My T&C wagon....I want this thing to handle much much better than it does..coming from a Neon with Konis has me spoiled. It's got all poly bushings front and rear....but I can feel the flex of the rear suspension going around corners and will upgrade to a rear trac bar and panhard bar at some point. The first step I wanna do is get rid of the stock air shocks and compressor...bonus of weight reduction as well. How much of a pain is it to convert to normal shock/spring?
Remove the shocks and replace with standard ones. The shocks are done. Unplug the connector at the height sensor on the axle. Now the load leveling system is disabled. Remove the rest of the system and you're done.
For the rear springs, that may take some work to find ones that will work. On my 86 T&C wagon I tried to install some Spirit R/T springs in the back, thinking they may give a better, slightly more sporty ride than the sagging POSs that were on there. Unfortunately, the R/T springs were WAY too short, several inches in length sitting side by side in the garage. The car sat even lower in the back and I could get it to bottom out with very little effort pushing on the bumper; never drove it with those springs in it.
“If the people of the nation understood our banking and monetary system, I believe there would be a revolution before tomorrow morning.” -Henry Ford
I was thinking 'cargo coils' and adjust height accordingly with a saw like I did with my sundance but I didn't know the stock springs are so long. The car is lowered already but I need it much stiffer in the back. I plan on grabbing a set of XXR 521's 16x8 with a +20 offset and maybe that will help handling also.
Originally Posted by 86Shelby
Are you sure the system is holding pressure? Shocks are not meant for stiffening the ride, they are just there to control the springs. You want a stiffer ride, put stiffer springs in it.
My New yorker had a mix of 87 and 89 Shelby Daytona suspension. Handled great, had the 89 brakes and Kframe, had 87 Shelby Z rear axle and front sway bar and springs on all 4 corners. I kept the air shocks as they controlled the springs just fine and kept the load nice and level. Also the ride was always the same wether or not the car was empty and no gas in the tank or a full tank and a trunk full of tools and fully loaded with people. Which in a Wagon I think would be even more important.
Guess my point is that upgrading the shocks is NOT going to stiffen the ride.
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote