Fabrication question

[soab]

Hey guys! Ive been building custom coilovers for my 1990 saab 900 and they are coming along great but because of space restrictions coilovers are not going to slam it. To go real low I am going to have to raise the upper spring tower.

I know nothing about cutting/welding/fabrication, but my thought was that I could just cut out the top of the tower, put an inch or 2 of metal inbetween and weld it all together (with the help of an experienced welder)

I guess my open ended question is how do I do this right? What should I do about bracing ect or can I weld it up and be on my way?

Ill post up more pictures to give you an idea of what im talking about, but here is the current suspension setup.

[Francois Dillinger]

what space restrictions?

[soab]

To get real low it would require a 7-8inch shock and even then Ill have almost no shock travel because I have to use a tapered 2.8 ind top hat to avoid clearance issues with the inner fender.

[soab]

Good image of the spring tower, not mine but same car. My thought would be to raise that whole thing like 2 inches.

Kinda the idea, in REALLY rough form.

[Average_Jerk]

Id get the strut dimensions, then see if there is an application that has the same width and mounting points but has a shorter body

[soab]

Id get the strut dimensions, then see if there is an application that has the same width and mounting points but has a shorter body

Ive looked.. there's not much except for maybe getting some circle track shocks and welding points on, but its not originally a strut setup. Its a separate spring and shock setup, and there is just about as much room where the spring goes as where the shock goes.

[smokenyall]

from the looks of it yoyu should be able to raise the towers 3-4

[smokenyall]

i just looked over ur suspension again. looks like all you need is shorter springs and raise the shock mount into the tower.

[Japansie]

I wouldn't go to the extent of raising the towers. It would probably be easier to convert it to a 240sx style coilover and just chop the springs.

[smokenyall]

^ thats why i corrected myself. just remount the shock or move it.

[soab]

Thats what ive been working on

http://www.stanceworks.com/forums/showthread.php?t=15339

(and if you have any links of what your referring to with pic/description/explination/idea about a 240sx style coilover Id love to read about/learn from it! Quick google and I don't really understand how that'll help me other than make me want a early 240 even more than I already have :P)

The problem I forsee with this set up in reality is it poking through the mounting point as all the weith will be on like a half inch bushing. The issue I see with slamming is at the angle at which the shock mounts to the fender I have to use a fairly tall extremely sloped top mount, this greatly limits the shock travel as seen in the photo above. This is all far more extreme than I had ever planned.. but in all honesty.. I come on this website to much. I would be much more comfortable raising the spring tower as the weight will be more spread, than the shock mount where all the weight of the front of the car will already be on a very awkward half inch bushing. I run a 5.5" id spring (and would like to keep it that way) and there are already guys out there running a 8.5" tall spring with an adjustable cup, and that at full slam is not a low as I would like to go, so at this point (unless when I put my mock up coils in they surprise me) is to cut and raise the spring tower.

[Byron]

Keep the spring and shock separate and extend the shock mounting point up rather than the spring tower. Pretty much what you were planning, just to the shock instead of the spring. You can easily get a short enough spring in there to slam it.

Is that gooey duck looking thing inside the spring metal or rubber?

[smokenyall]

remove the shock , get shorter springs, get it to the height you want and then put it on a lift and see how much you need to cut or where you can remount it.

[Average_Jerk]

it looks like that coilover would hit the axle. also, sometimes doing a conversion like that really fucks with the available width and offset you can run,

[soab]

Keep the spring and shock separate and extend the shock mounting point up rather than the spring tower. Pretty much what you were planning, just to the shock instead of the spring. You can easily get a short enough spring in there to slam it.

Is that gooey duck looking thing inside the spring metal or rubber?

Rubber, its a giant bump stop that will get reused if I stay spring/shock route. I don't see how raising the shock upper mount will help me get lower with a spring/shock setup. I understand the lower I go the more shock travel I lose, but 8.5 is the shortest 500lb 5.5" ID spring I can find and that'll get me low, but I want the ability to go stupid low. I realize that there will probably be a lot more cutting and welding necessary if I want to go that low, but If I have buddies that will help me out, I'm all for it!