Need help On Choosing Suspension

[jdelima87]

I just recently bought a 85 Corolla Coupe.....I cant seem to find the suspension I'm looking for....I'm looking for a suspension that will let my car sit low...I like the drop to be at least more than 2.5 inches.....anyone know what suspension setup will let me drop the car real low?......please feel free to email me... [email protected]..

[Apolan]

to go lower than cca 40mm (1.5 inches), you will need to convert your suspension to a short-stroke one - meaning, you wil need to buy shorter-stroke shocks, before you can put on really low springs. You can do this two ways, the expensive way (buy coilovers) and the cheap - but not necessarily worse way, that includes a bit of remanufactoring of the old strut/shock casing to make DIY coilovers. Member (and our beloved admin) "Mux213" has made a little writeup with pics on the second option. Should be somewhere on this forum..

[jdelima87]

Thnx alot....that was some good advice....appreciate it...Are tokico's short stroke shocks...or are there any specific short strokes...?

[Apolan]

Yes and no. AE86 shocks are all normal(long)-stroke, regardless of the brand. Thats why, when wanting to go shortstroke, people buy shocks specified for other cars, which have a shorter stroke, but fit onto the 86. Popular option for front is an AE92 shock, which fits nicely into the stock ae86 strut, but you will need to shorten the strut so the shock doesnt wiglle inside as it is 60mm shorter. You may even cut less and use a spacer at the bottom of the strut, under the shorter shock. Hope that makes sense.

Look here for the guide on how to do this:
http://www.club4ag.com/faq%20and%20tech_...ersion.htm



Rear is more simple, you just need a shorterstroke shock and lower away, as the stock setup is not coilover-type. Popular options for the rear are a MR2 or a Camaro (not sure which year for both) rear shocks. Hope somebody can confirm..

[SekiguchiUeno]

there is third way and cheaper as dyi coilovers.
you can use short stroke shock and spacer under and above in you current casing. the above spacer can be made from polyuretane and should not rub on you shock piston. then use some stiff trd or espelir springs if you want lower it more.
but i dont know how low can you get with the ae92 shock on uncut casing, needs to be mocked up.

[Apolan]

Yes the problem is (like demonstrated on above picture) that you than have an unusually big rebound stroke, but very small bound stroke, and might bottom out pretty soon. But this can be solved, by cutting the strut only from the top (above the perch that holds the springs). You just need to make new grooves for the cap that holds the shock inside the strut.) Maybe its best to go somewhere in between, and cut say 40mm and sue a 20mm spacer, like demonstrated above. I think the shocks work best in the middle range, not so much in top or bottom range...

[oldeskewltoy]

Do you have $1500??? Greddy makes a full coilover/lowerable suspension. You'd have to check if it will go lower than 40mm, but I believe you can slam the car using the GReddy kit

[SekiguchiUeno]

greedy is the complex solution if you have money, and it s good for mere than 40mm lowering, awesome set, i seen it on one car here.

Apolan i mentioned you use spacer also Above the shock, so you choose how deep it can be to avoid bottoming. and you can go back to stock anytime.
with the variable thinknes of spacers you can set the shock to work in his optimal range with the springrates and ride height you have.

or you can use old koni oil shock and lets shorten the piston rod and refill it.

[Apolan]

ah yes, that makes sense. good solution

[NoHachi]

You still have the problem of bottoming out though..The top of the stut tube stays in the same place, no matter how many spacers are put on top. So unless you cut the strut tube, any significant amount of lowering will cause bottoming problems. Only difference is that the shock is now more or less in the right position, but I believe the problems from poor shock placement are usually a bit exagerated.