Forty-six and 2

I'm posting this for discussion reasons.

I just lowered my '84 n/a car using Ground Control sleeves and a 300lb spring. GC advertise up to a 2.5" drop with their kit. I maxed out the sleeve and have only lowered the front 1.25". That's not bad, but not enough for my taste. I could simply grind off the welds for the sleeves perch and lower it to gain a few more inches, but I would have only an 1" or so of travel. So, that alone is no help.

I have been doing a ton of strut insert part number searching today, and have come up with a shorter set. They are from a '90-93 Toyota Celica. The 944's collapsed strut length is 15.43". The Celica's collapsed length is 13.62. Not quite 2", but close enough to satisfy my lowering needs. I can expect to see a max drop of a little over 3", while maintaining a around 3" of bump travel. The weight of the Celica of those years is nearly the same as the 944, so the would be no need to worry about too much weight on the strut. The strut body, rod, and threads will also work.

Koni inserts are less expensive even.

http://konimarket.com/products/toyot...FZKHaQodUWoA9Q

To adapt the shorter strut would be fairly simple as well. Cut the strut tube to the correct length, use a larger tube to cover and extend past the joint, weld as necessary. The Ground Control threaded sleeve is very loose fitting. I personally feel it should fit much tighter. The larger welded reinforcement would tighten up the fit, if the appropriate size is chosen.

I see no down side to this mod. Maybe I am missing something.? I see it as being able to lower the car a bit lower, without sacrificing any travel or the strut's intended valve range.

Share you thoughts on the idea please.

morghen

or use a shorter spring....

Forty-six and 2

That will just give you less travel.

morghen

Well if you want to go lower with stock struts and sleves over it you get less travel anyway...you need less travel if you go lower or you'll clash things into things like bumper into pavement and wheel into wheel arches...or worse car into ground and then car into pole.

I've built myself a set of custom coilovers similar to yours.
I've welded on some sleves and grinded off the original plate on an early strut that accepts cartrige replacement.
Then i machined and then backplate reinforced(also acting like a spacer) the eccentric hole to accept late spindles.

This way I have M030 brakes on late non M030 spindles with early rebuildable struts. I'm also almost at the lowest point with the ride drop but i dont want to get any lower. If i want to, i figured i'll get different springs as the springs rate will have to be even higher to limit the travel so i dont "lay frame" when driving fast.

admiralkhole

I don't understand why you want more travel while going lower.

I'm on sleeved coilovers with bilstein inserts but with a high (550lb) spring rate and bigger front sway, I LOVE it. My car stays very flat through corners and the bilstein inserts do a wonderful job making street driving bearable despite the high spring rate. Dougs951S and I played with my car this weekend and I let him get some seat time in my monster, he'll agree with everything I said. Damping plays a big role in your ride quality.

admiralkhole

Here's some more pics to give you an idea how low I am. It's very manageable, for me anyways.

morghen

Similar height and setup on mine

Forty-six and 2

That does look really good Admiralkhole.

There is some confusion going on... I don't mean me travel as in, I am looking for a larger range of up and down movement from my suspension while in motion. I mean more travel from the strut, so when lowered more, it isn't only an 1" away from bottoming out on the bumpstop.

I completely understand what a shorter spring would do, but it would give a very poor ride on the street, due to a high rate and only an 1" of strut travel. A shortened strut tube and a shorter strut itself will ensure that the strut itself will never bottom out.

V2Rocket

i hope you like in a very flat area without speedbumps or driveways.
i had my car lowered 1.25'" in front and scraped on all but the flattest driveways.
after moving to LA the bumps were so steep i had to un-lower it to make it around town.

i did for a little while run 225/50 tires in front as well, which provided an extra 5/8-3/4" drop in ride height, but they will make an early speedo run fast.

admiralkhole

Bilstein offers b6 and b8 hd strut inserts, I think b8 is normal length and b6 is for lowered cars (a shorter version)...I could have that backwards though. I'm not sure if they make the shortened versions for our cars, but I have the regular length version and my ride quality is spectacular for being such a high spring rate and so low. I wouldn't change a thing. I highly recommend them.

And thank you!

Forty-six and 2

What spring rates are you running? Both of your cars look awesome!

I just prefer a less gap in the front. Not saying either of yours are high, by any means. The GC sleeve have mine sitting nearly the same. I had to cut the bump stop in half to get there, and it is sitting on last inch or two of the bottom end of the strut.

Arominus

I... wouldn't go too crazy here in colorado springs my friend.. My s2 is about as low as you can get away with around here. I'm using the paragon coil over conversion with koni yellows on stock hacked strut housings. I can barely get one finger in at an angle between my tire and the lip of the wheel well.

Arominus

Couldn't add this to the other post, anyhow the car is using 10" 200lb springs with the 24mm T-bars.

morghen

I run zero gap on the rears an 5mm tuck on the fronts.
280rate springs but 968 sway bars.

MAGK944

No it won't, morghen is right. Forget about your coilover adjustment for a start. You have gone from stock 10in springs to 300 lb 10in springs. Your car will sit high. You need to use a shorter spring when you up the spring rate and you will still operate at the mid point of your struts.

Then you can start messing with your coilover adjustment to get it lower.