I've been hunting for a cheap way to gain some wheel travel with my '96 swift.I'm thinking that finding a short damper insert would be the easiest way,the swift doesn't use inserts but the tubes can be easily modded to convert to a threaded top.
No $$ for koni/bilsteins etc,just looking for an oem replacement like monroe or??.
I looked thru the monroe site and compared damper dimensions to the swift but no car I could think of was much shorter,I thought the corrado used really short dampers but they are about the same.
Anyone have some ideas?.
Spitfire fronts are short, rears are moderate.
In reply to kevlarcorolla:
Do you autoX your car? If so, how does it do?
I chased one down in a parking lot yesterday. Looked solid and straight but a little ratty. The man said he paid $50.00 and put a clutch in it. Wasn't interested in selling it. When I saw it I thought I might pick it up cheap.
In reply to Graefin10: It's my ice race car,it needs new dampers anyways so I might as well try and improve the lack of travel at the ride height I run.
At this height its nearly bottomed,
The stock strut body is12.5" and the shortest I can find is a 1985 prelude which is only a 10.25" strut body ,not an insert but I think an adapter to fit the knuckle is a pretty easy thing to fab.
If you got a conventional shock, complete with a lower mounting eye, and cut off the eye could you use that as an insert in a shortened housing. Years ago I needed a really short shock and went through my local autoparts store inventory. The front shocks for a bunch of Chryslers were pretty short. I think I ended up with a pair from a Cordoba.
You would need a short shock,but with a thick rod to use in a McPherson strut suspension.
Its a strut so a standard shock won't cut it.
Nice looking car Kev. The one I saw yesterday was a 1.3 liter twin cam. I think GRM did an article on a guy who autoXs one a few years ago. I've noticed since then that they are very rare.
Can't you put a spacer on the top, and lift the strut's up through the body to get back some stroke?
In reply to Zomby woof:
Yes I've thought about that,not much clearance to the hood and if I did that I'd prefer to cut and extend the tower which is a fair bit more work I think.
I autox'd this one a couple times with the 3 cyl,carried both inside wheels off the ground on right turns with lowered/stiffer suspension and 710's.Also incredibly slow steering rack,not my cup of tea for dodging cones.
http://youtu.be/Tl0_59lMiY8
