Coilovers on an SVO

[svony]

Anyone here using coilovers? I've been considering switching to front coilovers on my SVO but I'm not sure what to look for in regards to spring rate, brand, etc.

I first thought of making the switch after installing new Konis and BBK lowering springs up front, the car is now lower in the front than the rear and with 17" wheels the tires are now in the wheel arch (although there is no rubbing), oddly enough the car doesn't feel or ride like it's lowered. Besides the ride height issue, I'm also concern about my Spearco intercooler getting damaged.

Thanks

[svobud]

I've been considering it as well Wes ... but, sorry I can't tell you who, what, when, how, etc ...

I have been looking at Maximum Motorsports as they seem to be the more recommended source from the masses.

[svony]

I was also thinking http://www.dndmotorsports.com/

[svobud]

I've seen their stuff, but I got some pretty negative feedback from someone I personally know that bought one of their K-members. Fitment was an issue.

If you can stand to wade through some of the BS and go straight to the suspension tech area - http://corner-carvers.com/forums/index.php?s= this website can offer some good opinions on things. I would suggest using the SEARCH feature and just read. They don't take too kindly to newbies asking questions. Just an observation.

I did a search for "coil over svo" and came up with some interesting ones. There are some guys there who have done the mod on a SVO .. so it makes for good info from someone with the personal experience.

[cobra0478]

I bought a set of struts from someone on this site,can't remember who right now,I believe he was running Grigs coil overs on the shocks I bpught .
I will see if I can find the name of the person and email him if he dosen't coment on your question.
Don

[runamuk86]

coilover

i have coilovers on my '84 svo. they work quite well. nice to adjust the heigth. i had to play with them a little to get the front end up though. they sat way to low to begin with. i ended up spacing the threaded part up with a piece of exhaust pipe. you do have to modify the top to assemble them. i had to grind a little off to make it work but i think it was worth the work.i think they were the maximum motorsports with the allen head lock-not the two piece lock.

[svony]

Just to update everyone, there been a slight change of direction regarding my earlier ? about a coil over kit for my SVO.

A friend of mine is parting out his '89 LX and the car has a quite a bit of suspension goodies... D&D K-member and A-arms, bumpsteer tie rod ends, as mentioned before, Cobra brake system with coilovers, caster/camber plates and KYB AGX struts (my newly aquired Koni struts will be up for sale soon, about 200mi. on them). I will be taking everything off his car except for the K-member and A-arms.

Can some help me figure out what control arms I will need to install these peices on the SVO? Could I just use the ones that come with the D&D K-members? The spindles and brakes are from a '99 Cobra (I read somewhere that the spindles are longer than the earlier cars and will kick the wheels more).

Thanks

[svobud]

Wes,

just thinking off the top of my head, but wouldn't you need SN-95 length control arms?

[svony]

Bud, I initially thought that was what I would be using but after reading this tread... http://corner-carvers.com/forums/sho...?threadid=7037

I now have my doubts, I believe the biggest issue is the fact that I'm using the spindles off a '99 car and not an earlier model. There is supposed to be a quarter of an inch difference in arm lenght and an unspecified difference in spindle lenght between the two.

Wes

[svobud]

have you done a search on that site to see if anyone has previously discussed the differences between the 99-up stuff v. 96-98 SN95 spindles? I don't know of any if they exist. But, I'm not really too current on the newer stuf anyway. My last newer Mustang was a 94 Cobra ... and I have yet to modify a SVO with newer hardware. There's alot of guys there with time/money/experience that could help though. Some of them start talking and my brain shorts out trying to read and follow it .

[svony]

That thread I mentioned actually describes the differences and has a couple of CAD drawings of the spindles but like you said when those guys start with their technical lingo I get lost.

[CP86SVO]

svony,

That was the thread I started in corner-carvers. Basically, what it said was that the spindles do have a different suspension geometry than a SVO spindle. The big difference between the 94/95 SN95 spindle and the later model SN95 spindle is a bit wider track in the front with the later SN95 spindle, perhaps 5 mm or so. This could be a problem, depending on the wheels you would be using as far as wheel to fender clearance goes. Another big difference is that the later 96+ SN95 spindles were designed for the modular motors' front crossmember, since it's a bit lower than a fox or windsor engined SN95; the end result is that the steering arm (where the tie rod attaches) is straight rather than curved up. This may or may not be a problem, depending on how much your car is lowered and/or how much caster you have, as the tie rod may actually point downward instead of straight i.e. the tie rod is in the wrong place. You may need to use a combination of offset rack bushings upside down, Steeda X2 ball joints, lots of caster and a bumpsteer kit to correct for this.

As for what front control arms to use; if you are keeping the stock SVO front crossmember, use the SN95 length arms.

What I'm going to try in the next few months is 99 SN95 spindles, SN95 arms with a Baer Racing 12 inch Sport front brake kit. I'll keep you posted...

HTH WS

[svobud]

Originally posted by CP86SVO


As for what front control arms to use; if you are keeping the stock SVO front crossmember, use the SN95 length arms.

Wes noted he was going to use a D&D K Member, but I would interested in what you end up with CP86SVO. I'm going to replacing my stock front suspension here very soon .. and want to buy everything I need *once* instead of buying the wrong part twice (if that makes sense). It would help greatly if we had a formula list of parts needed ... ya know, 'what to use with stock SVO K-member and what to use if you decided to use an aftermaket K-member', and so on ..

I thought of using some of MM's LCAs on my stock K-member - in conjunction with their front Coil Over kit. Will that work or do I need to modify anything? Modifying new parts to fit is not something I want to get in to .. if you know what I mean.

so - basicly, we want the 94-95 earlier parts, correct? Are all the SN95 LCAs the same? Just the spindles differ?

[8T6 SVO]

Baer 12" Brakes

originally posted by CP86SVO:

What I'm going to try in the next few months is 99 SN95 spindles, SN95 arms with a Baer Racing 12 inch Sport front brake kit. I'll keep you posted...

Won't these front brakes work with the stock SVO rims also?

[lonchair]

I've been looking ai switchimg over to SN94 stuff too. From what I've been able to find out (so far), there is no difference in the SN95 stock lower control arms. The spindle and brakes are where the differences are.

As for lower control arm choices, one that I'm concidering is having new ball joints put in a stock SVO arm and then having a SN95 spindle reamed and sleaved to fit the SVO ball joint. This will leave you with your stock track width. If you switch to the SN95 control arms and keep the SVO K Member, you will be decreasing the track width by about .25" on each side for a total of about .5". This can be helpfull if you plan on running large wheels.

I found quite abit searching the cornercarver website and this site http://sn95brakes.cjb.net/ is realy helpful for info on the differences in SN95 brakes.