interchange bodies ).

5/ Has ventilated front disks and wider calipers, which some narrows didn't.

6/ Bolt on Flares, wider front bumper.

So can you convert ? Not with factory parts.

Can you convert anyway ? Yes - and its got significant advantages in that the narrow and widetracks have exactly the same front suspension travel ( SFA ) - but widening a narrow gives greater travel and ride height ( depending on arm angles ).
It also means you can fit MUCH larger tyres (37"+) with zero rim offset before you come anywhere near touching the chassis at full lock ( panel work is a different issue, but still better than wide rims ) so its kind to bearings and your scrub radius isn't affected. This happens without going to ridiculous levels of lift like some have ended up with.

Widening also means you can change rear axles so locking becomes possible for "reasonable" money, and you can use a much stronger diff.

Would either be easily engineered - NO. There's a lot of parts to be made, and if you have to pay someone else to do it - it would cost a fortune. Someone on here was quoted around a $1000 just to lengthen the lower arms - and that's just the start....... My guess would be around $10,000 to do - assuming "drive in - drive out " and that's without the legalities.

And after all that... your still left with the unsatisfactory transmission and transfer ratios of narrow and widetrack

So as part of a "grand plan" that you can do substantially by yourself then its doable .

This is where you need to end up IMO :

Widened front
Rear to match ( and stronger )
Locked Front and Rear
Automatic
Different transfer and gears
Turbo or Supercharged
34"+ tyres.

I'm almost there

[BORN2RUN]

or u could jus buy my wt fez for 1500 and play with the modifiying from there.

[MightyMouse]

True. But what fun would that be ?

And technically the outcome of a wide narrowtrack is better.

[phraze84]

Mighty mouse was made from spare daihatsu parts!!!

You should have been working for them when they decided to make these cars dude!

[mrpham]

Thanks for the replies MightMouse

You mentioned that you can't use factory parts to accomplish the conversion, did this mean you had to get custom made parts or were parts from different cars adapted to work with the NT chassis?

Did it involve exstensive chassis mods? Would be very interesting to see how you adapted the new suspension arms

[Gwagensteve]

MM runs a hydrid Hi-ace/Hilux rear diff with custom axle shafts.

Front arms are modified stock, not all new. (or from another car)

I don't believe there was any significant chassis work.

MM's car works very well, but he's spot on when he talks about how much work it was.

Front axles
Front steering rods
Rear axle
Custom front arms

that's the majority of the hard parts, but there's lots of $$$ in this stuff. It's absolutely the most expensive possible way of adding width.

Steve.

[MightyMouse]

No chassis mods at all are required for widening.

All the front suspension parts are bolt on, but saying that they are all custom made as well. Given the loads involved they are machined from high tensile steel heat treated.

Longer arms require different torsion bars and shocks as well as your effectively softening the spring rate.

The rear axle also bolts in, but like everything else its also a custom unit created from a mixture of HiAce/HiLux parts with custom axles and mounts etc etc - so its still Feroza bolt pattern.

If you can't do the fabricating and machining yourself expect a VERY hefty bill - in fact its not really feasible IMO. Its a very large task and requires a substantial period of preparation with duplicate parts and a fair bit of time off the road as well.

Not a project to start if its your daily driver

Still you have to spend your time doing something