rear springs, Vort and L sedan and wagon

steptoe · Post by **steptoe** » Mon Jun 13, 2011 11:33 pm

Thought I'd get this discussion continuing in here

Think I want a pair of rear coils to suit an L Series sedan, RX, GLTA or Vortex in order to correct height wagon springs give at the moment. The wrong ones (wagons) have pink and green paint dabs on one set, another can be identified by colours TBA - don't want them either.

Curious to now what anyone may have as spare to get correct height

Ta
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Comments: 5
Posted By: El_Freddo(0)
12-06-2011 02:29
I'm pretty sure that the coils on the wagons are the same as those on the sedans. The 2wd sedans have a longer strut to make up for the lower mounting position on the swing arm compared to that of the 4wd swing arm.

So if you're running a set of 2wd rear struts in the back of your RX 4wd sedan, you'll have a raised rear end - which is what I think you want to eliminate. In which case I think you'll find that a set of replacement struts for any 4wd L series will sort out the issue.

Cheers

Bennie
Posted By: steptoe(0)
wrong....., 12-06-2011 03:54
I have tried a set of 87 Touring wagons in rear of my L Sedan 4WD, and another set that came in a rolling shell sedan likely wagon sourced to replace its air bags.

One set jacked arse up plus 40mm, the other plus 50mm.Still got them marked which ones did what

I also had [past tense] a set of FWD L Sedan rear springs made no difference was hoping to drop arse to FWD specs. Stupidly kept the wagon ones and threw the sedans , aargh !
Posted By: El_Freddo(0)
12-06-2011 13:04
So are you sure you're not after an aftermarket set of lowered springs then?

Sounds like the stock height has been dropped...
Posted By: steptoe(0)
12-06-2011 19:29
pretty sure it is not lowered sedan springs I want (just yet ).... the wagon springs at that increased height feels dangerous and looks bloody redickerless.
What I may try is my sedan unts in the back of the Vort and get a better idea of things..ta
Posted By: subius(0)
13-06-2011 07:13
I've got an 85 vortex with a wagon rear end and am currently playing with the spring/strut combo. I bought a brand new set of sedan kyb struts only to discover the spring seat is higher than on the wagon. The sedan springs are a little shorter than the wagon ones though. You can flip the strut tops to drop the rear by about 50mm, need to drill a hole in the wheel arch too. I am thinking this might be a good option for me, otherwise i'm going to have to buy new shocks...again.. Good luck f

steptoe · Post by **steptoe** » Mon Jun 13, 2011 11:36 pm

Who has actually converted a Vortex or L Series GLTA from air bags to coils successfully and kept factory heights ? Anyone?
Curious to know what bits you sourced, any troubles or findings like Subius above?

sammynb · Post by **sammynb** » Tue Jun 14, 2011 1:07 pm

steptoe wrote:Who has actually converted a Vortex or L Series GLTA from air bags to coils successfully and kept factory heights ? Anyone?
Curious to know what bits you sourced, any troubles or findings like Subius above?

I did about 10 years ago and remember having all sorts of trouble trying to get the rear ride height correct.
If I remember correctly the various aftermarket strut manufacturers list the same unit for all three variants, 2wd/4wd sedan and wagon. I had the springs made by k-mac and they ended up resizing them to get the rear height correct.

steptoe · Post by **steptoe** » Tue Jun 14, 2011 3:07 pm

Kevin Mac likely to have kept the info for future reference.

My 4GLTA has had the conversion done, does make a noise going into sloped driveways only on LHS may be inner arm bushes though.

I wonder if strut length makes a difference?

Gannon · Post by **Gannon** » Tue Jun 14, 2011 3:40 pm

Is it possible to slightly trim a bit off the end of the springs to bring the rear back down? Either that or carry a dozen bricks in the boot as and call it 'self levelling ballast'

YouTube · Post by **El_Freddo** » Tue Jun 14, 2011 6:31 pm

Got photos?

I wonder if your "top hats" are put on the wrong way up. I believe that if they're the wrong way around that you would need to have a hole drilled in the top of the guard to let the top of the strut poke through for clearance.

I would like more details about the car and its current setup

Cheers

Bennie

discopotato03 · Post by **discopotato03** » Tue Jun 14, 2011 8:28 pm

I think the silliest thing Subaru did to 4/AWD Sedans was omit the wagons bump stops and trailing arm platforms .
There are things you can fabricate to sit the bottom spring seat lower on the strut provided you have a good fabricator .
Poor old Ellie RX has Honda springs in the back because they sort of fit and the rate is higher than wagon springs . The problem is that they are a bit too long and the pre load is a bit too high . Hey the price was right .
Having the butt higher isn't an issue provided the car doesn't roll about like a barrer full of cement , mine has the one off 22mm anti roll bar and if I had my time over it would have been 24 .

