How do you lift a FWD car?

My brother has a meat cutting business, he hauls a butcher shop around in a 22 ft. enclosed trailer with heat and AC. I installed an engine hoist on the back corner so he can lift Bambi up to skin and disassemble more easily.

In the off season he makes sausage and is looking for something front wheel drive to commute with and make deliveries without pulling out the big 4WD truck. Cars below are the type he's considering. I can see some type of spring lift provided you don't exceed the movement of the camber adjustment, is there an easy way? Is it possible?

Just looking for a few more inches of ground clearance due to some of the back roads he has to drive on.

Thanks, Dan

1) Spacer between strut mount and body

2) Make struts from another car work. A guy on the Saturn forums did a 3" lift by using Forester components on it.

3) Taller tires

Or buy a Subaru

Why would you not just buy a Legacy Outback, fix the headgaskets, and call it a day? I thought that's pretty much what they were designed for, and they're about the same vintage as either of those.

I was able to get a serious lift by putting SRT4 springs on a 1gn Neon, so it's likely that there's a similar solution available. A taller spring at the same spring rate or a not-quite-as-taller spring at a higher spring rate will bring the car up.

You need to watch out for strut travel though. I took the SRT4 springs off because in the rear, they gave so much lift that the strut was about a half inch off of the top of its travel at rest.

+1 for taller tires. Easiest, and will help the most with ground clearance.

Remember, in the Jeep world, you only lift the truck to make bigger tires fit...

VW MkIV Golfs and Jettas have a couple of lifting options. The cheap way is add spacers under the strut mounts, although it only raises the car 10mm..

There was also a coilover kit nicknamed the "Baja" as it raised the car 1 or 2 inches, but my google-fu isn't coming up with anything right now.

Or just buy a Subaru...

taller springs or strut spacers would be my go-to. Also depending on the vehicle if it has a front and rear subframe you can use spacer's on them as well to drop the suspension down, its essentially the same thing as a body lift, its what the subaru guys do to get big lifts

Bend at the knees first, saves your back.

Spacing the subframe still has to be done in conjunction with something else. The top of the struts connect to the body, so doing a "body lift" doesn't actually raise the ride height at all.

20" wheels with 215/70 tires.

Eh, only 3.5" lift app. and clearance problems.

Have a new knuckle made with built in lift.

Jeep 2wd Compass.

Ian F wrote: VW MkIV Golfs and Jettas have a couple of lifting options. The cheap way is add spacers under the strut mounts, although it only raises the car 10mm.. There was also a coilover kit nicknamed the "Baja" as it raised the car 1 or 2 inches, but my google-fu isn't coming up with anything right now. Or just buy a Subaru...

I know someone who sells lift kits for these, not sure if they have any at the moment though. Its pretty much just custom springs on bilstein struts and a couple other things.

Find a chassis that is shared with a SUV and sedan/wagon. Swap SUV suspension bits to sedan/wagon.

I've been thinking a Mazda 626 ('98 to 2002) with Ford Escape suspension bits bolted to it.

This is assuming wiki is correct that the Escape's CD2 chassis shares the Mazda's GF platform's and they share suspension pickups.

Robbie wrote: Remember, in the Jeep world, you only lift the truck to make bigger tires fit...

And that's only because they're too chicken to cut fenders

Easy button is Subaru.

In the land where the SUV (lifted wagons) are king, why are you trying to adapt a vehicle to your needs rather than something right off the shelf.

Lifted Carmy wagon = Rav4
Lifted Focus wagon = Escape

ProDarwin wrote: Spacing the subframe still has to be done in conjunction with something else. The top of the struts connect to the body, so doing a "body lift" doesn't actually raise the ride height at all.

thats true, you can do strut spacer's without subframe spacers to get lift but not vise versa

Is the transit connect the same platform as the Escape? Installing some Escape suspension onto a Transit Connect seems like a pretty easy option to somebody who has zero specific knowledge about those vehicles.

Buy small SUV/Crossover and be done. Put taller tires on it if extra ground clearance is needed. I'd do what you're thinking about only if you already had the car.

I have a lifted WRX and its great. That being said I would rather have a Forester XT.

STM317 wrote: Is the transit connect the same platform as the Escape? Installing some Escape suspension onto a Transit Connect seems like a pretty easy option to somebody who has zero specific knowledge about those vehicles.

I was reading a post recently of some folks trying to lift a Ford TC (Transit Connect) and they were hitting some significant roadblocks. I think someone was using spring spacers and shock extension and thinking of lowering the subframe.

Find a wagon with the same or close enough wheel base and plunk it on a jeep/blazer/bronco/toyota frame. Or just look for a 4 runner

JohnRW1621 wrote: In the land where the SUV (lifted wagons) are king, why are you trying to adapt a vehicle to your needs rather than something right off the shelf. Lifted Carmy wagon = Rav4 Lifted Focus wagon = Escape

This!!!

When you say rough road delivery vehicle I think mini truck, Ranger, S10, Canyonrado, etc. tougher suspension than anything car based. Though I think you're probably underestimating the rough road abilities of a typical car. What's so horrible about these back roads to need a lift? Don't forget that lifting a car will hurt the gas mileage.