Backwards strutting around

[Guest Thurem]

Hey

From reading all the posts on sectioning the struts in order the lower the Z, I've gathered that the preferred way of doing it is to use the rear(performance) struts from an MR2 in the front, and the front Z struts in the rear. Well it appears kind of backwards to me to use front struts in the rear and vise versa.

So my question is, has anybody thought of just using four identical MR2 struts frt & R. and just spacing them to make them fit. Would there be any downside to this opposed to the "preferred way"?

Which are the better deal as far as performance struts goes? Price vs. function, adjustability and features. How much should one expect to spend?

Thure

[pparaska]

To me, it doesn't matter if the strut cartridge was designed for the front or rear of a car - all that matters are:

1) strut cartridge body length (will it be too long?)

2) strut cartridge travel (is it enough?)

3) damping characteristics (enough, too much damping?)

4) adjustable damping (nice to have)

5) strut shaft diameter (strength issue)

6) strut shaft end type (will it fit in isolator, etc. with little difficulty?).

 

I don't know what the MR-2 has on the front -are they even struts?

[Guest scca]

the MR2 rear strut is pretty close to the Z.

first of all its the rear strut and its a rear engine car so the damping is going to be close to what we need.

 

front mr2 are not close to working...

 

mr2 are better than VW struts because of the valving.

 

shortening the struts with camber plates is a BAD idea.. i did this on my car and ended up lengthening the rears to get the car higher. or if you do then dont shorten the rear completely but add a 1.5" spacer under the front strut insert so you only shorten the strut about 1.5" total.

[Guest Thurem]

I was a little unclear in my first post. My idea was to use only the rear struts from the MR2, but to use them in the front and the rear of the Z, ie. four identical struts in the Z. That would propably eliminate some tuning issues, if you knew you had the same starting point frt and r.

Oh, and thanks for moving my initial post to the proper forum.

Thure

[jeromio]

But you'd be better off with a longer cartridge in the longer rear tube. Also, the front 240 cart goes right in the rear (shortened) tube without having to modify the isolater.