MK1 coilovers on front of aveo

[d3vo1d]

I finally got to mount the MK1 raceland coilovers on the front with the coilover endlink kit. The work to mount the MK1 was more than I thought when I started. Initially, I thought that I would just have to grind the spindle down to slide into the coilover mount. That is not the case. The spindle was ground down, the coilover mount was ground down, and the bottom bolt hole on the coil had to be resized with a unibit. Once that was done, I used Grade 5 bolts to attach it to the spindle. Adjusting the perch to 2.75 inches of thread, the aveo sits low without rubbing and bouncing. Also had to remove the right side brake line mount as well. With the MK1 coilovers, there are mounts on both sides of the bottom of the strut. The front facing side has to be removed to fit the endlink plate that the kit uses for the end links. The MK1 strut is about 2 inches shorter than the MK2 strut. If you are trying to go low, this is the way to do it, and not end up with spring ride. Pictures to follow soon.

[petrified.rabbit]

i definitely want pictures, i am surprised the bolts holds needed opened up. I thought the mk1 and mk2 had the same bolt pattern and size in front, I didn't do mk1 struts mostly because of the extra grinding, but I am interested in seeing your results.

[d3vo1d]

I thought the same as you, rabbit. As soon as I got the grinding done, both on the spindle, and on the inside of the coilover mount, found out that the top bolt is fine, but the bottom one is off just enough to be a problem. With a unibit, and some grade 5 metal or concrete lag bolts, problem solved!! Will post pics as soon as I get home from work.

[Pickles]

You really should use grade 8...thats always a rule of thumb with suspension. grade 8 SAE or 10.1 or higher hardness metric

[d3vo1d]

This a picture of my Raceland MK1 coilover in the process of being mounted. Hopefully this weekend I will be able to get better pics of the coilovers and the car once I get time to strip everything off so I can get good shots of the second spindle bolt. BTW, the MK1 coilover was only about 1.5 inches difference from the MK2 in length. That 1.5 makes all the difference to the height though. I will remember that about the bolts too, pickles. I make sure to check it daily. It was also only one bolt that I had to replace. The othe three are grade 8 and came from the coilover endlink kit that petrified rabbit sold. When I received the kit, I only received 3 bolts, so I had to find a fourth.

[classic67]

holy **** did i put mk1s on by accident i ordered mk2s but i had all the same issues you had. Wow good work.

[d3vo1d]

Yea, the MK1's are a bear to install, but if you want to go really low and retain some semblance of ride quality, this is the way to go. We are still playing with the actual height, as I am finding out, to go any lower, we are going to have to do some front inner fender surgery. After the coils settled, I have some scrubbing along the fender lip when I turn. The difference is so close, that when I had the old kumho's on, no rubbing as they had no tread. Replaced tires yesterday, tread difference created rubbing!!!

[classic67]

I fixed the outer rubbing with camber bolts. The inner rubbing was the lip on the driver inner fender and a grinder took care of that. One thing to look for though is the inner and outer cv boots on the driver side. mine tore within a month of driving as low as i could so i bumped it up and inch and replaced the axle and havent had a problem since. Im having an issue with the rear making a clunking noise. Originaly i thought it was the axle bushings and with new onews it still does it wtf. I might have blown one with how the roads are around here or one came loose but i dont know how thats possible.

[d3vo1d]

This is my second time being this low. The first was in 04 when the aveo first came out. We did a chop and put it down to the same height. I rode like this for a year before putting lowering springs on it and raising it back up. I had the clunking noises from the front at near factory height. Now that it is back down, no more noises. I have replaced my cv joints, and the spindle hubs on both sides but both were my doing, as I ran off the edge of a black top with a 4 inch drop when it was low the first time, and had to replace all of those things. I figured that because the front suspension bushings were in that position new, that is where they work best since the suspension was broke in at the lowered height from the factory.

[petrified.rabbit]

picture of the whole car from far away?