After a bit of fiddling around I think I'm on to something with the Accord. My gut feeling is that over the long term it will be easiest to use 2.5" ID circle track springs because of cost/availibility. They seem to be available in 25lb increments in the proper lengths from stock to absurdly stiff. They also pop up used for absurdly cheap on ebay and at swap meets. The question is mostly about perches. I can use circle track stuff for about $40-50 a corner, or try and cobble something together starting with a set of ebay sleeves for $50 for all four corners. This isn't a challenge car and my intention is to keep it for a while, but there isn't any need to spend extra money just for shiny stuff.
Any thoughts on putting together something?
Done it many times with ebay sleeves.
Be like Nike, and JUST DO IT!
Supply my email with a list of your needs and i’ll see what i have.
In reply to Patrick :
Sent you an email.
In reply to Dusterbd13 :
If I could figure out what the dimensions of anything are then I'd have something ordered right now. Strangely there really aren't any kits for the Accord/TSX of my generation. I think that's because the front shocks are bigger than any of the Civic stuff, but that's only because I know from reading that the civic shocks are smaller. Also not sure what size springs the ebay kits use. Nobody measures these days.
Isn't 2.5" kind of the "normal" size for coilovers in general, beyond circle track?
IIRC that's what I had for the E30, from Ireland Engineering. Tidy, simple, but nothing rocket surgery about them.
If I were doing any coilover on another Mac strut car (I don't know what the Accord is), I'd be shooting for a really high-grade top mount with proper bearings. Lubing the spherical to stop the steering binding was a little unnerving. I mean, it was unnerving how bad it was before lubing it, with a side order of dubious longevity from having an exposed spherical covered in grit attractant. The car was rear-ended before that became a concern.
For a keeper/driver, I'd also want tender springs just for peace of mind and ease of mucking about without every jacking up being an opportunity for something to not quite sit right when I put it back on the ground.
Luckily, the Accord is a wishbone car.
In all honesty I don't know what the standard size is for springs on super cheap ebay kits.
For your application seth, give us the diameter of the strut housing. Err on the fat side.
I have at least 3 sets of ebay sleeves kicking around under various projects, and remember what application i ordered two of them for
We can get this done.
Additionally, dont forget about mounting the adjuster at the tophat as a possibility, with the spring sitting on the stock spring seat.
I have a pair of 700lb 7" long eibach springs you need. They were great on the front of the Forte for auto-x.
In reply to Dusterbd13 :
Front is 1.78 and rear is round about 1.63. The stock spring seats are set up for pigtails and the springs I'm looking at are flat.
On the swift I cut off the stock spring perches and used the sleeves in their place. Granted this was a macstrut front but I would think it could work in a similar fashion no?
In reply to bobzilla :
Yes, that's the plan, if I can find sleeves the right size/length. I know I can do it with parts from Speedway for about $50 a corner plus springs, but ebay coilover kits are something like $50 for all four adjusters and springs. Yes, they're junk, but they're cheap junk.
mazdeuce - Seth said:
In reply to Dusterbd13 :
Front is 1.78 and rear is round about 1.63. The stock spring seats are set up for pigtails and the springs I'm looking at are flat.
So, 45mm/42mm.
I used Allstar sleeves & perches for the Miata. I doubt they’re any better than the chinesium ones, but I had someone to answer my questions on the other end. They were too large in I.D. For my Konis, but I was able to trim the Koni lower perch & center the sleeve with a Harbor Freight o-ring kit, and placing 2 o-rings between each strut & sleeve.
Lil Stampie and I just bought 2.5 ID schd 40 pipe that we'll cut to length to set the ride height on the Q45. Of course it's Challenge at 99 cents a pound.
From what I can tell, the Chinesium sleeves are all about the same diameter and use similar parts and pieces. The lengths of the sleeves can vary, but for the most part they are pretty universal at their core.
I used a set from an old Civic/Accord on my 924. I had to gently sand the OD of my strut body to fit the sleeve after cutting the lower spring perch off. I ditched the included springs, they were way too short, but the top hats were used after expanding the hole to fit the strut shaft.
Wish.com has some for $47 + $1 shipping
https://www.wish.com/product/5ac95bf5f3bcca3b84b8741d
I've bought from that site before and its cheapy Chinese stuff, but its the same quality as at Amazon/eBay, etc. Just make sure the description matches what you'd like to actually have.