My suspension dilemma is somewhat solved.

[Wangan]

well I talked to an autocrosser. He gave me two options.

1. Go on ebay and get a set of honda accord coilovers or Universal coilovers(their usually going for $60-80 shipped.lol) designed for a heavy car. He will then modify it to fit my struts. He has done this previously on a corolla using a honda accord ebay coilover kit and the car handles like a dream. He said what it is, is that toyota uses a thicker strut rod so you just have to wided the center of the coilover hats to accept a wider strut rod and then blamo custom coilovers for any car out there. He also recommend I go with firmer struts. I'll probably pick up some tockico inserts and get my KYB strut cut open and threaded so I can screw the tockico insert into it. Or I could find other adjustable inserts that are similar in size to the tokico and make it work. This would be the cheap route.

2. The expensive route. Call ground control and have them make me a custom application. Costing about $400 then I'd still have to go with a strut setup as mentioned in option one.

Either way I can get a desired spring rate with whichever coilover I choose to use. What I'll really get screwed on is what to do for better dampening from the struts. He recommended that I hold of on doing sway bars until after redoing to suspension though. Give me another 3-4 months and I'll atleast have the coilovers on the car. Untill then I'm researching what companies to go to for better dampening. I was told to talk to AMR engineering as they do custom struts for many applications. Time will tell but either way I'm excited and can't wait to do the suspension over.

[TBayToyotaBoy]

Nice, keep us posted as you figure out what you wanna do. I'm interested, as I just bought Monroe OEM replacement struts and I'm keeping the original springs...next time I'd like something more like what you're doing (I've already spent the cash so I'm going to use the Monroes for now).

[Tommy]

why dont you just go buy the shit for a 87-89 celica and be done with it? much easier than and safer than modifiying some pos accord universal kit.

[monito]

Originally Posted by TBayToyotaBoy

Nice, keep us posted as you figure out what you wanna do. I'm interested, as I just bought Monroe OEM replacement struts and I'm keeping the original springs...next time I'd like something more like what you're doing (I've already spent the cash so I'm going to use the Monroes for now).

How does your ride feel w/ updated struts and original springs? I pondered upgrading my rsb to the Whiteline RSB, but after lookin at my original struts, i think struts should be a priority.
Do the springs need to be updated when the struts get updated? or will new struts be fine?

[nogard]

I was going to say the same thing Tommy did. Just get some '86-'89 celica suspension parts. I had an '88 celica and I know the front struts had cartridges. I also would think a camry would weigh a little more than a celica so the springs would work too. It would the ride would feel softer having more weight on the springs and it would sit a little lower than they would on the celica. Just a thought to your endless quest!

[marksktr]

i dont know how many times this has been said already in this post, but ill say it now..

do not buy ebay coil-overs

i think your life is worth far more than the extra money you would spend to get upgraded struts.

ive seen a couple of kids with ebay coilovers on theyre accords and such, and it looks like they are driving a car from a cartoon, bouncing every which way after they roll over the tiniest rock.

they are made of crappy materials with springs from who knows where...

it should be somewhat of a hint when a fulll coil-over set costs 2 or 3 times less of that of a REAL coilover set..

id say go with the strut option tho...

-mark

p.s. - who is this "auto-crosser" using ebay parts?

[nogard]

The last post reminded me. I once made the mistake of buying a set of coilovers for my tercel. They rode like crap, and didn't fit right out of the box, I had to do some moding. They really sucked, never again would I buy a set like that. I ended up cutting the springs on the car, I know this isn't the best either. But to make a point the car rode much better with cut getto springs that it did with the eBay coilovers. It was like the springs in the coilover kit where way to stiff. This can be summed up in one word: JUNK!

[Wangan]

Originally Posted by Tommy

why dont you just go buy the shit for a 87-89 celica and be done with it? much easier than and safer than modifiying some pos accord universal kit.

More than likely when I call ground control the sleeves they'll use for me will be from an 87-89 celica. However stiffer spring rates as my car is heavier obviously. Any how you put it I'm going to be doing a custom setup. But I'll pay more and have GC do it for me.

