05-14-2008, 11:09 PM
I made coilovers borrowing from a crazy good national level MR2 autoxer's design. Here's some thoughts and pics:
![[Image: 2493150297_92d905b795.jpg]](http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2141/2493150297_92d905b795.jpg)
I used 8in springs which are too long for a MK2. I have the collar almost wound all the way down. As she sits, it's at the same ride height as TRD springs with approximatedly the same amount suspension travel. I should have just bitten the bullet and sprung for some Koni race inserts and sectioned the strut shells. I only have 1.4inches of shock travel. You also need a 20MM spacer to clear the coilover which then necessitates you rolling your fender to have all of your bits make nice.
There were a few positives. First I bought these:
![[Image: 2493971654_4a68fc08ab.jpg]](http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2385/2493971654_4a68fc08ab.jpg)
They're top hats with a recess machined into them which allows for a needle bearing to ride inside. This helps minimize wear and steering effort on the front struts and on the rear, it helped transfer the load to the camber plate body as opposed to the spherical bearing. It also gave me back a .4 in of travel as opposed to a conical hat.
![[Image: 2493151459_2e71438bb2.jpg]](http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2240/2493151459_2e71438bb2.jpg)
Lastly, I made some endlinks for the coilovers. This worked out pretty well and was pretty straight forward. Here's a pic of my new front endlink next to the stock rear endlink. I was glad to be able to minimize the length while adding some girth to the endlink. For folks that don't know, the stock front endlink is another 3 inches longer than the rears.
![[Image: 2493151109_9f24a40142.jpg]](http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2263/2493151109_9f24a40142.jpg)
Lastly, the coilover project allowed me to up my springs rates from a 168in/lb/308In/lb to 250F/450R. I'll test drive the thing this weekend and see how things shake out.
I used 8in springs which are too long for a MK2. I have the collar almost wound all the way down. As she sits, it's at the same ride height as TRD springs with approximatedly the same amount suspension travel. I should have just bitten the bullet and sprung for some Koni race inserts and sectioned the strut shells. I only have 1.4inches of shock travel. You also need a 20MM spacer to clear the coilover which then necessitates you rolling your fender to have all of your bits make nice.
There were a few positives. First I bought these:
They're top hats with a recess machined into them which allows for a needle bearing to ride inside. This helps minimize wear and steering effort on the front struts and on the rear, it helped transfer the load to the camber plate body as opposed to the spherical bearing. It also gave me back a .4 in of travel as opposed to a conical hat.
Lastly, I made some endlinks for the coilovers. This worked out pretty well and was pretty straight forward. Here's a pic of my new front endlink next to the stock rear endlink. I was glad to be able to minimize the length while adding some girth to the endlink. For folks that don't know, the stock front endlink is another 3 inches longer than the rears.
Lastly, the coilover project allowed me to up my springs rates from a 168in/lb/308In/lb to 250F/450R. I'll test drive the thing this weekend and see how things shake out.
Two feet.