Loyale 2.7 Turbo

Prior to the whole lifting adventure, the "KiaStein" sat with the wheel wells, at ~ 24.50" on the Rear, and ~ 25.25" on the front; but the wheel well is round and taller on the front; the rear design is more flat, somehow; so, despite of having different measurements, the car sat equally then... ...and Now; after this Lifting procedures, the Rear and the front are equally lifted, if you measure the mere ground clearance and the vehicle's floor pan, rear and front are equal, despite that the wheel well is taller in front; it almost reaches 27" in front... ...and the Rear's wheel well is half inch less taller, but the suspension is lifted equally. Don't let that the wheel well's design fools you.

These Spacers still allows the Camber Correction gained by Rotating the mounts. This is How the Spacers looks like on the engine's bay, once installed: Sorry but the "KiaStein" was pretty Dusty and Dirty after this procedure. It is very important to mention, that the elongated struts (with this lifting blocks) doesn't fit on the Control Arms, with the Ball Joint placed Under the control arm, as it comes from factory; so, in order to keep the front suspension's Geometry as close to factory specs possible; I moved the ball joint from being under the control arm, to be placed over the control arm; it is pretty easy to do, and does not require to adapt anything; you just use the same hardware, only changing the ball joint's position by move it up. Kind Regards.

Have you ever wondered, how a Strut Tower looked like from underneath? You must be Aware, that the second gen Kia Sephia, comes from factory with strut top mounts, that are uncentered; so despite of being inside a square, their round center is nearest to one of the sides; making it to be a Camber Correction capable design; so you can install the strut top mounts, with the strut center being closer to the inside (engine) or backwards, with the strut center being nearest to the Outside (Fender); see:

Then, I borrowed a coil springs' Compressor from a Friend... ...Changed the old, worn out strut mounts, with the New ones, already modified... ...and Placed the Solid Aluminium Spacers over them.

Of course, I painted the strut top mounts, after I welded the heads of the new, longer screws; which are from the Best (8.8) grade I could find locally.

Here you can see that these lifting Blocks are 1¼" (32 mm) tall:

So, this is my Front Suspension Lift Kit: I needed to remove the eight short screws that came on the Strut Top Mounts, and substitute them with another set of eight Screws, that has the extra length added from the Spacers; and then to Weld them to said strut top mounts.

I had to obtain a new pair of Strut top Mounts, because the old ones on the "KiaStein" already were worn out; their Box says that the Brand is "Tenacity" supposed to be Made in Japan: And their part number, states that it is for a Ford Telstar / Mazda 626 \ Kia Credos, but also for the Kia Sephia, up to the 2000 Year model, because the 2001 Sephia and newer 2001 ~ 2004 Kia Spectra, uses a similar part, but has a Ball Bearing built-in, so it is Not compatible.

This is my "Plan B" To use a pair of Solid Aluminium (industrial grade) Spacers, made in Honduras. I took the Measurements in order to avoid going too tall, nor forcing the angle on the elements of the Suspension nor the drivetrain; and then, I asked a local industrial lathe shop, to make that pair for me.

Other motivation is that we wanted it to be Taller, like my Subaru; not only to gain ground clearance, but also because we obtained this Kia, already with a set of 8" wide, 15" wheels, which miraculosly, came with the Proper offset. And we use it with 205/60 15 Tires, which means an increased tallness on Tires: The tires rubbed against the inner side of the Wheel well on the Fender, during acute Turns, with this results, which we want to Avoid:

I have some motivations to lift this car. One of them is that we use it on Rural areas' roads often...

C O N G R A T U L A T I O N S !!! I Agree! ... Kind Regards.

...of course that the video's sound resolution and mixture of noises can fool my ears; but I kindly suggest you to obtain an stethoscope and look for the mere noise's source point; it also could be a stuck hydraulic lifter; in both cases is an easy fix. Other parts to consider could be a damaged radiator Fan, the one moved by the belts, it could be hitting its frame... Good Luck! ... Kind Regards.

I saw & heard your Video: and somehow it sounds to me like an Exhaust Leak!

You're Welcome! ... ... I hope it will be Helpful. Please let us know the results and feel free to ask any question you might have, here. Kind Regards.

