How to lower a W-Body ( Gen 1, Gen 1.5 )

[Chris]

 

The front do it yourself kit costs $345

The rear do it yourself kit costs $310, or $490 assembled on KYB's

 

The 6 links for the rear cost $330.

 

I do not sell individual components to the kit.

 

 

Oh wow. That is *NOT* worth $345.

[MemphisMan]

And that's just for the stage 1 kit right? Shit, I've got a request for an estimate for a stage 2 kit...hate to see what that's going to be. I'll post the estimate when I get it.

[CSI_MuNkY]

Is that pic from held? Those are re-designed upper mounts if that pic is of the stage 1 front...

 

stage 2 comes with KYB struts, thats all

stage 3 comes with the modified knuckles

 

There are other sources for individual components, Summit carries most of the parts needed

[xtremerevolution]

And to think I traded my front coilover suspension for my rear birchmount leaf and installed rear coilovers for $168 shipped.

 

I should take a picture of the coilover kit that I have. the mount design is pretty solid and doesn't look like it would be too difficult to fabricate.

[CSI_MuNkY]

Even the held rear mount I could manufacture for less than what they sell it for, its a piece of profile cut plate and a 2" length of 2" pipe and a 1" length of 1" pipe, its not even fully welded.

[xtremerevolution]

Even the held rear mount I could manufacture for less than what they sell it for, its a piece of profile cut plate and a 2" length of 2" pipe and a 1" length of 1" pipe, its not even fully welded.

 

So do it. I'm sure there are plenty of people here who wouldn't mind coilover kits on the cheap.

[CSI_MuNkY]

I may just look into doing it... I could do a front mount the same way....

 

What we need is updated links to all the other components like threaded sleeves, springs, adjuster nuts, spring isolator pads, and upper mount bushings. I think the upper mount bushings MAY of been machined out of poly by held.

[xtremerevolution]

I may just look into doing it... I could do a front mount the same way....

 

What we need is updated links to all the other components like threaded sleeves, springs, adjuster nuts, spring isolator pads, and upper mount bushings. I think the upper mount bushings MAY of been machined out of poly by held.

 

All of my springs on my coilover kit are brand new. They came from somewhere, and an arm and a leg were not paid for them. I'd have to ask Bob and the guy I bought them from where he got them.

[Twenty]

Sometimes I really wish I had a car with support from companies like Tein and Function & Form.

[xtremerevolution]

Sometimes I really wish I had a car with support from companies like Tein and Function & Form.

 

So you could pay them a boatload of money for something you can do yourself for cheaper?

 

Lets git r done. Custom coilovers is just a matter of getting the right mount fabricated, and that isn't all that difficult.

[Twenty]

I have no means to machine parts and don't know anyone locally who can. I wouldn't mind paying for a set of built coilovers from a company.

[xtremerevolution]

I have no means to machine parts and don't know anyone locally who can. I wouldn't mind paying for a set of built coilovers from a company.

 

I don't like throwing money away personally. Buying an overpriced set of coilovers from a company when you can have the same (if not better) buying it from someone else is not my idea of a good deal. Who here has access to a machine shop?

[CSI_MuNkY]

I have access to multiple machine shops, and work in the CAD lab of a weld shop.

Captain Ficho runs a machine shop

[xtremerevolution]

I have access to multiple machine shops, and work in the CAD lab of a weld shop.

Captain Ficho runs a machine shop

 

So lets get some of these made then, lol. You want pictures of my mounts? I'll be taking them off some time soon so I can place them on top of the strut tower instead of on the bottom with spacers in order to get more travel. Bob should be able to tell you what bushings I used.

[19Cutlass94]

Sorry everyone, been slacking on the links...

[MemphisMan]

 

 

 

Oh wow. That is *NOT* worth $345.

 

I got my quote back from Erik today. I asked him about a stage 2 setup becuase I don't want to modify my existing struts. I might have confused him in my email, because he quoted me $345 for the front but he said he said we would need to "discuss the front so you are clear what you would need to do". I think he's talking about a stage 1 setup and the fact that I'd need to cut the two pieces off of my existing strut. I'll go back to him and make it clear I'm looking for the price of a stage 2 setup.

 

He quoted me $490 for the rear. I'm assuming that's a stage 2 setup. I'll let you all know about what he says about the stage 2 fronts.

 

So to go with height adjustable coil-overs in the front and back (stage 2) would cost me around $1k. Just to do the fronts on my MG Midget would be $1400 because I was looking at doing this same sort of thing to it a few months ago. By comparison, $1k seems cheap...even though it's really not.

[MemphisMan]

...or maybe I should just do this...

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/LEMONHEAD-GRAND-PRIX-/270658866648?pt=US_Cars_Trucks&hash=item3f04868dd8

[CSI_MuNkY]

$490 for the rear? are you kidding me? what a joke!

