510/1600 rear coilovers

[Jingles56]

Hi I've been looking into rear ajustables suspension for my 1600.everyone seems to be using the coilovers that are the spring and shock in one.long story short I was talking to my cert guy and he wasn't that keen on me doing that but said he's seen some car similar to the 1600 suspension and they have a short spring and the adjustable bit sits on top.the shock will stay in its original place.think he said some of the Holden Commodores have this set up.has anyone seen it done in a 1600 or know if it would work.any help would or knowledge would be great

Thanks James

[classicdat]

Hey James any set up like that that would work would be a better option in my opinion than a straight coil over addition. That trailing arm shock mount in std form is not designed to take the suspended load of the whole weight, let along any shock from bumps etc. I have seen photos of the shock mount broken off from the load.

Not sure what the difference is but I think 810s & 910s ran coil over trailing arms, if they are the same dimensions using them might only take a strengthening of the body mount.

Sorry I can't comment on the availability of off the shelf adjustable spring seats, but am sure they could be engineered, short spring though.

All the best.

[gingofthesouth]

The only pics I have seen of the broken mounts are from when somebody has hit something going sideways.
People all over the world is using that shock mount with coil overs including racing cars. Personally I have used new shocks and lowering springs in the standard setup but haven't ruled out going coiler in the back.

[DJZ]

James (85_Z31) did a similar coilover setup to what your certifier has suggested in the back of his car, have a look at his thread starting here:

http://www.nzdatsun.com/forums/viewtopi ... &start=389

[mlracing]

If you try cert the shock/spring together when the OEM one is apart then it will fail. Have had couple customers try that with BMW coilovers etc

[broke]

I know there are a handful of 510's in NZ that have been certed with the coilover spring and shock in one unit, and in my opinion it's perfectly fine.

However the cert Nazi's won't really be argued with, so you may be forced to make the spring sit in it's original position, which is a crappy setup for a 510 (probably fine for other cars with a longer spring).

I've been investigating too, and I think the best compromise seems to be buying the weight jacker kit (same as BRE used) from Troy Ermish in the US, even though I already have seam-welded rear shock towers in anticipation of doing it the other way.

[torqued]

Need more pics please for the imagination impaired

[broke]

Need more pics please for the imagination impaired

Normally I would tell you to google it, but here are some pics because you're so kawaii, Adamo-chan

First, the coilovers Troy sells - this guy knows his 510's so if there was a problem with them he wouldn't be selling them

coilover.jpg

Now, the BRE-style "weight jacker" kit. This requires cutting and welding the plates into the standard 510 control arms.

jacker.jpg

jacker2.jpg

jacker3.jpg

jacker4.jpg

jacker5.jpg

jacker6.jpg

As you can see, the spring ends up being very short and therefore very compressed when the weight jackers are used on a lowered car. In the Us, several guys have actually broken control arms from having very short lowering springs, the coils all touch at max travel over bump and then the arm breaks.

Two other problems with the weight jackers that I can see:

1. No more bump stop. Presumably that moves to the shock mount... in which case you might as well just mount the whole setup off the shock mounts.
2. Looks like the spring won't be captive when the car is raised - possibly keeper springs could fix that issue though.

[torqued]

Need more pics please for the imagination impaired

Normally I would tell you to google it, but here are some pics because you're so kawaii, Adamo-chan

Cheers.
That "Google it" saying is such a dick thing to say.
Why have any conversation, why discuss anything.? When everything is pretty much already on the internet anyway.

[broke]

Yeah.

Actually I could be wrong, maybe those black alloy looking things are actually rubbery or plasticky material and are the bump stops?

I'm still going to see if I can get away spring and shock in one unit...