MKIII suspension on a MKI?

[2restomod]

Has anyone tried the MKIII Spyder suspension on the MKI? Somewhere along the way I acquired the shock towers and springs for a Spyder. Just for the hell of it I tried to see if they would fit on one corner of a '86 I'm restoring and with a little swapping of the top insulator mounts, it fit! The only thing that is a little off is the sway bar link and I"m sure I can swap out the one from the '86 to make it work. Has anyone else tried this? The car seems to sit lower but what about the spring rate, etc.? I'm hoping that the newer suspension was an improvement over the old one and that the handling will be improved. I'm curious to know if that's the case? Thanks for any help.

[PearlJammzz]

It should, try and see if you can get everything to fit. I'm interested to see if it all works

[2restomod]

Like I said, everything does fit once you take off the top mount and swap it for the '86 top mount. I'm just curious if the spring rate is going to be firmer or softer, or just what the differences will be. I've got a long way to go before this gets on the road. The axle carrier (and camber adjustment) fit in the housing although I'll for sure have to check the alignment before I do much driving because control arms etc. will probably be off by a bit. I'll see if I can remember how to post up a couple of pics to show how it looks.

[Gairloch]

Either you're a damn genius or a compete moron. Depends on how far off the suspension geometry is I hope you try it!

[2restomod]

^LoL, probably the latter But it's damn surprising how everything lines up! Nothing had to be adjusted except the sway bar link. And now I'm thinking that since the rod is a little longer than the 86 link it actually would be a little (maybe a lot) stiffer than the stock setting.
It's going to be a while before I set it up though on all four corners becaue I'm taking the car in to a shop tomorrow to help me chop the top! I tried that once before on a rust bucket just for practice myself and it didn't look half bad. We'll see.

[Davis]

Wow this is interesting.

[tamdinh]

keep us updated!!!

[2restomod]

Nothing's been cleaned up but here's a pic of the MKIII strut and spring on the left rear:

[supunna_picta]

Swapping out tired old stock MKI struts (spring, shock, strut housing) for cheap lightly used MKIII struts might be an improvement but I would be sure to get the spring rates of both OEM set ups to be sure. Considering the MKIII is 200 - 300+ lbs lighter than the MKI I would guess thinner components on the MKIII. I remember how wimpy my MKIII springs looked when I upgraded to the TRD kit (but I don't remember what my Stock MKI springs looked like - too many years ago).

If it seems to be an improvement then other people considering the swap should stick with early m.y. MKIII strut configs because 2003+ they went with a different spring rate or taller spring - looked bad on the Spyder.

What would have been cool is if the spyder sway bar fit - so much thicker than that pencil thin sway bar on the 85/89 MKI.

Still sounds like a good find - keep us posted!

[2restomod]

^Thanks for the input. I was asking about the spring rates on the MKIII but didn't get a response. Guess I should do a little bit of searching on my own. I didn't intentionally buy these for the MKI I'm currently working on. I just ran across them on Ebay and thought I'd try them on the MKII I was restoring at the time but they didn't fit. I probably should post this on the MKIII forum and see if anyone there can help with the comparison. Are you sure the spyder sway bars don't fit if you're connecting them up to the spyder strut housing?

[supunna_picta]

Check out this Chart of Spyder Spring Rates for stock and other after market makes.

Length and clearance would be the only possible things wrong with hooking up the sway that I can think of since you're using the stock Spyder struts - they're basically the same shape if I recall so it could work. Maybe with adjustable end links?

[2restomod]

^Thanks. That's what I was looking for. Now I just need to compare those to the stock '86 spring rates. Anyone know those? Clearance was not an issue---the car seems to sit just as high as the stock spring/struts (but then, the engine is out of the car right now so it's not definitive just yet )
I probably shouldn't have posted this just yet because I'm a long way from the suspension work. Here's a pick of the mess right now (with the rear MKIII strut mounted):

[2restomod]

Just an update on using the MKIII struts and shocks for the MKI----the fronts do not seem to fit--the alignment holes on the strut housing assembly is way off on the lower bolt hole because of the shape of the housing. I suppose a new hole could be drilled, but it would I suppose present a reliability problem. Also, there is no bracket for mounting the front sway bar. I guess the MKIII doesn't have one?

[theNOMAD]

Interesting to see if something could be fabbed

[2restomod]

Originally Posted by theNOMAD

Interesting to see if something could be fabbed

I'm going to go ahead a drill a new lower hole for the strut assembly. Should be a "new" enough hole that it won't move. we'll see.

[Xhermes]

Sounds interesting. Eric's Paddock, has spring rates for various AW11 springs...

MKI MR2 Write-ups

[2restomod]

Thanks XHermes, just what I was looking for. Now I just need something for the aftermarket Tein MKIII springs

[Xhermes]

And? Found out anything?

[mightydunc]

Hey all, I'm in the process of adapting the KW Var 3. coilovers for a mk3 to an mk1 autocross car.

Summary for the ADD crowd:
Good points:
- Excellent materials and craftsmanship on the KWs. Had I a mk3 mr2, I would no doubt be slicing and dicing through the traffic at Toronto Motorsports Park today...
Bad points:
- Rear coilovers need spacers to attach to rear hubs. Easy fix.
- Front coilovers are much shorter (might be ok though, we'll see) and need to be modified (drilling holes in super hard stainless steel!) to attach to front hubs and cannot use stock end links.


Jumped in the deep end with both feet, you might say.

Yes, the back coilover fits pretty well, just needs a spacer to fill up the gap. the fronts, on the other hand, do not.

The two bolts holding the hub to the strut are not as far apart on the mk1 hub and they're a different size (12mm shank, instead of 14mm shank as on the mk3), so I got a shop to put a new lower hole closer to the top and I was able to bolt it on, without a spacer. However, the KW front strut is much shorter than the mk1 stock strut, so it throws the alignment right out. Huge toe-in and negative camber, and due to the camber, the tire (205/50/15 Falken Azenis RT-615 on 15x7 +38 wheels) rubs against the strut body. You cannot drive more than 3km/hr. So, I'm going to increase the length of the top slot on the strut (where you adjust the camber) to give greater adjustment for the camber (to get back to a normal camber and eliminate the rubbing) and tow it to an alignment shop to adjust the tie rod end to eliminate the extreme toe-in. I also had to ditch the front anti-roll bar. The KWs do have an anti-roll bar tab, but it's much lower than the stock one, so the stock end links are not usable. Finally, as the strut is so much shorter, it makes the car quite low... I may need to ditch the current spring + keeper spring setup and just go with a longer, stiffer spring in the front to regain a bit of ride height. For those of you crazy enough to follow me on this route in an a bid to attain and excellent damper for the mk1, be aware that the KWs are made of some hard stainless steel and will simply laugh at most drill bits...

I should have this all resolved by the end of next week hopefully... Monday to remove the front struts again. Tuesday to have them machined and reinstalled. Wednesday to tow the car to the alignment shop and have them make some magic and Thursday just in case

-Duncan

[Xhermes]

Woah sounds like a lot of work.... Good luck! And show some pics!