Hey Gang - Well had a good weekend and was able to successfully Coilover my GT. This project / upgrade was a result of a recent blown out rear Tokico and one of my Pedders Springs that I bought from Corksport in 2005 broke and collapsed the rear suspension on the car, swiss cheesing my new brand new Yokohamas in the process , see below:
After looking at the K-Sports online (which are sweet but no confirmation on if they would fit a FWD BF) coupled with the fact I have made custom Coilovers for two other cars I own and chatting with the good folks at Ground Control, I decided to make my own Coilovers.
The kit for the FWD 323 is part number GC-5035-01, will run you $400 and comes with the following:
The problem with this "sleeve" type kit, is that by leaving the threaded collar in the stock spring perch, the collar does not sit even or square on the strut (unbalanced loading) and it limits how low you can take your car. After several trial mock-ups and measuring how low I wanted my car, I decided to cut the stock spring perches from all 4 struts, nothing like cutting 4 brand new $425 struts!
This picture shows how the threaded collar does not sit even or square on the spring perch:
Cut mark on the perch:
I used a metal cutting wheel on my 4.5" angle grinder, I was very careful not to cut into the strut itself, this would destroy the strut.
Everything assembled, Coilovers, top bearings (front) / spring mounts (rear) installed. I painted my rear top spring mounts as they were a bit rusty:
Rear Fitted:
Front Fitted:
I will take some pictures of the car after it is washed and I have some decent lighting. The car with the coilovers sits lower than my previous suspension set-up (which is shown below):
Some Advantages of this Set-Up:
1) With set-up is that you can buy a wide range of springs from Eibach in 50# increments for $50 per spring, so the spring choice is excellent. I am running a street rated spring that is not overly stiff, as my car is driven everyday.
2) With this coilover setup I shaved 28lbs over my previous strut and spring set-up.
3) By removing the stock spring perches I can lower the car a total of 4" (maybe a bit more) from stock, on other words I can totally tuck all 4 wheels.
4) By trimming the spring perches you can run a slightly wider tire or a little wider wheel by adding a few mm of positive offset.
Total cost including 4 new struts: $850
Hope this helpful to all.
Cheers,
Yasin
After looking at the K-Sports online (which are sweet but no confirmation on if they would fit a FWD BF) coupled with the fact I have made custom Coilovers for two other cars I own and chatting with the good folks at Ground Control, I decided to make my own Coilovers.
The kit for the FWD 323 is part number GC-5035-01, will run you $400 and comes with the following:
The problem with this "sleeve" type kit, is that by leaving the threaded collar in the stock spring perch, the collar does not sit even or square on the strut (unbalanced loading) and it limits how low you can take your car. After several trial mock-ups and measuring how low I wanted my car, I decided to cut the stock spring perches from all 4 struts, nothing like cutting 4 brand new $425 struts!
This picture shows how the threaded collar does not sit even or square on the spring perch:
Cut mark on the perch:
I used a metal cutting wheel on my 4.5" angle grinder, I was very careful not to cut into the strut itself, this would destroy the strut.
Everything assembled, Coilovers, top bearings (front) / spring mounts (rear) installed. I painted my rear top spring mounts as they were a bit rusty:
Rear Fitted:
Front Fitted:
I will take some pictures of the car after it is washed and I have some decent lighting. The car with the coilovers sits lower than my previous suspension set-up (which is shown below):
Some Advantages of this Set-Up:
1) With set-up is that you can buy a wide range of springs from Eibach in 50# increments for $50 per spring, so the spring choice is excellent. I am running a street rated spring that is not overly stiff, as my car is driven everyday.
2) With this coilover setup I shaved 28lbs over my previous strut and spring set-up.
3) By removing the stock spring perches I can lower the car a total of 4" (maybe a bit more) from stock, on other words I can totally tuck all 4 wheels.
4) By trimming the spring perches you can run a slightly wider tire or a little wider wheel by adding a few mm of positive offset.
Total cost including 4 new struts: $850
Hope this helpful to all.
Cheers,
Yasin
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