My Rio/Aspire Suspension Upgrade

[nitrofarm]

NEW, All you have to do is park the car on flat concrete and put a large object up against the wheel. I have a large 90 deg carpenter square that I use. But you can use a large pail,anything that will sit flat on the ground.And will touch the bottom and top of the tire.Obviously your looking for a little day light in between the square & the top edge of tire.You don't want any positive camber at normal ride height (dont know where you heard that). To adjust your positive camber out.Simply grind your top strut bolt hole (Strut not Spindle) with a slot that allows you to tip the spindle inboard.
Don't get your toe set by a pro until you get your Camber set,waste of money....

[1990new]

FWIW I've cut springs in place on a Honda this way, compress the spring and chop away. Just make sure that you don't cut into the next coil or the strut. And cut more than once or you'll have a loose coil stuck around the strut and have all kinds of fun trying to cut it apart afterwards. You also end up with springs that won't sit in the perch properly, and every time the car is lifted for maintenance you have to make sure they seat properly. All this to say there is some value in a proper spring setup if you care about any of this.

I ended up taking the struts off the car and removing the springs. I figured it would be easier to do it that way then trying to work under the fender and then get the springs seated back correctly.

So you did a rio swap, used rio outer tie rods, Rio lca? And right now your car is sitting a little too high and your tires are pointing one way or the other. Which part of the spring do you plan on cutting, the top or the bottom part, and how do you get it to sit right when either the top or bottom part is no longer flat.

Following the general wisdom about this that I found here, I cut the spring at the bottom. I put a short piece of hose (that i removed from an old dishwasher that ran from the inlet valve up the side) over about 2 inches of the spring ends where I cut. I cut one complete coil using my new dremel. Yes the geometry of the strut did change some and that is a good thing because it did reduced some of the positive camber. I did a test drive after I finished and is does ride and handle better with that one coil cut out.
I will see how much off the positive camber is when I have it aligned. Hopefully it will not be too much. From what I have read there should be a little positive camber. It may also have changed the caster a little but I don't think that will be much of a problem. One thing I did notice on the test drive is a little bearing noise on the left when I turned sharply to the right. I'll probably end up putting new bearing on that side. There is no indication of any problem with the right side wheel bearing though.

[burundon]

FWIW I've cut springs in place on a Honda this way, compress the spring and chop away. Just make sure that you don't cut into the next coil or the strut. And cut more than once or you'll have a loose coil stuck around the strut and have all kinds of fun trying to cut it apart afterwards. You also end up with springs that won't sit in the perch properly, and every time the car is lifted for maintenance you have to make sure they seat properly. All this to say there is some value in a proper spring setup if you care about any of this.

[bhearts]

I put the new Kia tie rod ends on Trixie today and now I'm ready to get a professional alignment but I'm concerned about the fact that the positive camber looks too extreme.
So I've decided to cut a coil out of the springs and would like to do it without removing them if possible.

Has any cut the springs with a 4" angle grinder while the strut is still installed on the car? I have spring compression tools.

So you did a rio swap, used rio outer tie rods, Rio lca? And right now your car is sitting a little too high and your tires are pointing one way or the other. Which part of the spring do you plan on cutting, the top or the bottom part, and how do you get it to sit right when either the top or bottom part is no longer flat.

[1990new]

I put the new Kia tie rod ends on Trixie today and now I'm ready to get a professional alignment but I'm concerned about the fact that the positive camber looks too extreme.
So I've decided to cut a coil out of the springs and would like to do it without removing them if possible.

Has any cut the springs with a 4" angle grinder while the strut is still installed on the car? I have spring compression tools.

[1990new]

I have finished my upgrade and am pleased with the finished product. For now, I did the string alignment it is driving great. I'll get it professionally aligned before I take it on a road trip.
I added a few more pictures to the photobucket album. The link is in the first post in this thread.
I've been driving Festivas since 1990 and I highly recommend this upgrade to anyone who is considering it.

[1990new]

Others will chime in but from what I've seen those holes allow you to center the beam Left to Right. The only way you can adjust Toe in the rear is with a shim under the rear spindles. And as far as front end toe,its a matter of preference. If mileage is your goal, no toe at all. If you want more steering, toe out. I never run toe in even on my wifes car (which I have set at zero). But for the record Toe really effects the mileage on these little engines. Im running toe out with snow tires and my mileage sucks. But I love the way the car handles in the snow. Its all personal preference

Thanks nitro, I think I'll go with the zero toe as well. This vehicle will be driven very little at highway speeds and is automatic so any help with mpg is welcomed. Don't have to worry about snow though.
Glad I did this conversion, steering with the Rio struts is remarkably improved and the improved braking is also noticeable.

Now I have a set of good set of front Festiva struts and rear shocks with springs that I guess I'll take back for the $6 each core refund unless someone needs them. But with all the suspension swapping
going on, I doubt if they do.

