Spring/shock setup to strut conversion?

[soab]

Initial mock ups look pretty good. I really hope I can get those ebay sleeves soon. If I know what your talking about those coilovers went into the origional spring location but you also had to build a custom strut tower. These are goin in the shock location.

[jonnytruant]

Oh lord I forgot bout those wheels haha, what are the wheels on the vert? And I've heard a bunch of different stuff bout what I need for t5 but Ima prob end up with acanbus cable sooner or later, but I know I can atleast flash my ecu load new maps and do basic stuff with the bdm cable.

Im going to take some measurements today and look at the top mount which I am worried about and see if we can even fit them, then I am going to take some pictures and measurements and send them to afco so we can discuss some different ideas. I am going to have a set pro around summer made for me and if all goes well I am going to stir intrest and see if I could get a group buy, but I am trying to keep it hush hush because I know the saab community and I would rather have done all the leg work and run them before I go telling people "Im making COILOVERS!!! want in??????"

So well see how it goes. The upper mount being too close to the inner fender is what I am really worried about though.

wheels are Riken STX NOS old school goodness. I have a buddy that has put air ride on his spg and was going to have him do mine but I think I would rather have a coilover setup.

I know that it has been done before, Luke at Saabrally told me he could do it but it would cost a couple grand... hopefully afco will be able to do it a bit cheaper.

[soab]

not to be a downer but you need a Canusb for live tuning!

Also I am interested in this coil-over conversion as well. for this


and this



Would save me a lot of headaches down the road. any info on discussions with afco?

Oh lord I forgot bout those wheels haha, what are the wheels on the vert? And I've heard a bunch of different stuff bout what I need for t5 but Ima prob end up with acanbus cable sooner or later, but I know I can atleast flash my ecu load new maps and do basic stuff with the bdm cable.

Im going to take some measurements today and look at the top mount which I am worried about and see if we can even fit them, then I am going to take some pictures and measurements and send them to afco so we can discuss some different ideas. I am going to have a set pro around summer made for me and if all goes well I am going to stir intrest and see if I could get a group buy, but I am trying to keep it hush hush because I know the saab community and I would rather have done all the leg work and run them before I go telling people "Im making COILOVERS!!! want in??????"

So well see how it goes. The upper mount being too close to the inner fender is what I am really worried about though.

[jonnytruant]

yeah I couldn't get the original or turbo wiring harness's to work.. so I ended up putting a full T5 harness in from a 1996 9k and I'd never done wiring before so it took FOREVER.. but hell now that my buddie has a bdm cable we can do live tunes and I now have one system controlling spark fuel and turbo instead a different system for each so im stoked!!!

not to be a downer but you need a Canusb for live tuning!

Also I am interested in this coil-over conversion as well. for this


and this



Would save me a lot of headaches down the road. any info on discussions with afco?

[soab]

yeah I couldn't get the original or turbo wiring harness's to work.. so I ended up putting a full T5 harness in from a 1996 9k and I'd never done wiring before so it took FOREVER.. but hell now that my buddie has a bdm cable we can do live tunes and I now have one system controlling spark fuel and turbo instead a different system for each so im stoked!!!

[Daviticus]

Dude, nice swap. I bet the wiring was a nightmare ...

Afco is great for custom stuff. Prices are pretty good too.

[soab]

And to be a whore cause I am super extra excited! Took her for her first drive since diving into this damn engine swap like 8 or 9 months ago!!


Also talked to Afco today and they are super down with helpin me out and have been the most helpful so far so this should be happening this summer! Got a LOT of maintnence and repairs ahead still but who says I cant do some upgrades while im at it :P

[soab]

The 2" seems right. I'd measure the shock you're putting it on to be sure it's not more than 2" in diameter. If the supplier were marketing the collar "for 2-inch applications" then the actual sizing may be different for an interference fit.

So I had the chance to take a look at the suspension on a 900 at a junkyard yesterday - I see exactly what's going on now. The stock spring is pretty beefy, I didn't have any tools for measurement or comparison but it looks like a 7" spring would fit well with little effort. The bumpstop is the biggest hurdle, you'll definitely have to trim it quite a bit, if not completely remove it.

I still think you'd be able to get a 2.5" ID spring around the strut without hitting the upper control arm.

Yup thats the plan, the stock spring is like 10in compressed and like 14in uncompressed.. its a bitch to get out. 8 and 3/4" spring will be low, 7 inch spring would be slammed on its balls.

