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Honda springs on a Brat


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1987 Brat, that I had already modified with the EA82 suspension front and rear. Recently, the car got the 5 lug swap, so the front is now Impreza suspension.

 

The rear has been very soft with the junkyard strut and springs, and the driver side strut blew out a few months ago. I ordered new KYB EA82 rear struts for it(and conveniently, my front Impreza struts are fairly new KYBs from the yard), and finally decided to try the late 80s Accord front springs on the rear. I did before and after height measurements with this too.

 

Before I did anything, I was at 25.5 inches at the end of the tailgate(down), 29.5 inches at the fender arches, and 24 inches at the tailgate with me sitting on it.

After, I'm at 29.5 inches at the tailgate, 31.5 inches at the fender arches, and 28.5 at the tailgate with me sitting on it.

 

It definitely rides better now. It used to really squat in the rear when I would accelerate from a stop, and it doesn't do that anymore. I'm going to drive it around for a bit, and see how it feels. I may go back and cut the spring slightly, as it is sitting towards the top of the strut travel currently. That, and I have a topper on my brat that belongs on my mother's brat, so that will reduce my weight over these springs when it's gone.

 

Note: Honda springs are rather tightly wound, and the normal rental tool from an auto parts store will not fit in the coils. I ended up putting it on the car, and slowly compressing the spring with a jack under the hub.

Edited by Speedwagon
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After driving it around for a few days, I've determined I want to shorten the coils slightly. Going to start with 0.5", since this is a one way trip.
 
When I raised the back end, the wheels only dropped 0.5" from resting, so cutting off 0.5" should give me a bit more strut travel. The strut measured 10.5" resting, and 11.0" unloaded.
The uncompressed Honda coil length is 12.5" (same as the Subaru coil), but I can take off up to 1.5" to keep the strut tight when unloaded(though that would be cutting it a bit close). The top end of the Honda coil is not quite squared, and not quite tangential. The bottom is squared, so unless you are going with the Toyota strut, I'd stay away from cutting that side.
 
Also, the KYB and Tokico struts are different lengths. The Tokico(what was on the car before) is 21.5 extended, while the KYB is 20.5 extended. However, the difference is only 0.25" in actual travel(measured from the bump stop mount to the top of the tube, 6.75 Tokico vs 6.5 KYB).
 
Tokico, KYB, Subaru coil, Honda Coil
(it keeps telling me "You are not allowed to use that image extension on this community." So here are some links. If anyone can tell me the right way to share Google Photos on here, I'm listening)

 

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/Tu-yQxG_8OAJ8_chrQ1qEDPWrkHJL21-KOiezn_zAtiESkzPd24ykTpJdpniBescp0xR-G_ukvcCZBaZGMhZ4zZQtnBUEIMCOOGR2dIgAXR_Ev_rfMHS99-xJ6we_IUsXYsp6OcVRtcwcsrLrP1ZlySCn31_wD8MZgimTZ6rou7QaWWftWx78tcDrNy8rbKzpQO3-h97cCoqkqTgZt9hq9wwUcMUwos2CdUiT1XhM8o0jM73OoL3pLGKfJQTiPbx27voPwXT150Cg3acX307bkBHH296CfhTuVuIHuFb_tuxqORkqAWWK2gpmSzImCAxpnJApj7QGeuMJxWq9d2mz3jOKKDzjAsaEqMZ7hg2Oc2tWH6r0g6HcF8TDXm53tEPFt3mJ-oYMUvIB3-6hfROXvbMioidVmE9BkCNncBT5t3Cd8CS--2erR5YAsBavL8BRHsqBAJ-SMwuo4aCGkkFE3pO_gBvRYEpBTqmriav0IeS_7_St0t7lMIq1uFZSHk-avCR8g4Df21TfnyccBg_lnwI-k0v1rg2JQPZR-7i3LPBmRlmrbGgn5Kv1n8_PwfvPt5GJH-MI7vfAp3PWJRzdRziC7JbcO7KX89Kmwx2sXPHghxmw8_q=w529-h935-no

 

Before pictures(with the struts removed, and just lowered to the height)

 
 https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/XrGIj0rhpqPUQdZmlaEUHtvNk-cc8-waRh9YZnNLU3MJ6eWSxPt7P92eKDjYS8LXeqGGvUA00RHt7fbEMjAddn1QwNiRBpnZ5gLUjYLcxIcCURXbjGOzdnPigb-_pj8UDEd3HZP3aISkqQwBF1TMNZuiaFrzmbgoDsQ7NHUgyoGLdd41j4CuAGWBHXlZinqIPAly-HxcNX-jVZLeEOvuTI2_HCXgXtv3e6ujhcJyktO4LwnG8vpCeFmJwwfacZvdSClie4_q2PR6xLX3qbqw9wGXrx-UqimrtybEDPsV04ZbRDkbUN5pFXSbxRr1q6haHgvybzATTcE2YP5-Zwxx-dhqlwHyWBW1qg_4H_fojJVi4e9eVP-J6GIttQnnZ7_lC02qfL54hPD7TWnygYAXvmrwmJ0FNVz02YSxLJK-m2rURG9zkQ7ty261gk64exUJrliI4QmfmG7rd8_WC2lsbOJsx7-v2aS6drLmqpGymlvIM3r0EGezsvIKUGYA07whlj3e0vJmDh7KJMyLoT8JJXAPhLcL-gjydWPhANcGt9RvRvVHN3Y5dxUCutNz4FkUPp0097Bw9mnTd6wKWIISyRh3cCDysb-5lFEktSh19ex7vpfPgVeh=w1654-h936-no
 

