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New rear toe link brace for the Elise/Exige

29K views 26 replies 8 participants last post by  elisesile 
#1 ·
New rear toe link brace for the S2 Toyota Elise & Exige.
Developed in Australia
The SSC rear suspension toe link brace kit has been developed to increase stability and minimise rear toe movement and the possibility of ball joint failure under extreme conditions.
It achieves this by applying firm control over the rear suspension movement which increases stability in transition from heavy braking to corner entry.
We have developed this brace on our Exige race cars and are now offering kits for road / track cars.
Our brace differs from other solutions in that we replace the outer fitting at the hub and all movement is via 4 Rose ( Heim ) chrome moly rod ends.
We use aluminium link arms which will bend before the end fixings shear in the event of a side impact, to protect the chassis and to reduce the weight of the factory link rods.
Materials: -
Taper hub fixings, chassis adapters and brace ends are all turned from HT steel.
Brace is seamless steel tube.
Link arms are turned and knurled corrosion resistant aluminium with left and right hand threads.
Rose joints are chrome moly steel - the best (US) QA1.
All steel items other than the Rose joints are zinc plated.
The kit is easy to fit and is completely reversible, but you will need to have the wheel toe professionally reset.
Weight: -
SSC Complete kit - Tube Brace, alum link arms, rose joints, hub & chassis turnings, chassis bolts/nuts/washers = 2.3 kg
Factory steel link arms pair + hub & chassis fixings, nuts = 2.4 kg
SSC kit ‘unsprung’ items: Alum link arms, 4 lock nuts, 4 rose joints, pair taper hub uprights with 2 washers and 4 nylocs = 1.4 kg

We currently have 3 kits in stock for Toyota engine cars - 111R Elise, Federal (US) Elise, Elise S, S2 Exige, Exige S. We have 2 kits in stock for S1 and 2 kits for S2 Rover cars.
We can only sell as a complete kit. The cost of the kit is Aust$ 895
Insured international air freight to anywhere would be Aust$92 (7-10 days)
Payment via bank transfer. Currency conversion rate at time of transaction.

Happy to answer any questions – preferably by posting questions here.
Some background to SSC here: -
Simply Sports Car - Lotus - Home
 

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#3 ·
New type of rear toe link brace

I have had a few PM's re the brace and will summarise questions here:-

Will not foul stock or Quicksilver exhaust manifold but one of US aftermarket exhaust systems will. The Brace is 28mm OD and sits on a 32mm chassis adapter / rod end holder (the rod end goes over the end of the adapter) - so the brace extends 60mm max out from the chassis face.

Fitting is easy and all bits are supplied. The thin alum heat shield material around where the chassis adapters (30mm dia) go needs a slight trimming. You probably of course realise that there are ways of setting the arms to close to correct but rear wheel toe should be professionally set. Fitting is also a good time to consider your ideal toe setting and camber.

We have S2 Rover kits in stock - shorter brace and different hub fitting system. If you are S2 Rover then let me know and will send you a pic of the hub fixing. Otherwise kit is the same components.

I had a different type of aftermarket brace, that retained the factory outboard ball joints on my 111R, but when I changed to this one I noticed elimination of squirming in rear end when coming off heavy braking and turning into corner on track days. When I originally replaced the factory system after 15000 k including 2 track days on R spec tyres I noticed that the factory outboard hub fixing bolts were slightly bent so when the SSC brace was developed, I changed to it immediately. The SSC taper turned hub fixings are en-25 ht steel and threads are 12mm x 1.5 pitch.

This was designed by Lee Knappett and refined over 2 years on 2 race cars - one of which has just been through the torture of the Bathurst 12 hr race with 3 drivers, stayed together and won its class.

Lee has tried numerous rod ends over time and these QA1 (US) chrome moly with internal Teflon coating are simply the best.

All steel turnings are high tensile and zinc plated.

Yes the pair of alum arms with rod ends, washers, nuts are lighter than the pair of factory arms with ball joints by 1kg (2.2lb).

In fact the whole kit with brace tube and chassis adapters is lighter than the factory arms.

Let me know if you would like any further info.
 
#6 ·
New type of rear toe link brace kit

Some photos of the new toe link brace kit on an S2 Toyota Exige (same as Federal Elise).

Outboard fixings are also replaced with turned ht fixings incorporating a taper for hubs and to take Heim rod ends.
 

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#7 ·
Iana,

Very cool... The real cool part about your brace is that you fixed the outer mounting locations, as it's the next weak link and it DOES break... I'd bet that with the better than OEM rod ends and superior hardware used that the double sheer bar isn't even required anymore... Just a guess.... Any thoughts on that?

