Mr2 mk1a and b springs

[samsite999]

At current my Mr2 is a bit of a mash up of mk1 a and b parts

I have a set of mk1b arms and springs, and a set of mk1a arms and springs

the shocks are nearly new in the mk1b arms, my car is a mk1a Im halfway though the process of swapping them over and have the rear of the car done. No issues with miss fitting parts, the arms go striate on to the mk1a hubs Im havent started the front yet but I know im going to have to make a hole, or chip the lug off the top of the topshock mount....or just use my mk1a TSM

Now Im looking to replace the springs....what do i do!! mk1 a or mk1b springs, is there a difference?
If it goes tits up, Can I dismantle the early mk1b arms and use the shocks in my mk1a arms?

The car will be off to a specialist after this to get all the suspension setup camber, tracked ect

Go easy on me, its my first new thread!

[aw11man]

i would use the newer 1b shocks and whatever springs are with them (for convenince) just knock out the extra stud in the 1b shock to sit the 1a body.

[samsite999]

right. Ill go find a set today, any recommendations at all?
This all came about as I want a cheep play track car, that maybe gets used once every 3 months
the car only cost 600 quid, and im in this situation as I picked up 4 shocks, springs, and the complete underside of a mr2 mk1b with all the tie bars and ARB's polybushed for 60 quid

[GregHoon]

That's a bargain sam. As aw11man suggests the mk1b suspension setup is improved over the mk1a. Should be a fun track car :)

[samsite999]

now I'm confused.....I seem to be getting two very different sets of information here? :S

http://forums.twobrutal.com/showthread.php?t=15893&page=2

[GregHoon]

Ignore what has been said by me then. Paul woods knows much more than i do. I know the mk1b has better suspension as stock (compared like-for-like) but i didn't know there was that much trouble swapping over the suspension. Paul will know as he has so much experience so i suggest taking his advice.

[samsite999]

Hi Greg & Aw11 man, I know your intentions were made with the best as they say. But this advice has ultimately landed me with a bill of £200 for useless suspension bits.

Now thats a pain in the ass, and an expensive mistake for me to make. But at least I hadn't put them on my car and done some serious damage to me, or others. Can I suggest that if you actually don't know what your commenting about you simply don't dish out the advice?

[GregHoon]

What bill of £200? You said you had already bought all the parts in your first thread. And i don't like your comment at the end either tbh. We were both trying to help and the end decision is your responsibility. No need for snotty comments mate. What i said was that you have a bargain for the parts you said you had already picked up and that the mk1b suspension setup is better. I didn't say you can swap them over. I didn't presume to know. It seemed like you had the parts and were going to attempt to swap them over. You were also asking the same question on two different threads and playing the information off against each other.

I never said go and spend £200. I know you are pissed off that you 'may' have spent money in error but it was your decision to do so. What parts have you bought? Can you return them? If i were you i would wait to see what paul says as perhaps you already are running mk1b parts from looking at the pics on the other thread. Or you may still be able to still remedy the situation.

[samsite999]

sorry, knee jerk post.

I have bought Springs, topshock mounts ect to freshen up the install

when they turn up...ill see what I can salvage out of the situation

I wasn't playing off each thread, I was getting told two very different story's by three different people

I have called Paul (great chap and cleanly has a well deserved reputation) and he has given me some pointers on what to do, but is just as confused about what I have in front of me. Its not helped that the dona car was a very very very early mk1b so some parts are the same, others are not

Ill agree my post was pointed, and probably a little unfair, but honestly, i know you were only trying to help with your advice. but it was wrong. If you unsure just say so as It allows the other person to way up the other possabilitys

So sorry for having a crack at you, not a great start i have made is it?

[GregHoon]

We'll say nothing more about it and move on. Don't worry at all! I hope you still feel welcome here. We're all in this club to do the same thing (roughly) and you'll find lots of information and help here in one form or another. The amount of help and support you'll find on here really makes TB stand appart and you will get to see that as you join the club and get to know people off here.

It's not the spirit of twobrutal to argue or get side tracked squabling so i just wanted to clear the air and sort the situation for you. If there is anything forum/events related that you need help or advice with then i CAN help you with that :).

I know Snowtigger and he was looking at putting mk1b suspension setup on his mk1a as he thinks there is more options available for springs/dampers so i know he would be interested in your findings as to what can be done swap wise.

Cheers, Greg

[moto]

im sorry if im hijacking a thread but I have a bit of a situation with my MK1a suspension as well, my rear triangles on my MK1a are rusted through, as far as i can work out a pair for a mk1a in good condition are rare as rocking horse poo! i have been scouring some threads and have found this by paul




The rears will swp over with ease
Not true i'm afraid, you cannot fit B shocks to an A hub, the space on the hub attachment is not wide enough.Also you can't fit a B hub onto A bottom arms.Lastly you can't fit B arms onto A mounting triangles (subframes)...... well you can but your geometry will be all to fuck.

The only way to fit B rear suspension to an A is to swap over the suspension triangles as well to B spec, then and only then can you use everything from the B.

On the front topmount no need to drill the extra B hole, just chop the stud off the topmount, that will make it the same as an A topmount.

So:
mk1b shocks wont fit mk1a hubs.
mk1b hub will not fit mk1a bottom arms.
mk1b arms will not fit mk1a triangles.

Does that mean i could replace my Mk1a triangles and lower arms with good condition mk1b parts and still use the Mk1a hubs and struts?

[samsite999]

mk1b shocks wont fit mk1a hubs.

in my experience, they do

mk1b hub will not fit mk1a bottom arms.

again, my experience they do

mk1b arms will not fit mk1a triangles.

I have a car thats sat saying otherwise, its tracked in and drives like a dream

[moto]

Right.. so does that mean using mk1b triangles and lower arms will work on a mk1a with mk1a everything else?

[MartG]

As Paul mentions, the lugs on the 1a hubs are narrower than the 1b ones, so you get a gap when you fit 1b dampers to 1a hubs. Of course you can bodge it by bending the lugs on the damper to fit.

Fitting the complete 1b rear onto a 1a requires a few holes to be drilled:

The triangles need new horizontal mounting holes to be drilled through the rear crossmember ( 1 each side IIRC )
The ARB mounts need 1 new hole per side ( the 1a rear ARB mount hole becomes the front 1b one, so a new rear one is needed further back ) plus a larger hole in the boot floor so you can get a nut onto the bolt coming through the new hole - this will need to be big enough to get a socket through too to tighten it.

The rest is a direct fit

[MartG]

Just found the thread I created on IMOC when I did it, complete with pics

http://www.imoc.co.uk/forums/viewtopic.php?t=82141&highlight=1b+suspension

[moto]

Right so that answered one question but brought up another.. I can use mk1b triangles and lower arms with everything else, but from what i understand the mk1b triangles will hit the MK1a ARB mount, so a mk1b ARB will be needed as well?

[cabbydave]

Where aouts are you because ive got a old shell thats going for scrap on monday so whatever you get off it you can have the a anti roll bar mounts to the triangle brackets you say are knackered as far as I can tell whereas the b antiroll bar has captive nuts on the chassis leg best thing you can do is get a photo of yours and a photo of a mk1 b suspension then way it up you may be lucky and it be on the change over where some a's had the same triangle as b's

[Jim-SR]

As Paul mentions, the lugs on the 1a hubs are narrower than the 1b ones, so you get a gap when you fit 1b dampers to 1a hubs. Of course you can bodge it by bending the lugs on the damper to fit.


or make shims the correct thickness...