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/HpcA7eJedT3LNUlZQHoXhPx6r3dxqQUbWso1MjLwZ4kAA2KAxLBHr3QmgHYfz07l1JXk9Mc2KsCpTlRWfXJofSwOf33mzUMbXQgCosZICijOqNzlmTS33AQshq7EEhXWjhR6cXeI9A3jhC46wU8U9MZqujyDhGqeaSXrlUislPbEF7US4ybH3vIzHAzNq1eedjBu6S8PNTBvieO10FlkwHya2bUDyLGXyyy4bxaEEwrPwbIncS-AGB9Rejewj_uUCikS93r7t891GDAZVMY9W3AoIsqdiah9rm3pQBi1T16Vq6l7P6VIRRWcysLEucirArtgWRfAg4jjJqghg0ND2M-WgdLmOdj2xPnkQ9R70JimtUvOWXbRQ4bPiRPlcG8FWy3AX04E8p1G3Oy8Se-v-KRtws0uMSU9mFMAPn6cn4Eenvy_TkhpnkKXXMpEoVBcAeOcd5evqDzqVXgqbHl6zpo2kSAvo0WEVQjKjs6GpOp_VpNpDNjxExvwcvLEWdVQI_hBKmZrQ9UoyC3cmAvqrVN35dg_NF34C-wP5IrQQiBA3i4KTJIJfc3L0jSg7z9e3h_FhbKp5W4frzWl8NIAqpEj_i3rp9QRSGrABULfVARGOix1=w1654-h936-no
 
 
 
 
After pictures, on unmodified Honda coils
 
 https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/eyGkgIHlIS6hzInm25BDp_PL--poplSyGlqBkEXJrKIQia8aYCbAovXtdp9GqZjSiXeLap74YhWIKRjdz6FgJawPxgDAjvic342yINyvgpS56NQFEgvsfxsuiqdZIS8nWJodA5g1UILPO0kCUNNrj9bZrXfoDWLUWyaB9WEdQHhM453ZiJ57aqOxYTYAouS4CToQfEwPQNp4zIRGSmPsscAHDMfAA56RL3kUKZP69YbrQ1MJBxM1jpG76xAyo4CUGkSGzkSi1lQ2noVYzh-WFXojbubN1_QYeI0AXJUrYFP24ATzqCcQWEBthLoY66L-laumQEXEEkqJEr2qtWxYS9Hcxr7CnV6FqgkI_ZTERTQxqzlAlOyv60r2eQA5btWg7DlNM2uSxdqf9jwxRaDbCFZNlEElluHWc9hIgTn-cQWAQmeDouE8xKne6L5EWUwyfkoI4G6GTI5nCNCaUGMbo6PZY_R907iR2ADmZaWWZiwxYlD8WvGUk1aRSr0ds8SBMmnsYh9r_nFTU9JfyZ8vpnEdX0x3eSXZyUDp6y1OmulPvvM-plkdLNyYEXGzzzYAO4pJtQh336k5QlVQTjArCWQQ55-dsBw72amui9M_HCTwG4aQ=w1654-h936-no

 

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/M4VMTMhXmhgKUH5xpKqI2wrY1GyH-Wkf2kjnWtbpkPQtdIyLPlbPf-fbGNMfJO_QkDmmhrkQ3UG5pV3XZqwIIb1qeRxXClsWsR4kHqA_nMakdUyMp7brOuTl99zzhUQlTIB7D4mtk9dipzMT8qzJuRd1FSL3Lit8t979ZCzAlMP0QEu5qvFF16w7-Dmen4PrEeeNZMjQToFYhbY0wG0OGIXWzFTTaPyjN3OWgoK9gRMu86pSqk1bqve-qHs76JGsSPgUwFkh6bLcl4BihzVknn9jMOeFvhW8bUI5E7TRPrv4G7Sokrxpj1IJD6Xg9dM5N-AA49lWaNLyzl6Djh-M6qDYl_I9uqweptuDtcW4icP8EJmwAHgjJ3v71pFkGFMLGkB4pSpLYvLIOwqSgPHRWK4pfKRdZs-dL5HisJ_-YmQ0_kXDKlo36JtBbSC9Pxe26rJOBOFOZTHUuV_VQyyntwC5ugZjqdlHH3VYaGq1nmRADKHs8NH1X8fEqor8EDfwc781hr-bakMhtwe2HSsaQCXNA1ytr3EMeB71vhya6xgEAgplmn4NvCqrMQ5Md_Ysw1fPUCmZRNekeFiAbc8o5fYH-YcK8JOoYpcngXNmZDDqwGuV=w1654-h936-no


Still need to drive it around, and get the cut springs settled before I take another pic.

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