Vw a2/A3 struts, HOpfully we can use these in a festy!

[Deathshead]

Hey guys, I have a set of used vw A3 front and rear struts on the way to me, im hoping I can get them to work in a festiva, If so we would have so many more choices in struts, especially a cheap tightly valved performance strut!,.

somthing like a boge turbo gas is super cheap and for a vr6 car they would be nice and stiff in a festiva, then with these, Im workin on a set of custom spring setup, as per my other post, but another idea i had is this.

buy 1 set of the ebay cheap-o coilovers, take the springs, thrown them in the garbage IMMEDIATLEY!, just use the sleeves and coilover springs with a more down to earth rate are very very cheap, then use these on the VW struts, so you have a decent ride, but alot stiffer then factory, and full adjustability. what do you think?

anyone have 1 front/1 rear blown stock festiva struts they need to get rid of so i can match them up?

I have 1 set of VW A3 struts and working on getting others to see what is the closest.


thanks!,

[Deathshead]

oh ya, "supposedly" Cam Waugh used VW A3 suspension in his car, That car is noe long gone, i emailed CWS and got no response, didnt somone on the forum here buy the car from an auction after it was beaten up by a ball bat?

[project b6t]

i might have my old shocks if i didnt throw them out... but i wont be home for a month of so :x

[festivaWES]

A3 body style would put it in the 93-98 category right? I am also considering this suspension setup. If this is the case jetta/beattle/golf would all work, but i think these would be a better bet

http://tinyurl.com/ybrxpw

[Deathshead]

the possibilities are endless if we can get A3 stuff to work!

[B6T]

VW coilovers. Been on there 2 years. Bling bling.

Anything but a coilover won't work properly on the front. The only reason these work is because I was able to lower the perch almost to the bottom, which leaves me with about 2" of suspension travel. Running the super stiff springs ensures that it won't bottom out. The VW strut body and rod are both longer then the Festivas, so in order to get the car to sit at the proper height, you'll have to run a stiff coil-over.

[festivaWES]

is that A2 85-89 or A3 93-98 jetta application??

[B6T]

Mk3 93-99.5 I think

[festivaWES]

i think I am going to go for a set of the 85-89 model i think they will have a overall lesser length

[Jimmy]

Are A1 just completely out? I have A1 inserts in my Datsun's struts, they are very short and allow you to run a severely low ride height and still retain travel.

I dunno, maybe A2/A3 are shorter???



Off topic: B6T, what's the story with you calipers? Are those real 4 pots or are those covers over mere mortal calipers?

[festivaWES]

thats the aspire brake swap

[B6T]

i think I am going to go for a set of the 85-89 model i think they will have a overall lesser length

Those are Mk2 and they're essentially the same. The Mk1 (Rabbit - 197x-1984) struts are similar up front but the rears are completely different and won't work on the Festiva. Mk2/Mk3 are the only one's that work. My car handles really well with them already, but if I had the time, I'd be checking to see if the geometry was right.

Another solution to the short stroke problem would be an adjustable top-mounted camber plate/strut mount. With that, you would be killing two birds with one stone: 1) the stroke problem, and 2) the excessive positive camber resulting from the increased distance between the centreline of the strut tube axis and the lower mounting points (something easily fixed with camber bolts). I've already designed a strut mount in Solid Edge but I don't have any way of getting them produced.

[Jimmy]

... I've already designed a strut mount in Solid Edge but I don't have any way of getting them produced.

Solid Edge! Woot! I have several complete cars I've modeled in Solid Edge. I wish building them in real life were that easy.

As for getting parts produced look at www.emachineshop.com . Their software isn't as intuitive as Solid Edge, but you could get ideas on what prices would be if you were to do a group buy on upper mounts.

[solatare]

i could try to build to build your parts

i might be able to help you with building those camber plates
but ingalls makes camber plates for the festiva last i checked, might want to look into those

[festivaWES]

so if using these struts----its possible to use them in conjunction with FMS springs?

If so i am definitely getting ingalls camber plates, illumina adjustables, and FMS springs