Aspire swap 15"s

[neanderpaul]

I have 15"s on my festy. Aspire brake swap. Aspire sway bar. Aspire struts all around. Aspire front springs on the front. Festiva front springs cut by 2 coils on the rear. When loaded on the highway with a good enough bump the rears will rub a little. That's rarely. The front's have rubbed a couple of times with some serious high speed bumps.

[fested]

I like! what size tires did you use?

[neanderpaul]

Lol, I'll have to look. ops: Forgot. Got them from my nephew after he wrecked his CRX.

[91mcnasty]

Looks nasty!!!! Just got me some 15's today!

[Zanzer]

That thing is sharp!

I'm getting ready to do the Aspire swap on my 93 soon. What are the advantages of using the Festy front springs on the rear? Are they a good bit stiffer than the Aspire rears? How's the ride?

[91mcnasty]

I'd also like to know.

[neanderpaul]

Thanks, I stare at it often ops: The cut front springs are way stiffer than the stock aspire rears. The handling is superb. The body roll is drastically reduced. I didn't heat and bend the top coil where I cut it so it's noisy. And the spring doesn't fit inside the perch. There are all kinds of noises coming from the front and rear. I'm going to be looking into taking care of that. It driving me BATTY. But it does look perfect to me. I love the ride height and the clearance. I'm considering taking another set of festy front springs, cutting one coil, bending the top down flat, and maybe trying to get the bottom of the spring to fit in the perch better. Driver1 was telling me about some JC whitney helper springs for the festy. Maybe the aspire rear helper springs would do.

[Zanzer]

The handling is superb. The body roll is drastically reduced.

Thank you I just found a new use for my old front springs

[neanderpaul]

I weigh 210 lbs. When I sit in the car it barely moves. Curves are a blast. And U Turns are a new favorite past time. Oh and braking?! Oh man it stops quicker than any car I've ever driven. But again the spring doesn't fit in the perch and you need to bend the top cut coil flat. I've never done it. I'm going to try probably soon.

[Zanzer]

Nice! I'm 240 so mine needs all the help it can get! And I need to plan way ahead for sudden stops LOL

Heating and bending shouldn't be an issue. I've got a propane setup that I use and the nice thing about using it on springs is it heats them slow so it doesn't mess with the temper as much. I wonder if there's a certain way they should be quenched to help with that as well?

[neanderpaul]

I'd like to know that too.

[Zanzer]

A quick Yahoo search yielded this:

"Many gasp in horror at the thought of cutting a coil spring. The reasoning goes something like this, “You use heat, that will ruin the temper and the spring will collapse.” Another angle, “The spring will not properly fit the pocket, and you won’t get full travel. These are misconceptions about what is being done from people who have never done it. Let’s examine the facts and look at the reasons and the proper way to do this modification.

My older brother was a not so elegant hot rodder who lowered his cars for appearance sake by “torching” the springs. He would run a cutting torch along one of the vertical set of coils of a coil spring while it was on the car, with weight on the wheels until the poor spring mostly collapsed. The result was a “slambed” ride with about an inch of suspension travel; not recommended. What he was doing was heating the spring steel until it became plastic, about 1800 deg F (orange yellow) while it was loaded. The weigh of the vehicle made it sag. The spring colapse and “springiness” on the heated side transferring the load to the half not heated.
Addressing the first issue of cutting the spring; namely temper, will not be affected for the portion of the coils left after cutting. That is because the uncut coils do not get hot enough to loose their set or temper if done correctly, and that is very easy to control. Springs are trimmed while unloaded and off of the car, using an oxy-acetylene cutting torch.

The second myth is that they will not fit the pocket and / or get full travel. Most stock springs can be trimmed a half coil to lower the car just enough for to improve handling. The spring must be LOCALLY heated a half coil below the cut so it can be bent to match the spring pocket.
Let’s look at each step and address the proper method to achieve a professional result.


- Mark the spring one half coil directly across from the original end.

- Cut the spring with an oxy acetylene torch on the mark.

- Now locally heat the spring as shown, one half coil beyond where you just cut.

- Quickly flip the spring and push the newly cut end against the shop floor to set the end so it will fit the pocket. Keep it vertical so the end forms flat for the pocket. DO NOT quench the spring in water, rather let it air cool slowly."



So I guess it's best to let it slowly air anneal. Makes sense.

Although the springs are so small I'll probably just cut mine with bolt cutters, dress the ends with a die grinder, and then heat/bend the ends.

[Click_It]

Those wheels look slick man I love the red trim in the wheels, similar style I was looking for but couldn't find within my budget. I also just completed my 15" swap (and aspire swapped) and love it for all the same reasons you've mentioned. It now handles as good around corners as my previous $20,000 car did and that's no lie. The only difference is it doesn't pull out of them nearly as fast but a BPT will solve that

Did you say what tires your running? Looks like 195/50 from here but I may be wrong...

[neanderpaul]

Painted my calipers today. 8)

[neanderpaul]

Did you say what tires your running? Looks like 195/50 from here but I may be wrong...

We have a winner!