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Charisma.

Been fixing things here and there. Procrastinating dealing with the front struts. Contacted Odi at feal suspension again. Waiting a reply. Im thinking ill send them in for a rebuild and revalve. Its just a pain in the ass because now i need some struts to go in so i can drive my car while the 220s are out for rebuild. I have been thinking about the ride height alot more and im contemplating putting it back to around stock height. With everything i have done in this car in the last 4 years or so i have never really needed the ride height. It has been fun in some cases. Mobbing over **** i shouldn't be driving over... But there have not been any particular instances where i found myself really happy to have the added clearance. Again its not a 4x4 its just a gravel/dirt road car/daily driver.

Leaning towards starting over with a fresh set of strut housing/spindles taking my time, cleaning them up and using proper diameter coilover sleeves and a proper stop ring. I dont think ill change the housing length at all. The 220mm struts have a slightly shorter body so i will need to fab a small spacer or reuse the ones i already made but shorten them. I want to remake the strut gland nuts to be as thin as possible and minimize the amount of travel they take away from the strut. Not sure how i want to accomplish this yet. Ill be changing the main spring to a 12" 300lb and running a 100lb helper/tender. Id also like to modify the upper spring seat to minimize profile and maximize available strut travel.

The rear will have its 200lb springs cut and a shorter shock will be implemented to accommodate correct droop/comp ratios at ride height. Ill be replacing the torque rod bushing with rubber on the chassis side and running a heim joint on the axle. Bens spherical axle bushing/bearings will go in with a rubber bushing at the chassis side of the trailing arm. I have a spare set of trailing arms that i want to box up and fab up a shock mount that has several locations so i can move the shock up and down and forward and back to find a sweet spot.

Tires... i want a smaller diameter in an AT pattern but im having a hard time locating anything. I think im going to end up with street tires and just have to deal with it when i do take it offroad.

Dif will get welded and it needs a manual transmission.

So thats the plan as of today. Progress will be slow so dont hold your breath.
 
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Since setting my car back up to ~stock ride height, I haven't once wished it was any taller. I think you're making a good choice. On the tires, take a look at some winter tires with a harder compound in the smaller size you want. I personally am going to go with 205 65 15
 
Waiting to hear back from bilstien, sent struts in for revalving 4 weeks ago.
Also. If there is something that really should have sunk in with me by now its, DO IT RIGHT THE FIRST TIME!!!!!
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Also had to re-do the steery bits due to premature failure of the tie rod ends. I think i got them too hot durring welding. This time i lengthened the tie rod and kept the pivot end cool.
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Oh yah and Kyle sold me some new wheels, sitting on some ~ 24" tires right now kind of enjoying the improved gas millage and around town drive-ability.
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After driving on these struts for a while, i can tell you that this valving is extremely mild. This is the valving that these struts should have for the stock spring rate.... Im very annoyed that not only did i spend way more than i should have to get this valving but it turned out to not be near what i was hopping for.

Traction is pretty good on gravel considering im now on a street tire. The spring rate and damping is soft enough to really maintain contact with the ground. Dirt roads with medium potholes and or dips/ledges and these struts do not have enough damping to slow the travel down. The damping feels good at slower speeds but its sprung enough to not be "comfortable". Rebound from big compression feels okay but id like a lot more. On top of all this, the strut mounts are failing and need to be replaced. The rear of this car is begging for more damping and some bushings need to be replaced with a harder compound.



If i did it again i would do 420/220 @ 520mm/sec with a 300lb-325lb spring.

Also i had to pull the helper springs out because the coils where rubbing on the sleeves really bad. I should have got a 10" main spring to run with the helpers. Or a barrel spring...
 
After driving on these struts for a while, i can tell you that this valving is extremely mild. This is the valving that these struts should have for the stock spring rate.... Im very annoyed that not only did i spend way more than i should have to get this valving but it turned out to not be near what i was hopping for.

Traction is pretty good on gravel considering im now on a street tire. The spring rate and damping is soft enough to really maintain contact with the ground. Dirt roads with medium potholes and or dips/ledges and these struts do not have enough damping to slow the travel down. The damping feels good at slower speeds but its sprung enough to not be "comfortable". Rebound from big compression feels okay but id like a lot more. On top of all this, the strut mounts are failing and need to be replaced. The rear of this car is begging for more damping and some bushings need to be replaced with a harder compound.



If i did it again i would do 420/220 @ 520mm/sec with a 300lb-325lb spring.

Also i had to pull the helper springs out because the coils where rubbing on the sleeves really bad. I should have got a 10" main spring to run with the helpers. Or a barrel spring...


What travel front?
 
Fuel pump died, i fixed it. Exhaust broke in half, i fixed it. Just waiting for something else to break.
 
I just realized something. I have taller profile tires on the white 245 than what you're running... Using 205/65R15's. So, pretty close to the stock 185R14's in diameter... Might fill in the wheel arches a bit better than the 205/55R15's. On the roads out here, it does pretty well, both on asphalt and gravel.

Anyway, glad to see that you got the 245 back.

-J
 
Heater core. Because **** your couch.

you shut your face, i already had to do the blower motor.

I put some 940HDs in the back with a softer spring rate, 16" x 125lb. Rides nice. Front strut mounts are blown out, going with BNE select plates this time.

I need to build a full exhaust the stuff thats on there is falling apart.
 
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