Spring/shock setup to strut conversion?

[soab]

Hey! I know this is a pretty broad vague question but I was wondering if any of y'all out there have converted a car that was originally equipped with a separate spring and shock setup?

[trism]

sure is possible, gets done heaps.

you need to get into specifics but, what car, what do you want to do, etc etc

[Daviticus]

This is very popular with the front-ends of Fox-body, SN95, and "New-Edge" SN97 chassis Mustangs. The front K-frames have pockets for the springs about half-way out on the lower control arms, but many autocrossers [and some drag guys as of late] have adapted 2.5" ID coil springs and perches to the strut bodies. Since those chassis came with a McPherson strut originally, its' much simpler to implement.

Same for the rears of AE86-chassis Corollas and older 510s ... I see many perches added onto performance shocks to allow a coil spring to fit around them, and I've also seen a one-piece coilover assembly retrofitted in-place of the shock.

Also, a LOT of mini-truck guys convert to shock-style coil-overs on the fronts of their trucks when they static-drop them.

Take a look through Summit Racing or QA-1's suspension catalogs, you'll find all sorts of nifty stuff like that around to get ideas from.

[soab]

Thanks man! I took some shots of the front setup. Ive got a source on some 8 3/4 length springs which I think ima try, but long term Id love to turn this into a strut setup!




My thought is that I could mount a strut with a base mount somethin like this


and mount it where the spring seat mounts


But I dont know if the stock spring tower would hold a strut.. and I have no idea how I would mount the top of the strut..

[soab]

Wth?

[Bimmerteck]

Wth?

It was a spammer, now vanquished to the deepest depths of interwebs hell.


Proceed with your regularly scheduled thread.

[Daviticus]

Ah, okay, I see what's going on there.

Out of curiosity, what car is this on?

Looks to me like there may not be enough room for even a super-short stroke spring/strut assembly in there, without heavily modifying the top spring perch and removing the bumpstop altogether. It would be much easier to remove the spring entirely, and place a coilover setup where the OEM shock currently is.

I can't tell with just those pics, but once the spring is removed there should be a good amount of room for a spring and sleeve on a shock without hitting anything.

[soab]

A 1990 Saab 900. With the spring out and the car bout where I want it I'm lookin at bout 8 inches of space where the spring originally was. i think that If I put a strut/coilover where the shock used to be I would have clearance issues with the upper control arms. I think I'ma just get some 500 lb springs that are 5.5x8 3/4" I think that should set me up bout where I'm lookin t be.

EDIT
Some clerance shots of the sock and the uca

[soab]

So I have a spare set of shocks. Would I be able to weld on a spring perch and get some springs, a tophat and some bushings and give that a shot? (obviously this wont lower it but I'm just trying to understand) Or do I need a shock designed as a strut?

[Daviticus]

You can do that if you want, it would function.

It didn't look like that much spring distance in your first pics, odd. I'd suggest finding a decent 6" or 7" spring and fabbing perches to the stock spring mounts, that should get you in the right area.

I'll do some reading / poking around on some 900s, got a buddy with a turbo one and there's a few at local junkyards I can dick with for a bit. I see a ton of 900s lowered, so there's something out there or some common way folks are doing things.

[soab]

Ive been lookin but the smallest Ive found is a 8 3/4 inch spring in a 5.5" diameter. I can always cut them more if I want cause I cut the stock springs this weekend and the lower spring perch rotates and takes a cut spring very well, but in the long run I would much rather have a flattened lower coil like stock. I know alot of classics are running Intrax but its not as low of a drop as Im looking for. I figured Id do it low while Im young and reckless :P This is my second car as of now so I dont have to worry TOO much bout daily driving but I plan on enjoying it this summer! Where are you at that your seeing lowered 900's and is it this body style (This is the style I have)


Or like this

[Daviticus]

I see a few of the newer ones, but a majority are the old bricks like yours. I'm in Utah, there's a whole bunch of random shit out here. Actually in my mother's neighborhood there's a crazy Norwegian guy with a blonde afro that drives a slammed sky blue 900 turbo with a huge chromed-out FMIC. Takes forever to spool and he surges it everywhere, no idea if it's fast but it does cool burnouts.

All that aside though, I think if you can build a perch to bolt to where your stock perch goes, you can run a 2.5" ID spring, those are very commonly found in 7" lengths, and in just about any rate. You may even be able to get one of those springs to barely clear the suspension arms if you put it over the stock shock.

[soab]

I wanna see this sky blue classic!!! I think the hardest part would actually be the upper perch, there is a big hole that the rubber upper spring seat/bump stop literally sits around. The other thing Is a few guys are running adjustable springs but the perches were rubbing against the spring, I gess because of the design of the suspension. I guess I am going to get those 5.5in id springs and this summer try and do a coilover mockup.

So do I understand correctly that a universal threaded spring perch can only be put on a metal tubed shock?

[Daviticus]

So long as you have a perch for the coil sleeve to sit on, yes. Some companies [I think Ground Control made them?] have a shock "clamp" that fits around the shock casing, and when you tighten it enough it acts as a perch for the coil sleeve to rest on.

This is a perfect example - TechnoToyTuning's rear coilover set for AE86-chassis Corollas. The setup is based off an adjustable KYB AGX shock, to which they add the black machined perch clamp [far left, just to the right of the adjustment knob], and the threaded coil sleeve rests on that. They have a custom-machined top hat that fits in the shock tower of the Corolla, and everything bolts on simply and easily.



If you can manage to fit an assembly like that in your car, you'd be set. I hope that all made sense, I've got everything lined up perfectly in my head, I'd just need to ham-fist around with one for a bit in person to know exactly what mods to make or what to build. Eventually I'd like to run my own business building custom suspensions and components for all kinds of cars [like your Saab, or my Starion, which almost nobody makes parts for anymore], to get the ultimate in lowness, track cars, or off-road stuff.

[soab]

So long as you have a perch for the coil sleeve to sit on, yes. Some companies [I think Ground Control made them?] have a shock "clamp" that fits around the shock casing, and when you tighten it enough it acts as a perch for the coil sleeve to rest on.

This is a perfect example - TechnoToyTuning's rear coilover set for AE86-chassis Corollas. The setup is based off an adjustable KYB AGX shock, to which they add the black machined perch clamp [far left, just to the right of the adjustment knob], and the threaded coil sleeve rests on that. They have a custom-machined top hat that fits in the shock tower of the Corolla, and everything bolts on simply and easily.



If you can manage to fit an assembly like that in your car, you'd be set. I hope that all made sense, I've got everything lined up perfectly in my head, I'd just need to ham-fist around with one for a bit in person to know exactly what mods to make or what to build. Eventually I'd like to run my own business building custom suspensions and components for all kinds of cars [like your Saab, or my Starion, which almost nobody makes parts for anymore], to get the ultimate in lowness, track cars, or off-road stuff.

Thanks man! Move to VA, Im down :P I haven't heard of the clamp perches, have to look into that! And to understand how that works The top of the shock perch goes in between those top two bushings between the top hat and the top bolt/washer?