looking for opinions

[Bushbasher]

Originally Posted by BLUEPRINT

Got a qoute in also... $178/pair for Fronts and Rears based on XR8 springs in lows, pluas $25-$30 Freight to Bathurst.

Funny that cos that's exactly where I got them to freight my springs. I pick up and deliver the mail to and from the Bathurst mail distribution centre so got springs sent to the TNT shed in Upfold st. where I pick up freight as well and it was exactly $22 for freight for the 1 pair so $25-$30 for 2 sounds alright.


Bushbasher

[InfernoSR]

Originally Posted by Bushbasher

Funny that cos that's exactly where I got them to freight my springs. I pick up and deliver the mail to and from the Bathurst mail distribution centre so got springs sent to the TNT shed in Upfold st. where I pick up freight as well and it was exactly $22 for freight for the 1 pair so $25-$30 for 2 sounds alright.


Bushbasher

lol... how about that... :P You should come over on Sunday with the cruise from Syd... i'm sure you know the roads well enough :P

[Bushbasher]

Originally Posted by Dauphin

I wonder if they might be interested in giving aufalcon.com members a discount (in return for a mention on our website).

Don't know how that'd work seeing as I guess I've just given them a fee plug already,

But seriously, if it's effectively giving them a free banner, for instance, in return for an AFF member discount then I can put that to them next time I talk to them and see what they say, with permission of admin of coarse.


Bushbasher

[Bushbasher]

Originally Posted by BLUEPRINT

lol... how about that... :P You should come over on Sunday with the cruise from Syd... i'm sure you know the roads well enough :P

Sounds interesting , what's the go?, I'll see if I can swing it. Where's everyone meeting up and at what time? I'm coming from just the other side of Mudgee so can be there in under 2 hrs if I can get there. Is this gathering a guys day out or is it a family get together? Is there going to be any organised barby or anything and should I bring anything etc. Details Blueprint, details!!


Bushbasher

[Dauphin]

Sorry to drag up this thread but I had an idea.

You could paint the wheels fully and then get whitewalls painted on, to make the wheels appear bigger, eg:



You can't really do a dish effect with these wheels as the spokes go all the way to the edge of the rim.

[Bushbasher]

Hmmmm, interesting idea, and I recon it'd look good on a lowered car but how would it go do you think on a stock ride height? I'm not sure it'd look quite right. I'm off to SA on Friday for a couple of weeks and when I come back I'm putting new tyres on and changing the rear springs again (which turn up today) so I'll have another look at it then, cheers Dauphin.


Bushbasher

[Cookie-XR8]

i seen a lane' the other weekend end with whitewalls, but on 20 inch rims lol

[Bushbasher]

I know this going to be a ramble but I just had to get it out cos me thought me did good and I just had to tell someone, haha.

I thought I'd do a follow up on this thread as I've been back from SA for a week now and today I finally got a chance to swap out the springs again.
I was going to go to the local panel beater to get the springs changed again as he has the gear and only charged me $65 last time ( 1 hr labour) but on friday I was in Ripco looking for some sparkplugs and saw a pnumatic rachet on the clearance table down from $150 to $67 so grabbed it to have a go at the spring swap myself; the reason being, I wanted to do the swap without having to pull the top mount out (as I don't have spring compressors) so I needed a rattle gun of some description to get the nut off cos it was fitted with a rattle gun and was too tight to crack with a spanner. The fist time I tried that I twisted off the flat top of the shock and still didn't get the nut to crack.

After fumbling around for 1/2 an hour I figured out the quick way ( which takes 2 people ) and got it done in 45 minutes, I then got the second one in so quickly I suprised myself. From jacking the car up and wheel off to wheel on and back on the ground it was less than 10 minutes and all without fumbling with spanners and socket sets and levers and skinned knuckles and swearing, haha, just a couple of jacks, a couple of sockets and my trusty pnumatic ratchet and someone to put weight on the lower wishbone assembly at the right time so I could pop the shock base back into place. That air rachet; oh man, what a nifty bit of kit that is, and well worth the investment as it's effectively already paid for itself and I've now got it to play with whenever I need to do any serious work on the vehicles in future.

