x1/9 Suspension Question -- Strut Length

This may be a long-shot, but it beats not taking a shot at all...

Does anyone here happen to know, roughly, the compressed and extended lengths of front and rear struts on a Fiat x1/9?

Actually, the range of travel is not terribly important. I guess what I'm looking for is a rough measurement from the tower mounting-point, to the lowest point of the actual strut-body itself. NOT the lower mounting point.

Just throwing it out there, since I have an idea in my head, but can't make it out to the shop today to get the measurements myself.

Thanx!!!

Will

The KYB online catalog lists only the front. The supplied dimensions are:

Compressed length: 10.28"

Extended length: 15.63"

Stroke: 5.35"

I'm on my phone and I can't get a link to that page to copy.

Also, reading comprehension isn't my strong suit today...

I went back and looked again. I had it in my head that had an earlier car. Didn't they change suspension components on these around 78/79? Anyways, they list a rear strut for the later cars. It measures:

Compressed length: 12.28"

Extended length: 17.76"

Stroke: 5.47"

In any case, isn't the "hot" setup with these vw rabbit strut inserts?

In re:ply to Mr_Estrotica:

On my phone as well, hence my not wanting to do much searching.

Fortunately, it's not supposed to be stupid-cold tomorrow, so I can just go to the shop and do some measurating...

After thinking about it a bit more, the main measurement I need is the car at static ride-height... I can get that tomorrow.

In reply to grafmiata:

Here's what i pulled up from the OLD X web site:

http://www.network54.com/Forum/12159/message/1192547541/Strut+dimensions+for+a+Sachs+gas+insert......

and

http://www.network54.com/Forum/12159/message/1055863861/Struts

IIRC the rear strut design changed around 1979. That's why the KYB's GR-2's wont work with the earlier cars. The only issue is the strut top which uses the later style mounts. You can swap over the later mounts to the earlier cars. I have a set of GR2's on my '74 right now until I save my pennies for coilovers: http://marketplaceadvisor.channeladvisor.com/storefrontprofiles/DeluxeSFItemDetail.aspx?sid=1&sfid=208227&c=193056&i=308823116

I saw some unusual toe changes on a local X1/9. I did some measurements and ran it through Susprog3D.

There is a narrow range of happy, followed by hatchet-murdering death on either side. Kind of like a girl I once knew.

Probably why most fast X1/9s run stupid high spring rates.

In reply to mblommel: Thanx!!! Mine is an '80...

And, I'm ditching the struts and converting to shocks. Hence my need for some info here.

In reply to grafmiata:

Really? That sounds like it would be kinda tough at the back, there isn't much room up top with tranverse engine in there. Are you doing subframes and double wishbone of some sort? If so, please post pics as it sounds interesting.

mblommel wrote: In reply to grafmiata: Really? That sounds like it would be kinda tough at the back, there isn't much room up top with tranverse engine in there. Are you doing subframes and double wishbone of some sort? If so, please post pics as it sounds interesting.

Honestly, I'm just looking at my options, suspension-wise, right now.

This is being built for the $2014 Challenge. What I currently have in mind will require a bit of fab-work, but will be less of a hit to the budget than replacing the blown struts that are currently on the car.

Fab up your own housings to fit golf inserts or something to that effect, that was my plan prior to getting a pair of KYBs for the Yugo.

grafmiata wrote: Honestly, I'm just looking at my options, suspension-wise, right now. This is being built for the $2014 Challenge. What I currently have in mind will require a bit of fab-work, but will be less of a hit to the budget than replacing the blown struts that are currently on the car.

Gotcha. Well this thread may interest you: http://www.xwebforums.org/showthread.php?t=14478&highlight=coilover

The Cliff Notes version is the guy used the brackets from the X strut housings on four VW FRONT strut housings from Rabbit 75-84, Jetta 80-84, Scirocco 75-88, or Cabriolet 75-93 Golf that will accept decent off-the-shelf inserts. These are the external thread housings. Pretty low buck with decent results. I'm still considering a similar route for my own car.

There have been several DIY coilover posts on X web, but this one seems to have the best results and widest array of possible inserts. Hope this helps.

In reply to mblommel:It definitely helps... Thanx!!!

A buddy of mine started telling me basically the same thing a couple weeks ago, but my eyes kinda glazed-over... As they tend to do when he starts talking.

Maybe I should actually start listening to him a bit more...