Thought I'd keep a bit of a diary of my DIY front coilover build as quite a few people have PMed me about it.

Firstly, the kit:

2x Rally Design coilover conversion kits.

2x 225lb 8" springs.

Managed to remove and dismantle the front struts today in about 90 minutes! Not bad considering last time it took me 3 full days!

One of the top bolts was welded solid already, but lots of penetrating oil and an impact wrench got it free without mangling the damper :)

So this is the scene at the moment:

Will get started with the modifications ASAP!

Edited 19 March, 200818 yr by AdamP

hi again mate as i said on retro rides good luck and the car loks great!

Great idea this is mate, I will be following this thread closely.

Good luck with it!

Snap

I had 7" 250lb upfront to start with, which was too hard and short for the road for me, so switched to a longer, softer spring (not far off what you're going to run)

Are you shortening the strut too?

Snap

I had 7" 250lb upfront to start with, which was too hard and short for the road for me, so switched to a longer, softer spring (not far off what you're going to run)

Are you shortening the strut too?

I'm just going to lower the steering arm on the strut.

ALL HAIL THE RALLYDESIGN COILOVER KITS!!!!!

Is there a shitload of welding involved then? Is it difficult, or could someone with half an idea of welding do it?

Personally I wouldn't do it unless I knew exactly what I was doing. Last thing you want is a weld thats not strong enough and your suspension falls apart on the move.

I wouldnt attempt it unless I was extremely confident with my welding tbh. Although on a lot of cars it's possible to leave a ring of the original spring cup for the threaded tube to sit on, then it only needs tack welding to stop it turning when you adjust it. On the polo you really need to either shorten the strut (requiring different dampers...) or move the steering arm down.

Adam

tops of mine arent welded, (either set) too much risk of warping the threads using MIG.

some token pics of mine

good luck adam, love you are car.. very cool with the steels

what dampers will you be running then? I'm guna hopefully do this conversion over easter, so its nice to know other people are doing the same...

Anyone want to build me a set please? Of course theres money in it

i'd hope there was, coz its a load of hours work and £100 for springs, and the coilover kit at least

If someone could do it for less than it would cost to buy them from Gaz or similar, i'd be interested...

ah man they look mint

If someone could do it for less than it would cost to buy them from Gaz or similar, i'd be interested...

but you'd only have the fronts and no rears or dampers, and about £200 in front strut casings alone!

I meant to put that if someone could do it, so that the fronts, dampers and rear units together were cheaper... My bad. Never mind, guess i'll have to learn to weld reet good!

ah man they look mint

You expect anything less

To be honest they're not hard to make, so long as you take your time, and think things through properly. Mine had the strut chopped below the steering arm (thus lowering it by 25mm) and Golf inserts used, with a modified top thread so I can use the Salzmann top mounts. There are a few tricks to make things easier along the way though.

I'm just going to lower the steering arm on the strut.

Please enlighten me ..... what will this do ? Shortening the steering arm will give you "a quick rack " effect but lowering the mounting point i'm not sure why your doing it.

See you got your new engine in storage

^^ ha ha. took a while but got it..

I'm just going to lower the steering arm on the strut.

Please enlighten me ..... what will this do ? Shortening the steering arm will give you "a quick rack " effect but lowering the mounting point i'm not sure why your doing it.

By lowering the steering arm pickup on the strut, whilst lowering the car at the same time you end up with a nearer to stock angle between the rack and the strut- it also means the arm doesn't foul on the brake master cylinder.

would it be possible for somone who has already done this to post up a list of the parts we need, and instructions/measurments on how to do this?

or at least something one could take to an engineers and they could work from?

it would be much appriciated!

will

EDIT: on the rally design page it says

Large discounts available on these kits to volume purchasers

group buy anyone?

Edited 3 January, 200818 yr by will-antirocks

Look Ma! No spring cups!