Ok... this is going to be somewhat long...
I recently purchased a coilover kit from TCK (who has AWESOME customer service btw). Since they are just beginning to enter the E30 scene, they decided to use some parts from IE which they thought were good enough quality to include with their kits. My kit consists of:
Koni SA front short-shocks
Koni DA rear shocks
Vogtland VVS 60mm 500lb/in front springs
Vogtland VVS 500lb/in rear springs (aka 750lb/in)
IE front race camber plates
IE coilover kit (threaded sleeves/etc)
Solid monoball RSMs
I'm going to ask TCK the same questions, but I wanted to get a second opinion here for anyone who can visualize what I want to do. My questions are mainly regarding the strut housing and how to modify it to get the most from my setup and still be able to use large wheels.
So, as most of you know, you need to remove the stock spring perch. I have done this with a sawzall (which worked great i'd like to add). Now, as it is, my wheels (16x8 with 20mm offset) will probably be pretty close to the strut housing and just barely clear the old spring perch. In order to retain these close but acceptable dimensions, I need to ensure that the new coilover spring perch does not go lower than the old spring perch (and thus hit the tires). Since my new shocks are a full 4 inches shorter than the old shocks, I theoretically need to remove 4 inches of strut tubing in order to have the shock sit in the tube the same way it did as stock. Unfortunately, there's only 2-3" of tube that I can cut above the stock spring perch (which would maintain the original location of the spring perch) to accomplish this. If I remove the extra 1-2" below the stock perch, that would physically locate the new spring perch much lower and it *could* introduce tire clearance issues.
Another issue (which may not really be an issue) is that since the new shocks are 4" shorter (but extend about 1" farther than stock), i'll be loosing approximately 3" of shock travel at the fully-extended end. Is this something I should be concerned about, or is this area of the shock rarely used in actual driving?
I *think* the best solution might be to cut the strut tubing above the the perch (lets say I can get 2" out of that), then install a spacer at the bottom of the tube (another 2") to makeup the 4" difference in shock sizing. This way, I don't have to worry about locating my new spring perch too low, and I can still gain 2" of extra shock travel to prevent hitting the bumpstop.
Am I looking at this wrong? Are there any other ideas/solutions out there? Thanks for reading!
I recently purchased a coilover kit from TCK (who has AWESOME customer service btw). Since they are just beginning to enter the E30 scene, they decided to use some parts from IE which they thought were good enough quality to include with their kits. My kit consists of:
Koni SA front short-shocks
Koni DA rear shocks
Vogtland VVS 60mm 500lb/in front springs
Vogtland VVS 500lb/in rear springs (aka 750lb/in)
IE front race camber plates
IE coilover kit (threaded sleeves/etc)
Solid monoball RSMs
I'm going to ask TCK the same questions, but I wanted to get a second opinion here for anyone who can visualize what I want to do. My questions are mainly regarding the strut housing and how to modify it to get the most from my setup and still be able to use large wheels.
So, as most of you know, you need to remove the stock spring perch. I have done this with a sawzall (which worked great i'd like to add). Now, as it is, my wheels (16x8 with 20mm offset) will probably be pretty close to the strut housing and just barely clear the old spring perch. In order to retain these close but acceptable dimensions, I need to ensure that the new coilover spring perch does not go lower than the old spring perch (and thus hit the tires). Since my new shocks are a full 4 inches shorter than the old shocks, I theoretically need to remove 4 inches of strut tubing in order to have the shock sit in the tube the same way it did as stock. Unfortunately, there's only 2-3" of tube that I can cut above the stock spring perch (which would maintain the original location of the spring perch) to accomplish this. If I remove the extra 1-2" below the stock perch, that would physically locate the new spring perch much lower and it *could* introduce tire clearance issues.
Another issue (which may not really be an issue) is that since the new shocks are 4" shorter (but extend about 1" farther than stock), i'll be loosing approximately 3" of shock travel at the fully-extended end. Is this something I should be concerned about, or is this area of the shock rarely used in actual driving?
I *think* the best solution might be to cut the strut tubing above the the perch (lets say I can get 2" out of that), then install a spacer at the bottom of the tube (another 2") to makeup the 4" difference in shock sizing. This way, I don't have to worry about locating my new spring perch too low, and I can still gain 2" of extra shock travel to prevent hitting the bumpstop.
Am I looking at this wrong? Are there any other ideas/solutions out there? Thanks for reading!
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