I'm going to be building my coilovers for my mk2 Bready that I just imported to the USA. I previously used/developed the idea on my Fox (PVW April) and am looking forwards to doing the same on the Polo and also seeing what parts cross over between the cars.

Does anyone have / can anyone measure the inserts for the front shocks please? I need to know the:

Diameter of shock insert.

Diameter of piston.

Length of shock insert (only the wider bottom piece)

Length of piston when extended (only from the top of the wider bottom piece to start of the threads).

Thanks if you're able to help!

Here's the car when I was collecting it here :

and one of my fox :

I'll try and remember to take the measurements tonight as I have a couple of old inserts knocking about somewhere in my back garden! If you are around on here this evening (well evening UK time anyway!) send me a PM to remind me,

The Fox looks cool, it doesn't look much like anything we got in the UK, nto sure if there'll be much in common with the polo. Looks like it might share more with older passats and perhaps audi 80s.

I'll try and remember to take the measurements tonight as I have a couple of old inserts knocking about somewhere in my back garden! If you are around on here this evening (well evening UK time anyway!) send me a PM to remind me,

The Fox looks cool, it doesn't look much like anything we got in the UK, nto sure if there'll be much in common with the polo. Looks like it might share more with older passats and perhaps audi 80s.

Thanks for your help!

There's only going to be a few small things that swap over between them, suspension, brakes etc - just the usual VW/Audi bits basically. The suspension struts are of the same style, and i'm hoping to find some interchangability in general with other bits. Currently looking into thermostats that might be shared with some Astras..

I'll PM you to remind about the measurements - thanks!

I can't help you with the technical details however saw your fox in PVW and thought it was sssick :-D

Please keep us updated with the bready, just old enough to register over there now I guess

dimensions I just measured of an old standard insert:

body length: 340mm

body diameter: 33mm

rod diameter: 20mm

Unfortunately the top of the rod has been cut off so I can't measure the extended length of the piston rod. The rod goes thinner at the top where it goes into the top mount, if I remember correctly it goes down to 12mm and then has a 10mm thread on the top for the top nut.

To be honest, the length of the piston rod will be determined to some extent by the length of springs you decide to use so knowing the standard dimension of that isn't really any help anyway.

body length: 340mm

body diameter: 33mm

That's the two that i'm looking for specifically, so thank you very much!!

Wow though, 33mm for overall body diameter..? That's smaller than I think I was expecting. The outside of the Golf mk1/Fox strut housing is 50mm, with the insert being a little narrower obviously as it has to fit inside it, and there's about 4mm gap in there too, which from a quick bit of mental arithmatic would give a diameter of a golf 1 insert of about 40-42mm, so 33mm really sounds a lot narrower.

I guess I could rephrase my question from directly while hoping to work out what I can get done:

Can you slide mk1 Golf strut inserts inside a Polo 2 (or 1/3) strut housing?

:-D

mk1 golf inserts should be the same diameter! Let me go and recheck that 33mm measurement!

right well the actual bore size of a strut housing is 45mm (just measured that now). The insert I'm looking at has a thin (33mm) body but then a plastic cap on it which is 45mm which fits snugly into the top of the strut housing.

right well the actual bore size of a strut housing is 45mm (just measured that now). The insert I'm looking at has a thin (33mm) body but then a plastic cap on it which is 45mm which fits snugly into the top of the strut housing.

That setup sounds like the same deal. I guess i'm just thinking that 33mm sounds to narrow, but I don't have the numbers in front of me. I'll measure on a golf set when I get home tonight. If it's the same or workable, then it's the 340mm length that will be important as I'd like to run shorter inserts obviously.

mk1 golf inserts are 25mm shorter but still fit in.

mk1 golf inserts are 25mm shorter but still fit in.

Perfect, that's exactly what I need to know!

I will remove the excess 25mm from the housing as I lower the steering arm and remove the spring perch to install coilover sleeves. :-) :-) If the inserts really do fit, then it's a quick and easy job to slam the breadvan. Thanks for all your help so far!

to use the mk1 golf inserts you will need top mounts from and audi 80 buddy, as the rod diameter where it goes through the mount is larger than the polo one.

indeed, the rod is 14mm thick on the golf inserts.

When I made my coilovers I cut the steering arms off and welded them back on lower down so that I can still use normal length polo inserts. Although perhaps you can't really get normal polo inserts in the USA?

these are my coilovers:

indeed, the rod is 14mm thick on the golf inserts.

When I made my coilovers I cut the steering arms off and welded them back on lower down so that I can still use normal length polo inserts. Although perhaps you can't really get normal polo inserts in the USA?

I'm going to build the same style as yours, except remove the ~20mm of excess housing length to allow me to run the available-in-the-usa mk1 Golf inserts (Bilstein Sports most likely due to price and availability being cheap/easy). This will also lower the car more of course, without losing any travel, which is a good thing.

I won't cut off the steering arm, but instead adjust the amount of tube above/below it to adjust it's position vertically.

Audi 80 top hardware is available here, although I believe it's the same as the fox stuff so that should be okay to use.

yes I've seen other people cut 25mm out of the tube and weld it back together. To be honest it's much easier and quicker to do that the way I went about it, I just wanted to be able to carry on using the koni adjustable inserts I already had :) and time & difficulty doesn't cost me money (well except for cutting discs for my Dremel and some electricity) where as new inserts would have done.

yes I've seen other people cut 25mm out of the tube and weld it back together. To be honest it's much easier and quicker to do that the way I went about it, I just wanted to be able to carry on using the koni adjustable inserts I already had :) and time & difficulty doesn't cost me money (well except for cutting discs for my Dremel and some electricity) where as new inserts would have done.

My polo feels like it's got the original inserts from 1982, so that's got to be rectified, plus the steering arm's going to be the lowest point that I can have the coilovers set to so the lower I get that the more adjustability I'll have. Having said that, I want to be able to drive this car as the Fox is 0.5" off the ground and I can't get the damn thing in and out of my driveway without almost putting a wheel througn the fender so I'm not going to slam the Polo too bad, just tuck some 14"s and be done with it!

I miss my Koni Adjustables - I preferred them over my Bilstein SPs..

yeah to be honest I'm struggling to get my car to the height I want it, I wish I'd lowered the steering arms 50mm, you live and learn though! I have more struts so I might just make another set at some point. There's loads of things I'd like to have done differently on my car or things that'd do differently next time round.

I'm makeing coilovers at the mo for my mk2 ,I'm glad i read this thread i was going to lower my steering arms 40mm but now maybe il go 50mm hummm,if u get the adjustable inserts like koni etc dont they have shortend piston rods ?

yes but not shortened bodys.

These are the coilies I made....

You can see how much I lowered the steering arms although I can't remember the exact measurement. I think it was around 2.5".

Was it you I sold those blue 225lb 8" springs to Haysey? The ones in your pic look remarkably similar :p

yes it was!

So audi 80 top mounts are needed when fitting golf inserts,what year of audi 80 would i need?

Anyone?