When I ordered the kit 3" articulation kit from Calmini I was not aware that there was a difference between a 1.6L Escudo and a 2.0L V6 Escudo. I only figured this out after I had just placed the order for the kit and was reading through a Japanese magazine when it mentioned that the 2.0L V6 frame had to be widened in order to fit the larger V6 engine. After the kit arrived and closely inspected there was only a few parts that did not match.
The first was the front axle lowering mounts.
Since the frame of the V6 was wider, but the axle was not the mounts did not match the V6 frame.
Second was the lower control arms.
If you look closely at the picture the original arm is one piece and the ball joint
in not removable.
At this point we decided that there was nothing which could be done about lowering the axle with out having to weld or make custom parts, so we kit would have to be installed with out lowering the axle.So we thought...
As for the lower arms we just ordered a set of ball joints for a 1.6L Escudo, and the was problem solved.
While we were waiting for parts to be delivered we started on the rear.
We had no problem with the rear except for one of the bolts on the trailing arms was
so rusted so bad that it froze to the collar and could not be removed. So, we broke out the air
saw and cut the bolt off and replaced it with a new one.
The final product was this.OHHH..look at that travel..
On the front at least we got all the OEM parts off with no problems. But, one of the first problems we noticed was
that the camber was really bad
At first we tried a set of off set camber bolts, but that did not help much. So...a set of very expensive
pillow mounts made by a Japanese company called APIO were installed.
Than at this point, after looking at the angle on the CV joints we decided that the diff would have to
be lowered. So the Calmini mounts were chopped up and made into custom wider ones.
As an extra passenger side shaft spacers were installed.
Finally the completed lift with stock tires.
