aspire sus.swap?

[deleon87]

can i put the aspire struts on my festiva? or is it just the springs i can swap onto my festiva struts?

thanks

[Safety Guy]

Aspire struts fit all around. Fronts are essentially the same, while the rears have a spring perch about 3/4" higher than the Festiva strut, giving a bit more room for tire width & height.

Aspire front springs are about 10 pounds stiffer per side, while I'm convinced the rear springs are the same strength.

Karl

[deleon87]

Aspire struts fit all around. Fronts are essentially the same, while the rears have a spring perch about 3/4" higher than the Festiva strut, giving a bit more room for tire width & height.

Aspire front springs are about 10 pounds stiffer per side, while I'm convinced the rear springs are the same strength.

Karl

so basically i can just get aspire struts/spring assembly from junk yard and they will fit on my festiva. and the front springs are basically 1.5" longer and the rear are 3/4" longer than the stock feativa?

[Safety Guy]

If you put them on without cutting the springs your car will be abnormally high. Might work, might not.

I used junkyard Aspire springs and struts for my '89L conversion. I cut the springs about 1.5 coils, IIRC. You might start with one coil, as my memory is not too good!

I got about "stock" ride height afterwards.

Compared with my '89L, my '93GL sits pretty low. I think it's due to spring fatigue: the automatic and air make the front end heavier, plus it has 165K miles on it (30K more than my '89L). This car looks like it already has the lowering springs!

BTW, the Aspire front springs are visibly longer than the Festiva front springs when out of the strut. The rears are the same length and look exactly the same. I think they are the same. When I had them measured, they were only one pound stiffer, probably due to fatigue of age (1989) and 130K miles compared with the junkyard 1996 Aspire's 65K.

Karl

[Gforcefd]

cutting

What did cutting the springs do to your car,

is there any problems with the springs gouging your struts or anything, and if the aspires are stiffer, could you cut an extra inch off without woring about ruining the festiva Gr2's?

Logan

[Safety Guy]

Logan, cutting my springs simply lowered the car to about stock ride height. I also didn't use the round rubber spring isolators in the bottom spring perches. The only drawback is when I reverse and turn the wheel, I get some "knocking" from the cut spring ends scraping the perches (at least I think that's what it is).

My next step, should I ever get there, is to remove those springs from the Mutt, heat the ends up, and flatten them out.

Then we'll see how they do and if that lowers the car a bit (about half an inch would be welcome).

I don't have the GR2s. Just the junkyard Aspire struts. If they're "gouging," I can't tell. Yet.

I'd say I have maybe a few thousand miles on it since the swap. Ride is stiffer but not terribly so. Cornering much flatter and handling very, very nice.

Karl