DIY Large Chassis Coilovers

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Re: DIY Large Chassis Coilovers

Postby pilihp2 » Mon Dec 05, 2016 11:13 pm

Dude,

I'm about to swap out strut housings, could totally use a set of front and rear rings for my koni's....

That's perfect.


PM me a price n stuff
-Phil
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Re: DIY Large Chassis Coilovers

Postby ringbearer » Mon Dec 05, 2016 11:17 pm

Looking good Jon!

My rear konis were stoopid expensive, get the qa1 rears going down the road and do a write up so others can enjoy the more affordable route.

I love my horizontal bandsaw too :)
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Re: DIY Large Chassis Coilovers

Postby jcarrick » Tue Dec 06, 2016 2:21 pm

ringbearer wrote:Looking good Jon!

My rear konis were stoopid expensive, get the qa1 rears going down the road and do a write up so others can enjoy the more affordable route.

I love my horizontal bandsaw too :)


QA1 rears will happen once the Koni's are worn out. I will definitely do a write up on installing them and maybe Chris can add it to the first post of this page for everyone.
-Jon

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Re: DIY Large Chassis Coilovers

Postby PRY4SNO » Tue Dec 06, 2016 11:10 pm

loxxrider wrote:When you are all happy with your calculations and have made your cuts, get to welding!

Image

One thing to note about the welding process... You really want to get the two tube sections as close to concentric as possible. The easiest way to do this is to put a strut in the housing while you are welding. The problem with this technique is that the struts are filled with 1000s of pounds per square inch of pressure, and overheating one could cause it to fail and explode, potentially maiming or killing you and anyone around you. As a result, you must only weld small sections at a time and allow the strut to cool off after a few small passes. That's why the welds look so inconsistent in the pictures.


One thing we do for welding small bore piping is to get a pair of chain Vise Grips and a 1-foot chunk of angle iron sized to act as a saddle for the weld joint. Set the pipe ends centered on the angle, softly clamp down with the chain grips on each pipe/tube. Set your gap and clamp tight. Tack in three places, basically 12 and 6, then 3 or 9 o'clock. Tacking at 3 or 9 makes no difference, only need three total tacks with small bore. Then you're free to move the joint somewhere comfortable like a vise, and weld all the way around with out any interference.

HTH
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Re: DIY Large Chassis Coilovers

Postby loxxrider » Tue Dec 06, 2016 11:25 pm

Great progress and info for the thread. Thanks!
-Chris

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Re: DIY Large Chassis Coilovers

Postby 90quattrocoupe » Fri Dec 09, 2016 8:29 pm

Or you could get an old shock out of the junk yard, drill it, drain it and keep it around for the next time you do welding on struts.

Or maybe something like these:

Image
Image

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Re: DIY Large Chassis Coilovers

Postby loxxrider » Fri Dec 09, 2016 8:47 pm

These days, I'd just machine something to fit. Busy gotta be careful not to weld it as well.
-Chris

'91 Audi 200 20v - Revver/BAT project
'91 Audi 200 20v Avant
'01 Anthracite M5
'90 M3
'85 Euro 635csi
'12 X3
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Re: DIY Large Chassis Coilovers

Postby scubagli » Sat Dec 10, 2016 12:30 pm

Use copper.

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