Did the Coil Conversion today

The lateral lean with these coils is somewhat un-nerving at the least in a lengthy s-turn and feels ridiculously unsafe in my eyes. I might be getting up in age at nearly 42 but the desire to street perform with trust that your car will do what you want it to do in certain scenarios when you want it to is important to me and still want to design or create a luxury sport coupe that is just that, a sport coupe with a good platform from the start. Sure I can go out and buy another Mustang or Camaro or whatever comes to mind, but the norm is not for me now, too many of those cars on the road and anymore they are the same to me.

Do not get me wrong, the coil conversion is a option on a budget if needed because of air bag or the like failed. But as someone mentioned earlier, I had no reason to do it other than a trial to witness the pros and cons for myself on a great base car without issues.

But I can understand what Jamie is talking about as to the equipment used, and the results that you are looking for in the swap is going to come from the parts used to do it. If I were to do the swap it would have to be a upgrade to the stock system. There is no other reason for me to do the swap. I will make another attempt at this with different springs in the future and see if it pans out. But I also know that the springs are just one of many upgrades that have to work in conjunction of one another to get great results. Like thicker sway bars, subframe connectors, maybe a strut tower brace, wider wheel/tire patch on pavement and so forth and so on. In my efforts in the future will do just that, experimenting with combinations to achieve what it is what I am looking for.
 
thats another part to it also, i have 10 inches of front footprint and 11 inches of rear, my wheels are out a little wider than yours, i have front sub frame to k-member braces, all energy suspension prothane bushings on my swaybars, and my car is almost 2 inches lower than my air'd 98 lsc and air'd 97 lsc, those 2 are stock.
 
That is a big improvement on the pavement control Jamie, the wider stance is in itself a great improvement. And as you and I mentioned before, it is a combination of things to achieve the performance capability I am looking for. But if you can share in this forum or by PM if you prefer, then I would like to know the springs by part description than just a name brand that you are using. That way I am trying a part that is being or has been used on the Mark VIII with great feedback for them. Saves time and money in my eyes. So any description you can share on that would be appreciative if you can recall or remember it.

I have already did all the bushings and am looking into possible tubular upper a-arms with heims at the ends of the arm, and look at possible cross reference lowers from a different platform. I know performance can be manipulated and made to fit. But all I have at this moment is time, and I have the ability to be creative do it mentally and physically. Can not be to much different from a M1A1 and A2 Abrams battle tank, right:eek:

The strut tower brace I am already drawing up to fit, drawing up rear plate and strut plates and using heims or johnny joints for adjustability. May do the same for the rear pumpkin to frame. And I can also make my own sub-frame connectors also. Picking up a welder soon, and that is a plus to have.
 
Well ain't this a BIOTCH, I have family over at the house this week from Puerto Rico. The second day here, my 4 yr old nephew gets Rota-virus and Salmonella. He is in the Children's Hospital as I type. They first thought it was E-Colli, but was wrong. Probably got it on the plane ride here. Anyway, I let my brother-n-law take my Mark VIII up to the hospital to get the blood results and he calls me after he gets there and says the front of the Mark's airbags are deflated and will not go back up. I told him to cycle the ignition a few times and see if it goes up. Well it did not. So I drive my wifes car up there and sure as sh*t, it is totally deflated. I try to look under thinking possibly a sensor popped off or something, could not since it was completely deflated. I decide to drive it home slowly and it bounced like Jerry Springer's check all the way home. I finally get it up in the air at home, and the P/S airbag just blew out along the spiral seem. That sucked, and I told myself never again will I let someone else drive my sh*t again. It may have happened to me while driving but that would be OK with me. But not knowing what happened since I was not in the car at the time pisses me off.

So I had to put the coil conversion back on for the time being. :(
 
OUCH, sorry to hear that man!

Know how ya feel; I don't even let the GF drive my chit for the same reason, and it's still just a diamond in the rough (very rough).
 
Can't blame the brother-n-law just yet. It is probably just something simple you have over looked since re-installing the air ride. Maybe a connection that you thought was tight but came loose when he drove it. I'm not sure but I know what you're saying about something happening. If it does happen, you would like to be the one that was driving it when it did happen. Before my dad passed away, he had asked a few times to let him drive my car and I would not let him. Some on here know why and have seen pictures of why I said no.

Just re-check all of your work and look at it this way, it will get you out of the house and away from everyone. I'm sure you're going to find that it's something simple that came loose or I hope so anyway.
 
Terry, re-read his post. He found the problem and it a real failure.
 
LaserSVT said:
Terry, re-read his post. He found the problem and it a real failure.
Click to expand...

Damn, I completely missed that sentence. I never heard of one just busting unless the P/S front wheel slammed into a curb and took pressure to sudden. Yeah, might want to look at the brother-in-law on that one. Very odd it happened "while he had it"
 
Well like I said before, I do not know what happened. I just hate when something happens when I am not there to see it happen and all I can do is assume. It would be no big deal to me if it happened while I was driving it as I would know exactly what happened. And the swap over is a simple task, hard to screw it up. Here is pic of it......

SD531527.jpg

SD531527.jpg
 
Something cut it. If it blew then it would be much more jagged. Brake line or bracket must have cut in a little and allowed it to tear.
 
Actually it separated at the spiral seam. The bag is formed in a upward spiral of about a 2-3 inch strip on the outside, and it separated going upward on the seam. The bag is made of two layers, and you can see the outside seperation that caused the inside to do the same, but the inside layer is jagged. At first I thought that maybe something on the road may have been run over or went under car and was kicked up into the bag to do that, but I think it was more of a harsh hit to the tire at speed that depressed it so quickly that the bag bloated or expanded to a tolerance it could not handle. But that is why I wonder on this whole deal as I was not there to witness it. But I can guarantee one thing though, no one will ever drive my sh*t again except the wife.
 
Any evidence on the tire or wheel inside and out of a hit? What you're saying is very well possible. What Laser is saying is also possible. It's a hard one to call simply because it happened without you. You can round up a P/S bag on ebay or find on in the JY for a fairly good price. Good thing you had the coil setup to hold you over till you get it fixed.
 
I know, I told my wife that it is great I found that kit on the cheap when I did. Talk about timing, could not get any better. There was no evidence of anything anywhere other than the bag itself.
 
Yes they are stockers at 225/60's. The front is sitting at 27.5 adn the rear is sitting at 27.75, before I sensored lowered it it was a 28.25 and rear was at 28.75. So it is sitting at sensor lowered measurements with the coil system.
 
I thought they looked like it but I learned about assuming on here lol. I think it's sitting fine. Are you willing to remove the pinstripe? Makes a difference and not too bad removing it. I done my 94, both sides using the pinstripe remover wheel and a cordless drill in about 30 to 45 min.
 
Raped Ape said:
Soon I will be taking the pinstrip off. I am going to wait until I do the clay bar in a couple of weeks.
Click to expand...

You'll like it once it's gone. Makes the car look completely different without the stripe. I noticed in one of your pics in another thread that it looked like it was reflective, like it was glowing.

Either way, the stance looks good to me. Not too high and not too low.
 
Yeah this is the one, it does glow or reflected when the light hits it right. Kinda like a emergency vehicle the the reflective tape they use.
SD531522.jpg

SD531522.jpg
 
Raped Ape said:
Yeah this is the one, it does glow or reflected when the light hits it right. Kinda like a emergency vehicle the the reflective tape they use.
Click to expand...

That's the one. I never seen a Mark with stripes like that before. Yours might come off easier than mine did. What I had on the 94 was painted on and as I used the rubber disc, it got kinda dusty but once they were off, I came back with a polishing compound, using a rotary buffer and then came back across with a wax. Couldn't even tell anything was ever there.

LSCMoldings006.jpg


After that fender, I ran around the rest of the car and was done completely in about 45 min.

LSCMoldings008.jpg
 
I used an eraser wheel on my '95 too, worked great, but don't hold it in one place long, and try a good non-damaging adhesive remover and a rag to soften it up first. I was done in a half hour and my stripe was very hard and stuck on.
 
Well, I was thinking about possibly cutting a coil on each one of the corners to lower it approximately 1.0" more than it is now. But with the way the coils are now with lack of stability as I would like it, I would tend to think it may worsen the stability issue. I have the other side of that thought that it may indeed strengthen it as the coil should be in thought stiffer. But I do not know, and for that I may need your alls input on this thought of cutting one coil off each. So any input would be appreciated.

I have read the various threads that say to do it, and some say that they did. But none say if it stiffened the ride stability or hurt it. But allot of threads also only say I did the conversion but do not compare the results either. So your input if you have done this is much appreciated.
 
If lowered, that means less spring which means "less spring" and should make it more stiffer. Might want to lower it 1 inch and look into a better shock all around. There would be less lean and spring.
 
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