mk2 springs on the front of my mk1

[rabbitman]

Well I got sick of my rabbit being cushy and boatish and the struts were shot anyways, pass side even had shock oil sprayed everywhere.

So I go to a junkyard and get the front springs off of a jetta II, way thicker wire. Tried putting 'em on and found out that the new boge struts I'd bought almost a year ago for spares had external threads and I needed internal, the struts for internal/external aren't the same so I couldn't just reuse the old "nuts" with the new shocks.

So I go to napa and order some gas struts, 50 bucks each. Took about a half hour or hour yesterday to swap one side (haven't done it in a while), the front sat almost 2-3 inches higher. The new hoist was very handy for this (install new strut/spring, lower, check height, raise, remove assembly, cut spring, lower, check height), I got one side good and then copied it for the other, I cut one coil  off each spring to get it down close to where it should be. BTW, I found out the drivers side spring had broken 1/2 a coil off, it was rusty so it mustv been like that for a while.
It was still a little high so today I wacked off another halfa coil, it's still a tad high but if I cut much more off there won't be hardly any pressure holding the spring in it's seat when I jack the front up so I think I'll leave it for now.

RESULTS:
The ride is lots better than before, used to sway real far and when I'd swerve it had delayed steering since so much movement was wasted from all the rocking back and forth , now it is WAAAAY quicker when I swerve around.
I'm hoping the add spring stiffness will make the struts last longer too, I felt my old ones dying after only 2 years but made 'em last one more year untill I could do this to it.

[burn_your_money]

Did you have to cut the springs to make them work or was that just so they weren't sky high?

[rabbitman]

Did you have to cut the springs to make them work or was that just so they weren't sky high?

It was just to get it down to stock mk1 height, without them cut the front sat 2-3 inches higher than stock. It still sits a tiny bit higher than the back but I think if I cut much more off then the spring won't be held in it's seat when I jack the front up, as it is with the front up I can use my hands and pull the springs off the seats a little bit. Mk2 springs are much stiffer .

It really stiffened it up too, it sways a lot less and rides much firmer. Next I just need to find a anti-roll bar.

[rabbitman]

Well I like the firmness and the "lack of sway" (still don't have a front swaybar), but for some reason the front tires like to squeal when I turn a corner too fast and before it didn't squeal.

I think I noticed that if I give it power while turning it doesn't do it as easy but if I brake a little tiny bit it howls like ever

[burn_your_money]

You might need an alignment since you've changed the geometry of your suspension with the height increase.

[rabbitman]

You might need an alignment since you've changed the geometry of your suspension with the height increase.

Well I cut the springs down so it's at the stock height now, BUT......I did change the tie-rod ends. I removed the whole strut/hub assembly so I didn't mess up the camber, the strut tops have some slop in the bolt holes so that could've changed something.

Also I the camber on these must not be overly important, the bentley says +20minutes plus or minus 30minutes of camber . I used an adjustable bubble level and found that the drivers side had more camber so I adjusted that and it drives very good now.
The one thing I couldn't do very good was the toe, with the weight on the wheels it's hard to get in there and measure stuff. I'll look into it when I get the chance though.

[8v-of-fury]

Doesn't cutting springs alter the character of the metal by changing its tensile strength? you say it rides well eh? interesting!

[rabbitman]

Doesn't cutting springs alter the character of the metal by changing its tensile strength? you say it rides well eh? interesting!

I did keep squirting water on it as I cut so it would de-temper the metal.
I read on here that cutting coils off shortens and stiffens the spring, I didn't drive it with the mk2 springs before cutting them so can't comment on if they actually did stiffen when cut.

The other problem I found is I think the mk1 struts are too "soft" for the stronger springs so it seems a bit bouncier than I thought it would be, it's much better than blown struts and stock springs though! Cracks in the road give a good "thump", but frost heaves aren't bad at all and if the road is old and uneven it shakes around a lot .

[gldgti]

a coil springs spring rate is inversely proportional to the number of coils... so the overall spring rate mught be XX N/mm, if you remove a coil, there is less acutal spring material to deform for a given amount of axial compression or extension - thus, each individual coil is stresses further - or in other words, it takes more effort to deflect the sprign a certain distance. thus, the axial spring rate is increased.

i would be VERY careful about using such hard springs in the mk1, merely because you will stress out the body work/strut top mounts will all the extra transmitted load. make sure you have good strut tops!

[rabbitman]

Yeah my towers are rust free and I got new strut tops.

I thought of the added stress to the frame but since the old springs were letting it constantly bottom out I figured these springs would be better for it due to not banging down so hard. Like, I changed the struts 3 years ago using all stock parts including new rubber "bumpers", when I did the spring swap a few weeks ago the rubbers were completely smashed and split and barely hanging on.

[gldgti]

nice work :-)

i muchroomed many a strut tower in my younger days... now i have made a nice upper stress bar with 8mm 'C' shaped flanges that bolt on top of the strut towers via the top mount bolts, so the body work is "sandwiched" between the top mount and the 8mm thinck flange.... no more damage :-)

[vwjones]

great idea on the stress flanges.  I used mk2 springs on my mk1 caddy and didn't cut them down.  i used air shocks and helper springs on the back to bring the back up 2 inches so it all matched.  i love the new stance.  looks sort of pissed off all of the time.  the ride is so much better now too.