Starion Struts into an EX lancer

[Southerner]

At the moment i am trying to put starion struts into my project lancer, i have put the starion crossmember in with the lower control arms and lower knuckles.

I have swapped the top hats over and that all works fine, now its at the tricky part, trying to sort out the steering arms.

I have read the tech article on how to do it and put together the complete unit at the top of the picture.

All parts numbered 1 are starion and the parts labelled 2 are EX lancer. The bottom parts are the bits left over.

It all bolts together fine and bolts into the car and onto the knuckles.

But when you turn the steering wheel it can turn all the way to the left but when you try to turn right from straight ahead it hits the crossmember here

You can still force past this with a bit of force but obviously this isnt going to be suitable on the road.

There must be something simple that i have not swapped or done.

Hope someone can make sense of this and help me so i can finish my car with one less hassle

Thanks

[fuel]

I don't understand why - from what I can see the EX lancer and Starion track rods are very similar if not the same - the only difference is the longer tie rod ends of the Starion - but even so the inner parts of them look to be the same size and shape, and specifically the side that hits looks to be the same for the inner tie rod end. Have you looked at slackening off the bolts to the idler arm mount on the chassis rail and trying to move it around a little? How are the bushings on the idler arm?

[Southerner]

The inner bits(the solid longest part) is exactly the same, the only difference is that at the ends the starion has bolts and the lancer has holes. The bushes in the idler arm are tight(low km vehicle) and i just tried slackening the bracket but it can only move 1-2mm so probally wont make a difference.The starion idler arm is shorter by around 4mm as is the control arm(bolts onto steering box), i would use these but the splines are differant sizes. So im still no better off.

On a side note it is realy quite amazing how all these mitsis bolt together with each other, almost like the Japanese thought in 30years people will be wanting to do these types of conversions

[lowlancer]

On a side note it is realy quite amazing how all these mitsis bolt together with each other, almost like the Japanese thought "How can we make our production more efficient and thus save ourselves millions of dollars?"

[isnowi]

it's been a loooong time since i did this, but i vaguely recall an issue when mixing and matching starion, sigma and lancer stuff. May have been the rack stops on the crossmember, or possibly to do with position of the tie rod pivot point in relation to the hub and steering assembly, i know that i managed to get around it using stock parts. Will try to remember exactly what i did.

[Ogre]

^^DITTO!.

Trigger should know, hes the most recent convert.I kinda remember using somthing from a sigma.....

[Southerner]

ok sweet as, its not hitting the stops on the crossmember, its stopping just after straight ahead, it all lines up and bolts in together, apart from it hitting the crossmember. With the standard lancer tierod ends it wont reach the steering knuckles but it will with starion tie rods.

[Ke36]

its not the crossmember itself?

dunno anyone that has used the actual starion crossmember in an ex most just use a 1600 lancer one

the only difference i remeber between the steering components is the starion tieroad spacer (the twin threaded tube on the right hand side) is a bit longer than the ex one

other than that i just used everything you have and no issues here

edit : have u tried it with the starion drag link to see if it still fouls?

[isnowi]

So if you assemble it all minus the tie rods (the relay arm, the pitman arm and the idler) does it clear the crossmember and turn fully lock to lock?

From memory (i'm old so it's not very good anymore) i used sigma crossmember (same as starion) sigma bottom arms (similar to starion) starion struts, lancer steering box, pitman arm, idler and relay rod, i also made a new adjuster sleeve for the passenger side tie rod length adjustment, this was due to running 50mm wider track (extended bottom arms) and need the extra length in the steering shaft, but it may also have been to get around the issue you describe. I used sigma tie rod ends, which i think are the same as starion.

This is probably not much help, but might give you some other ideas of things to look at.

[Southerner]

So if you assemble it all minus the tie rods (the relay arm, the pitman arm and the idler) does it clear the crossmember and turn fully lock to lock?

From memory (i'm old so it's not very good anymore) i used sigma crossmember (same as starion) sigma bottom arms (similar to starion) starion struts, lancer steering box, pitman arm, idler and relay rod, i also made a new adjuster sleeve for the passenger side tie rod length adjustment, this was due to running 50mm wider track (extended bottom arms) and need the extra length in the steering shaft, but it may also have been to get around the issue you describe. I used sigma tie rod ends, which i think are the same as starion.

This is probably not much help, but might give you some other ideas of things to look at.

i assembled it without the tierods and it is still hitting it, so im beginning to think it is the crossmember. this means that there is only one way around it which is change the crossmember(my car is a 1200 which means custom mounts, i dont realy wont to do this), what i dont get is how people have done this exactly like i have using the lancer idler arm and steering box with a starion/sigma crossmember and not had issues. thnks

[OSM Garage]

Mmm has to be the crossmember.

Im using a crossmember out of a GSR. Would have thought crossmembers were the same.

Mitsi's huh....

[Ogre]

i used sigma crossmember in my 1200

[Southerner]

I would think that the crossmembers are all the same but this is making me wonder. I will bolt the 1200 one back in tomorow to see if it hits on that.

If i shorten the idler arm and steering arm will i have to get it tested for certification? this would also give me tighter steering which would be in my advantage, i just dont want any problems for certification thats all

[isnowi]

Cutting and welding anything in steering is severely frowned upon. If you have to you would be better off making (or having made) new parts.

[Ke36]

i used sigma crossmember in my 1200

yea but is starion the same?

[Ogre]

god knows, could there be some difference between the 1200s mounting points of the idler arms etc?This is weird...

[Southerner]

ok so iv realised that it is hitting on both sides now that iv bolded it all up tight, which means that it is either the idler arms or the crossmember.

[ProZac]

I'm pretty sure that while starion and sigma crossmembers look very similar, they are slightly different.

I've heard of people using sigma crossmembers instead of starion ones (in both starions and EX Lancers) when doing twin-cam conversions, because you gain a little bit of clearance between the cam angle sensor and bulkhead... I'e the sigma crossmember sits the motor slightly further forward. (its only mm's though).

I used the the EX draglink, starion tie-rods and a 1600 ex lancer crossmember, all went together fine.

Good think about the lancer draglinks? No balljoints built into them like the starion ones. Yay. Those starion ones are all fucked by now, the NOS supply has all been sold, and re-building them is expensive!

[Southerner]

I'm pretty sure that while starion and sigma crossmembers look very similar, they are slightly different.

I've heard of people using sigma crossmembers instead of starion ones (in both starions and EX Lancers) when doing twin-cam conversions, because you gain a little bit of clearance between the cam angle sensor and bulkhead... I'e the sigma crossmember sits the motor slightly further forward. (its only mm's though).

I used the the EX draglink, starion tie-rods and a 1600 ex lancer crossmember, all went together fine.

Good think about the lancer draglinks? No balljoints built into them like the starion ones. Yay. Those starion ones are all fucked by now, the NOS supply has all been sold, and re-building them is expensive!

I might have to look out for a sigma crossmember to try then. I am using the lancer main drag link and starion tie rods because of the reason you just described, much simpler and cheaper in the long run I hope.

Is there any difference between the 1600cc Lancer crossmember and the sigma?

[Ke36]

believe the sigma mounts the engine slightly more rearward

i think if u use sigma xmember you can use sigma sway bar which is a plus but requires more firewall bashing for the stuff on the rear of the motor