Her Name is Frank

[Twisted Minis]

Those arms look sweet.  I know that forward portion of the arm is designed to replace the factory strut rod on the 2wd minis, but what type of joint do you run in them and do you sell the bracket for it too?  Also, what type of joint do you run in place of the ball joint?  It looks like it is set up for a uniball, but I'm curious what you use because I have a 2wd '87 Toy that I'm having a hard time trying to part with.

I'm thinking of possibly going with your lower arms, tubular upper arms and shockwaves (to simplify things and bring them down to a propper level).  My wife would kill me for not selling that truck, but I might just have to take that risk - I've put too much time and money into it to sell it for blue book value

The rear mount I use a poly bushing, that I send with the arms. And I have tabs cut to fit the Toyota frame that you just weld on.

I actually use a Chrysler screw in balljoint. It fits the Toyota arms perfectly without changing the geometry, and that really helps keep the overall cost down. Same balljoints they use on MII setups. I make the upper arms too. They are 12 gauge formed steel, and they weigh about half as much as the factory arm, look better, and are stronger to boot.


Heres an installed picture of the first set I built.

And the upper arm smoothed out.


I am honestly not that impressed with Shockwaves. Especially for a minitruck. They are difficult to fit, and the design forces the 'bag' portion to be mounted a lot higher than normal which sacrifices lift and interferes with the upper arms once you try to lift the truck up. Even with tube arms. And in a mini they generally require you to build an engine cage. I am much more fond of a separate bag and shock, because it is much more tunable. You can change your shocks out for different stiffness, run a reservoir shock, or even a tunable shock. And you can change out the bags to change the spring rate. There are several brands that make each size, and they all ride different. I've never driven in a vehicle with shockwaves that has had impressive ride quality. The ride quality on the Datsun even blew me away, and anyone else that rides in it. Its better than my truck. Very smooth and plush, much like a Cadillac as everyone says.

[THK Matt]

damn if i had a 2WD Toyots, i'd DEFINATELY buy your product.
of course the only 2WD i'd buy is a 1986-1992 Supra

very nice work, and very interesting tech as well.

[46&2]

That is bad ass. Nice work as always

[Twisted Minis]

Thanks.

Its been a busy weekend, did two Toyota arm sets, and one set of uppers with rod ends.

Heres a picture of my Toyota control arm kit (minus the weld on tabs).







And some Toyota arms with rod ends.

[Tallchevy]

Old School 

I found a pic of my 90 extra cab that I bought new in April 1990. 3 weeks later this is what it looked like. I pulled the front bump stops out & removed the rear bump stops. I cranked the torsion bars all the way down & pulled the rear arched leaf out. The rear springs did finally settle to a negative arch almost like a stock 79-85 solid front axle spring. In this pic I had 195/60/14's. I ended up with 195/50/15's a few months later. I couldn't find any pic's with the aluminum 15" wheels. My wife wants me to get another 3rd gen extra cab & I want to drop it again  I'll have to covince her when that time comes 


The club I was in decided to change over to wire wheels so I had to raise the truck a bit & ended up with some 14x7 Roadsters. Here's 2 pic's at a car show at the use to be Manteca water slides.

The yellow is a flaw in the pic, not on the truck.

[Duffil]

Yo carlos that thing would be dope bobbed about 12".
of course those wheels got to go though.

[Tallchevy]

Yo carlos that thing would be dope bobbed about 12".
of course those wheels got to go though.

After I got the wheels I hated them. I drove that truck everyday & keeping those clean were a pain in the 

[BUDDERS]

Hey Twisted, I like your arm set up.  Can you PM me on the price of that kit?

[Twisted Minis]

Heres the link to them.

http://shop.twistedminis.com/product.sc?categoryId=2&productId=16

You save about $25 if you don't go through PayPal.

[Twisted Minis]

Some minibike stuff.

Heres a picture of Joes bike when I first built the frame.


Heres what happened last week.



Mini apes, kind of BMX style, with 10 degrees of pull back.

I tried to keep the front of the tank at about the same angle as the bars.

[BUDDERS]

Twisted,  I took a look at that link and it looks like I'm gonna have to wait on my 2wd project.   Too many projects and not enough $, plus we got a unexpected big bill which is already going to ruin Christmas....

[Twisted Minis]

[THK Matt]

i see you have made a jig for these..... they turn out pretty nice

[Duffil]

probably took you longer to make the jig than it does a control arm, huh?

[Twisted Minis]

i see you have made a jig for these..... they turn out pretty nice

I make jigs for all the arms I build. Only way to keep them all the same. I just usually don't take pictures of them.

probably took you longer to make the jig than it does a control arm, huh?

Yeah the jig took a while. I used the stock arms to build it from. Only took a few hours to do one control arm. By the time I do the second one I will have more time in the arms than I do in the jig.

[THK Matt]

do you use the same jig for left and right on a vehicle or what?

[Twisted Minis]

do you use the same jig for left and right on a vehicle or what?

Sometimes, if I'm lucky. Some manufacturers use an identical arm from side to side. The Crown Vic is nice because it has a mirrored arm. The bushings and balljoint are in the same spot, but the bends are different. So the jig works for both lower arms. But there are some arms that are different, and not mirrored. Like Chevy stuff, and Dodge.

[boggerunner]

i used to have a dumped white 84, but parted it out cause i couldnt get a title for it, one of these days i will find another one for cheap and swap in my supra motor. 

[Ramrod]

saw the datsun cruisin down mendocino ave a couple weeks ago looking tight as flopp, good job man the owner looked happy as a clam

[Twisted Minis]

^ Thanks man. Didn't know there where many people in SR on this board. The owner drives it low everywhere, I'm proud of him.



Got both arms completely finished, and one spring pocket cut out.


But I've got to put the ball joints in so I can bolt the spindle on. Great news, every aftermarket ball joint has a large lip than the stock ball joints, even the ones directly from Ford. That's okay for a stock arm, but not for mine since I based all the dimensions off of the stock ball joints. So I made them the same size as the stock ones.




They pressed in great. That last shot shows what I turned down. They where too large to fit in the bung. So I took them from 2.320" down to the stock 2.180". I don't know why they can't just make them the same... 

[Thomas P]

your work is unbelievable! now i know where to go to get some machine work done........

[THK Matt]

He could make a lot of money in the 4by scene.
He has some MAD skills.

Cages, Bumpers, Etc...
I think he could do it.

[Twisted Minis]

I used to work at a 4WD shop. But nowdays no one knows I can do 4WD work. I'd love to link some trucks, or do cages, bumpers, etc. But people don't really come to me for that kind of stuff.


Made the cups and got everything together. Got the suspension laying out, and started removing the inner fenders and moving stuff around. The driver side is gonna suck, the stuff is bigger on that side.



^There's a bag in there.

[82 HiLux]

i live in santa rosa also, i think ive seen that datsun driving around.  i drive around A LOT

[pumkin toy]

what car is that you are building the suspension for right now?

[jimbo74]

what car is that you are building the suspension for right now?

its a ford police interceptor (crown victoria)

[Twisted Minis]

i live in santa rosa also, i think ive seen that datsun driving around.  i drive around A LOT

Was your truck parked off to the side of the road on River Road heading up the overpass? I saw one that looked like it with a Bud Built sticker? I stopped to see if there was an issue but didn't see anybody.

I think you where the one that asked me to start this thread.

[pumkin toy]

its a ford police interceptor (crown victoria)

nice!

[Twisted Minis]

Did forks, motor mount, jack shaft and brake today.

[Thomas P]

thats sick! I bet that little motor could run cross country with that tank filled!!