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MK1 IRS...springs and such

Alan29

Alan29

Well-known member
Joined
Jun 23, 2019
Location
Jax Adjacent, FL
My 89 780 has a sick Carolina squat and IG cred tuck thanks to the expired Nivimats. I'm months away from doing anything about it but I'm starting my research now and I'm not finding a whole lot of info.

End goal for this is a budget fun weekend car...more than likely some rally, rallyx, etc. The front end is going to need a suspension refresh as well and my plan was simply some better struts and fresh stock spec springs along with the usual tired components. I don't want to raise or lower it.

The options out back are limited. IPD has their two offerings with Bilstein touring or HD. The HD option is damn near close to BNE's coilover kit with Koni sports with whatever spec spring. It's out of stock now but by the time I am ready to pull the trigger perhaps they will be available.

Are there any other options I should consider?
 
Toyota Previa van springs. Trim to whatever length gets you the ride height you need. They start off a little higher than stock.
If you mangle the shocks enough, you can get the lower T bar out and squash it into a 740 solid axle shock mount and make things work good enough for less than a couple hundo.
I would consider it temporary though, as none of the normal 740 shocks seem valved quite right for a IRS car. I ended up using QA1 universal coilover shocks on mine, but I'm going to get the BNE rear setup once I sell my C30.

Coil springs on rockauto
 
Conventional 5" springs and make simple lower mounts for standard solid axle shocks...


P

Post in thread 'Cheapest Nivomat Conversion'

Here are my setups, on 760 with stock suspension I used standard shocks from solid axle (and reused the lower mounts from nivo shocks) and Eibach 1300.500.250 springs (13x5" 250lb/in).

IMG_20230530_1243338.jpg

And on 940 with swapped irs with Bilstein HD (with custom lower mounts), Lesjofors sport springs -40mm in front and Eibach 1100.500.300 (11x5", 300lb/in) in the rear.

IMG_20230530_1256416.jpg
IMG_20211015_2038237.jpg
 
I didn't see any listed for sale on their site but I could've sworn I heard somebody mention they had a set of GAZ coilovers on their 780. Might be worth emailing them.
 
robotmaxtron said:
I didn't see any listed for sale on their site but I could've sworn I heard somebody mention they had a set of GAZ coilovers on their 780. Might be worth emailing them.
Click to expand...
Classic Swede lists them. I ordered bushings from him a number of years ago and I had zero issues, but I'm reluctant to order again given all the issues people have had as of late.
 
It's not an identical solution, but on the P80 AWD models that come with Nivomats, the front shocks for a C5/C6 corvette are a nearly drop-in swap.

People usually buy the QA1 TS510 single adjustable shocks. There's a minor tweak to the mounting bar (included one is too narrow, so use the QA1 5" bar and widen the bolt holes a bit to line up with the volvo ones) at the bottom of the QA1 shock, but they drop right in. Might be worth taking a couple measurements to see if something similar will work for your 780 setup.

Unfortunately, the photos are broken, but the info on the QA1s is about halfway through Aaron's initial post in his build thread on Volvospeed if you're curious: https://volvospeed.com/index.php?app=forums&module=forums&controller=topic&id=169589
 
andyb5 said:
It's not an identical solution, but on the P80 AWD models that come with Nivomats, the front shocks for a C5/C6 corvette are a nearly drop-in swap.

People usually buy the QA1 TS510 single adjustable shocks. There's a minor tweak to the mounting bar (included one is too narrow, so use the QA1 5" bar and widen the bolt holes a bit to line up with the volvo ones) at the bottom of the QA1 shock, but they drop right in. Might be worth taking a couple measurements to see if something similar will work for your 780 setup.

Unfortunately, the photos are broken, but the info on the QA1s is about halfway through Aaron's initial post in his build thread on Volvospeed if you're curious: https://volvospeed.com/index.php?app=forums&module=forums&controller=topic&id=169589
Click to expand...
Good stuff. I ran across the QA1 conversion thread here for the 780 and I think they ended up not being very happy with it for some reason. TBH I'm four days into daily 12 hour shifts so my memory might be a bit fuzzy.
 
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