hey eternal_fantasy
whats your take on a full - coil over versus buying them separately .
swift springs for front/rear and spoon as my damper?

I am looking at eibach pro street S coilover or do what you did
I am looking at spoon as my damper and swift for spring...

 

Hey Harry, that chrome trim was a factory Modulo option when I first purchased the car. Pretty expensive for what it is, but IMO breaks the monotony of the rear hatch.

Phenoyz, Which set of Spoon dampers are you looking at using with the Swift springs? Normally you'd need to tune and match the damper to the springs you're using, else the vehicle would be over/under dampened if you stray too far from the intended spring rate for the damper.

The only reason going with Swifts for me was being able to tune the Fit to my desired F/R roll resistance and ride frequency, whilst achieving "flat ride". I was able to get away with raising the spring rates because I felt the rear Bilstein dampers were overdampened in the first place, and the front TEINs can be adjusted to control the higher spring rate.

There are huge hassles combining different sets of spring and damper, such as full damper droop length compared to spring's free length, spring seat size and design between different spring designs, adjustable spring seat for the rear etc., all of which a coilover kit have it figured out for you.

So unless you desire the freedom of a fully custom spring rate setup, and all the associated trial and error/taking measurement/working out all the gremlins, I'd suggest a set of coilovers that is closest to your desired rate and design (Mono/Twintube/adjustable etc.), and swap out one end of the spring to achieve the desired handling balance.

 

Here you go.

 

What I also thought. Thanks.

 

great car/ thread, feel like I'm learning a lot just watching.

have yet to pull the trigger on coilovers, but am planning on getting soft ground controls using stock dampers. wondering if the ground controls will be captive springs or not...

 

looks like a good setup. did you make the limiter straps or did you have them made.
also can you talk about the top mount for the straps.
thanks

 

Thanks Space Egg!! The stock dampers have really long stroke, so I'd think you'd run into captive problems using anything higher then a 3kgf/mm spring without shortening the damper or find a way to limit spring seat travel.

Looking at the GC kit it seems that they will select a set of springs for you once you tell them the dampers you will be using and the type of driving your suspension will experience, so I think they will make sure that the springs will not fall out at full droop (I hope). It seems a little confusing for me as I wouldn't know exactly what I was buying from GC... You'd just have to have faith in them I suppose

Thanks! I made the straps myself. Ordered parts from Amazon, took some measurements then got to work swaging. The cable size was just on the limit of what you can safely swage by hand tool. Took me 3 attempts to make them just the right length for a snug fit on the spring seat. each strap took around 30 minutes to make, so wasn't too bad I guess.

I was looking for a location for the top attachment point, and the only spot I could find was a 20mm hole along the frame of the chassis. So basically the wire ropes goes around a short stainless tube inside nylon reinforced hose, identical to the one in the picture, that was inserted into the 20mm hole, rotated, and rests horizontally inside the chassis frame. The wire rope is then pulled down, and second steel tube inserted into the top strap loop, sandwiching the chassis frame's sheet metal in the middle of the two tubes, in turn secures the top of the strap.

I guess a picture really is worth a thousand words...






Some PU hose was cut to provide abrasion resistance for the wire rope against the chassis frame hole edge.


Admittedly some finger agility was needed to seat the top tube properly, but a tool was made to make installation much easier.

 

hey thanks for the info, I will talk to ground control. Ideally I will end up with captive springs. but if i don't, at least i always know i can do this. thanks so much

Man your skills at both designing and install are incredible!

cheers!

 

thanks it all makes sense now.

 

can i buy some of those off you?

 

i second that. i would be willing to pay for these also.

 

I've ran out of wire rope making prototypes of the strap. If you guys want some made, one of you can send me the

wire rope

wire rope

, which I originally imported from the US, and two packets of , and I'll make you guys some for the cost of the rope + sleeve (basically for free as I'll have the unused material as payment), and I'll throw in the mounting stainless tubes for free.

 

pm me your shipping info and when i get these ordered and in i'll send them your way.
thanks alot

 

But I'd have to warn you, It's not an easy install. The top mounting point requires good finger finesse to manipulate into place, or you risk loosing the top stainless tube inside the frame hole...

 

that's fine i'll make a tool to fit it in there.

 

did you use the oem lugnuts and did you put any hubcentric for your wheels?

 

I'm running McGard wheel lock lug nuts, and Rays Hub-centric rings. There are pictures of the rings in the first page.