How I built coilovers for my van

I had a couple people request pics of the coilovers I made for my Voyager in another thread. I just so happened to have snapped the adjuster tab off on one recently and I was planning to fix that so what better time than now? Instead of hijacking that other thread I decided to start a new one. I originally put Daytona struts and springs on the van but I was unhappy with the ride height. I was scraping my k-member all the time. I decided to make these after reading some other threads. I bought a lowering spring kit for an eclipse on ebay for about $40. This kit came with the coilover sleeves the aluminum spring hats some really shi**y weak 8" springs and some 6" springs. The camber plates are from ebay as well. They are "Mookeh" universal camber plates. I got some 10" 400lb rate springs after attempting to use the 8" ebay springs with bad results. The ebay springs would probably work just fine on a lighter car. I really like how these turned out in the end. They were well worth the investment. If you do your own coilovers this way I would suggest putting some grease or anti-seize in the center of the shaft nut to keep the adjuster from seizing. Mine seized and I snapped it off on one.

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This is the mookeh universal camber plate. It comes without holes drilled so I think you could actually do this to an l-body strut too. Next to it is the shouldered/long shank lug nut I ground down to use for the shaft nut. Alternatively, The strut shaft could be machined down on a lathe to allow the threads to stick out through the top of the camber plate. Doing so would eliminate the need for a special nut. The camber plates are aluminum. That's just dirt on the left side not rust.
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These two pics show the parts I used to space the spring hat far enough away from the camber plate to allow full travel of the ball. The small piece my finger is pointing to is the tapered end of the lug nut I cut for the shaft nut. It butts up against the ball in the camber plate. The weird shaped washer came from an escort strut but there is nothing special about it other than the fact that it is very thick and saucer shaped. The thick washers in the stock strut hats could work here too. You can also see where the Konis adjuster tab used to be.
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Pic of the Koni insert and the gutted Daytona strut body it fits into side by side.
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Part number for the Konis I used. I'm sure there are others that would work too.
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This is a pic of whats inside the Koni insert. I only took it apart because the adjuster tab broke off. I was able to use a thin cut-off wheel on a dremel to slot the broken adjuster shaft. It now adjusts with a flat head screwdriver:p
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This shows the end cap on the strut tube. This is what controls how fast the fluid enters the damper from the reservoir. It seems like "re-valving" these would be pretty simple. You could change the shims on this part and the tension of the spring on the inside can be adjusted by tightening or loosening the torx screw in the middle. I wish I got more pics of the Koni disassembly but I was doing this in the driveway before work and it was starting to get cloudy. I had to hurry.

Thanks for posting this.
I think i need to take the plunge and do something similar.

What is the sleeve sitting on? The bump left from cutting the spring perch off?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Force Fed Mopar

What is the sleeve sitting on? The bump left from cutting the spring perch off?

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Yes, I cut most of the perch off with a cut-off wheel them ground it down the rest of the way until just the welded flange was left.

looks like it. the sleeves are normally either tight or loose. once you gut the daytona struts you can just weld what ever you want to the body for the sleeve/spring to sit on.

These sleeves needed some persuasion. They fit nicely. They have threaded holes for set screws but they weren't needed.

2.5" ID sleeves?

2.0" I.D. sleeves for 2.5" I.D. springs. I would post a link to my source but that specific ebay listing is no longer active. If anyone decides to try the ebay kits make sure to get one with aluminum spring hats. Most of the kits have plastic ones and I don't see those holding up well. Search "00-05 eclipse coilover springs". I got mine from "ilovetacotaco" The sleeves have held up just fine. I even use the flimsy spanner wrench it came with. You get two really long sleeves and two shorter ones. I used the shorter ones. The ebay springs were too weak for the van. They would compress to bind on big bumps. Nasty. On a lighter vehicle they might be okay. Even though I ended up buying different springs the ebay kit was still worth what I paid. I got 4 sleeves and 4 hats for about as much as one sleeve costs from most other places. So if they do end up stripping(they held up to the springs binding so I doubt that will happen) I have extras.