• Hello Guest, welcome to the initial stages of our new platform!
    You can find some additional information about where we are in the process of migrating the board and setting up our new software here

    Thank you for being a part of our community!

Volvo 140 Suspension Upgrade

Main things I'm addressing are:
  • The current springs are completely shot. Back end is way lower than the front and it feels like it just flops around corners.
  • While I'm replacing those springs, I'm curious what the good options are.
  • Looking to get it to not flop around corners. Right now the car almost feels like it's going to roll as I corner on it. Definitely not taking it to a track, but would like to be able to go through a mountain pass at a respectable speed and not feel like the car is fighting me.
  • Going to be replacing the tires as well. Right now the alignment is completely buggered, and the PO put oversized tires on so it feels like utter **** on the highway.
  • I've replaced all the bushings that weren't solid, and replaced the steering box and steering arm.
  • Honestly want a car that feels safe to drive. Currently feels like the steering is a mess at high speeds, and cornering is super tough. My wife's 1997 Toyota Camry corners a million times better.

If the rear springs have fatigued and compressed and the front springs are not 'as compressed' this will increase caster which tends to make the car steer slower at speed - more specifically it will want to stay in a straight line. As per your plan, fix the spring issue before alignment.

Flopping around corners - not sure what that is specifically. The 140 has a fairly high seating position so you are always going to notice body roll - just like you do with a pick-up truck. If body roll really bothers you stiffer springs will reduce body roll due to compression of the 'outside' suspension going around a corner. So will anti roll bars. My preference would be stiffer springs first then try the anti roll bars if you still find roll excessive.

Volvo lists test values for accepting / rejecting the springs; but, does not list the spring rates for the OEM springs, so even if you can find spring rates for the new springs its hard to make a relative comparison. Perhaps Classic Swede can provide you with relative guidelines as to how their various springs compare against the OEM springs in terms of spring rates. Since likes can be personal it may be a case of buy and try and buy and try again if you didn't like the first option.

If the springs you install give you a change in ride height that will alter camber. The 140 OEM specs are 0 to slightly positive camber. Shorter springs will cause the camber to go towards the negative so you may end up at zero or slightly negative relative to OEM specs. That is not a bad thing. Most modern vehicles run with a slight amount of negative camber (more negative camber if you don't mind high tire wear). - 0.5 deg is a reasonable point to start at for an experiment. You can also play with toe settings which will alter the steering response of the vehicle. However, too much toe out will give you a vehicle that is quicker to respond to steering; but, can tend to dart back and forth like a wired haired terrier that has had a couple of espressos. More toe in tends to make the vehicle track in a straight line; but, tends to reduce sensitivity to steering input. The best settings depend on your preference.
 
That's what I was shooting for on my 145.

Trying to mimic the ~10% stiffer 79 GT springs & overloads that are on my 245 which still rides comfortably, carries a load and doesn't scrape all the time in normal daily driving.

Just never got around to putting them in and / but I already have 245 Turbo rear springs installed.

:e-shrug:

Just so we're on the same page, you're saying that when attempting to reach my goal (better handling while still not being miserable in the city) you planned to run the hipercoil springs on the front and 245 rear springs?
 
Just so we're on the same page, you're saying that when attempting to reach my goal (better handling while still not being miserable in the city) you planned to run the hipercoil springs on the front and 245 rear springs?

Yes exactly.

There's a couple threads on here and other forums if you google '140 Volvo spring rates'.
 
Awesome. I do think (after talking to the alignment shop as well) that I'm going to try to go with a solution that is meant for the 140. So the hipercoil front springs are a solid option but the rear springs are probably a no-go. I'm super curious what the rate is for classicswede's set.
 
I don't see why not run 240 rear springs, same setup and a slightly heavier car.

:e-shrug:

You'll need to know the rates, free lengths and the pigtail situation.


NB:

Not many springs have double pigtails like early 140 rear springs.
 
Most alignment guys are jack-legs with no interest in any mods.
Do what you want, and find a shop that will give you as much caster and neg camber. And a bit of toe.
 
Stock cars use constant rate sprigs since there's no such thing as a progressive rate shock.
Mostly they need repeatable results that can be changed with a predictable spring. But that's NASCAR. Dirt track is a different beast. We see all kinds of stuff, including variable rates.

