Okay. Not a Honda, but just want some opinions before I bolt on this coilover kit that I have fabricated.

The intention of this kit is to remove the springs and shocks from my Kia Rio's "semi-independant" rear suspension. (read: solid axle)

Okay. Here is the mount point for the lower eye of the Carrera coilover. Previously this was the mount point for the shock, now I would like it to carry the full brunt of the suspension forces. Should I reinforce this, or do you think the shock mount was made strong enough to carry the spring loads as well?




A shot of the brackets. These brackets mount to the upper shock mount and to a bolt on the upper spring perch, and are quite sturdy. The upper bolt is in double shear and thus should take as much abuse as the bottom bolt. This coilover was made for more abuse than the Rio can put it through, so I figure the 1/2" bolts are plenty strong enough.




My camera sucks, but I tried to get a shot of the welds. The body of the bracket is made from two lengths of "L" bar, such that the wall of the bracket is nice and thick.

 

Just reinforce it, you can obviously weld **** up no problem, whats taking another hour or two for piece of mind.

 

did you mig that stuff ?

ouch.

 

Ouch?

Yeah, I want to reinforce it, but I also want to be able to get the stock shock back in if needed.

 

y did you weld 2 angle irons together to make square stock ??? i would just get some heavery gauge square stock and reinforce some of the mounting points personaly

 

yeah def get some sqaure stock to do this, one less thing to fail...

 

That ear near the top mount of the coilover looks like it has potential to bend and crack. Do you have a picture of top of the setup as mounted in the car? Have you checked for range of motion/interference/bindng issues? Nice to see someone putting time into something a little different.

 

Yes, I have checked for full range of motion, this is why there are spacers welded between the bracket and the eye. The ear will be in pure compression, unless the bolt itself bends, which is why I added the tringular reinforcements to the main body of the bracket.

I used angle iron, again, because it is twice as thick as any square stock I could find.

 

You're going to want to check bolt fatigue in shear where the coilover has that Heim joint. I wouldn't worry about the bracket as much as I would the bolt.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Doctor CorteZ &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">did you mig that stuff ?

ouch.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Hey now mig can be just as good as tig, all depends on who is welding ( and how well you prep it ). Anyways

What grade is the bolt ?

 

very creative but yes reinforce some of the mounting points for a little extra peice of mind. But overal looks good nice fab

 

really??? where are you from? In my area Tampa Fl. I can find square tube thick as crap... oh well again i like it. just worried about the two pieces together

 

does the stock setup have a different mounting point for the spring and the shock in the location you are now putting the coilover?

 

Grade 8 bolts.

Yes, the stock setup is a seperate spring and damper. That was what I was worried about the most, since the bracket will be under more stress now.

However what I was thinking is that when you hit a pothole or something similar, the damper takes the majority of the load. Since steel has a fatigue limit, the bracket must be designed such that the maximum "bottoming out" stress on the damper bracket will be less than the fatigue limit.

But we shall see. So far with final installation the coilovers are great.

 

If you still keep the solid axle in there, wouldn't it still be semi-independent ?

A lot of work for a kia

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 90blackcrx &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
A lot of work for a kia</TD></TR></TABLE>

Funny, people used to say that about Honda.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by beepy &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

Funny, people used to say that about Honda.</TD></TR></TABLE>

But my whole point was, it still semi independent isn't it ? It's still on the same axle.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by beepy &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

Funny, people used to say that about Honda.</TD></TR></TABLE>

But I think you'll still be saying that about a Kia 10 years down the road


I would think some reinforcements would make it more than safe. The shock is always trying decreasing the speed of the axle, so it's always putting that mount point in lots of stress. As long as they're good welds, go for it. I just wish Honda's could use shocks like that, it'd make the lowered car ride better if you can keep the shock shaft full extended at the lower ride hieght.

 

It would work fine, and it would hold up, it might not look good but it will work. Just get a heavy grade bolt for the bottom bolt. Good job.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by HiProfile &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

But I think you'll still be saying that about a Kia 10 years down the road

</TD></TR></TABLE>

Where's the love?

Anyway, yes, the Rio is a semi-independant rear suspension, aka a 3-link. Is this a disadvantage compared to a fully independant rear? I don't know enough about suspensions to say for sure. However, my friend Matt (sportage4x4), who drives a turbocharged 2003 Rio Cinco, was able to pull a measured 1.03 lateral G's on the skidpad with nothing more than lowering springs, a rear antisway bar, and some nice Falken tires. The Cinco is heavier in the *** end than the Rio sedan.

 

last i checked 3 link would be considered solid axle. not sure what semi-independant is.

 

Ok, but my whole point was. The suspension is still semi independent, all you did was relocated the spring over the strut. There still on the same solid rear axle.

That's the part I'm not getting.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 90blackcrx &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Ok, but my whole point was. The suspension is still semi independent, all you did was relocated the spring over the strut. There still on the same solid rear axle.

That's the part I'm not getting.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Exactly. I don't really see any advantage in doing this.

 

What is the advantage of replacing a strut with a coilover? Okay, same thing.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by HiProfile &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

But I think you'll still be saying that about a Kia 10 years down the road


I would think some reinforcements would make it more than safe. The shock is always trying decreasing the speed of the axle, so it's always putting that mount point in lots of stress. As long as they're good welds, go for it. I just wish Honda's could use shocks like that, it'd make the lowered car ride better if you can keep the shock shaft full extended at the lower ride hieght.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Uh you can, its called a full coilover...check out omni, ksport, d2, pic, tein, buddy club, motons, plus a million others...