Miata Lowering Springs on an Aspire

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I've been thinking about this for awhile, and I'm looking for some feedback before I do anything permanent, so what do you guys think about this?

This is the stock spring vs the miata Racing Beat Lowering spring I am wanting to use, it's rated 146#'s



Obviously, there's a little height difference, and there's also this, which is the real source of my problems, the miata spring is thicker, making it wider. The spring itself is too wide to fit inside the upper body perch.



So what I am thinking, is that since I got a full set (4 springs and 4 top hats) I can use 2 top hats welded together upside down with the stock metal piece welded on top of those, and the rubber bushing on top of that like stock. Basically make my own coilover.

the Miata spring on the strut


put the first top hat on right so the spring has a good upper perch


then flip another top hat upside down on top of that and weld the horizontal seam


then stick the stock metal piece on top of those, and weld it, and put the rubber bushing on top of that to go between the top hat and the body mount.


On both sides...

[Christ]

Can't just hammer out the top hat to make it wide enough? Doesn't look like there'd be much required.

If the spring doesn't fit in the top hat like it should, you're going to have less lowering than you would expect from a spring 4" shorter than stock.

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When I put the whole top hat assembly together like I want it welded, and hold it next to the stock spring, there's a solid inch and a half (maybe 2)of drop still. I don't want 5", that would be way too low for me, I just want to eliminate the majority of the air between the fender well and the tire, but leave enough for it to drop an inch, then hit a soft bump stop and have enough to roll just a little more. I think this will end up getting rid of about half of the distance from the tire to the quarter panel.

No, I can't just hammer out the top perch in the body, it would have to be heated up and pounded out about 1/4-3/8" all the way around, and I think it would weaken the sheet metal too much. I did think about that first, but it's just way too much reshaping, and I'm not that good with metal.

[Christ]

When I put the whole top hat assembly together like I want it welded, and hold it next to the stock spring, there's a solid inch and a half (maybe 2)of drop still. I don't want 4", that would be way too low for me, I just want to eliminate the majority of the air between the fender well and the tire, but leave enough for it to drop an inch, then hit the bump stop and have enough to roll just a little more. I think this will end up getting rid of about half of the distance from the tire to the quarter panel.

No, I can't just hammer out the top perch in the body, it would have to be pounded out about 1/4" all the way around, and I think it would weaken the sheet metal too much.

The lowering will be slightly less because the spring is heavier than the stock spring. So if there is 2" overall difference in length after your mod, there's a good chance you won't actually get 2" of lowering.

Interested to see the progress.

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I'm really not sure how much of a drop, or increase of height I'm going to get, it's really not the reason for this mod anyway, but an inch or 2 would be nice, I could always start chopping coils to get it where I want it. The real reason for the stiffer springs is to keep the weight on the front tires if and when I ever get a chance to go to a drag strip or race track. I have a feeling the BP is going to try and throw the car around a little harder than before..

If this doesn't turn out, or if it's too stiff, I suppose I could always just revert back to stock and chop that spring, or find a honduh spring to put in there. Which is why I'm posting, to make sure what I'm doing isn't going to have some bad side effect on the suspension or subframe that I'm not seeing. Like the top perch bending up into the cab. Advanceddynamics did something similar, so I think it should be ok, but is there anything else I'm missing?

[Christ]

I've used solid mounts replaced struts with solid bars before without any chassis problems. I think you'll be fine.

If you end up needing honda springs, I've got a set in the shop.

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^,^ I'll keep that in mind, it's going to be a little while before I actually get to ride in the car, but I need to get something going so I can roll it out of the garage for a little tlc on the shell.

[DriverOne]

Zoom Zoom, have you considered using the upper spring perch from the Miata?

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I'm not real sure what the Miata suspension even looks like!

To be honest, if I had to do it again, I would probably not have bought these springs and tried to do something different, like honda springs, but this is what I have and I'd like to make something work without spending any more money until I know if the car is actually going to run...or not.

[DriverOne]

Several people on here have had Miatas at one point or another. I'm sure one of them could tell you. If not, a trip to the JY might be a quick $10 to fix your problem...

[Nerd Racing]

aspireguy95 from the aspire forums used miata tein lowering springs on his car and never had this problem.

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I dunno whats different, but the spring definately doesn't fit..I wouldn't go to all this trouble for nothing..

[Nerd Racing]

I dunno whats different, but the spring definately doesn't fit..I wouldn't go to all this trouble for nothing..

maybe you need miata strut hats, or half of them.

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Rockauto is only showing the front top hats, I'm not even sure what the Miata suspension is like, and I don't know of any in any junk yards, maybe I can dig up a pic over on MT

[Nerd Racing]

miata tops look just like the aspire/festiva ones. 2 bolt.