Looking at suspension upgrades over winter. I'm very skeptic when it comes to things, I want to lower my car about an inch, but my ws6 springs are sagging I think... so I dont want to do eibachs pro kit cause it may just look the same.

I'm looking into spohn coil over kits, and using a koni red shock strut for the front or a KYB GR2, then I want to do tubular a arms. lca's w/relocation brackets, panhard bar, and a front end rebuild kit.

Is all of this overkill for a daily driven GTA. I don't beat it, but I mean I do drive her like she should be driven sometimes.

I just want to do it right the first time ya know. I like the idea of stepping back from the car and if you dont like the stance you can just go under with a wrench and tweak it. And for a little over $1200 for this set-up, I really think it's worth it.

http://www.spohn.net/shop/1982-1992-...er-System.html

http://www.spohn.net/shop/1982-1992-...le-Shocks.html

Sorry for all the typing, but it would be great to hear your guys' input!

Here's a pic of the GTA as of october, does it look like the springs are sagged? She has 140 xxx KMs on the clock.

 

Hi - it honestly doesn't look like the springs are sagging to me. My 1988 GTA w/57K looks very similar. Would like to hear feedback on your question as well.
Good Luck!

 

maybe measure from the ground to the lip of the fender and post your numbers...front and rear. You'll be able to get a better idea of whether its sagging or not.

 

Oh ya, forgot about that. What are they? 27front 26 rear? Too bad she's under 2 covers and a tarp right now. . . I guess i'm just looking for an excuse to swap to coil over. The concept and knowledge behind them just seems so much more advanced!

 

I dont really like the idea of coilovers on these cars because of where they attach. i would rather have the weight of my car sitting on a big beefy k-member than moving it to the thin sheetmetal strut towers. right now im looking at getting a set of ground control weight jacks (they allow you to tune ride height with a wrench while still keeping the springs in the stock location. and if you get tubular a-arms make sure to get a rod end type design. I got spohn del-sphere joints and i love them I really felt a difference in steering response and didnt notice any bad ride quality. but if i had to do it again i would of bought a good set of solid strut mounts first.

 

The only reason I would ever install coil-overs in a thirdgen would be if I was building an all out drag car with a gutted interior and lexan windows. Pretty much only good for weight reduction and limit your front tire size a lot more.

 

i second weight jacks. they are really nice and dont limit tire size. You can adjust them without pulling the tire too. Kind hard with the coil-overs.

 

How does a weight jack work? It just sits atop the spring and compresses it to the desires spring rate/height? Where can I find these peices online? Thanks!

 

its an adjustable spring seat, Ground Control makes a kit for the 3rd gen. The fronts sit on top of the spring and have the jack bolt sticking down with a 1/2" square drive to adjust them. the rears sit under the springs and are adjusted with sleave nuts. They allow you to get the desired ride height for a given spring rate without multiple length springs and rates or cutting springs.

 

That sounds pretty sweet too. I just love love love the idea of being able to change the ride height in an hour or so..

 

And I just went on ground control, all they sell is a panhard bar and a coil over kit for 3rd gens

 

The Ground Control Weight Jacks are the way to go. I'll never do simple springs in a 3rd gen again. Way cheaper than coil-overs & don't put the weight of your car on the thin sheet metal of the strut towers. Fine for drag racingm but ou cars were designed to handle, not just go in straight lines.

http://www.ground-control-store.com/...tion.php/II=20

They sit in the stock location & I think the pic they show, are not really what fits a 3rd gen. Not much like the ones on my car. In the pic, the rea springs are updise down & the adjusters for the front, are upside down.

 

So this kit comes with all four jacks right? Two rear and two front?

 

Yep. In fact, Ground Control will not sell individual corners or just fronts or rears, unless you are a previous customer & simply need to replace 1 end, because of some damage. Not exactly cheap, but you can swap out the springs cheaply & you'll always have the choice to change the resulting ride height for free! Just turn a few wrenches.

That is how I ended up with 2 sets of rears & 1 set of fronts. I bought 1 set of rears used, then couldn't buy JUST the fronts. Then I came across a full set here on TGO & bought those. Now I have a spare set for the rear.

 

That's cool! How is it that I'm just hearing about these today? I was really contemplating the Spohn coil overs, too! GC jacks it is!

 

No kidding, i've never heard of these. So the rear weight jack; I don't understand how it works. Hey Stephen, could you possibly get a picture of these on your car whenever you have a chance? What was the ease of install? And is it $459 for the entire set?!?

