Make your own coilovers?
 

So I found a link on google where a guy made some coilovers out of his stock shocks, some coilover sleeves and springs.

Im thinking of trying it out but with some better shocks that I can find a deal on.
My question is, what spring length/rate I should buy (probably QA1 springs)?
Also, what sleeve length?

Sorry if this has been posted lots, but my search doesnt like me much

You just described the Ground Control setup. They'll sell you a kit with all that stuff figured out already.

I thought it would work out cheaper to buy parts seperate

Not unless you have access to a lathe and a welder.

Well, I am a Welder...and why would I need a lathe? I watched a bunch of videos and read a few forums.
It looks like you grind the perch off, smooth it, slide the coil sleeve on, weld it, and assemble it. Of course i didnt mention every detail, but i dont know what Id need a lathe for unless you think I want to make my own sleeves?

That is mostly right. someone on mazda-speed.com did it on stock miata shocks. You'll probably want springs around 7" in length. You can find them used cheap. Actually they are cheap new also at $59 each.

well im a Z nut so go to Z31performance.com theres a whole write up there and links it may give you some ideas/help

im not really concerned about tackling the project, its just the specs of what I need for an FC.
Seems pretty straight forward and you get great results.

OP - you got an old arc welder ya wanna sell me for cheap? :D

The upper hat that the crappy ebay sleeves come with may or may not fit on a 7, hence you may need to fab/modify one to fit.

It's not cheaper imho.

Let's just say you break it down like this: and i'm being soo conservative, probably cost more than this.

1. Tokico Illumina Dampers or Koni Yellows - $500.00
2. 2.5" ID springs are probably about $50.00 each at least. = $200.00
3. Front Pillowball uppermounts = $200.00
4. Rear Pillowball uppermounts = $150.00

This totals up to: $1050.00

you still don't even have the sleeve as yet, nor do you get independent height and preload adjustments. Not too mention time as well.

you can get Stance Coilovers for the FC at a great bargain not too mention several other brands out there. Naturally if you're getting crazy crazy dampers then i'd say go for it but we're talking your standard adjustable off the shelf damper.

Rishie

That sounds like a shitload of work for no gain. The whole GC kit is like $450, and is pre-engineered to work with your car/shocks. You'll pay over $200 just for the springs.

Fabbing stuff yourself is usually for when they don't make what you want, not saving money on stuff they do.

like everyone says ground control sells a kit....

if you do your own kit....

the stock FC rear springs are 2.5" already, so all you need to do is drop a sleeve over, and put the spring on.

the front you can either cut the perch, or cut the sleeve, which ever works for you. the stock FC spring is like 6" around, so going with a 2.5" spring. either modify the stock perch, or buy camber plates or something

"normal" rates for an fc are 300-450F and 200-300 rear, with 350/250 being a nice street setup, racers run more spring. do some searching.

length varies, it depends on the ride height you want to end up with. measure.....

ALL of the parts for this are standard off the shelf stuff, coleman, afco, ground control etc etc.

the problem is- no drop in dampers are valved for any decent spring rates. you would have to buy decent dampers, and then have them revalved for whatever springs you use. factor that price into the rest of the parts...
theres seriously no reason not to get Stances, unless you're competitive. in which case, expect to spend over 2k on a 'homemade' setup

people sure due love trying to reinvent the wheel

just get real coilovers, no headache, they actually make coilovers for your car too, its not like a Z31 where your on your own.. and someone already did the homework on specs for them.

Im not reinventing the wheel.
When I looked into it (TRD AE86 conversion, BMW's etc) they all said it was quite a bit cheaper than coilovers.
It does seem the ground control kit is the best option because thats what it looks like ill be paying for plus the time in doing extra work.

thanks for the input dudes :)

This is the only solution available up until about two months ago for Ford Probe owners. Ground Control sells a set of springs/top hats/threaded sleeves/bases. You slip them over the stock where the stock spring goes and put the upper strut mount on.

You can also cut off the stock spring perch to gain more lowering. Let the threaded sleeve sit on the perch weld, it is very strong. Or, you can grind off the perch and make yourself a spacer 4" or so in length.

I run 450/350 springs, they are very noisy and could probably be a bit longer than the provided 7" length springs. If you have them out of the car even at a few inches of lowering there is a huge gap between the top hat and the upper strut mount so I don't feel you're in the proper range of the strut - I would like that to be a tight gap like most aftermarket full coilovers, so maybe a 10" spring or so.

They are extremely noisy, but work decently well. There is a bit of a gap between the shock body and the sleeve, only a couple thousandths inch or so, but enough to rattle. I filled that with polyurethane. As well, I made some isolators after looking at my Mustang to sit on top and on bottom of the spring so it doesn't directly touch other metal parts. It helped, but it's still not perfect. Now that Tein has finally made us some products, I'm looking into just ponying up the $$$.

DO NOT WELD GAS OR LIQUID FILLED STRUTS. EVER. PERIOD. YOU ARE CREATING A FRAGMENTATION GRENADE - YOU WILL KILL YOURSELF. In addition, be careful when cutting off the spring perch or grinding down the perch weld...keep the heat down, and cut small bits at a time, the strut body is thin. Just cut about halfway through the perch, then put the strut it a vice and hit the perch off with a big hammer, let your cut just weaken the weld.

Hmm, maybe Ill read around a bit more and see what I should do.

PS, about you menition welding the gas struts. We learn to weld on gas lines and full fuel tanks :hahaha:

go to Paradise racing. He has a kit I put together on my Rx3.

not bad! looks like its great quality.
What one would you recommend for an FC, 350lbs?

but they arent full when you weld em!

I don't think there is a need to weld on the shock bodies themselves. The better approach is to get the bottom spring 'perch' to mount to/over the top of the existing shock. This is easy on the Konis (on the FD) since they have a slot machined into the body already. A few custom conversions that I have seen followed that design or something similar such as reusing and modifying the existing bottom spring perch

I get his car when he goes up in a giant fireball ;D

Haha I was being a smartass, but pipe lines are full of gas when preasure welders weld them (Im just a C level) :icon_tup: