Cutting my Festy's springs

[Advancedynamix]

Thanks for the tutorial, Charlie. IIRC the extended length of both the Rio and Festy KYBs was the same. I will re-check. The Rio strut was definitely bottoming on even small irregularities, due to the missing two Festy coils. I will try cutting one Aspire coil, and one Rio coil, to experiment further. I'm only guessing on the Rio's strut having stiffer valving, based on the Rio being heavier, and the strut having a thicker shaft. But first I will try a stock uncut Aspire coil, and test-drive it before moving on to the next test. That will give it opportunity to settle in to its natural ride height, something I didn't realize earlier that I should do.

Also, you may want to experiment with quality rising rate bump stops, like those made for German cars. The bump stop can be used as a supplemental rising rate spring to aid in bottoming resistance. Febi/bilstein makes the best quality ones that I've seen.

[TominMO]

Also, you may want to experiment with quality rising rate bump stops, like those made for German cars. The bump stop can be used as a supplemental rising rate spring to aid in bottoming resistance. Febi/bilstein makes the best quality ones that I've seen.

Ah, good tip and reminder.

[Advancedynamix]

Also, I don't think Miata shocks will fit a Festiva without lots of work. I was helping set up an NA last weekend, so I've had my hands on a few sets of them. The MK1 VW shocks are your best bet from what I have seen. The MK1 VW is a great choice as well because it has a very similar suspension setup to the Festiva, so you are getting a shock which is valved properly for a trailing beam.

[Advancedynamix]

Suspension tuning on these cars can be very rewarding. Many people will never know how incredible the WA (Festiva) chassis is. The suspension that came on these cars was tuned for third world roads on 12" wheels. It is so far off the mark that just about anything improves it.

[Festiva_Fred]

Good info!

[F3BZ]

Suspension tuning on these cars can be very rewarding. Many people will never know how incredible the WA (Festiva) chassis is. The suspension that came on these cars was tuned for third world roads on 12" wheels. It is so far off the mark that just about anything improves it.

maybe even 4th world roads. like in Pittsburgh.

[TominMO]

Just went out and cut one Aspire spring and both Rio springs. I only cut one coil off each, which isn't much. Going conservative, because Dan tells me you can't JB Weld the cut pieces back on. Anyway, I have two sets of Aspire front coils. I'll install various coils on tmw and take 'em for a short ride.

In my box of misc. used suspension parts, I found two German-made bump stops! They say Kia (so I probably snagged 'em at the JY when I got the Kia springs and top hats), Made in Germany, ETK and 35. Pretty sure 35 is a measure of stiffness, and on the light side. I may pair them up with some stiffer ones I have to give even more progressive spring help.

[TominMO]

These guys have some nice instructional vids. Tuning your suspension with bump stops.

This vid is a basic explanation of bump stops.

Bump stop selection guide. This is part 1. Check out their video selection on their home page.

[Advancedynamix]

http://m.ebay.com/itm/151387397913?nav=SEARCH

These are the style I use. I'm not sure what the actual rate is, but for light cars (1500-3000lb) with spring rates between 80-300lb/in) they seem to be perfect. You can cut them on either end to adjust the rate and length. They are available for the front and rear, but are different parts because the hole size and rate vary.

[TominMO]

Thanks Charlie, those are the ones I was planning to go with eventually too. The tricky point is finding ones with the proper hole diameter. Do you know of any place that we can go to find this info?

Just put the Aspire springs on my '01 Rio KYB front struts. I didn't bother with uncut, as I knew they would be too high. I only cut one coil off each, put 'em on with my good bump stops and went for a city drive. Three miles of every irregularity I could find, to settle the springs, see how it felt, and check for shaft bottoming.

Result: a big improvement over even the Festy KYBs. As I said earlier, the shaft is about 10% thicker, and pushing them both down for comparison, the Rio strut is definitely stiffer. Cutting the spring one coil turned out to be nearly perfect. Previous ride height with the stock Festy springs was 23 7/8", both sides. Now I have 24" driver/24 1/8" passenger. I will eventually pull the springs again, cut them 1/4 coil and re-paint them (the paint's gotten kinda beat up with all this). I don't think the bump stops even came into play, but at least now I know I have good ones. It's some sort of dense foam, not rubber. They are orange, and IIRC came with the Rio struts I got the top hats/springs off of.

So the reason I was bottoming before was simply that cutting two Festy front coils was too much. The shaft needed just a little more room.

If I decide to raise the spring rate, I'm thinking stock early Miata front springs (~140 lbs) on the front, and cut Festy or Aspire front springs (~105 lbs) for the rear. Gonna drive it for awhile first to see if I feel the need to go that route. Right now I just have stock Aspire Monroes and stock Festy springs on back.

[Advancedynamix]

That all sounds right on the money. Thanks for taking the time to document this. It's nice to know what works before cutting and installing a bunch of times.

[TominMO]

Thanks Charlie. BTW, when you say Mk1 VW, are you specifically talking about the 1974-83 Golf? Because at one point you recommended a 91 Cabriolet rear strut. I'm not really tuned in to VWs. I'm thinking about getting the Mk1 VW rear strut and trying it with the stock Festy rear spring (80 lbs) and also a slightly cut-down Aspire front (~105 lbs).

I drove the Festy around some more, fairly aggressively (not by your standards tho ;-)) and think I like the stock front spring with this level of damping. So I want to try better rear damping, then play with spring rates. Plus I have the option to go the coilover route with the VW KYBs.

[TominMO]

Think I just answered my own question. Looked up the 91 VW Cabriolet KYB rear strut, and they gave these applications. It even comes with a bump stop and cover, for $33! :-)

VOLKSWAGEN	CABRIOLET	(1985 - 1993)
VOLKSWAGEN	JETTA	(1980 - 1984)
VOLKSWAGEN	RABBIT	(1975 - 1984)
VOLKSWAGEN	RABBIT CONVERTIBLE	(1980 - 1984)
VOLKSWAGEN	SCIROCCO	(1975 - 1989)

[TominMO]

Correction: in post #27 I said I liked the stock front spring. What I meant was the Aspire front spring with one coil cut.

[Advancedynamix]

Yeah, I usually search 93 Cabriolet because it's the newest mk1 chassis. There was a time when I couldn't get parts for my 81 scirocco s, but I could get them for a 93 Cab, so I just became accustomed to ordering for a Cab. Things have gotten better in the last two decades of parts searching though. Lol.