 

I will take any mount pics you can get me to come up with a new design

[Twenty]

So to go with height adjustable coil-overs in the front and back (stage 2) would cost me around $1k.

 

That's pretty much bang-on what I was expecting, and to me $1K for coilovers seems fair. That's what I was budgeting for when I was looking at these.

[Chris]

I had the ability to mass-produce my rear coilover mounts, but nobody wanted them at the time.

[xtremerevolution]

I got my quote back from Erik today. I asked him about a stage 2 setup becuase I don't want to modify my existing struts. I might have confused him in my email, because he quoted me $345 for the front but he said he said we would need to "discuss the front so you are clear what you would need to do". I think he's talking about a stage 1 setup and the fact that I'd need to cut the two pieces off of my existing strut. I'll go back to him and make it clear I'm looking for the price of a stage 2 setup.

 

He quoted me $490 for the rear. I'm assuming that's a stage 2 setup. I'll let you all know about what he says about the stage 2 fronts.

 

So to go with height adjustable coil-overs in the front and back (stage 2) would cost me around $1k. Just to do the fronts on my MG Midget would be $1400 because I was looking at doing this same sort of thing to it a few months ago. By comparison, $1k seems cheap...even though it's really not.

 

Its not cheap, even by comparison.

 

$490 for the rear? are you kidding me? what a joke!

 

I will take any mount pics you can get me to come up with a new design

 

Yeah, that is a HUGE joke. Fucking ridiculous.

 

That's pretty much bang-on what I was expecting, and to me $1K for coilovers seems fair. That's what I was budgeting for when I was looking at these.

 

I had the ability to mass-produce my rear coilover mounts, but nobody wanted them at the time.

 

Might have been what you have been expecting, but its definitely not a fair price, definitely not reasonable, and fuck, I will make you an insanely good set for a FRACTION of that cost if you're serious.

 

 

 

Really guys, if this offends you, suck it up. I'm going to show you EXACTLY what it takes to make this shit work.

 

10" 400lb springs (rear)

http://www.summitracing.com/parts/HAL-10-400/

 

Sleeves with nuts:

http://www.summitracing.com/parts/AAF-ALL64151/

 

If you have KYB GR2's (which you should at this point if you're even thinking about coilovers), you can use the stock mounts. Its really quite simple, and I can take pictures of mine. What's our price so far? $164 for the rear adjustable coilover kit, SHIPPED.

 

Does the $ky high inflated price tag still look like a good deal to you?

 

Consider that you can probably use the same sleeves, slightly higher load springs for the front, and all you have left to figure out is the mounts and mount bushings, all of which I'm sure GTP Munky could fabricate for less than $600. Bob can tell you what mount bushings to use. What are we at so far, $328? $60 more for bushings, say we play it safe and we're at $400 for front and rear, plus the mounts.

 

Maybe now I've been able to prove how much of a ripoff those kits are.

 

Who wants to start fabricating these mounts?

[MemphisMan]

Never said I was going with the kits, only that I was getting a quote. No offense taken, believe me. However, when you use the words "should", and "probably" and phrases like "all you have left to figure out" and "I'm sure GTP Munky could", it makes me think that you don't really know EXACTLY how to make this shit work. I'm sure you could figure it out. Hell, I could figure it out, it's not rocket science. My problem is that I don't have the time to figure it out. I also don't want to "figure it out" using my car as a test bed.

 

And yes, by comparison, $1000 for coil-overs on the front and back of my Cutty is cheaper than $1400 just for the front of my MG. And I did say that overall it's not really cheap.

[Twenty]

Well, the GP needs coilovers, so as long as I can get something together without having to use my car as a test-bed (As mentioned by MemphisMan) and without having to modify original components, I'm in. Seriously.

 

GP needs more low.

[xtremerevolution]

Lets put it this way guys. We have a few designs we just need to replicate and we're golden. The rear suspension is tried and proven. You don't have to be a "test dummy." I'm the test dummy, and there are only a handfull of people who drive their cars as hard as I do. The rear coilover suspension method I posted using the sleeves and the springs is failsafe. I just need Bob to confirm that those were indeed the sleeves he used on my car and that's all we need. I'm not the first.

 

I can take pictures, but seriously, these are the parts you need for the front coilovers:

 

2 springs $80

4 torsion bearings $52

2 mounts

2 coil to mount bushings

2 shock to mount bushings

 

It would be very, very easy to replicate the coilover mounts that I'm using, and since the bushings are brand new, I can get the part numbers for those as well.

 

I know I said could, should, etc., but this is really all it boils down to. There really is absolutely nothing else you will need (aside from a hacksaw to cut off that large piece of metal protruding from the strut) to make this work. I do know exactly how to make this work. That you should be 100% sure of. Nobody will need to be a testbed if we're going to be replicating a design that is already made.

[Twenty]

Sounds great, but I won't be cutting off any mounts from my original struts. Are there any aftermarket units that can be used instead, as opposed to having to find another OEM piece?