Lifting a 1G?

[boosted daily]

Winters comin fast and I've been wondering 'how hard would it be to raise my Laser? '
So I started looking for rally style coilovers, but most only gain you about 1 1/2"... That's not worth $1200 ish to me.
Then I considered spacers for on top of the stock struts to physically push everything down, lifting the car.
They how about taller springs that would interchange into a stock style strut?

This was one rapidly evolving thought pattern that has gotten me to the point of having an idea/plan. I'm sure I should be able to fit 25" tall tires with out issues (it currently rides on butt ugly 17's with 22 1/2" tires so that'll raise me a bit...) But I want more haha

So my question is, does anyone know about a set of springs (most likely stock springs from some other vehicle) that can be swapped in for the stockies in order to lift it?

Thanks in advance for any help

 

[nwBryce89]

I have heard many people using evo suspension which made there cars ride much higher. I have not researched this at all but i'm sure there is some threads with pics on this site.

 

[DJ Raydiate]

I have heard many people using evo suspension which made there cars ride much higher. I have not researched this at all but i'm sure there is some threads with pics on this site.

One of our Moderators did it on his 1g for Rallyx using stock Evo VIII struts and springs. You could look at his build journal to get an idea. Look up under the DSM Journals for 9!'clipseDOHC . His build is quite impressive. I remember reading that it's not a direct bolt on and some modification was needed.

 

[9!'clipseDOHC]

One of our Moderators did it on his 1g for Rallyx using stock Evo VIII struts and springs. You could look at his build journal to get an idea. Look up under the DSM Journals for 9!'clipseDOHC . His build is quite impressive. I remember reading that it's not a direct bolt on and some modification was needed.

I did that on a FWD and the rears didn't work because the rear suspension is competely different between FWD and AWD. It would work fine with modifications on an AWD DSM. I am still currently using the stock Evo VIII front struts/springs on my DSM though. This is how it currently sits with 205/65/15" gravel tires:

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[Brandon Mau]

You could always put some Ground controls on it, I had them on my car and when I adjusted them all the way up it sat much higher than the stock ride height. I'm guessing you want this for clearance in the snow?

 

[boosted daily]

Yep, snow is the enemy I'm trying to conquer haha
I live kinda in truck country with an 18mile commute on our sh!tty narrow highway that does get cleaned (but blows in right away) and decided I needed to go bigger haha last year I had a stck height 98 Neon coupe I had done up a bit and decided to toss that idea...

 

[DJ Raydiate]

I did that on a FWD and the rears didn't work because the rear suspension is competely different between FWD and AWD. It would work fine with modifications on an AWD DSM. I am still currently using the stock Evo VIII front struts/springs on my DSM though. This is how it currently sits with 205/65/15" gravel tires:

I'm sorry for the misinformation, I thought that you got them on but they were too stiff and sat too high in the rear. I'll have to look back at your thread to refresh my memory. It's been a while since I looked at it.

 

[9!'clipseDOHC]

I'm sorry for the misinformation, I thought that you got them on but they were too stiff and sat too high in the rear. I'll have to look back at your thread to refresh my memory. It's been a while since I looked at it.

Oh they will bolt up fine after being modified... They just jack the rear up stupid high, . I wasn't saying you we're wrong, just clarifying.

 

[DSM Chase]

not many people raise these cars

 

[jayson427]

If you want to lift your car I have the best way to do this! Check this link out! You will never have to worry about snow again haha

http://www.dsmtuners.com/forums/dsm-build-journals/431241-96-rs-evlipse-v8-build.html

 

[boosted daily]

Haha I'm starting to see that not too many people lift their DSMs... but me and a co-worker were thinking of how to make it a bad ass winter car.

Awesome, so Evo 8 struts work with some modification, about how much height did you gain? Pic looks nice and aggressive but not too tipy

 

[TheMadCheshire]

I'm actually rocking some k-sport spec-grs. I currently have the car raised about 1" over stock. I could easily get 3 inches out of them but that would be too high and the car wouldn't perform properly.
Another suggestion is to make spacers. Head over to DirtyImpreza.com - The Off-Road Impreza Community and see what they do with their Imprezas. Its typical for the sti's to get "saggy butt syndrome" and they usually use some uhmw spacers to make the car level again. Several others use them to do exactly what you are doing: lift the car.
I don't know if King Springs makes any springs for our cars but the impreza guys use them with oe struts to get a minor lift.

 

[DJ Raydiate]

Oh they will bolt up fine after being modified... They just jack the rear up stupid high, . I wasn't saying you we're wrong, just clarifying.

OK Cool. My chicklet is safe for now . Would it be possible to run the EVO struts with the 1gAWD springs and get a raised ride height but have the softness of the stock setup ?

 

[9!'clipseDOHC]

Awesome, so Evo 8 struts work with some modification, about how much height did you gain? Pic looks nice and aggressive but not too tipy

I can't give you an accurate comparison on the height compared to stock because I went from DSM lowering springs to the stock evo struts. It lifted the front probably 2-3" over the lowering springs.

 

[DSM4LIFE-AWD]

I used to drive my car with stock suspension during winter. Well everything was mostly stock

Never had any probleme on stock height and thrust me we got snow over here ! I wouln't really worry ...

Changing height on the stock strut and you'll destroy them, just a matter of time.

 

[Evo3Codriver]

Its not just the suspension, build a toboggan-style skid plate.

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Use sheet plastic for the entire underbody to help slide and to keep the snow from packing into the center tunnel. I've had an iceberg wedgie in mine.

Then there are the tires. Its the soft compound that gives you the traction. Forget oversized mud&snow truck tires. Rallycars run some specific motorsports winter tires but also many ordinary consumer winter tires, sometmes w/ modifications to the tire (sipping or tractionizing).

Very popular snow rally tire is the Yoko A034 snow tire.

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Shawn Bishop rocks an Evo and owns a motorsport shop in Alberta that sells performance winter tires and wheels and HotBits rally suspension.

http://www.rallysport.ca/wheels_tires/index.htm

A rally suspension has more advantages than the clearance. It'll be able to soak up the bumps from frozen packed snow clogs and broken thru frozen puddles.

I'm on Ksport gravel rally suspension currently but no pics at max height. Doing a time trial in November so have it at lowest height and still higher than factory.

Highest I had my 1G was on DMS 2G rally suspension w/ Evo rally springs. You'll need camber plates to get it anywhere near aligned.

Here it is compared to 1G AGXs.

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[boosted daily]

Will definitely be making a skid plate, I was looking underneath this weekend while doing some urethane bushings, and it looks like these cars have a perfect layout for attaching skid plates

As for tires, I know I'll be going for skinnyish winter tires of some sort on 15" or 16" wheels at most. It came with some ugly 17x8" rims with stretched tires...

I'll eventually be adding more lights as well since I drive primarily in the dark once the snow comes