front coilover conversion mk3

[philr]

Hi, looking to restore my mk3 coupe after many years languishing in the drive. I think the hydrogas units are fully gone by now.
I'm hoping to use her for some hillclimbs / sprints here in Scotland, as my comp. car(Sylva Leader) is in bits.

Looking at the owners club website pictures, there is red mk3 (not sure if coupe or convertible) with front coilovers, in both 2013 & 2014 openday galleries.

Could anybody point me to a description of setup, or any other details please, as I'd like to replicate this.

Regards

Phil R

[wolfie]

Not aware of any coilover conversions but Hans has done a spring conversion adapting the Watsons mini stuff. There is a thread on the forum somewhere

[wolfie]

viewtopic.php?f=55&t=1598

[philr]

Don't like the look of the Watson solution
Here's what I saw http://midasownersclub.co.uk/midas-cars ... /#more-700

[wolfie]

Never seen that car but it looks interesting. My issue would be that if the bracket bolts to the bodyshell (top of arch like the shocks do) could the bodyshell hold up against the punishment UK roads will put it through. I looked at a coilover solution but attached to the subframe and couldn't find a really viable solution. I think Alan was working on something as well but he hasn't mentioned it since

[DavidL]

I hadn't seen that before either, but it does look interesting. I can't quite work out, from the picture, where the bottom of the coilover unit attaches to the upper suspension arm, it doesn't look like it uses the normal Metro upper arm mount.

It's not a Macpherson strut conversion, is it? Now that WOULD be novel...

[stan1396]

I did this 10yrs ago with my gold coupe.As said at the time,you cant fix to the body for the top eye-it wont be strong enough. My solution was to buy mini[?] dampers from Dampertech and fabricate a tower which bolted to the metro subframe [with the sphere mount removed] and had a mount for the top eye of the damper.From memory I think the dampers were 10 inch. Of course there was not enough room between the upper arm and the body,so the solution was to cut a square hole in the top of the arch and seal it up with a square 'top hat' made of alloy sheet. The damper could then be fitted by pushing the tower- with damper attached via top eye- up into the hole and bolt the tower to the subframe.Then fit bottom eye to the top arm with a shackle plate.
It was fairly successful,the main problem being spring rating.I tried 3 different springs before I was reasonably happy with the ride.From memory[a bit hazy] 180 then 240 and finally about 280 pounds.
I should have taken my mate Ians advice. Look at the plate in the engine bay which gives axle weight for front and back axle. Take front weight,add 2 passengers and divide by 2.This should give you a good starting point.
I should add that the dampers were adjustable for ride height via a ring collar. Looking around the shows,there are better quality dampers which may be better at surviving British winters,the dampertechs corroded quite a bit.
Good luck with your conversion,Stan.