jerseypug 1 Posted August 8, 2006 i am thinking of buying the kits that weld to the strut and turn it in to a type of coil over. has anyone done this and if so what length springs have you used. i want to be able to do tarmac and gravel rallies. i know tarmac springs will be shorter and stronger but i have no idea by how much. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jonand 0 Posted August 10, 2006 i am thinking of buying the kits that weld to the strut and turn it in to a type of coil over. has anyone done this and if so what length springs have you used. i want to be able to do tarmac and gravel rallies. i know tarmac springs will be shorter and stronger but i have no idea by how much. I've done this but didn't find it necessary to weld to the strut body - hence reducing risk of damaged internals. I simply cut off the spring platform but left the welded part (a ring around the strut ) I then used this ring as an abutment for the coil over sleeve and trimmed the top of the sleeve to approx 5mm below the top of the strut body. The only problem here is that some struts have a cap over the top of the strut body which must be removed first (and replaced afterwards). I intend to use eccentric mounts (if they ever arrive) but in the meantime I have modified the standard mount to create a top abutment and centralising collar. Spring lengths will be determined by the type of top mount used and spring rates. I am currently using 9" free length springs of 200lb for grass racing (not dissimilar in requirement to gravel rallying) - when the eccentric mounts are fitted I will be using a 10" spring . The static height of the vehicle is approx 20mm lower than std. Hope this helps. Jon Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
bren_1.3 1 Posted August 10, 2006 i thought about this, but then realised my 16 year old standard shocks were not even as powerful as the rear hatch gas struts. if your doing this go with some brand new o.e shocks or buy one of the cheaper uprated supension kits....otherwise i think theyre a pointless exercise. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jerseypug 1 Posted August 11, 2006 cheers for that, i am using new struts i think are called g-max. they seem far too soft. just noticed the rear billstein shocks are leaking and have been quoted £90 each to rebuild. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jonand 0 Posted August 11, 2006 cheers for that,i am using new struts i think are called g-max. they seem far too soft. just noticed the rear billstein shocks are leaking and have been quoted £90 each to rebuild. I used spax as the doner strut. I tried with OE ones but they were not able to control the 200 lb spring (approx twice the poundage of the standard spring). Jon Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
