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hatch suspension swap question


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im wanting to knwo if the struts from my 87 4x4 wagon that i stripped will fit on an 87 2wd hatch. i gotta put the rear coilovers anyways since for some reason there is only a shock back there and no coil on it( guess previous owner just replaced it with a shock). now im figuring that with the coilovers in it will prob raise the back quite a bit so i want to even it out a little with the struts in the front, so can it be done???? i personally think it sits way to low for me to be happy with it living out here in the boonies anyways lol

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I don't know what you would gain by doing this, but if you look at the front struts you'll see that the EA81 series only has two mounting studs while the EA82 has three. You can change the tops, but I still don't understand would you would gain. Sucker king is correct, the EA81 series doesn't have coil over shocks, but the EA82 series does. I don't think there is room for the coilovers on an EA81 series car.

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well that rear setup thing is the most stupid thing ive ever heard of then!! well i guess that explains why it rides like crap then. im gonne fit the coilovers in there 1 way or the other since i want a little bit more tow capacity on the back end of it to tow my 7 ft trailer when i start moving in the next 2 weeks or so.and it looks liek there should be plenty of room for them.

 

didnt even think about the bolt setup being different till you mentioned that dr rx duhhhh!!! i probably should have noticed that.

basically this hatch is just my beater car even if at least body, and after i get a new disty, engine wise is in pretty decent shape. im just trying to basically make it so it can handle more weight

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believe me sucker king lack of hp isnt a worry, ive done towing of this same trailer loaded up with a 3 cyl auto metro b4, as well as 4 or 5 other vehicles with around the same hp or less. it might take a little bit to get going off a stop since i live in the mountians but after it gets going it will be fine. i just dont like how spongy the back feels.

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First off, lots of guys have installed the EA82 coilovers on EA81 cars lifted for offroading. So sure you could do that. But from the pics of your new car, I'd guess that it's spongy back there because the torsion bar is sagging. The common cure is to "clock it"... that is rotate the arms by a spline or two thus increasing the spring rate and restoring it to stock ride height or even boosting it up a bit if that's what you want. Be warned that jacking it up too much will cause camber issues. Hope that helps.

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gearing is most important with towng, a subaru will tow quite nicely, pulling other soobs or trailers

 

the ea82 coilovers are a bit taller, the top has 2 bolts like the shock but they are wider apart. you would have to fabricare a mount of some sort on the top.

 

by having coilovers you will have a double suspension, as the suspension tube ont he hatch is torsion bar and ea82's are coilover.

 

this way it would accomodate the weight of the tongue on the trailer, and the car will ride much more stable in tow

 

un tow the car will ride stiff in the back, not so much bumpy but as in cornering

 

as far as towing, you will probobly be more limited by the 80 horsepower engine than you will be by the suspension
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thanks for the info miles well i guess i might as well put them in the marketplace then if i gotta do modding, its really not worth the extra effort for a cheapy beater car. now why the hell did soob make things so difficult on only certian vehicles, its sad the stuff came of an 87 but cant fit on an 87! lol

 

yeah i wasnt worried myself about it lacking some power especially since its a 5spd

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  • 3 months later...

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