Springs vs coilovers swap

[Richie]

So im thinking off changing my leaf springs for coil springs or coilovers.
How ever im not going to buy a kit as they are to expensive and im working on a budget.
Dont mind making up all the brackets etc but im looking for some good ideas of standard suspension i can buy new/second hand and mod it to fit the sj.

The aim being lots of articulation for off roading and a smoother ride getting it there

Any ideas welcome, Thx

[Boyes]

So im thinking off changing my leaf springs for coil springs or coilovers.
How ever im not going to buy a kit as they are to expensive and im working on a budget.
Dont mind making up all the brackets etc but im looking for some good ideas of standard suspension i can buy new/second hand and mod it to fit the sj.

The aim being lots of articulation for off roading and a smoother ride getting it there

Any ideas welcome, Thx

A Good coil set up will beat a Good spring set up, but a bad coil set up can be worse than a a Good/Standard spring set up.

How good are your fabrication skills, in all seriousness my mate has just done this to his vitara and used Land rover axles and bits, It has cost him a small fortune and he has a workshop and experienced motor engineer to help him (Step dad, has built many kit cars etc) and it has taken him 6+ months so far!

So first take a step back, and seriously size it up.

[ScottieJ]

1st question is do you want the vehicle to be 100% road legal? It's not as simple anymore and a coil conversion requires an IVA test and that's not cheap and the standard of work has to be high.

[Richie]

Im not the best fabricator in the world lol but ive got me own workshop and been a mechanic for the last 8 years so im hoping i can get me head around it. I would like to do it for less than £300 and about 30 hour work. The best i can come up with is using vectra rear rose bushes and ford ka rear springs and shocks as they are all ready coil overs and a ford ka in my guess is about the same weight as a sj410, + the shocks have 8 inches of suspension travel

However this IVA news is new to me, are u sure about it?
I cant imagen just changing a suspension setup would change that much, Defo want to keep it road legal

[Jordi]

Due to the technical aspect and safety issues of the work coil coversions class as major changes to the structure of the vehicle.

New chassis mounts, axle mounts, bracings, all the linkages.

Hence the IVA. Its to ensure the quality and precision. A mil here and a mil there and your driving sideways!


I had the technical explanation given to me years ago, the correct terminology escapes me.

Regards
Jordi

[ScottieJ]

Yes it's classed as radically altering the chassis, even bob tailing a rangerover needs one now because you are removing one of the original cross members, it's stupid but that's how it is. Then again there's a lot of vehicles that should have one (but dont) still being used on the road

What size are the vectra rose joints?

[mike harris]

Want coils buy a land rover.


That's what I think !!!

Or get a top fabricator and about £3000 to spend on labour to do a 3 link system Wih the correct length arms, resulting in zero rear steer and the diff angle changing through mad articulation.

But there's no half arsed way you can do it, I would have tried otherwise !!

Mike

[ScottieJ]

Screw buying a landrover! it's not that complicated to build a link set up that works well with minimal roll steer and minimal pinion changes throughout articulation, there's no such thing as the correct length arms as long as the geometry is correct and they aren't really short. landrovers don't have perfect suspension geometry especially when lifted with stock links like so many do, yet they perform well for what they are. Do plenty of research and as long as you take your time it's not hard to build a set up that performs well, some people get it spot on first go and even the best fabricators sometimes need to tweak suspension set ups to get them to perform better, loads of people build their own link set ups in the US, they aren't all engineers.

I'm going to coil mine eventually and certainly won't be paying anyone else to do it! I've already planned it and drawn it all up.

[Jordi]

That was an angry response! Grrrr!!!

[ScottieJ]

That was an angry response! Grrrr!!!

it's not supposed to be, just don't think there's anything hugely complicated about building a coil set up that works.