So now we have normality again and once the new springs settle in a couple of weeks my ride height will be back where it started but without the wallow of the original springs.:. Right now I'm feeling 10 foot tall and so thoroughly chuffed with myself for managing to do a spring change so painlessly that I'm eying off the front struts now and with a set of spring compressors I recon I can do the job and save myself a couple of hundred bucks come the time. : .

I'll worry about tomorrow tomorrow but today I'm a happy camper and life is good .

End of ramble, ....... as you were. lol



Bushbasher

[Mr Hardware]

cool
pics pls

[Bushbasher]

Ok Mr Hardware, just for you , here's a pic of the car today with the revised springs. I went back and took a pic at the same location as before to get a good comparison but the weather is clear today so the light is very different but here ya go;

Before -



After -




In both cases the pic was taken the day after fitting. The "before" springs did settle and drop about 6-8mm after a couple of weeks so I expect the "after" ones to do the same which should be just about right.

I hope that's what you wanted Mr Hardware cos if it wasn't, well, hey, bad luck, lol, I'm not pulling it apart again just to get some shots; besides, there's not alot to see. Undo the top shock nut and remove the bottom bolt, push down on the disc assembly with your foot and the shock and spring fall out. slip the new spring into place and slide the shock up through the middle then get someone to stand on the disc assembly while you hold the shock ram in place and push the bottom of the shock back into place over the bush. Then jack the whole lot up till the shaft comes through the top mount and put the nut back on and tighten. Then a little downward pressure on the disc assembly to line up the bottom shock bracket with the bush and put the bolt back in. Like I said, less than 10 minutes with the nifty air rachet.

As an aside, the car actually rides better and feels more stable on the road with these springs which surprises me because they are basically the same springs as before just reset 1" higher. Also it's not dragging the mudflaps on the ground every time I go in or out of a driveway or servo entry like it was with the other springs plus I think it looks better this way. It just didn't look right before which annoyed me.


Bushbasher

[Bushbasher]

BTW, if anyone is going to have a go at swapping your IRS rear springs be warned that this method WON'T work with standard springs as they are too long, it'll only work with aftermarket springs as they are thicker and so shorter than stock springs. Stock springs are a couple of inches longer at rest and just won't fit back in place without compressing them first which basically means you'll have to do it the hard way and pull the whole strut, top mount and all, and use spring compressors on them as described in the top mount replacement thread in the "How To" section HERE .

Obviously, if you have aftermarket springs in your IRS you can do a top mount replacement using my method as well if you wanted without the need for spring compressors.


Cheers
Bushbasher

[lofty]

The only difference I can see between these pics is the colour has gone all trippy in the 2nd one. I think something's up with your camera dude.

[Bushbasher]

No, that was me messing around trying to soften the contrast a bit cos of the bright sunshine. It was so bright that there was just one big shadow around the underside of the car and you couldn't see any definition at all. I could put up the undoctored pic but it's even harder to see anything meaningful than the one I posted.

The car has been lifted 1" at the rear compared to the first pick. I know it's subtle but it makes a hell of a difference to the way the car drives. Look at the tail pipe in relation to the kurb behind it and you'll see the lift.


Bushbasher

[Mr Hardware]

I hope that's what you wanted Mr Hardware

Exactly what i wanted. Looks a million times better mate.

The car has been lifted 1" at the rear compared to the first pick. I know it's subtle but it makes a hell of a difference to the way the car drives.

I bet it does. I feel sorry for anyone who has the rear lower than the front.

Apparently some of the young dudes like to lower cars like my VH, with the rear lower than the front : Apparently there's multiple threads in holden land about 'lowered my car now it's hard to start'. The weakass fuel pumps don't like pushing uphill as much!

[Bushbasher]

Originally Posted by Mr Hardware

I feel sorry for anyone who has the rear lower than the front.

Apparently some of the young dudes like to lower cars like my VH, with the rear lower than the front :

I don't feel sorry for them these days, I feel sorry for the people around them who they are potentially endangering. It used to bug me and I'd want to explain to them the physics of why it was the wrong thing to do but these days, although I still cringe when I see it, I just shake my head and walk away. I learned that if someone is daft enough to do it in the first place then they aren't going to listen to anyone else anyway and they deserve what they get. Same with cutting springs:togo: . The only thing you can hope is that they don't hurt anyone else when the spear off the road cos their car handles like crap.

Bushbasher