modified struts & suspension

[PELON]

Car: 2005 FX35 AWD
Spring Brand: Eibach
Part Number: 6366.540
Installed Since: April 2006

Date Measured: 6/21/09 (with modified struts)
Measurements:

Front

• Driver: 15-7/8
• Pass: 15-7/8

Rear

• Driver: 16-1/4
• Pass: 16-1/4

• Fuel Level: almost empty

Items added or removed from the car that could affect measurements: NONE

[turbocad6]

pelon, details man... I'm having a set of front struts done with 1 3/4" drop built into them, should put me at 14 1/2" with the cut H&R's, might go back to uncut springs though to bring it to ~15" total if it winds up too low... how did you do yours??? 15 7/8" is pretty low, probably one of the lowest with stock modded suspension I've seen so far...

[PELON]

I moved the mounts at bottom of strut up 3/4 inch .Pretty easy really, did while my wife was out of town seeing that it is her car. Can go more but this was test to see with her factory strut. Will eventually do again a little lower with new struts.Took pictures but can't find my cable!

[turbocad6]

guess you drilled holes above the existing holes? your probably close to the limit at 3/4" no? are you slotting them? gotta be careful, this is a very high stress point, don't want to make it weak....

[dopie]

some pics of that mad lower

[PELON]

I welded new brackets, new holes etc... cut off bottom of old brackets flush with bottom of strut. By moving mount it does not change the geometry of the suspension and not affecting alignment provided you keep mounts true. Will find cable for camera, where did wife put it?

[turbocad6]

cool, I did similar I guess, I used part of the brackets from my original struts, inner & outer original bracket that clamp the tube & added it above the bracket, extending the whole bracket up, so the upper part is still strapped around the tube & bonded to the tube, then welded. went as low as possible with awd, the bottom of the tube is going to sit right above the cv joint...

[theMerchant]

Please post some pics, I have ordered a set of KYBs for this also.
I will have it professional welded, like turbo said, its a high stress area.
this to be seem like the best of both worlds, lowered w/o sacrificing the springs.

[fxlr8]

I am also interested in this, please post up.

[turbocad6]

this is something that I've been wanting to do for a long time, once the kyb's became available it made it more practical to do too.


with these modded struts I went as low as possible without extensive mods, & it should be more than low enough... I actually may need to bring it back up a bit, but coming back up is easy... this is a 1.75" drop... also going to mod the rear control arms to give the same 1.75" drop... I sourced shorter rear shocks to work at these lower heights, stocks will bottom for sure, they bottomed even with just H&R's uncut & the shaved mount... I moddified the upper shock mount to account for this when I did the H&R's... now I sourced shorter air shocks for the rear, most likely I will raise the front back about 1/2" by using uncut H&R's, & then use the rear air shocks to bring the back up same 1/2" or so... plan on eventually adding a level ride system, so even though I'm very low, my ride height will always remain the same through the level ride... load the car with 4-5 people, full tank of fuel & loaded with cargo, the level ride will bring it back up to calibrated ride height, empty the car & low fuel, it'll come down still to the pre calibrated ride height, just like a cadillac or something, I'll probably rape a caddy for the height sensor, compressor & logic controls eventually...

air suspension is not for me on a street daily driver, too many headaches there, not to mention the huge compressor & tank & computer control & everything else involved with a reliable setup, I have no need to bounce up & down really, just want it at the right height... coil overs would be cool to dial in the exact height I'd want, but even if a coil over was available, it'd probably ride like a race car, don't want that... with this method I can still have the 100% reliabilty of a steel suspension, the same ride quality as a stock H&R setup, best all around solution to me...








note that I'm not doing these myself... I had my race car fabricator do them, I just haven't had the time & he owed me so I just gave it to him to do with my instructions, one of the few people I'd ever trust to work on my stuff. I did tell him that others may be interested in going this route so he made templates & jigs to be able to recreate this if anyone is interested

if anyone wants to try this themselves the hardest part is removing the brackets fromn the donor strut, not only are they welded, but they are also bonded to prevent any movement at all, any movement would result in stress cracks & not be too safe, he had his machinest cut the tube off then bore the center till the tube was gone & just the bracket remained... then I bonded the new bracket extensions before he welded them...

[theMerchant]

also, I read there is a concern of the cartridge getting to hot when welding and may 'explode'. Defiantly have to be done by a pro.

[Nightkidz_FX]

Dam..Turbo does all kinds of special mod's. I am really admire all the time and work you did on the FX. :biggrin:

[turbocad6]

can't weld to the tube, gotta only weld to the bracket, that's the importance of the clamping action of the OE bracket.

if you weld a 1/2", walk away from it a bit, then hit another 1/2", walk away... it might take a day or 2 inbetween other jobs to get them solidly welded without heating the tube at all. took him 3 days to weld two up, but they sat & sat inbetween welds.

alternative, which is what I mighta done, is weld 1/2", dunk in water, dry & repeat, or even weld it with the whole tube submerged in a bucket of water, but the water does contaminate the welds & the metal to a certain extent... better to have patience & weld little by little...

[PELON]

I went with turbos alternative method, and like I said this was test to see results good bad or?? So far so good no complaints from wife. I ground existing mounts smooth and put new brackets onto old trying to keep away from cartridge and dunking bucket frequently. As soon as my wife gets home will take picture and attempt to post.

[theMerchant]

when you say ".. this is a 1.75" drop..." are you measuring the distance from the original hole? How much drop can be attained w/o welding a new piece and drilling new holes?

I need to find a local guy that can do this (weld) if needed.

[PELON]

don't know what I am doing on posting pics but here is strut bracket moved 3/4 inch can go mabe another inch on awd, but rwd can go even farther.

[theMerchant]

need a bigger pic please.

do you have any online photo account?
upload pic to there in 800x600 or higher resolution... then copy the link and paste . mods here can fix the link if needed.

looking forward in seeing more :biggrin:

[HYME]

why was it moved?

[White_Hair]

Apollo in TW manufactures coil-over for FX35. Anyone who has contact in TW can try to find it. But don't know the quality of Apollo products.

[theMerchant]

why was it moved?

see the 'drop thread'... basically lowering the FX w/o cutting springs.