Ultra low VW fox coil over install and strut housing mod by Banned wagon

Home
Volkswagen
Fox
DIYs
Ultra low VW fox coil over install and strut housing mod by Banned wagon

Vehicle: VW Fox

( 3 )

29 minute read

Ultra low VW fox coil over install and strut housing mod

Compliments of Banned wagon @ www.vwortex.com

OK this i my current project should finally be able to bring down my fox to a proper ride height

First you get out all of your fun measuring tools and start taking notes

ok all measured up

next get a set of strut inserts of your choice. I chose the bilstein MK1 sports

measure the difference between the old stock struts and the new

ok time to start cutting! first the spring perch

then one more final cut mark the tube in a few places so you get the alignment of the steering arm back correctly

cut off 2" and toss it

now the big twist in my version flip the whole thing over now and re weld

Now you have a strut housing that is 2" shorter and has 1 1/2 " more room for a longer threaded sleeve.
all done

now just add any threaded sleeve coil over kit of your choice

this is my plan so far. I have the struts now and am ordering coil over parts and springs this week i hope
if you want even more drop!! you need to find a shorter strut insert
like this one from Koni.
The 8610-1436 are 290mm (11.42") housing length
Page 11:
http://www.koni-na.com/pdfcata...g.pdf
that's about 3" shorter then stock fox insert
VW Fox stock (confab) struts are 360mm (14 3/8")
MK1 bilstein sports F4-P30-0032M0 are 317mm 12 1/2" give or take a 1/32"nd
i will update as i get parts and do work.

OK more info and research
After looking and measuring my Fox's.
It looks like with some ET wheels if you bring down the steering arm it will make contact with the tire!

so to fix this you need to rotate your steering arm in a bit to clear the tire and wheel. BUT if you rotate the arm in, you cause two problems. the tie rods are too long . The other problem is your lock to lock steering will be diminished a bit.

so to fix these problems
you need to shorten the steering arm like this guy did.

the angles of the steering arm and tie rod maintained. and the steering ratio and lock to lock turning radius.

OK clocked the strut towers to see just how much i am looking at having to more the steering arm

Ok this is my plan (just think of this as a white board, not a blue print)

rotate and shorten the arms preserves all the stock geometry

Did some actual work today cut off the spring hats.

all cleaned up

now if I was doing normal fox coil overs, the next step would be to cut the coil sleeves to fit

the strut retaining cap also holds on the threaded sleeve.
the sleeves i got have a recess that fit the bilstein strut cap perfectly

all assembled

the top spring hat

I tested the top s spring hat in the stock strut bearing.

it needed a small (1/8" washer)spacer to rotate freely

now all I need is a spring. Bolt it all back together and install.
Disassembled it all again. ready to start chopping and welding

oh and the shortened steering arms are going to be a blatant copy of this guys work. http://www.motorgeek.com/phpBB...t=800

Well had a busy day today
cut out some 1/2' plate

Drilled some holes

cut the stock arm off

getting the tapered bung for the tie rod out of the stamped steel took a little effort

ok time to chop

i would have used a pipe cutter to cut it but i cut the section on tube out where the steering arm was.

all mocked up

All tig welded up

more to come

back to the coil overs

some etch primer

and paint

and reassembled

like a glove

What i haven't done yet is the shorting of the tie rods. they are to be shortened to retain all of the Original Ackermann geometry. this mod is not all about looks every attempt is being made to improve handling.
i have these to keep my a-arms flat

also this is not a new mod at all. This is copy of what many race teams use

I pressed in new bearings today

and hubs

all done

some rotors

now all i need is some new springs

i haven't chosen springs yet not sure on length or spring rates yet.
The rears are in the works too. nothing new here just shorter shocks and some coil over sleeves.

I have the rear sleeves now. i ordered springs today

see i have all four corners now i will have the springs this week.

Wow! UPS ground delivered my springs in one day!

front 7" 350
rear 7" 250

well i assembled them when i got home the fronts are perfect. I am thinking i need longer rears or some of the small helper springs i have seen on other coil overs
Fronts

Rears

this is the small helper type spring i am thinking of?

The spring is about 2" short. it is a 7" 200lb spring. I will call Ground Control in the morning to see if i can exchange them for a different spring.

So i got the last few parts today for my coils. http://www.pegasusautoracing.c...=1876

all assembled ready for some new break parts

OK i am done picture whoring for now....

OK so i finally got some time to install the coil overs. ran into a few challenges some were expected some were a surprise.
the first snag was the steering arms and shorting the tie rods.
first i cut down a the tie rod ends a bit and the rods them selves about 1" total shorter

the next snag was a surprise! i installed the strut towers in the car and cycled the springs up and down a few times with a floor jack. found out when the helper spring are fully compressed, the spring coupler binds on the top hat and just stays that way. so i pulled it all apart.
pry ed the spring loose. then ground a little off the top hat and the spring coupler till they no longer bind up

all happy now

Gave the break shields a quick blast then some paint

well that's all for today, hopefully i can get it all done this weekend.

Ok that was a fun day of work. I caught my shoe on fire, the shop is a mess and my back hurts...but the Coil overs are all in.

didn't really go smoothly. had to trim and grind a few different spots.
well with the rear all the way down the exhaust is sitting on the ground and the floor boards are about 3/4" off the ground.

I raised the rear a bit. went for drive. well it handles good still need to tune in and realign. oh and the S10 spoiler dint make it out of the drive way...
well it was dark when i finished so the pictures i got are kinda Sukey. i will get some better ones in the morning

Yea i have it in the garage but it is too big to fit now. when i lowered the car off the jack the lip spoiler was bent in half. i could put it back on Squeegee puddles off the road.

ust got the car back from the shop for a alignment. drives super nice.
the alignment came out perfect even though its in the weeds. i thought for sure at least the camber would be messed up a bit.

I got the hub centric rings today. installed them wow what a difference!

also spent a good long wile getting the exhaust all tucked up as high as possible.

now the exhaust is not the lowest thing under the car.

so with my new found ground clearance i readjusted the ride height down a bit on the front and rear. and leveled it out no more rake.
new daily driving height and pictures at that height