Adjustable Coil Overs

[Crocket]

Anybody know of a company that offers adjustable coil overs for the rear of our MKIIs? I know that Ground Control offers them for the fronts, but I have yet to see them for the rears. Thanks,

Sonny

[Malloy]

From what I know, nobody :( That rear susp doesnt offer much flexibility unfortunately, and there was never a demand for aftermarket solutions.

Im working on a new front coil over though...will follow up with details as they come.

[SilverMk2]

The problem with doing them in the rear is a design problem. You could physically fit something like a penske coilover shock where the factory shocks go relatively easily. The problem is that where the shocks mount were never meant to support the weight of the car. The upper shock tower don't particularly look strong either. If I wanted to do something like this I would modify the rear control arm so that the spring perch was threaded thru the control arm. This would function similar to what the NASCAR guys use in the rear except upside down. Thats a fair amount of fabrication work though.

[Crocket]

Thanks for the info guys. Guess I'll just have to try and fix the back other ways. Mike, let us know what you come up with, I'm sure there would be alot of interest for it.

Sonny

P.S. BTW Mike, good job on the site. Looks like it's really starting to take off. We may see the end of yahoo groups yet.

[white_mk_2]

I think I've found the solution to this. An adjustable perch for the rear springs that keeps them independently mounted from shocks (not coilover) like stock.

http://photos.yahoo.com/bc/white_mk_2/lst?.dir=/Rear+spring+adj+perch&.view=t

This is from www.mvpvolvo.com. They sell kits that include this piece so not sure how much $$$ for just the rear perchs. Or if they'd sell them separate. Haven't contacted them yet. But I think the 200/700/900 springs are roughly the same diameter and if so the perchs should work.
Something to definitely look into.

[white_mk_2]

P.S. This would allow restoration of stock ride (and camber) with shorter lowering springs but wouldn't allow you to further lower the car like a front coilover setup would. You could raise the height of the rear which might be beneficial for drag racing to help cancel out excessive squatting under acceleration.

[Supra Bob]

TomD on the Yahoo list was saying something about using a Honda kit? Anyone have any info on this?

[Racefiend]

There actually are a few kits offered but they are in Japan. THey are actually for ae86's but our setup is the same so it should work no problem. Basically all it is is a threaded spring perch which fits over the shock (you need to weld a stop ring onto the shock). The top gets a spring hat which kinda looks like a dunce cap. It lets the top of the spring mount lower than the top of the strut tower (sice the strut tower is so narrow, you cant filt a spring up there). They have a similar setup here in US for 1600 and 2002 bmw's, but it may need some modding to work on our mk2's.
Personally I wouldn't use that setup without at least a rear strut bar.

An interesting note: ground control offers a kit for the ford focus, which has an independant strut/spring setup like the mk2. That may work with some minor mods.

Christian

[Frank_MA61]

There actually are a few kits offered but they are in Japan. THey are actually for ae86's but our setup is the same so it should work no problem. Basically all it is is a threaded spring perch which fits over the shock (you need to weld a stop ring onto the shock). The top gets a spring hat which kinda looks like a dunce cap. It lets the top of the spring mount lower than the top of the strut tower (sice the strut tower is so narrow, you cant filt a spring up there). They have a similar setup here in US for 1600 and 2002 bmw's, but it may need some modding to work on our mk2's.
Personally I wouldn't use that setup without at least a rear strut bar.



Yeah, Ive seen those kits for the ae86 on a couple of japanese websites. Lemmie see if I could find that site. I lost all of my bookmarks, so I have to search for it again.

[Frank_MA61]

OK....HERE It is.

http://www.jubiride.com/

Click footwork, and scroll to the bottom.

Theres some other very interesting parts on that page aswell.

[Racefiend]

Just found out from one of my ae86 buds that theres a place in Placerville, CA (near me) that makes a kit for the ae86. Heres a link to his post on club4ag. he's got pics of the setup:

http://forums.club4ag.com/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=17543


heres a pic (lemme see if this works)

c:\ae86coilsrear.jpg

oh well, guess it doesn't work. Scroll down on the link and check it out. the pic may be x'd out, just right click it and say "show picture"

You can buy just the kit from him without the shocks. Might be a good experiment for the mk2...hint hint....

Christian[/img]

[dohc82]

That japanese site has some rims that would fit our car. The styles are pretty basic though.

[white_mk_2]

Yeah, nothing bigger than 15" :( plenty wide though, they must have a way better selection of smaller diameter tires in Japan.

[dohc82]

[quote="white_mk_2"]I think I've found the solution to this. An adjustable perch for the rear springs that keeps them independently mounted from shocks (not coilover) like stock.

http://photos.yahoo.com/bc/white_mk_2/lst?.dir=/Rear+spring+adj+perch&.view=t

Hey This guy has done the 5 bolt conversion also!

[dohc82]

[quote="Racefiend"]There actually are a few kits offered but they are in Japan. THey are actually for ae86's

The kits TomD was refering too are actually for Honda Civics. They are on Ebay for 60 - 90 dollars. You have to cut the spring perch off the front strut and weld the coil-over sleeve on the the strut housing. I guess the rears would have to be attached also. If it works it would solve alot of problems.
-Wil

[white_mk_2]

[quote=white_mk_2]I think I've found the solution to this. An adjustable perch for the rear springs that keeps them independently mounted from shocks (not coilover) like stock.

http://photos.yahoo.com/bc/white_mk_2/lst?.dir=/Rear+spring+adj+perch&.view=t

Hey This guy has done the 5 bolt conversion also!

I wish, actually it's a pic of a Volvo with the adjustable rear spring perches I mentioned.

[SupraFiend]

Yeah, nothing bigger than 15" :( plenty wide though, they must have a way better selection of smaller diameter tires in Japan.

Diameter isn't the problem with finding tires for our car, its the rim size combined with the tire diameter. AE86s have a diameter of around 22 inchs so a 195/50-15 works great, and theres tons of selection in that size, same with 205s and 185s. Lots in 225/50-15s as well which is a nice supra size but just a little on the small side if gas milage or a 100 percent accurate speedo is important to you.