 

$459/set, yes....

Rears are pretty easy to get a pic of, but the fronts aren't, since they set up in the stock spring pockets, just like the stock springs do.

But really, they aren't hard to understand. The threadeed asjuster piece sits under them. Thats it.

Short springs, on top of the threaded adjuster, to take up the room "lost" by using a short spring & giving an adjustable seat.

 

Oh yeah.......

I did all 4 corners & only took the 4 wheels off, 2 nuts & 2 "bolts" (large screws really) loose! 4 hrs, including 4 (2 front, 2 rear) test drives around the parking lot & adjusting the height setting, after the 1st & 3rd test drive. The test drives are necessary, to get the shocks to settle & for you to decide if you want it higher or lower.

 

What struts and springs are you running?

 

Springs are in my sig. Shocks & struts are the KYB Gas-A-Just that were on the car when I bought it in '06.

My mods come slowly, because I rarely replace perfectly good parts.

 

Are those sportlines? or prokits?

 

Neither. Both are way too long to used on Weight Jacks.

Mine are Eibach springs, but springs for these can be sourced at many different places.

 

Really. . . Owe. Can ground control send you a spring? Is that why that ask your desired spring rate?

 

If you know the spring rate you want, you can ask for that. Or tell GC what the intended use of the car is, and I dunno if they simply choose & send, or recommend one, then up to you to say OK or stiffer/softer. I've never bought brand new directly from GC, so I don' know how they do that.

I bought used. My GTA is a daily driver & I am perfectly happy with my 600/150s. I do have 2 more rates I can put in the rear & I might try them, just to see, since it is so easy to swap them out.

When you order the set, it comes with one set of springs & the adjusters. Then the old page showed like $55 or $59 for new springs.

 

Right on. So it took you 4 hours huh, i plan on doing a spohn front end rebuild kit, front lower suspension arms, new struts, springs, rotors, pads, rear lca's, umi lcarb, rear struts, rear springs, panhard bar. That should keep me busy for a weekend hey? I hope it doesnt take me longer than 2 days. .

 

Obviously with all the other stuff you want to do, its gonna take a just a WEE bit longer than 4 hours.

 

can one get good springs to use with those weight jacks for drag racing? or should i just go with the coilovers? kinda thought it was better to use a longer, lighter weight spring for the front for stored energy....

 

Since the weight jack adjusters will take up a couple of inches of spring room, that kinda requires shorter springs. So I'm not sure they'd be the best choice for drag racing on the front.

My front adjusters are almost bottomed out & if I ever go with a different spring rate, I'll go with shorter springs, to have more future adjustability.

I see no reason the rears couldn't be used for drag racing, EXCEPT.....Since GC won't sell you just fronts or just backs (sold as a 4 corner kit only) that kinda decides it for you, unless you can find a buyer for just the fronts.

 

Or you could sell your extra set of rear adjusters.

 

i have a set of rear adjusters weight jacks and springs that im not using...

 

what's the spring rate on them? what do you need for them? pm me please

 

so stephen, if i add weight jacks to the front of my car i can get it higher then 24 3/4 inches off the ground?

 

yes, 24 3/4 is probably as low as you will be able to get the front of the car before you are sitting on the bump stops.

 

No its to low I need to know if these will raise it.

 

well, he said its probably as low as you can go... therefore I would feel safe assuming you will be able to raise it.

 

im going with a complete tubular kit from spohn next year. k-member, a-arms..... im going to keep my lowering springs and kyb shocks and struts. this is going in my daily driver/ weekend warrior.....lol. do some research first and take everyones opinions into consideration. they know what there talking about.

 

Whether you want a 5" 500lb spring or a 10" 500lb spring (exaggerated height difference to make my point), you get to choose your spring height & spring rate. So yeah, you can easily get it higher than 24 3/4" by choosing the right spring height.

I'm using a 9.5" 600lb spring on the front:


To get 25.5" up front:


And my front adjusters are almost bottomed out, so to get lower, I'd need a shorter spring. But I would never go lower up front. My nose just clears parking curbs. Any lower & my nose would hit them. I might go lower in the rear & put stiffer springs in, to prevent any possible rear tire rubbing.

 

i though i was pretty clear, but i will try again. Yes you can get it higher, my car sits at about 27" in the front, and i can still go down an inch and up 2 or 3. Thats with a 1050 lb spring though, 9.5 free height IIRC