Well the thread about the 3 vs. 4 link rear has rekindled an idea for a project of mine. Basically I want to get rid of the junk fiberglass rear leaf springs in my astro van, and replace with coilovers. As I have a total of abot $750 into the whole van, I'm looking for a very grassroots solution. Any ideas out there?
no
Miata!
I took a set o $40 ebay coil-overs off of ebay, threw away the springs and used the threaded perches. Bought some used Eibachs from some other SCCA racers and I got myself a $200 coil over set up. I have about 6000 hard street miles (NJ roads) and the car sits at home (on a barrier island). They haven't moved a bit or corroded.
Bought four complete with springs and shocks and lotsa spares (shocks, perches etc) from the GRM $2008 pages a couple of weeks ago....gotta love this place, $100 for the lot
Bought a set of four with springs from Flea bay for $160. Not ground controls, but not too shabby either.
Speedway sells the sleeves collars and perches for Blistien shocks in their street rod catalog. They list the ID of the sleeves...in other words, just find cheaper shocks to fit.
They were cheap IIRC.
Cheap Coilover is an oxymoron. However, the above suggestions will be about as inexpensive as you can go.
bump
+1 for cheapest ebay set you can find then you can get summit springs for about 30-40 each in proper lengths and rates.
What about multiple motorcycle coilovers. I bought a set of good rear coilovers for my 76 Honda CB off ebay for $18. Buy a couple sets to get the rate you need for your van.
+1 for motorcycle shocks being very cost effective coilovers. I don't think I'd use them on a van, though. The travel is awfully short for something like that. I would look at using a set of Miata rear shocks with Fleabay coilover conversion.
The thought of a couple pair of bike shocks did enter my mind. Some dirtbikes have long travel shocks...
... and they will command premium prices on Fleabay. 
How do you make the motorcycle dampers valved for a tiny load work to control the corner ofa car? Do you revalve them and use heavier springs?
Motorcycle shocks can easily be revalved by adding or removing shims in the valve stack. In my case, the motorcycles my shocks came off of weighed around 450 pounds. Once on the car which weighs about 1800 pounds, each shock carries the same amount of weight.
The springs that came with the R1 Yamaha shocks I used were ~500 inch pound, actually too soft. I wound up using 2.25 ID x 7 Eibach springs. My big gripe about the R1 shocks is that the preload adjustment is a cam and ramp setup, not threaded. The R1 shocks have, IIRC, about 2.75" travel which can be a problem if you need more travel as in the case of a live rear axle.
I'm trying QA1 (rebadged Carerra) shocks on my latest project, the single adjustables are around $149 each without springs.
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