Holy wheel gap Batman!

So after a junkyarding adventure landed me a pretty nice set of ground control coils I lowered my car, finally.

Since these came off a 94 mazda mx3 I wasn't sure if they would work. But after checking that both sets (the one for my car and these) were 2.5" I.D. springs I set to it.

It turns out that the front springs were so short that we basically set the coils to there maximum height and still only managed to get the car as high as it is right now, which isn't bad but I would prefer it to be a bit higher.

The springs after a little cleanup.
http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f246/FrodoGT/IMG_2007.jpg

All of the stuff that was set to go into the car today (we only managed time for the springs and lca's before we went for an alignment).
http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f246/FrodoGT/IMG_2010.jpg

We ended up removing this spring and turning the sleeve to the top of the spring because it fit into the seats much better and made it possible to adjust them with the wheels still on the car.
http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f246/FrodoGT/IMG_2011.jpg

This is with the front done and the rear still untouched.
http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f246/FrodoGT/IMG_2012.jpg

(the gap was even bigger on the front of the car)
http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f246/FrodoGT/IMG_2013.jpg

as you can see the gap is, um, a little smaller. It settled once we got to the shop..so it is now officially tucking in the front.
http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f246/FrodoGT/IMG_2014.jpg

On the rear.
http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f246/FrodoGT/IMG_2017.jpg

Shot taken before we set off for the alignment rack
http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f246/FrodoGT/IMG_2016.jpg

My baby up in the air.
http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f246/FrodoGT/IMG_2018.jpg

And... the 3.7 (yes...3.7) degrees of camber that resulted. Camber kits WILL be going on before I eat the brand new tires that I had mounted at the same time.
http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f246/FrodoGT/IMG_2019.jpg

It seems that even after I replaced the front hub, the one I used to replace it was better yet still wobbled. So I will be having a brand new bearing pressed into the original teg knuckle and Ill be back on the rack so that they can do a more accurate alignment. But they did a great job getting it straight so that the tires don't wear too bad in the meantime (I wont be driving much at all till I get camber correction).

Once I finally got to try out the car it was about midnight and the roads were empty...and it was pouring rain. So I took a drive.
Dear lord the camber makes this thing carve corners like a track prepped car. It does need shocks but I still managed to pull off a 50mph slalom through the middle of a 2 lane road in pouring rain between the reflector dots! Im happy with my 50 dollar purchase.

So I ran an autocross today with the new springs on. They have settled even more than yesterday and now I am truly tucking into the fender. This is more than I wanted and so to remedy this for the time being I am switching the front and rear springs. The rears can still be raised about another inch and already have the gap I want, so I figure the 1" shorter springs should even things out just right. Ill just have to buy new ones for the fronts eventually if I feel a need for something stiffer than 200lb.

so are you running stock dampers?

If you can call them that..my left front and right rear shocks are blown, and yes are very stock looking..hell they could be original. My next on the list is shocks. Im thinking Tokico Illumina, or if I find a bit more money ill just go all out and get the konis yellows.

If you can call them that..my left front and right rear shocks are blown

that's an odd combination :screwy:

if i'm able to get that sedan my main focus will be suspension...i really need to get into auto-x...i'm so bored

Yeah my car is probably fast enough as is right now for auto-x..im already exiting the slaloms about 15mph faster than I go in..makes for a hard time keeping it going straight.

So did you swap the front and rear yet? I noticed in the past that some people actually put the rears on the front and the fronts on the rear by accident so their car faces upwards. :lol: I know your new springs aren't for your car so you have to work with what you have. Like to see some pics of the car cleaned up :thumbsup:

No I havent yet, Im not going to do that till my camber kits arrive, should be today or tomorrow. The Ill swap them even though im afraid its going to be too soft up front.