Coilover conversion on a budget

[H8NSKPAUL]

Hi guys,
I thought you may be interested to learn how to convert a standard S12 suspension leg into a coilover setup. Well I was lucky enough to have bought a pair of standard legs from '30psi' (thanks Martin) on this fantastic community for £50.
They were in fine condition and was greatful for it (as these are like hen's teeth now!). I had the task of stripping the old springs off first which requires spring clamps and a bit of know how to avoid injury.



leaving just the leg and shocker assembly to strip down which is a pig of a messy job (I strongly recommend you do this over a large tray because this oil goes everywhere...I was covered in the blooming stuff)



This is what the inserts look like (they look innocent don't they!)



Now for the nice bit......I just love stuff coming in the post!!
I bought some 2 1/4" coilover converters from Rally Design for £57 delivered which consist of a threaded tube in mild steel with a bottom spring seat and locking ring and a top spring seating cap all in aluminium. Please note that a standard leg is 2" diameter (50.8mm) so the sets available from Demon Tweeks don't fit due to being 50mm!
Also I bought a set of 1000 Lb pressure 5" long 2 1/4" internal diameter springs and these did come from Demon tweeks at a cost of £67 delivered, this was because Rally design only go up to 600Lb springs. We don't want any body roll for drifting so that's what we went for. ( the guy said why don't you just put in solid bars!!! )



Next was to cut the standard bottom caps off with a disc cutter, be careful not to go to deep with your cutting as you want to keep the integrety of the leg sound/leak proof.



Next grind the weld off using a fine sanding disc and take your time to minimise damage to the leg, then I used a scotch brite disc(a wire wheel would do the trick too) to buff the paint off in the area the tube will cover as it is a tight fit.



I hammered the sleave on with a rubber hammer to ensure no damage to the threads letting it sit very slightly lower than the top of the leg tube.



Next soak the thread in anti spatter spray, and carefully weld on the bottom edge only. Making sure that you don't burn through the tube into the oil resevoir. There is no need to weld the top as there are threads both inside and out now, which you need to be un-harmed to allow the shock assembly to be replaced and for the coilover adjuster rings to start ok.



Now you are ready to assemble the shock replacing with fresh extra heavy duty fork oil(for motorbikes normally!) and re-build the leg. Lob it on the car Adjust the ride height equal number of revolutions and thats it, job well done all for a fraction of the cost of someone like GAZ shocks to convert them (I was quoted £650!!)
Now we have got the car ready for it's first outing which will be soon and the car has been completed under budget of £1000. So I'm very happy.
Hans and Paul.

[s13eater]

mine were rally design too.

[H8NSKPAUL]

Ooohhh.... adjustable top mounts...nice!!
Future project maybe..me thinks DIY .
Hans.

[s13eater]

i know, they are not worth £160 imho, if they was'nt fitted then i'd lend them to be copied, i don't think they would be that hard realy, i bet you could sell a few sets at the right price.

[PukkaSilvia]

Well done for doing the how to. It will be useful to quite a few people i should imagine.

[Oscar]

i likey! Good job

[Montizuma]

Hey guys I've just finished welding on the selves and realised I didn't check how much oil had come out of the buggers, so does anyone know how much I need to add also if motorbike fork oil or ATF is better? Cheers Dan

Edit* ok so they seem to take 450ml of oil I went for fork oil as that's all I could get, but I have ran into a problem where the rally desighn top plate doesn't fit over the strut..... So I can drill them out but do I go to the thread width of 12mil or to the next step up of 20 mil ? Cheers Dan

So basically use 450 ml of fork oil in each strut and you will need to get the top hats from rally design and drill them out to 20 mm or buy them from techno toy tuning as they are 20 mm allready . Cheers dan