coilover conversion??

Started making my coilovers just wondering weather to drill holes in the sleves I've made to reduce weight or not and what length springs to go for as the Honda ones I tried had 11inch springs but a lot of people seem to go for 7inch

I presume the sleeve is to fit between shock absorber and the 50mmid theraded sleve. if so put plenty of holes through the body of it, only at the top and bottom would you need a solid shoulder for welding. Make it a cheese grater.

As for spring length, put the car at ride height with no spring installed, but shock absorber in place, jack the hub up until the bump stop begins to compress then measure distance between top spring cup and bottom spring cup which gives compressed height then drop the suspension to full droop then measure open length. From that you will get your desired spring length.
There is actaually a lot more too it as ride height, wheel size and travel are all factors but It needsa a book to explain properly

GTP

Yer the sleve is to go inbetween the two and ok.ill hopfully try.that at weekend cheers

Why didnt you just use some strips equaly spaced to fill the gap, seems like over kill to me
How easy were the rear konis to strip?

Because theres around 6mm diff in diameter so strips would be 3mm thick so they wouldn't follow the curve very easy could of dun it that but as I can turn sleves up at wrk in there time thought mite aswel make it stronger plus the sleves are only about 1mm thick so not massively strong,

The sleves are 6inch long which would appear to be an inch longer than the shock on the front should I cut them down or won't I then have enough adjustment would think I would be just wondering if anyone else whos got them did it like that ???

cut them down otherwise you will have no clearance for bump stop. might be best to cut the bottom of the sleeve like the locating tab on the shock body and use the sleeve to locate the shock absorber...just remember to leave weld clearance otherwise the shock wont insert all the way home in the hub so you can get the bolt through.

GTP

I was thinking more like 8, 10mm strips tacked on, thats how il be doing it, but iv got plenty of 3mm steel at work and no lathe so iv got no choice realy
Only bit of advice I can give is cover the thread and drench it in wd40 so any splater dusnt stick

Making progress now various comparison pictures I move the brake pipe point so I didn't have to cut thread down and lose any adjustmet just gota work out which position to weld them on in now



Like this



Or like this











And to strip the back ones just undo the round nut a.pull piston out I just used pair of grips to undo it are you doing urs now mate

From the pics I would go down just enough for a good weld, if you put it to low you might run out of thread if your using short springs,
Nice to know the rears split easy, was there much oil in them?
I havnt started mine yet, working on an ali bonnet/itb plenum atm
Iv got the bits for the conv, one of the bearings have gone in my adjust topmount so il do it all when I sort that

choose spring length on rate and use if its tarmac circuit short springs for short suspension movements and little droop. weld the thread near the top with the adjuster half way through the range. this should be compressed spring length away from the top spring cup plus suspension movement 50-75mm. the lower arms should be slightly pointing down to the outside at ride height for optimum handling...not looks... Short springs are lighter too so a plus ther. If you are tarmac or mud rally longer springs for more suspension travel to absorb bigger bumps etc is needed. same measuring as above but you may want standard height to allow more travel doen and longer droop in case you get airborne?

Anyway food for thought

GTP

howq easy is this actuailly to do?? i got a set of yellows for the rear but surely there must be another suspension for the fronts that fit?? so u aint gotta fuck about choppin n welding.....

Chopping and welding is what this conv is all about mate, so its easy if you can do it
If you cant weld etc im sure theres places about that can do it for you
Iv seen a thread on teamswift, some one used wrx sti struts but they also need some work to fit
I think I vaguely remember 200sx are close, maybe, worth a look down the scrapy

It's fairly easy just bit time consuming honey combed sleve now bit less w8



Still struggling a litle with working out spring length but at weekend I'll measure length at disred ride height fully compressed n fully extended and take it from ther thanks for the help so far

update









all ready to go in spray shop now ive got measurements of

front compressed 170mm, extended 260mm
rear compressed 156mm, extended 276mm

so just need the ride height measurement now but havnt got my pillow ball top mounts yet so will have to use the swift ones and hope there in same position should be

Ride heights 180mm front and back ( I havnt got bump stops on my shit shocks atm ) so what length springs do I go for and will those measurements be ok

what length springs and what rate u useing??

That's what I'm trying to find out Lol gona go for 310ftlbs on front n 300 on bk

ok cool lol i been looking thru older threads on here and they said about 350lb fronts,, seems quite alot and garndi also runs them n he said there best for him found a set of leda coilovers with the same hub mount as the swift just slightly smaller bolt holes havent got a clue what there off found them today at a car part sale they come with no springs but thats no big deal!!

Bargin wish I had that luck

everyone has there day lol im going to try and find out what there from so it will be easyer to get coilovers in the future for the swifts only problem cant see a part number

Yer that'd b Kool I think if I new how much 300ftlbs springs would compress with the weight of the car then I think I'd b able to work out spring length hoping Gtp replies lol

Why wait, im sure theres plenty online about the subject in full

350 is bloody stiff. I run 275 in the front onf my escort and it has an all steel 2.0L pinto. loweringthe engine in compressed the springs only a very short amount.
Id start at 300 all reound then test, test, test, then guess what test some more. You will end up with agreat mix of springs once done. Also I think the Konis will start to me margibal at much over 300 anyway so 350 might overpower the shocks.
teh LEDA are an unknown quantity and didnt they go bust so parts service is problematic.

GTP

Yer I'm going with 300's just need to no wot lengths to get ??? Think either 7 or 9inch what do you think