[Wangan]

Originally Posted by nogard

I was going to say the same thing Tommy did. Just get some '86-'89 celica suspension parts. I had an '88 celica and I know the front struts had cartridges. I also would think a camry would weigh a little more than a celica so the springs would work too. It would the ride would feel softer having more weight on the springs and it would sit a little lower than they would on the celica. Just a thought to your endless quest!

that's the thing I don't want a softer ride. The B+G springs are too soft for me as it sits now. On top of that I want the car lower and I'm not going to cut the springs so a custom coilover setup will be the win for me. And I'm not going with ebay stuff. I just put the information there if people on here wanted to do it and didn't want to spend a ton.

[Wangan]

Originally Posted by marksktr

i dont know how many times this has been said already in this post, but ill say it now..

do not buy ebay coil-overs

i think your life is worth far more than the extra money you would spend to get upgraded struts.

ive seen a couple of kids with ebay coilovers on theyre accords and such, and it looks like they are driving a car from a cartoon, bouncing every which way after they roll over the tiniest rock.

they are made of crappy materials with springs from who knows where...

it should be somewhat of a hint when a fulll coil-over set costs 2 or 3 times less of that of a REAL coilover set..

id say go with the strut option tho...

-mark

p.s. - who is this "auto-crosser" using ebay parts?

This autocrosser is an xA driver with suspension parts up the wazoo and quite a few decent lap times under his belt at the courses down here. He knows his stuff IMO. Also he told me the reason that ebay coilovers get a bad rap is because people don't run good struts with them. He said all the ebay coilovers come with extremely stiff springs. So in his words. "stiff springs and crappy struts make a car bounce." I'll be doing the struts over along with a custom coilover kit. I shouldn't have anything to worry about.

[Wangan]

Originally Posted by nogard

The last post reminded me. I once made the mistake of buying a set of coilovers for my tercel. They rode like crap, and didn't fit right out of the box, I had to do some moding. They really sucked, never again would I buy a set like that. I ended up cutting the springs on the car, I know this isn't the best either. But to make a point the car rode much better with cut getto springs that it did with the eBay coilovers. It was like the springs in the coilover kit where way to stiff. This can be summed up in one word: JUNK!

as said before. What type of struts did you have?

[nogard]

I had new KYB-GR-2's all the way around, but those are basicaly OEM and I've heard. I think the valving is just a little tighter than stock, or just the fact that they are new. The seem to work really well with the intrax springs I have on my wagon.

Wangan, what I would recommend is getting a copy of "How to make your car handle" by Fred Puhn. If you don't already have a copy. Pretty good book and there is a part in there about coil springs. This is just food for thought but you said you want your car stiffer and lower. Well if you got a set of celica springs, since you car is heavier it would sit lower. And if you cut the springs. I know I said cut. The car would sit just a little lower yet. And by cutting the spring it actually makes the spring stiffer. I've done this before with good results. The only thing you can't guess is how stiff the springs will be. Well if you had a equations you can take the length, wire diameter, etc. And probably get close. I found the lower coils on most springs are "Dead" springs. They sit one on top the other, and don't do much as far as affecting ride. So if you cut them you won't notice a lot of change in the ride, there will be some. So what I do is with the car on the ground, measure the distance between the spring coils (if they aren't dead springs, i.e. stock spring). Measure the wire diameter (stock and aftermarket dead coils). Then you can do the math to see how much of a coil you need to cut off, i.e. 3/4 of a coil, or full, whatever it takes. If it is a dead coil it is easy, they are usually 1/2" thick so every coil would be about 1/2". Sorry for the rant.

[terrastrife]

GR-2s arent rated for anymore then a 1" drop + theyre not stiff. missmatched springs/shocks = bouncey castle.

rebuilt celeica coilovers and new springs would be the way to go.

[Wangan]

I'll look into that book.

I have GR-2s as well so I know I'll need new struts when the time comes.