I believe that the Headlights' issue is due to worn relays; in that case, you can find the answers and photos regarding how to fix that, Swapping the Regular round Relays, with Regular Bosch style ones, on the following writeup: ~► http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/topic/87523-how-to-swap-the-old-roundie-relays-with-standard-bosch-relays/ Kind Regards.

So, I conclude my investigation on Coil Springs' alternatives, by stating that the only ones that I found, that has an slightly increased Load Rate, increased Spring Rate, and almost identical overall measurements to the front ones on the Second gen Kia Sephia; are surprisingly, the front ones from the First gen Kia Sephia. Let me Show you: I really want a pair of the Moog―81016, but sadly, I can not find new ones locally, nor want to obtain Used ones, which should be already more worn out than the ones that the "KiaStein" already have; and I can not afford to bring a brand new Set from USA to Honduras... So, now is Time for my Plan "B" ...

I continued searchin' and among the similar sized and shaped ones that I found, like the Ford Focus ones, which sadly were weaker than the Kia Sephia ones; I noticed that the Rear coil springs out from a Toyota 4Runner, could fit in the place of the Kia Sephia's front coil springs; despite of having a slightly increased diameter, they fit on the Shock Absorber's perch; however the Toyota 4Runner ones are Variable Rate, but sadly they're also weaker than the ones from the Kia Sephia's front. I bet that the people at the offroading Toyota 4Runner community, might get some benefit by swapping the Kia Sephia's front coil springs on the Rear of their Toyota 4Runners... Kind Regards.

Yes, and the 4X100 lug pattern on the Justy, makes way easier to find bigger and better Wheels, from a wider selection than the 4X140 lug pattern on the older generation of Subarus. Kind Regards.

Your Brat really looks Awesome! The wheels looks pretty good; Maybe you might feel better engine response downshifting and keepin' the engine a little Higher on the RPM's than what you used to drive; in my case, I only went to 25" tires to keep the Balance between Daily Driver and Offroader, plus the MPG closer to stock; but still I use the Subie pretty High on RPM's, downshifting more often, and seems like these good ol' EA engines likes that. Kind Regards.

The front coil springs for the '93 ~ '00 Nissan Sentra, are also closer in specs, size and shape, to the Kia Sephia's front coil springs; their part numbers are "Nissan 54010-52Y04" or "Moog-80440" and despite of them being taller by having 1.5 more turns on their wire, the Nissan ones are still weaker than the Kia ones. ~► http://www.rockauto.com/en/moreinfo.php?pk=1063735&cc=1316863&jsn=782

After searchin' and researchin' using "my own method" as I described above, I found that the most similar coil springs, to the ones on the Front of the second gen Kia Sephia, were the ones made for certain Toyota vehicles; which doesn't surprise me, because I already used the conical rear coil springs from a Toyota Camry, on the Rear of our Sephia, as you can read on previous posts of this thread. I found the ones from a 1987 Toyota Camry to be pretty close: But according to their specs found online ~► Here, their Load Rate is 450 Lbs only, and Spring Rate is 110 Lbs only, which is pretty Low compared with the Sephia ones; they are too weak for the Sephia. The same happens with the ones from the 2002 Corolla, they look pretty similar to the ones on the photo above, But according to their specs found online ~► Here, their Spring Rate increases in one pound only; and despite that their Load Rate goes up, it still is lower than the ones for the Sephia; in fact, people in Honduras use the Sephia coil springs on those Corollas, as an "Upgrade" to handle better the loads on our bad roads.

Thank you for your kind words. I'm feelin' much better now... Kind Regards.

Back on topic... You know that I have long experience since many years ago, with using "my own method" described above, to find Suitable Coil Springs that could improve the load / handling, as you can read on my Writeup regarding similar suspension improvements, done to my Subaru, since 1999: ~► http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/topic/106807-improved-shock-absorbers-and-spring-coils-on-loyales/ Also, I've done the same to a bunch of other cars, but I never found a coil spring on the Front of a small, 4 cylinder sedan; that comes from factory being too high on load rate, like the ones on the Front of this Sephia; they're rated almost like the front coil springs from a pick up truck, see: 857 Lbs Load Rate / 140 Lbs Spring Rate is pretty stiff to start with.

The "BumbleBeast" on its Natural environment