Ive got a 2" split collar on the way and trying to track down a set of threaded collars/springs to mock up. The spring should clear but I have to turn one of the uca bolts the other way. The only issue I see running into is the upper perch. I dont know how much space I have up there yet or what I could do in the way of spacers.

[Daviticus]

The 2" seems right. I'd measure the shock you're putting it on to be sure it's not more than 2" in diameter. If the supplier were marketing the collar "for 2-inch applications" then the actual sizing may be different for an interference fit.

So I had the chance to take a look at the suspension on a 900 at a junkyard yesterday - I see exactly what's going on now. The stock spring is pretty beefy, I didn't have any tools for measurement or comparison but it looks like a 7" spring would fit well with little effort. The bumpstop is the biggest hurdle, you'll definitely have to trim it quite a bit, if not completely remove it.

I still think you'd be able to get a 2.5" ID spring around the strut without hitting the upper control arm.

[soab]

For the split collar would I want a 2" ID collar for a 2" shock or would I want like a 1 and 15/16" ID collar for a 2" shock?

[Daviticus]

Yessir, you've got it right.

[soab]

So long as you have a perch for the coil sleeve to sit on, yes. Some companies [I think Ground Control made them?] have a shock "clamp" that fits around the shock casing, and when you tighten it enough it acts as a perch for the coil sleeve to rest on.

This is a perfect example - TechnoToyTuning's rear coilover set for AE86-chassis Corollas. The setup is based off an adjustable KYB AGX shock, to which they add the black machined perch clamp [far left, just to the right of the adjustment knob], and the threaded coil sleeve rests on that. They have a custom-machined top hat that fits in the shock tower of the Corolla, and everything bolts on simply and easily.



If you can manage to fit an assembly like that in your car, you'd be set. I hope that all made sense, I've got everything lined up perfectly in my head, I'd just need to ham-fist around with one for a bit in person to know exactly what mods to make or what to build. Eventually I'd like to run my own business building custom suspensions and components for all kinds of cars [like your Saab, or my Starion, which almost nobody makes parts for anymore], to get the ultimate in lowness, track cars, or off-road stuff.

Thanks man! Move to VA, Im down :P I haven't heard of the clamp perches, have to look into that! And to understand how that works The top of the shock perch goes in between those top two bushings between the top hat and the top bolt/washer?

[Daviticus]

So long as you have a perch for the coil sleeve to sit on, yes. Some companies [I think Ground Control made them?] have a shock "clamp" that fits around the shock casing, and when you tighten it enough it acts as a perch for the coil sleeve to rest on.

This is a perfect example - TechnoToyTuning's rear coilover set for AE86-chassis Corollas. The setup is based off an adjustable KYB AGX shock, to which they add the black machined perch clamp [far left, just to the right of the adjustment knob], and the threaded coil sleeve rests on that. They have a custom-machined top hat that fits in the shock tower of the Corolla, and everything bolts on simply and easily.



If you can manage to fit an assembly like that in your car, you'd be set. I hope that all made sense, I've got everything lined up perfectly in my head, I'd just need to ham-fist around with one for a bit in person to know exactly what mods to make or what to build. Eventually I'd like to run my own business building custom suspensions and components for all kinds of cars [like your Saab, or my Starion, which almost nobody makes parts for anymore], to get the ultimate in lowness, track cars, or off-road stuff.

[soab]

I wanna see this sky blue classic!!! I think the hardest part would actually be the upper perch, there is a big hole that the rubber upper spring seat/bump stop literally sits around. The other thing Is a few guys are running adjustable springs but the perches were rubbing against the spring, I gess because of the design of the suspension. I guess I am going to get those 5.5in id springs and this summer try and do a coilover mockup.

So do I understand correctly that a universal threaded spring perch can only be put on a metal tubed shock?

[Daviticus]

I see a few of the newer ones, but a majority are the old bricks like yours. I'm in Utah, there's a whole bunch of random shit out here. Actually in my mother's neighborhood there's a crazy Norwegian guy with a blonde afro that drives a slammed sky blue 900 turbo with a huge chromed-out FMIC. Takes forever to spool and he surges it everywhere, no idea if it's fast but it does cool burnouts.

All that aside though, I think if you can build a perch to bolt to where your stock perch goes, you can run a 2.5" ID spring, those are very commonly found in 7" lengths, and in just about any rate. You may even be able to get one of those springs to barely clear the suspension arms if you put it over the stock shock.