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Rear coilovers advice

Valve

Member
Joined
Dec 15, 2013
Hi,

I'm struggling to get my hands on a set of rear coilovers for my Volvo 240 here in the UK so I was looking to make something work with what I already have and can easily get hold of.

I was thinking of using the original mounting point for the spring perch on the trailing arms and either cutting it out and welding in a stronger anchor point, Or welding two tabs onto the original plate to form an anchor point to mount a set of universal coilovers such as the AVO units in the link below

https://www.merlinmotorsport.co.uk/...with-poly-bush-mount-for-2-25-inch-springs-pf

Then mounting a corresponding anchor point above to the chassis to secure the top of the coilover.

My only concern was the lateral load on the coilovers during harsh cornering and sliding. All the bushing are being changed for PU bushes to reduce movement of the axle in relation to the body as much as possible.

Can anyone see any flaws with this setup or is it feasible?

Thanks
Jack.
 
Talk to Josh, he recently made an order with Gaz for some 240 front end coilovers. They look nice and have adjustable damping, and they're from Europe, so it's probably easier for you to get them than us in the US.
 
Funny you should say that classic swede supplied my front gaz coilovers. I did order the rear adjustable dampers and spring perches from him as well but realised they were not the route I wanted to take for the rear.
 
What is the goal of this exercise?

One thing to think about is the length and travel needed from a shock that is mounted behind the axle. It will move further than the wheel, so it needs to be long, relatively speaking. The stock shock placement ahead of the axle doesn't need to be so long since it moves less than the wheel.

I think you could cut into the frame rail, reinforce it, and make a double shear mounting point quite easily with some plate and a mig welded.

Similar at the bottom, cut out the original lower flat section where the spring would be seated and build a double shear mount for the lower shock eyelet.

There will be some lateral movement of the axle, so the bushings should allow for that. Rigid poly might not be ideal? This I'm not sure of. Spherical bearings would be nice to have here.
 
Cheers towery, The plan was to make a stronger more universal setup. I know of one company who make coil overs that locate in the standard shock location but use a strengthened stud to anchor the top of the shock. Not ideal as its still single shear.

What your describing is similar to what I had in mind in terms of reinforcing the frame rail and using double shear anchor points top and bottom.

Its not to late to change out for spherical bearings however I wanted to use these only were necessary, I will be using the car on the road, so I wanted to keep some bushes were it would be possible.

EDIT:

Watts_link_240.jpg


This is almost exactly what I'm thinking, but using the method described above to anchor the bottom eyelet.
 
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Hi,

I'm struggling to get my hands on a set of rear coilovers for my Volvo 240 here in the UK so I was looking to make something work with what I already have and can easily get hold of.

I was thinking of using the original mounting point for the spring perch on the trailing arms and either cutting it out and welding in a stronger anchor point, Or welding two tabs onto the original plate to form an anchor point to mount a set of universal coilovers such as the AVO units in the link below

https://www.merlinmotorsport.co.uk/...with-poly-bush-mount-for-2-25-inch-springs-pf

Then mounting a corresponding anchor point above to the chassis to secure the top of the coilover.

My only concern was the lateral load on the coilovers during harsh cornering and sliding. All the bushing are being changed for PU bushes to reduce movement of the axle in relation to the body as much as possible.

Can anyone see any flaws with this setup or is it feasible?

Thanks
Jack.

Jack you might consider something we've been doing here---which of course originally came from ----> there where you are--but for another car--Escort MkI and MkII in Group 4 trim. something like this:
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And them move the shock to the back of the axle anywhere from say 1 O'clock down to say 5 o'clock.
Want to see more?

http://www.rallyanarchy.com/phorum/read.php?5,83276,page=4
 
Cheers John some great info on the thread. I like the idea of the two turrets in the rear, it looks stronger and opens up the option for running a true rose jointed 4 link setup at a later date. Ill have a talk with a couple of the MOT testers today at work and see if they think I could still get the car through an MOT after modifying the axle and body to support the suspension. I cant see it being a problem.
 
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My only concern was the lateral load on the coilovers during harsh cornering and sliding. All the bushing are being changed for PU bushes to reduce movement of the axle in relation to the body as much as possible.

In this setup the panhard rod takes pretty much all the lateral load on the axle. The dampers will require some articulation in the bushes to cope with the slight lateral movement as the panhard rod moves in an arc, but they won't be holding the axle in place.
 
Sounds like this should work then. Might be worth either running softer bushes in the shocks or as said above spherical bearings would probably be a good shout. Cheers for the info everyone.
 
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