Junkyard finds... And possibly saved. (long story, no pics yet)

[Christ]

Those are the struts/coils I have installed, except mine were from a company called TATUNING, which doesn't appear to have anything listed on eBay right now. I'm not surprised.

When I bought them for the VW MK2, they were actually designed for an MK3. After a lengthy battle over the definition of "top hat" and whether or not they were included in the kit, I ended up paying less than $200 shipped for them.

[Christ]

In order for them to be installed on the Festiva, I had to grind the lower bushings almost flush with the rubber.

The modification to the front struts is filing the upper knuckle mount hole on the lower section, and installing early '03 Kia Rio strut bearings (which actually have bearings) or drilling out the stock Festiva/Aspire bearings to fit (which have a nylon washer and grease).

They're heavier by a little than the stock parts, and stiffen the ride to go-kart standards. They weren't quite so harsh on the VW, since it's a heavier car, but still very noticeable. I don't mind a bit of ricer-bounce in my car, because it stabilizes when there's weight in it, and it sticks to corners just as well as the tires will allow. It's FLAT cornering on all but the highest speed tight curves.

[SiVX]

Wow that's awesome! I'd love to stiffen up the ride on my vx. But I know very little in terms of suspension. Also I like the clearance because I camp and hike frequently. Not to pull away from ur topic, but any suggestions for what I can do without buying a full kit.

[Christ]

Get some hockey pucks, drill 5/8" holes in the exact center of them, and put them over the springs, but under the top hats. This will preload the springs, but also takes away about half an inch of travel from the spring itself, which doesn't matter on stock struts.

You can also put a set of front springs on the rear struts. The fronts are always stiffer because of the extra weight.

Basically, find a heavier car with coil-over strut design, and use them.

You can find self-install coilover kits on eBay for under $100. They have heavier springs (usually ~350-400lb/in), and come with sleeves that allow you to adjust the ride height. If you want to keep stock height, wind them all the way up. You may also need to add spacers, since the springs in those kits are generally 2-3" shorter. If you add a spacer, you can use the hockey puck trick, or you can cut a piece of pipe that will fit over the strut body and still support the sleeve.

If you're an avid junkyard hunter, find some CRV springs. They're close to the right length, and only slightly heavier than the 4th gen Civic ones. You'll need a spring compressor.

If the yard makes you buy the whole strut assembly (they usually will, for liability purposes), you can disassemble the springs at home by stepping on the spring itself, then putting an air impact driver on the top hat nut and spinning it off. The strut will push back away from the spring up to 10 feet, so pay mind to what's around you. To install the springs on your stock struts, you'll either need a spring compressor or a floor jack with a wide saddle and a couple pieces of rope/cable. The latter method, you place the spring in the jack saddle, then jack it against a solid object with the rope strung through the inside. Once it's compressed, tie the rope tightly and release the pressure slowly from the jack. You can then install them, tighten the top hats down, install the struts on the car, put a jack under the lower control arm and seat the spring, then cut the rope out and slowly lower the jack.

[Christ]

Oh, nothing much...





Temporarily mounted a GT1752 (I'm pretty sure that's what it is, but I haven't gotten the numbers off it yet...) to the stock manifold, and checked clearance on the engine with it.

I'm probably going to need to cut off a head-side flange from another manifold to get the extra 12mm or so of clearance to make everything jive correctly, but seems like it'll work fine without re-clocking the housings at all. The oil drain won't be perfectly vertical, but it shouldn't hurt anything at a slight angle (less than 10*) since it's such a large diameter (something like 20mm).

The rear two bolts on the manifold, after removing the studs, accommodate 2 of the studs on the GT28 flange. Knowing this beforehand, I have only mounted the turbo by 2 studs, and plan on welding some material to the remainder of the flange to accommodate the other 2 studs. The turbo sits canted away from the engine on the cold side as a result, but this should not affect anything, since there should be plenty of clearance to the radiator here.

I will not be running an IC for this any time soon, if at all, since I'll only be running it at about 5 PSI on the B3. Later, if I decide to turn the boost up, I'll have a buddy make a PWM circuit based on a pressure switch to control water injection and an auxiliary injector for when the stock ECM can't handle the boost level.

Next things to do are grab a spare oil pan (from the first engine in this car) and get it ready for an oil return plug, figure out where to draw oil from, and pipe it up on the mock-up engine. I'll probably plug the coolant ports on the turbo since they won't be necessary at low boost. Again, if I need them later, they'll still be there.

So... that's what I done tuhday. What'd YOU do?

[skyking]

Started building an accessory electrical loom for the truck.
Looks like a fun project you have there.

[6 Speed]

You didn't tell me you actually had the turbo on something now....

[Christ]

Originally Posted by 6 Speed

You didn't tell me you actually had the turbo on something now....

I just got the manifold welded to actually accept the turbo flange. Need to mill it flat again, install an oil return and pipe a pressure line, then should be ready to install. Car's coming off the road for the surgery though, why I bought a 5 speed (another festiva) to replace it.

[Christ]

Alright, so I've had less than great luck with the engines in this car. This is the second one, and while providing great FE (40's regularly), even being an auto, this engine has started knocking something fierce, so I've taken it off the road in favor of my '88 5 speed, which makes NO noise. :drool:

In the mean time, Steve just became the candidate for the VW diesel swap. He wants to knock so bad, I'll give him an engine that's supposed to knock.

[skyking]

yeah man. On the hunt for some diesel lovin'