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ratty V4 Fanatic
United Kingdom 340 Posts | Posted - 12 Jan 2015 : 20:42:38
| Melle, Firstly use a 96 back axle and not a 95. You need to be able to turn the bottom spring cups so as to angle the bottom of the springs to the correct obvious angle.You make an extension piece of 4 to 6 inches, made of ali. or plastic, the same width as the spring. At the top you need to machine 2 inches(approx) of the same diameter as the inside of the inside of the spring. This locates the spring. You also need to alter the shock absorber! You weld an extension piece on to the the top of the threaded bar top of shocker. If you get my drift! And fit. I probably haven't described this very technically, but when you come to do it, I will check all dimensions for you. Remember it will effect the handling of the car! It does make people look and ask why? |
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melle V4 Guru
United Kingdom 3833 Posts | Posted - 12 Jan 2015 : 21:13:15
| Thanks, that's the rear sorted then! But what did you do to the front? I've never found the time to experiment with it, but my thought experiments always ended with the drive shafts being under a funny angle.
I have a thread on the Dutch forum, it's in Dutch and I never got much technical information, but there are some nice images of cars with raised suspension: http://www.saabforum.nl/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=124405 I already have some very nice tyres as you can see on page 4. (The Devil's Own V4 = melle)
1970 96V4 "The Devil's Own V4" 1977 95V4 van conversion project 1988 900i 8V | |
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ratty V4 Fanatic
United Kingdom 340 Posts | Posted - 12 Jan 2015 : 22:42:23
| well what 2 want to achieve ? | |
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ratty V4 Fanatic
United Kingdom 340 Posts | Posted - 13 Jan 2015 : 08:59:25
| To raise the front springs front we have them made by Coil Springs, details on the web, they will ask you for certain dimensions. You are limited by the drive shafts which do run at at their max. height possible. That seems to be fine so long as there is not any ware on the cups or splines at the gearbox end, if there is you will probably get vibration. | |
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melle V4 Guru
United Kingdom 3833 Posts | Posted - 13 Jan 2015 : 17:12:55
| Thanks. I want to increase the ride hight (front and rear) on the 95 van by approx 2 inches to improve handling when loaded. I have a set of original 95 van springs for the rear, have not tried them yet. Your confirmation that the front can be jacked up without the drive shafts being stretched too far is encouraging. I'll try and use something from the scrappies before ordering new springs though. The car has adjustable Koni shocks all round.
My 96 is the lowest of lows because of its saggy 45 year old springs, It looks cool, but want it (much) higher up for holidays off the main roads. Also speed bumps and getting it up a ramp are a pain now.
In Finland they use 900 rear springs on the front of 96s for rally cross; I have a pair kicking about to experiment with. 96 front springs cut to length should work as rears. Not sure if this is a very comfortable set up though.
1970 96V4 "The Devil's Own V4" 1977 95V4 van conversion project 1988 900i 8V | |
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john-saab Administrator
United Kingdom 2679 Posts | Posted - 14 Jan 2015 : 17:43:05
| I have a set of 900 springs here and they are a lot thicker, shorter and wider than the 96 springs so it would be interesting to see how much work it takes to fit them.
'73 96 (Vernon),'74 95 (Veronica)plus 4 other 95's and 2 96's | |
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melle V4 Guru
United Kingdom 3833 Posts | Posted - 14 Jan 2015 : 18:06:46
| I'm quite skeptical about this myself!
1970 96V4 "The Devil's Own V4" 1977 95V4 van conversion project 1988 900i 8V | |
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john-saab Administrator
United Kingdom 2679 Posts | Posted - 14 Jan 2015 : 19:26:30
| I like the V4 badge on the front grill!
'73 96 (Vernon),'74 95 (Veronica)plus 4 other 95's and 2 96's | |
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melle V4 Guru
United Kingdom 3833 Posts | Posted - 14 Jan 2015 : 19:42:20
| It was on when I bought the car, never bothered changing it.
1970 96V4 "The Devil's Own V4" 1977 95V4 van conversion project 1988 900i 8V | |
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mettersl V4 Fan
United Kingdom 126 Posts | Posted - 14 Jan 2015 : 20:37:07
| If you are aiming for the same ride height when loaded, why not either go for stiffer springs (recalculate to get original ride height at planned greater weight) or air assistance.
My son has an ex AA van, this has extra air bags inside the springs, these feed out to the back of the van where there is tyre inflater (schraeder valve) point. Simply plug in a compressor and pump up to required ride height loaded.
That way the geometry stays correct...better handing.
Personally I don't like the idea of extra welds in suspension components, especially if you expect greater loads than it was designed for.
I have seen some 95's where the spring mounts have started to bend upwards on the inner wing due to overloading too...
Sounds like an interesting plan you have here... | |
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UK_Sub V4 Guru
United Kingdom 2558 Posts | Posted - 15 Jan 2015 : 09:29:20
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melle V4 Guru
United Kingdom 3833 Posts | Posted - 15 Jan 2015 : 20:01:39
| No worries, I don't plan on overloading the van, but I can tell from experience that cornering with a fully loaded (not over loaded) 95 with standard springs and shocks is quite an interesting experience.
A standard 95 has a 560kg payload, a factory van 680kg. The difference can't be because of the missing rear seats only, I guess the wooden cargo floor partly compensates that. Van springs are much heavier gauge than standard ones, this has led me to think that either using van springs or jacking it up for a bit more ground clearance by using an alternative will improve handling when loaded.
For the 96 I definitely need more ground clearance for holidays off the beaten track, I wouldn't mind "Baja stance":
(Note that in the text drive shaft issues are mentioned.)
Click here for Class 11 inspiration: http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=446911&start=0
1970 96V4 "The Devil's Own V4" 1977 95V4 van conversion project 1988 900i 8V | |
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melle V4 Guru
United Kingdom 3833 Posts | |
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