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Thread: researching front coil-over possibilities
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Brad
Rotorhead
Posts: 1672
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posted February 22, 2005 02:59 PM |
 Edited By: Brad on 22 Feb 2005 18:01 |
Researching front Coil-Over possibilities
Can someone with a front spring out measure Inside Diameter and Outside Diameter of the front coil spring?
Does anyone think the spring perches can take a 5.00" I.D. spring?
Does anyone know if Camaro/Firebird/Mustang/Pinto has similar spring dimensions as REPU? An off the shelf solution would be great.
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-brad-
74 REPU Lawn Green
81 Rx-7 racecar. 12a J-
Bridge
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Brad
Rotorhead
Posts: 1672
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posted February 28, 2005 09:54 AM |
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i took some measurements of the stock front coils installed
and did reasearch, i have a few possibilities of threaded spring perches. with many spring rates available. this weekend I'll be doing a test fit and see how it goes.
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-brad-
74 REPU Lawn Green
81 Rx-7 racecar. 12a J-
Bridge
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Brad
Rotorhead
Posts: 1672
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posted March 07, 2005 11:08 AM |
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well, I test fit a threaded spring perch and coil spring
and it did fit, but was a tight squeeze. it had a 225lb spring which is too soft. With the perch set up high as possible it lowered the truck 2.5" and was hitting rubber bump stop.
I am ordering a 500 lb spring (stock is 511) and will see how it goes.
I also found an easy way to get the front spring out. Jack up lower control arm until it is parallel with ground. Take 3 bolts off lower ball joint. Hit lower knuckle to knock the ball joint out of LCA. Now lower control arm will droop down and you can pull the spring out.
Anyone know how to put the stock spring back in there? It needs to be compressed in order to fit, but my spring compressor is too large and interferes. I worked on that for 1.5 hours and can't get the darned stock spring in there
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-brad-
74 REPU Lawn Green
81 Rx-7 racecar. 12a J-
Bridge
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Brad
Rotorhead
Posts: 1672
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posted March 17, 2005 01:49 PM |
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well.........
The 500lb spring didn't fit. To make the spring stiffer they use a thicker wire. It's outside diameter was .12" larger and the coils rub on the upper spring cup. And the I.D. was a litte smaller too and it couldn't fit over the threaded spring perch I have.
So I found another vendor with a real neat spring, different diameters and length. Should be here wednesday next week.
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-brad-
74 REPU Lawn Green
81 Rx-7 racecar. 12a J-
Bridge
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dhood
Hauling
Posts: 134
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posted March 18, 2005 07:51 AM |
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Brad, there's another post on the easy way to get the coils back in. You'll need at least two metric bolts same size as the a-arm fasteners but longer like 110 mm or more. I experimented with this several ways, didn't want to use my foot or fingers.
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Brad
Rotorhead
Posts: 1672
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posted March 28, 2005 11:05 AM |
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One coilover is installed
And I drove it around town and it is doing well. Adjustable ride height is very nice, right now since I only have 1 installed, for testing, I have it set on 'minimum slam' and the drivers side is lowered 13/16". I bet max slam is ~ 4.5". Lower than anyone will ever need and well into bumpstop territory.
Ordered another spring and I should install it this week. And have pass + drivers side lowered equally.
Took some pictures with gf's picturephone, I'll try to get them uploaded.
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-brad-
74 REPU Lawn Green
81 Rx-7 racecar. 12a J-
Bridge
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Brad
Rotorhead
Posts: 1672
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posted March 31, 2005 02:57 PM |
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I got the other coil-over installed
And drove her to work today. Functions just fine. Suspension is settling and it's real nice to have adjustable ride heigth. Pass side is 2mm higher than drivers, so I gotta take out pass and lower.
This sunday I'm going to try to remove the 2nd longest leaf out of each leaf spring. To reduce spring rate (way too stiff to handle good) and lower rear. Wish me luck.
Brad
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-brad-
74 REPU Lawn Green
81 Rx-7 racecar. 12a J-
Bridge
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klaus42
Rotorhead
Posts: 1877
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posted April 02, 2005 09:50 AM |
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Could the passenger side
...difference be due to accommodation for road 'crowning' ?
Good luck with the leafs!
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Brad
Rotorhead
Posts: 1672
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posted April 04, 2005 10:49 AM |
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took care of the leafs
Pulled the 2nd longest leaf out of each leaf spring. Took some effort but not complicated. Lowered the rear of truck mabye 1" by eyeball, didn't measure.
Rear of truck is noticeably softer, but not Cadillac cushy of course.
Less oversteer, rear is easier to control. Can't wait to auto-x it later this month.
My rough calculations say that leaf was ~60 lbs so that would drop rear from 312 to 252, which is 'bout half my front 500lb spring rates. Which is about right.
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-brad-
74 REPU Lawn Green
81 Rx-7 racecar. 12a J-
Bridge
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