A .

steptoe · Post by **steptoe** » Wed Jun 15, 2011 10:39 am

notes here are:

springs that came from my 87 wagon
and springs from my 85 GLTA converted with wagon springs

one set with green paint dab above orange paint dab on spring gave plus 50mm over what is fitted to sedan

the other set is either pink or faded red dab and orange dab below that, gave plus 40mm over the height of sedans fitted springs
Yet to find colours of those fitted to sedan with happy height

EDIT. Sedan with suitable height have a single yellow dab - so likely a Subaru part not aftermarket?

The struts or shocks in the rear of the Vortex have what looks like the turn around bottom shaft adjustable height things like on a motorbike of yesteryear, not sure if they are adjustable though

The Vortex has same colours as one of the sets above

steptoe · Post by **steptoe** » Wed Jun 15, 2011 10:55 am

Bennie, 355, 640 mm

talking rear wheel of L Series ?

With fifteens on the GLTA and those yellow dab springs the measure from wheel centre to guard eyebrow is 355mm, likely same no matter rim size. The eyebrow to floor is 640mm

The height increase of 40 and 50 mm I was getting, I measured at the rear bumper at the time

steptoe · Post by **steptoe** » Wed Jun 15, 2011 11:00 am

Pics below are of 4WD Vortex, even if they are adjustable, oh, thy are on max high or low? need to take a peek

Erk, can only go up from there

Uploaded with ImageShack.us

steptoe · Post by **steptoe** » Wed Jun 15, 2011 11:09 am

No bump stop on this 4WD Vortex

YouTube · Post by **El_Freddo** » Wed Jun 15, 2011 1:53 pm

I've not seen those adjustable shocks before. Maybe off a pre 87 model? I think these 4wd subi's still had the adjustable shocks like the MY's did for their 4wd models.

I've got a set of yellow king springs that are apparently standard replacements - they made the arse end sit a bit below where I wanted it without weight in the rear and with weight the rear really squatted. I remember when you pulled the rear strut/shock out the spring would be loose in the seats allowing you to freely rattle it around. Maybe these might be good for your use?

I don't recall seeing any bump stops on the vortex that the current rear shocks I'm running came from. I think it originally had the air setup though and AFAIK the air setups didn't have bump stops...

Cheers

Bennie

steptoe · Post by **steptoe** » Wed Jun 15, 2011 2:43 pm

ah ha, my GLTA was air bag so may be onto something there, but Disco's RX has no bump stops and been coil since birth

YouTube · Post by **El_Freddo** » Wed Jun 15, 2011 2:54 pm

I wonder if the sedans had bump stops?? I don't recall any on Baz - '84 GL L sedan, but then again, I haven't poked my head under there to have a look for a long time...

Cheers

Bennie

Gannon · Post by **Gannon** » Wed Jun 15, 2011 3:05 pm

I was under the impression that only 4wd wagons had bump stops

steptoe · Post by **steptoe** » Fri Jul 08, 2011 9:37 am

No rear bump stops on either my 4WD sedan 4GLTA, or Vortex. They are supposed to be in the shock/spring combo.

The adjustables rears were on '85 4WD L's that also had adjustable front struts like 4WD MY. Dropped them by '87 models

H-top · Post by **H-top** » Fri Jul 08, 2011 11:04 am

All AWD vortex's in oz were airbag.

thelman · Post by **thelman** » Fri Jul 08, 2011 11:56 am

give darryl at sa suspension in pooraka a call. If he cant help u, no one can

steptoe · Post by **steptoe** » Fri Jul 08, 2011 12:11 pm

Thanks, currently warming Kmac in Sydney up to something.... will keep Darryl in mind, thanks

T'subaru · Post by **T'subaru** » Fri Jul 08, 2011 1:15 pm

bump stops were on the wagons only here, and that adjustable strut matches what had been installed on my xt6 by the po. The back sat up pretty high until I put 4wd struts from an rx on the rear, sits nice now. Btw, my wagons rear struts are identical to my rx's struts too. As far as the adjustable its definatly a 2wd strut, and if a part number is pulled from it you could out of curiousity try it here in their cross reference section to see the oem application.
http://showmetheparts.com/kyb/#