I`ve been working on swapping my k-member this weekend and have been trying to get the 2.5 spring coil over to work. I made up a plate that holds the spring instaed of the strut mount doing it.

 

in the car...haven`t driven it yet

 

i may be overly cautious. but i think i would make a plate to go on the lower=side of the strut tower. just to give it a little more resistance to pulling through the sheetmetal.

 

Yea, your right on with that one..I`ve already trimmed the plate and put it under the fender instead of above. I have a set of the art morrison`s and they go on top of the fender just like teh way I had it. still some bugs to work out

 

i probably would have done both , and 'sandwitched' the sheetmetal on the towers.

 

With the strut mount on the top that does sandwich it. I drove it and everything seems to be really responsive and tight feeling..not as many problems as I thought I`d have

 

kewl, so we were thinking along the same lines. i thought you mean you had moved the whole mount so it mounted on the bottom side. i rear-read, and we were indeed saying the same thing.

 

huh, considering that the strut pivots when you steer, you'd expect to need some kind of bearing on one end or the other. Do the other setups out there have something?

 

it sounded to me like that was just a pearch, the stock strut mount is still being used, along with the spring pearch he made. but I could be wrong.

 

yea, but the strut body that the spring seat/adjuster usually threads onto rotates with the spindle, so one end or the other has to be free to rotate also, or you'll get some binding and eventually chew up the seats, adjuster or threads.

(I could be missing something since I've never messed with front coilovers)

 

ahh, you are talking about the spring, yes it does look like it would bind or gind againt the seat when he turns.

of course, there very well could be bearings in the lower spring pearch, that would allow for free rotation.

 

Yea, there is a torrignton bearing that goes on the bottom so the spring can stay stationary, problem is that the when the strut turns it does not turn on it`s own axis if you get what I mean..it turns and kinda leans foward on lefts and toward the back on rights. The solution is to run the bearing on the top so the spring moves with the strut. To be honest I`m having second thoughts with the coil over deal, my car having the weight of a big block w/ iron heads seems to just kill these little 2 5/8 diameter springs, I`ve tried enough poundages to find out this isn`t going to work on the street, at least in a place where the state tree is a orange barrel Don`t get me wrong it`s really a nice feel (response) with the coil overs but by the time I get a spring strong enough to handle the mogals they call roads around here well, I might as well just make a solid suspension. I`m planning on changing out this k member and coil over set up as soon as my new one arrives. Vernon at pro fab is ready to release a new coil over kit that will solve all of the problems most have been having...I for one can`t wait for the new spring plate to come out....I`m going to miss all the room that the coil over set up frees up but I`ve got to be able to drive it without worrying about a strut coming thru the hood.

 

Why didn't you just use the Art Morrison spring mounts?

 

I have a set of those and they utilize a 3 inch spring, which I don`t have so I patterned these plates off of the AM`s . They don`t have a bearing for the spring

 

Well, I know it`s been a while But, I have revised the plate..(Vernon House hasn`t released anything as of yet) I went and cut off the tube that centered the spring, opened up the hole to the size of the inner diameter of the spring (2 5/8) so the strut could travel past the plate if needed...and yes it is needed. The spring now sits on the 1/4 plate but the strut can travel thru it on a large bump. The spring is now retained in position by small "L" brackets circling the outer diameter made from 1/2 angle iron. The brackets don`t hold the spring but just keep it from moving around. Even after a short test drive the smile is still on my face! Quiet as stock and low as I wannna put it without bottoming out the struts!
BTW I had to use a three point eldy strut tower brace to sturdy it all up...this brace made a world of difference in the "feel" of the car, sloppiness is all gone.

 

Pic please!