I have some NOS 5" x 11" x 350# hipercoil 'blue' springs I'd sell for $85 shipped.
If OP passes, I am interested. But not for the front of a 140.
It has been a real long time, but when I looked at one for a customer, they have a less-than-0.25 MR^2. So that spring would be about stock. A fullsized GM car with a 0.25 motion ratio squared (spring in the middle of the A-arm) would have between 700-1000# stock, depending on how huge it was.

That's what I was shooting for on my 145.

Trying to mimic the ~10% stiffer 79 GT springs & overloads that are on my 245 which still rides comfortably, carries a load and doesn't scrape all the time in normal daily driving.

Just never got around to putting them in and / but I already have 245 Turbo rear springs installed.

:e-shrug:
The turbo rear springs on a 142 sounds like a plan for the OP's poorly-stated intentions. /jv
So with a (guessing) 150-200# vert wheel rate in the rear, he will need 600-800# springs on those A-arms, and I don't have it in me tonight to start doing the height math without the real length numbers of all the arms here. They are somewhere at school.
 
The turbo rear springs on a 142 sounds like a plan for the OP's poorly-stated intentions. /jv
So with a (guessing) 150-200# vert wheel rate in the rear, he will need 600-800# springs on those A-arms, and I don't have it in me tonight to start doing the height math without the real length numbers of all the arms here. They are somewhere at school.

:) Yeah fully aware that I'm a noob. Honestly mate, feel free to let me know when these forums shift to a point where people are gonna get shamed for asking stupid questions, and I'm more than happy to roll out and leave y'all to a circle jerk. The internet is full of forums that have passed their prime and become full of internet-tough-guys who just want to shame people who are learning. Get at it, more power to ya.

Back to my stupid questions - I'm probably going to pass on the set Redwood has kindly offered. I trust the alignment shop at this point, and don't know enough to effectively use the wealth of information you guys have imparted. I sincerely appreciate all the help everybody has given, and really have learned a ton. Definitely super useful, but the alignment shop has built 140s for sport use before, so I do trust them to do it good.
 
Mostly they need repeatable results that can be changed with a predictable spring. But that's NASCAR. Dirt track is a different beast. We see all kinds of stuff, including variable rates.


If OP passes, I am interested. But not for the front of a 140.
It has been a real long time, but when I looked at one for a customer, they have a less-than-0.25 MR^2. So that spring would be about stock. A fullsized GM car with a 0.25 motion ratio squared (spring in the middle of the A-arm) would have between 700-1000# stock, depending on how huge it was.

The turbo rear springs on a 142 sounds like a plan for the OP's poorly-stated intentions. /jv
So with a (guessing) 150-200# vert wheel rate in the rear, he will need 600-800# springs on those A-arms, and I don't have it in me tonight to start doing the height math without the real length numbers of all the arms here. They are somewhere at school.

The stock front 140 springs are 12" free length, using the green book wire diameter, and counting the active coils the Wallace racing spring rate calculator I get 320 #.
 
My experience is consistent with what 142Guy said- I got front progressive springs and rear straight rate from VPerformance and the fronts sagged badly. No matter how much I cut off the bump stops there was contact. I ended up replacing the fronts with a set from ClassicSwede and they're much better. These are the 40mm lowering springs so maybe not exactly what you're looking for but I'd contact him anyway.
 
My experience is consistent with what 142Guy said- I got front progressive springs and rear straight rate from VPerformance and the fronts sagged badly. No matter how much I cut off the bump stops there was contact. I ended up replacing the fronts with a set from ClassicSwede and they're much better. These are the 40mm lowering springs so maybe not exactly what you're looking for but I'd contact him anyway.

Super good to know. From what I understand the springs from vp-auto are a little less stiff than those that classicswede has, and a little less lowered. I'm going to talk to him some more about it though!
 
:) Yeah fully aware that I'm a noob. Honestly mate, feel free to let me know when these forums shift to a point where people are gonna get shamed for asking stupid questions, and I'm more than happy to roll out and leave y'all to a circle jerk. The internet is full of forums that have passed their prime and become full of internet-tough-guys who just want to shame people who are learning. Get at it, more power to ya.

Back to my stupid questions - I'm probably going to pass on the set Redwood has kindly offered. I trust the alignment shop at this point, and don't know enough to effectively use the wealth of information you guys have imparted. I sincerely appreciate all the help everybody has given, and really have learned a ton. Definitely super useful, but the alignment shop has built 140s for sport use before, so I do trust them to do it good.

I wouldn't call anyone a noob, but I have no idea what you want to do with it (still).
We like to help.
 
Back
Top