(strut measurement)installing paragon coilover. making my own lower spring hat
 

well i got the front koni inserts with hypercoil 12" springs with 4" helper spring.
I stripped the factory struts which as most of you know need to be cut etc. all that is done. but I also cut away and grinded the lower spring hat(part that the adjustable collar rest on) so I am looking if someone can give me a measurement. silly me I forgot to take a factory measurentment before hand
http://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47a1...D550/ry%3D400/

I made new hats on the lathe today and wanted to confirm placement before I weld them on.

on a side note thats bothering me I don't want this to happen when I lower the front ride height.(note the gap from coil to helper)
mind you he may have a short spring then mine.
the one I have is 12" and 4" with helper.
http://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47a1...D550/ry%3D400/
so now I am thinking if this is going to happen I might a well weld the lower hat I made 1" higher.

Changing the perch location will change your ride height by 1".

Spring gap with the suspension at full droop is due to spring rate and shock travel. The stiffer the spring, the less compression under load. 12" long - what spring rates are you using?

If you end up going with higher rates (maybe over 400+), only way to avoid what you see in the picture above is to have koni rebuild struts to shorten the travel - but they will not do that with the insert type units. So nothing you can do, other than trying to find a longer tender/helper spring (unfortunately, I think they are all pretty much the same height)

Also - are you welding on threaded collars, or welding on a fixed perch?

sorry should have added its for street use so i got 225 rates.

I am welding a perch and then just slipping the collar to rest on it.

I dont think you will have any problem with a 225 lb/in spring falling off the spring seats/hats at full droop.

Any distance around 3.5 to 3.75" for the collar seat will work just fine.

I went with 2.75" on ur tape measure. I first did a temp install with a few spot welds at factory measurement but to get the car low it would have to be adjusted to right on the buttom of adjuster. so I went a little lower. in my case the helper uses up about 1/4" too

jss,

I logged in today and saw your PM. Looks like Jim's answered your questions with great advice as usual.

Take a pic when you are done to show us how good it looks...

Take care,

Jeremy

I was thinking you might have to go lower due to the 12" springs. Normally you would use 10" free height for that spring rate range.

Are you deleting the ABS/Pad Wear connector?

yup thats all gonzo too

anyone know what happened to Tifosiman ?

this guy was a solid contributor to the forum.