After hours of searching... I see coilovers

Finally after trying different searches, google chrome translations, and link upon link i've found somewhere that actually sells Hijet coilovers. Well or at least did sell them, don't know if they do anymore.
They're also in Japan and probably very pricey.

http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&langpair=ja%7Cen&u=http://www.aero-over.com/cathand/detail-423376.html

Is there anyone who knows anyone that could make me a set for a reasonable price.

As you already have coil over oil shocks anyway I assume you want adjustable ones? I'll be back in a minute.

Right can find any but I remember an article in classic ford mag a while back you can get sleeves to go over your standard shock bodies, you remove the lower spring pan and then you weld the top on and slip a spring over the top but with out the adjustment on the damping you can't go far from stock anyway unless you know how to play with the internals. now if you were going to do a rear coil over conversion then I can help.

yeah the adjustable downward type. Seen those thread kits you get, thinking I might prepare a set made from a butchered set of standard dampers and some other similar corsa or polo etc coilovers. Need to find the correct springs and shorter damper inserts.

linky for someone who has done it to an acty -

http://www.ratdat.com/?p=1256


And a rascal for good measure -

Ah now Rich, what do you know about rear coilover conversions? I might be interested in something like that if it would improve progress over speed humps. (Not to mention improve comfort for my back!)

yeah i'd be interested in what you know about that too.

Right the easy bit of the conversion is to replace the dampers with coil over bike type shocks the rest is not so easy trailing arms would need to be fabricated still not difficult and a watts linkage or panhard rod still not to hard but a spring rate for the leafs would need to be found and then it's a case of a bit of trial and error to get the rate how you need it (can be expensive). Now the only bit that I'm not sure of is the LHS damper is in front of the axle and the RHS is behind so may affect how it works.



and look whatI found a pic of this time.

Hi 8Bit chap is asking the same question about coilsprings on the American site. Try this link http://www.minitrucktalk.com/showthread.php?t=12559

Waz

I'd personally not use the standard shock mounts for coil springs.....


I'd weld a couple of new brackets onto the axles......



as for the axle location bars/anti tramp bars/etc......

well if you want to learn about them, look into SOA (spring over axle conversions) on 4x4s....
or 1/4 elliptical spring setups....

I was considering a SOA conversion on my Landy......

I have been thinking about this sort of conversion on the van and as coil springs are usually linear on cars the setup for a van would be a huge compromise as even if you got progressive wound springs you still couldn't get one setup you would still need to adjust them for between empty and fully loaded so you can just change the leafs for a trailing arm and bung on some airbags a mount on the chassis and a comp and you are pretty much done.

Wouldn't load levelling dampers resolve that problem?

In any case I thought the Extol had coil springs; that is really just a tarted up Hijet. Couldn't that setup be copied over to the Hijet?

no, what Rich means, is coil springs are generally configured with a single spring rate....

so it extends/compresses at the same rate....


so a spring designed to carry heavy loads (say the maximum permitted load of the hijet), wont offer a comfortable ride when empty....
vice versa, a spring designed for light loads, will wallow and roll around when loaded.....



leaf springs arent as bad as everyone makes out especially so called 'vehicle handling experts'.....

leaf springs can offer a better ride than a coil spring IF setup correctly.....

due to the design, the more load on a leaf spring, the hard the spring rate becomes.....

because of this, a leaf spring can offer a better, more stable ride across the entire spring range without any adjustments, or expensive equipment.....



the downside to leaf springs, is they generally arent as 'efficient' at absorbing small bumps (hence why a leaf sprung vehicle tends to feel 'bouncier')




BUT, there are methods you can use to improve a leaf spring....
take the spring pack apart, and then keep the leaves seperate, by using some rubber or poly spacer blocks....

depending on the thickness of the spacers, you might need to extend the spring pack clamps, to hold the pack together.
also, painting the leaves with a 'slippery' paint will help reduce friction.

with the spaced leaves, and slippery paint, the leaves themselves will move MUCH more easily, improving the ride quality.....



if you wanted to lower the van, you could leave on of the leaves out of the pack (then use the spacers to make up the missing spring thickness, so you might be able to use the standard spring pack clamps)

difflock123 wrote:

if you wanted to lower the van, you could leave on of the leaves out of the pack (then use the spacers to make up the missing spring thickness, so you might be able to use the standard spring pack clamps)

I've done this and the ride was a lot nicer, lowered a couple of cm too.

I've since reversed the eye's oldskool hotrodder style and the rides ok till you hit the cut down bumpstops.