where in the U.S.A to buy parts four coil overs

[H2OSB]

Honestly, that's what I figured as well...The struts I made have a Ground Control coil over kit that's approximately 10 years old and aluminum, and they look brand new. Course, I'm not certain exactly how much road time they've had.

[H2OSB]

Bored, looking through this thread, I thought I'd do a follow up of my last post.

I remade my struts using 944 strut housings (vs the Rabbit GTI housings I had before). Turns out 944 housings and stock 1303 housings are IDENTICAL except the top hole of the 944 housing is slotted. 100% certain of this as I layed them side by side. Contrary to an old argument the springs are the same diameter. I re-used the same ground control coil over kit I've had since about 2001.

I decided to remake the struts mainly because I felt the suspension sat too low with the combo of 2.5 inch lowering from the coil overs and about another .5 inch from the drop spindle effect caused by the 944 spindles I'm using.

With my GTI housings, I ground off everything until they were just tubes, then had a local race chassis designer create and weld on lower spring perches to support the threaded sleeve. Nothing revolutionary. Not the cheapest way to go either.

Even though I discovered 1303 and 944 housings are the same, since I now HAD the 944 housings, I decided to use for the extra camber adjustment afforded by the slotted top hole.

The way the GTI strut is shorter than a 1303 strut is by way of 1.25 inches shorter housing and 1.25 inches shorter insert rod. I didn't want to lose ALL of my lowering so i had a machinist friend make a spacer for the Rabbit insert to sit on (basically convex on the bottom and concave on the top). So I got the 1.25 inches back from the housing, but kept the 1.25 inches from the insert. Also, I saved a bundle by keeping the factory lower spring perch and had the same machinist make a bushing to fit betwixt the coil over sleeve and the strut body. All of the weight is supported by the factory spring perch. He also made a ring for the top. Both bushings keep the sleeve from rattling around. I also slipped an o-ring down around housing to help.

I'm still running 120# springs, but i swapped the 12 inch Eibach spings for the 10 inch Summit Racings springs from my son's car's coil overs. Turned out to be a better fit, lengthwise for both cars. BTW, both cars use 2.5 inch I.D. springs.

That's about it.

[Wally]

Funny how springs are rated: I use 400lbs springs from AVO (UK) on the front (tried 350lbs, but the 400 are better for me).
Somehow I don't think yours are 3 times weaker then mine, so there must be some sort of different measururing method?
Anybody know how this really works? Is it # lbs per inch depression? Or??

[flat]

Originally Posted by Wally

? Is it # lbs per inch depression? Or??

That's how they are measured and marketed in North America. ie 80lb/in means it will take 80 pounds of force to depress it an inch. I reverse engineer the rate this way, add a fixed weight and measure the compression. I had cobbled together my front setup 15 years ago using honda CRX rear coils...I will take them apart and measure this fall. I'm looking for a tough more stiffness.

Wally, I'm curious on what your 400# springs are when we are talking apples to apples.
Cheers, Lanner

[H2OSB]

Yeah, I've often wondered about that. I will say this...the optional yellow springs Topline sells are 80 lbs/in. The red ones that come with Maxx struts are 73 lbs/in. If I had 400 lbs/in by my standard they would be nearly solid.

H2OSB

[H2OSB]

Oh, I'm running rear 944 torsion bars (aka, T3 Squareback bars).

Along these same lines, I have a buddy with a 1302 he autoXs. He runs 170# springs up front and 28mm torsion bars. Says it rides nice, but is pretty firm. Wally, what sway bars are you running?

H2OSB

[Wally]

I think I have a 23mm sway bar up front and I sometimes use a 24mm whiteline rear swaybar, but if I don't use it (like atm), I hardly feel a difference...so for now I have removed that 18 lbs weight for now
Rear are 550lbs springs (no torsion) at the moment.

[H2OSB]

With that much spring rate, you can probably do without the sway bar and maintain a bit of compliance. Where do you get whiteline parts for a 1303? I thought they stopped selling parts for Supers. Is your 23mm front bar that new Kerscher/CSP bar?

H2OSB

[Wally]

I question it is 'that much spring rate': as we agreed before, we still don't know how to compare rates, so maybe my springs aren't that stiff at all? FYI: My rear springs are the same-ish as 944-Cup springs when converted to coil-over only as per the website of Paragon Products. And those cars don;t have an engine in the rear...
So imo, my springs are relatively mild still for a circuit car, but thats just my opinion ;-)

Originally Posted by H2OSB

Where do you get whiteline parts for a 1303? I thought they stopped selling parts for Supers. Is your 23mm front bar that new Kerscher/CSP bar?

H2OSB

At Whiteline themselves but I got it probably before they stopped selling parts for supers as you mention?. as I didn't know they stopped selling.