[nitrofarm]

I need some advice on alignment after the Aspire rear and Rio Front swap.

1. The rear brackets that mount to the body have holes slightly larger than the bolts. Is that how the rear alignment is adjusted?
2. What specks are used Rio, Festiva, Aspire?

Others will chime in but from what I've seen those holes allow you to center the beam Left to Right. The only way you can adjust Toe in the rear is with a shim under the rear spindles. And as far as front end toe,its a matter of preference. If mileage is your goal, no toe at all. If you want more steering, toe out. I never run toe in even on my wifes car (which I have set at zero). But for the record Toe really effects the mileage on these little engines. Im running toe out with snow tires and my mileage sucks. But I love the way the car handles in the snow. Its all personal preference

[1990new]

I need some advice on alignment after the Aspire rear and Rio Front swap.

1. The rear brackets that mount to the body have holes slightly larger than the bolts. Is that how the rear alignment is adjusted?
2. What specks are used Rio, Festiva, Aspire?

[1990new]

Today I finished getting the emergency brake connected, interior back in place, bled the brakes and mounted the 92 Escort LX alloys on the rear.

The size of the tires on the Escort rims that I stated as 175/65 R14 was incorrect. They are actually 185/65 R14.
There is only about 1/4 inch clearance between the bottom of the spring base on the strut but it does clear all around.
Check link in first post to photobucket for added photos of the clearance.

Drove it around the block and all is well. Just need to get the correct outer tie rod ends on, get all the wheels (and the car) cleaned up, and then the alignment will finish the job.
Oh... except for getting a spare tire that will fit the car and also fit in the wheel well. I guess I'll have to go back to using a doughnut as a spare.

Any recommendation on the mixed sizes. Should I use the 185's on the front or the rear? Anyone else running mixes sizes?

[1990new]

I have a Dremel that I used to open the hole up on mine.

Utterly amazing ... while I was in the middle of doing the last post.. my wife asked me if I wanted my birthday present now or wait until tomorrow (my birthday). I said OK.. I'll open it now.
It was a Dremel...first one I ever owned and I'm 70 tomorrow. I had used my 4 inch hand held grinder to cut of the nubs.

[Team Lightning]

Only problem I had today was that the hole in the aspire beam brake line holder on the right side was to small and had 4 little metal bumps on one side.
I cut the little bumps off and filed out the hole to make room for the line to fit. The head of the Festiva brake lines are larger. On the left side I used the Aspire flexible lines
and attached in the larger hole on the body. Anyone else doing this be sure to do the work on the hole before you install the beam.
Looks like all the brake components including the cylinders and drums had recently been replaced on the Aspire and the wheel bearings were in good shape too.

I have a Dremel that I used to open the hole up on mine.

[1990new]

LX Escort wheels work good on a Festiva. I ran my son's 96 LX wheels for a year or so on mine. They had 185-60-14 tires. Same size I'm running now on Miata solid spokes.

Thanks Jerry, I was hoping they would work.

Watching this thread! Which car is getting the swap, Jess?

That would be Trixie, my 89 automatic.

Not sure about offset and hub hole compatibility of Escort rims but the 02 Rio wagon alloys I got hold of were perfect; hub-centric for optimum fit and the offset did not yield tire rubbing on the spring perches. Try the new wheels on for size before you commit. 175-65-14 is a tall wide tire compared to Festy and even OEM Aspire.

Just noticed that I misspelled your name Bert.. (I have a nephew with the same name but he spells his Burt.. short for Burton I believe).
I will be mounting the escort wheels with 175-65-14 tires. I will post tomorrow and report on how they do.

Today I got the the rear suspension installed (my shocks came a day early). All that is left to do is bleed the brakes, mount the wheels, connect the ebrake inside, install the interior plastic and rear seat.
The Kia tie rod ends won't be here until Saturday so I'll only be driving around the neighborhood at 25 until they are installed. Then I will get it aligned and see how it does on the highway.
I added a couple more pictures and will add more tomorrow to show the finished product.

Only problem I had today was that the hole in the aspire beam brake line holder on the right side was to small and had 4 little metal bumps on one side.
I cut the little bumps off and filed out the hole to make room for the line to fit. The head of the Festiva brake lines are larger. On the left side I used the Aspire flexible lines
and attached in the larger hole on the body. Anyone else doing this be sure to do the work on the hole before you install the beam.
Looks like all the brake components including the cylinders and drums had recently been replaced on the Aspire and the wheel bearings were in good shape too.

[Team Lightning]

LX Escort wheels work good on a Festiva. I ran my son's 96 LX wheels for a year or so on mine. They had 185-60-14 tires. Same size I'm running now on Miata solid spokes.

[drddan]

Watching this thread! Which car is getting the swap, Jess?