Finished up my front coil-over install today, everything went real smooth, no problems, not even a broken bolt, biggest snag was a f-ed up cotter pin, did i mention i hate cotter pins? any how i took some pics along the way.

First, the front kit, out of the box


good looking stuff, everything looks well made and the coating was very clean, and i even got two spanner wrenches!



got the strut off, and ready to rip everything else off the a-arm, and remove the sportlines



everything re-assembled and ready for the coil-over kit



put the new strut mount and re-enforcement plate in, a perfect fit on both sides, though it was a bit of a juggling act getting all the pieces sandwiched together and putting the bolts in.



assembled the strut assemblies. And as with every well designed piece of equipment, high quality duct-tape is a vital part of the assembly, spohn actually suggested it, it takes up the slop between the strut and the threaded adjuster, 1 wrap of heavy duty "gorilla" tape made a perfect for on the koni's, then the torrington (speeling?) bearings get taped to the spring with scotch tape, another Spohn suggestion which worked very well to keep everything together while wrestling the spindle assemble, strut and floor jack all at the same time.




slapped the struts is, another juggling act, and im done! The whole job took about 2.5 hours, at a gentle pace, not a bad job at all.

I was a little concerned about the cars weight on the strut towers, so i made sure i had my strut tower bar installed before i started, its a 3 pt edelbrock piece that i modified to make a little more rigid, i cut the end off that used to bolt to the u-brackets on the strut tower, fabbed up some new plates that match the contours of the srtut mount perfectly so i loose no range of motion in the strut tower/alignment adjustments. It came out well and i was think about maybe adding a 1" bar running to the side of the strut tower to help strengthen things a bit, then sandblast it and paint or maybe get it powder-coated.




too bad all the pics of the bar turned out like crap
next up is the rear set, hope to have that finished this weekend, and maybe if the weather holds up i can take it for a spin before it snows again.

 

looks great. What spring rates are those, 325's?. The strut towers are fine even without the STB. It's the sheet metal dimpling up that was the concern and that bottom reinforment plate eliminates that over time of pounding. I am curious to hear your critque on the steering. I am curious if there feels more resistance. Kat seems to report no difference and the ride is great, I am curious for a second opinion. I am really curious on a report after about 6 months of normal use how those Torringtons are holding up. I suspect they will, just would like a solid factual answer on thorough testing of these in real world use. I applaude you for being a guinea pig, I want to but can not afford to have issues with the car since my camaro is my wifes daily driver- I do not want to hear about any noise or problem from me doing something to her car that was in a sense not needed for her. (I only built it becuase I occationally borrow it, plus I wanted her safe and reliable). I really want to do something with the car to get height adjustment so I can play with the setup a little differnetly. I know I can this this car better than I have it.(Not that its a slouch now, I'd just like to get rid of that monster front swaybar.) for the strightline rotation pitch on bad curb lane roads


Also, are those the Z51 rotors and whats the specs on them (12.75x1.25 I thinks?)

 

The only addition I did was weld the seam at the top of the tower. Nice job.

 

spring rates are 325, and the rotors are c5 Z06, which are 12.75 x 1.25

I was quite pleased, when i put the car down on the ground, there wasn't even a squeak from anything moving, the strut tower brace makes me feel better. as far as steering resistance, with the suspension loaded, on jack stands, everything moved quite freely, but ill have to see what happens when, if, i get it out for a drive this year

 

Looks good.
Let us know how it rides and the ease of adjustment.
Is that a Canton overflow tank? Whats the part #?
What was done to make the brakes fit?

 

canton # 80-223, not cheap

modified spindles, brackets, hubs, basic stuff, same for most brakle upgrades of this type

 

Oh, OK.
Yeah, Ill stick with the OEM resivoir and the SSBC plus-one calipers.
THX buddy

 

How good does your car handle with the coil over suspenion I was thinking about getting them?

 

i havent had the car out yet, had to finish the rear setup. maybe today

 

well let me know when you do im thinking of getting those

 

just had the car out for a spin, took a few miles for everything to settle, had a bunch of funny sounds coming from the car, but after that all was well. I need to stiffen up the rear shock adjustment a bit but all in all for just a few minutes of seat time, i was impressed.

I have not noticed any increase in steering effort yet, and overall the car seems a little more stable, with less body roll in the front. just need to fine tune a few things and if the weather hold up, i'll see what it can do. Just need to find some good twisty back-roads to play on.

the height adjustment is neat, i can get the front as low as my sportlines or as high as my truck, seriously.
Installing the rear reinforcement plates was a PITA, it kinda hard to weld upside-down. It gets a little busy around the control arms, swaybars and coil-over setup, but everything fits.

 

I noticed the Spohn coil-over kit is only about $300-400 more than the konis... should I just get the coil overs? Is there a noticeable difference? Would weight be saved or just space? A list of differences would be great.