Best,

Phil
 
#8 ·
New type of rear toe link brace

Phil,

Link arm is now firmly held at the hub. This was previously the weak link after the inboard was put in double shear.
We are confident that the arm fixing at the hub will not move (19mm en-25 steel with hub taper and 12mm fine threads). 2 years on 2 race cars has proven it. And the US (the best) chrom moly Heim rod ends on our recent class winner in the gruelling Bathurst 12hr are as good as new.

And a bonus is it is lighter than stock.


Some pics of the SSC rear toe link brace testing for your enjoyment.
 

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#9 ·
New type of rear toe link brace

To answer a few more queries: -

Post cost will vary to countries other than the USA.

Kit includes installation instructions, and the kit is straightforward to instal, but professional rear toe alignment is necessary. We can provide geometry specs if required.

The factory ball joint bolts at the hubs can fail. When I installed the SSC Toe link brace on my 111R, I noticed that both of the factory hub bolts were slightly bent. I had only done 2 track days on sticky tyres to that point. We have seen one of the factory hub bolts shear in a side impact.

The turned chassis adapter in the kit is keyed on the back to go into the chassis keyway on Toyota S2 models- Picture of detail of brace to chassis connection attached.

The 10mm chassis bolts supplied are 12.9 grade.

Ian
 

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#10 ·
Sent you a PM, but didn't get a response... Just wanted to see if mine had shipped and if so when it went out... :eek: My biggest fear is breaking the stock links when I'm out doing Auto-X... Well actually it's one breaking when I'm balls deep in to a turn on a mountain in the middle of the jungle with a 150 ft cliff off to the side of the road... -eek-

Thanks... :D
 
#15 ·
How much

I must have missed it......$$$
 
#16 ·
#18 ·
We can only sell as a complete kit. The cost of the kit is Aust$ 895
Insured international air freight to anywhere would be Aust$92 (7-10 days)
Payment via bank transfer. Currency conversion rate at time of transaction.
[/url]
For those who missed the fine print. price is AU$
Convert this amount :

Results:
661.59077 US Dollar
0.73921 US Dollar per Australian Dollar
 
#20 ·
New type of rear toe link kit

No maintenance required for the SSC Toe link kit.

The rod ends (Heim joints) will wear but will last for years unless on a race car.

You can check for rod end wear whenever you have a rear wheel jacked in the air - by grabbing the tyre at either side and push/pulling vigorously. Should be rock solid.

Rod ends are QA1 chrome moly. 1/2" UNF x 1/2" hole.
MXR8 x 2 with R/H thread and MXL8 x 2 with L/H thread.
Teflon/Kevlar self-lubricating race.
 
#23 ·
New type of Rear Toe Link Brace Kit

First of orders from the second batch of these kits have just gone out.

Kit is now in use on all continents and feedback has been good - no fitting issues - comes with fitting instructions.

Differs from other solutions in that the outboard fixings at the hubs are also replaced with high tensile steel fixings and chome moly Heim joints.

We have 10 more kits for the Toyota engined Elise / Exige in stock and ready to go. We also have 4 Rover engined S2 kits in stock.
 
#24 ·
SSC Rear Toe Link Brace kit

Demand has been strong and SSC have just produced another batch of these kits and have been sending them to the four corners of the globe.

Some features:

All CNC turned High tensile steel for Hub tapers, Chassis adaptors and Brace tube ends.

CNC turned alum link arms to permit bending rather than breaking in a side impact to preserve the chassis and to keep 'unsprung' weight down.

All movement via 4 of QA1 chrome moly - Teflon lined Heim joints. (US - the best).

Now have been used on over 20 race cars in Australia over the past 6 years.

More about them here:

Simply Sports Cars :SSC Rear Toe Link Brace Kit - Toyota: Lotus
 
#26 ·
New type of Rear Toe Link Brace kit

The SSC Rear Toe Link Brace kit has now been in use on race cars for 5 years and is fitted to over 30 race / track cars. Over this time we have had 3 aluminum link arms bend in side impacts during races. The kit brace tube shared the side impact force over the 2 chassis bolts and there was no chassis damage, breaks or sheared parts. While none of the chrome moly rod ends have failed, we recommend automatic replacement of the rod ends after such impacts.

Attached is a picture of a bent SSC kit link arm off a damaged race car. The arm is from the first batch we made and later arms are CNC turned with the centre section knurled to aid in adjustment.

All movement is via 4 QA1 Telflon lined, chrome moly rod ends and the hub fixing is replaced with high tensile CNC turned Swedish steel.
The kit is easy to fit and adjust and despite its strength is the lightest and most complete solution on the market.

The SSC Toe link kit is available in the US from Blackwatch Racing –

SSC Rear Toe Link Brace kit - for all Lotus Elise and Exige Toyota engined cars.
 

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