Coilover Conversion Qustion

[Schubs]

Quick question for anyone that’s installed a coilover conversion.

With the sleeve style coilover conversion for the front suspension (Rebel Racing/Elephant Racing etc.) how is the shock “captured” in the assembly?

The Elephant kit has a no-weld sleeve base and the Rebel kit seems to have a welded base, but those don’t fasten the shock to the housing.

And what I mean by “captured” is, at the rear for example, there’s a retaining ring installed in the shock body, and the bottom sleeve sits against that. The upper perch is retained by the shock bolt with the spring in between under compression. Everything becomes one assembly.

[Schubs]

Perhaps some visuals will help...

This is the Rebel Kit, does the blue wiper thread into the sleeve down onto the top of the shock? And if so, what secures the sleeve to the spindle?



This is the Elephant kit, what prevents the spring from pushing the bottom off?



Nothing seems to be welded/threaded, and I can’t find any instructions on assembly.

Thx.

[VWLoosenuts]

I'm glad I'm not the only one with this question.

[Cory M]

On the rear shocks you have to either machine a groove into the shock housing, or buy shocks from someone like Rebel or Tarett that already have the groove. A snap ring fits inside the groove and the sleeve rests against it. There is a spring seat on the other end which is retained by the shock nut and the body of the car.

One the front there is also a spring seat that interfaces with the strut mount and is retained by the nut. The bottom end butts up against either a welded ring, or a sleeve that contacts the spindle assembly (Elephant no weld).

The fit is generally tight enough that the threaded sleeves don't spin when adjusted. If there is a gap between the sleeve and strut housing some companies use o-rings to fill the gap, you can also just use duct tape around the housing until the sleeve fits tight.

[Schubs]

Alright, so if I understand correctly, the “no-weld sleeve base” in the Elephant Racing assembly above fits onto the shock snug enough that the force of the springs doesn’t push it down?

And if that’s the case, and makes the shock/sleeve/spring an assembly, how does the spindle assembly attach to that? Is it also just a friction fit?

Won’t jacking up the car, or going over a big enough bump just push the spindle assembly off the shock assembly?

Some background on why I’m asking is I have a box full of suspension components (conversation kits from both Rebel and Elephant) but everything is on pieces. The issue seems to be further confused by using a Boge/Koni (?) spindle bottom, which is larger then the Bilstein spindle bottoms. I can make a new collar with the proper dimensions, but want to make sure i understand the design behind these kits before I go modifying anything.

[Cory M]

The Elephant "no weld sleeve base" appears to rest on the top of the spindle, which is welded to the strut tube. If you over a bump big enough to slide the spindle off the tube you've got bigger problems

[Schubs]

So I’m not sure if it was just the wrong kit, but the weld-on “no-weld sleeve” is not a tight fit





I have some of these threaded wipers



I might try and fabricate a sleeve that these thread into at the top that clamp the shock down.

Maybe I’m just missing something. Here’s what’s in the box

[Cory M]

Yeah those struts aren't going to work. I'm not familiar with those but all the other brands have a single piece tube. You'll need Bilstein struts unless you want to cobble together something custom.

[Driven97]

Elephant instructions are on their site.

I'm not exactly sure what the heck you have there. Looks like just short of two kits.

The strut assembly should be captured the same way it is in a factory setup, with either a roll pin (Bilstein inverted) or a gland nut (non-inverted.) One thing I've learned over the years on this site is that there's several strut configurations, and they don't interchange. Looks like you have gland nuts for internal threaded spindles, external threaded spindles, and maybe even a pair of press-fit ones for factory Bilsteins.

The green assembled strut on the right side of your photo looks like a Bilstein insert for a non-inverted type spindle, which is super confusing, but looks like those are supposed to pair with an internally threaded spindle / externally threaded gland nut.



I don't know why your spindles are divorced from the rest of the housing, maybe that's older than what I'm familiar with.

[KTL]

He has a collection of red and green non-inverted damper inserts. The non-inverted type is what goes in a Boge or Koni style strut, if i'm not mistaken. Basically his pictures, ignoring the cut strut tube with knuckle on it, are showing an attempt to install the coilover parts on a non-inverted damper insert. They're supposed to be installed on a Bilstein strut housing/tube.

Also I agree with Driven97 that a bunch of those gland nuts are not applicable here. Matt is correct that there's various types. One of the closeup pics shows two types- internal thread nuts and external thread nuts. They are for securing the damper insert to the Koni or Boge style strut tube AND they wipe the damper shaft of crud as it moves up and down. They're not used with the Bilstein coilover conversion.

[theenico]

All I know is that none of the four inserts in Shubs picture are for OE Bilstein strut housings.

[Schubs]

...well that’s annoying. Theres even proper kits for the Boge style, not sure why one wasn’t purchased.

It explains why nothin fits together though. Seems easy enough to remedy at least.