 

well, for the front kit to work, you still need shocks, so add the koni's to the price, yea, it gets expensive fast. I think that if the car is a DD, coil-overs are probably overkill, my car is a toy, so overkill is fine with me , i want more seat time!!! i wish i didn't have to work

 

It is a daily driver that will see maybe 1-2 autocross events a month.

 

i dont know, like i said I just drove the car for the first time today and that was for maybe 10 minutes, it feels much different than the old setup but i need more seat time to be able to say anything more definitive

 

i hated my coilovers... tried many spring rates. these cars just don't drive the same. looks cool in the pics though! definately have to have a stb, the more bracing the better if you run coilovers it's a must!

 

You're right, it doesn't feel the same to it at all. My vert has more a european feel to it when driving the car.

 

Been running Art Morrison coilovers with Koni adjustables
for quite a few years and eibach sports in the back. Car
runs like on railroad track. When all set up could really
tell the difference between Iroc front and coilover.

Tried different coil rates and #250 was my choice. But
running ac delete,glass hood ect. Lighter.

On smooth roads rides like on glass, rough roads not so good. Plus also shaves #lbs off the front.
Wouldn't go back

Later

 

What size wheels and tires are you running? Any clearance issues?

 

those look sweet! out of my budget, but hope you like in the end!

 

Has anyone on the board put them on their drag car yet?

 

The Spohn or just coilovers in general?

 

OK i'm kinda confused. people are running 250-325 spring rate on coil overs, but coil springs run anywhere from 350-800? Why is that? I know coil overs are waaaay better but with that weak of a coil how are they not bouncing/bottoming out everytime you hit a bump?

 

think of it as a see-saw, when both sides are even, its easy to move each side up or down. when one side is longer, its harder to raise from the shorter side and vise-versa. with a spring in the stock location, its located on the short side of the see-saw and required more force to support the car, with a coilover, its located on the longer side of the see-saw, and its easier to support the weight of the car. its really a matter of leverage
did that help or did i loose everyone including myself?
im not sure how the 250lb springs are working, typo for 350?

 

Actually that made quite a bit of sense. I hadn't looked at it like that. I was taking # from post here. Jaykar posted he used 250lb coils. My main concern is all the pressure on the strut tower as mine is a daily driver for now, but will probably eventually become primarily a track car.

 

Me, Im running 275/40/17's.

 

As to tires and wheels running the Iroc 16'' all new and
refurbished, (Showcar).

245-16 front/255-16 rear/ KDWs and ET Drags rear.
As to spring rates running #250 fronts and tried 3
different rates from 375 or so down to 250s. You have to
remember as pointed out, where the outboard strut-spring
point is located, next to the spindle. Its a matter of leverage. There is no mushyness or give when going in
corners hard.
The #250 is probably equal to a #550-#600 conventional as per
Morrison by its anchor point.
Another plus is you can set ride hieght where you want it. With my
coil front and eiback rears there is no gap between top of tires and
fenderwheels, which is what I wanted.- No rubbing even when cornered
hard.

Also running strut tower brace, highly recommend.

Later

 

As an added side note on the strut tower strenght.
Years back had a friend that had a 3rd gen with a
big block- 496'' that was running coilovers and was
pulling 3-4' wheelies off the line.

He managed to buckle his front fenders but was not running strut brace and BB wieght in the front.
Tower is the weak link.

Later

 

The spohn setup. Buddy of mine is running some other brand in his 94 Firebird, works really well.

 

the roads around me got most of the salt washed off of them the other day so i went out for a spin and my last fill-up of the year with stabil.

Drove around for quite a while up and down all the backroads and up and down the highway and overall im still quite happy with the setup, the car seems much more stable when turning, less body roll and the steering effort is the same as it was before, no binding at all. Its actually quite smooth. The ride quality is good, not too harsh, not too soft, seems just right.

Adjusting the rear ride height is a little tricky because of how busy it is around there, but you can just jack up the rear of the car, let the axle drop a bit and adjust the nuts by hand quite easily, the fronts you can do with the spanners, but taking the wheel off makes things a lot easier.

Now most important to me, i could throw the car around a bit and have no creaks, pops, or other funny noises from the towers flexing that i was so concerned about initially.

Now just to wait till spring to really get this thing out, tweaked and carving corners.

 

Good clean way to set the ride hieght is find a place that
has a drive on lift and borrow it for about half hour, probably slight fee

That way can measure and adjust ride hight on flat
surface and turn wheels lock to lock while checking
for rubbing.
I also put 1 mig tack on the locking adjusters once hieght
set for piece of mind, easy to remove if you ever want to
change it.



HTH

Later

 

the pic you show of the spring/adjuster/sleeve location... is thatyour current ride heightwhere the locking nut is located?
id like to see a pic of the fender/tire gap if possible.
im in the midst of researching parts to use on my car and i think the spohn coilover sleeve itself may be too short for the struts i plan to run.
thanks!