lowering viva HA

[kawasaki kid]

i know peaple are gonna say why and gonna hate me for it but has anyone ever slammed a HA? cos i really need help thinkin of flippin the rear leaf springs then fitten a coil spring wherever poss.dunno.

with the fronts i know mini coilovers will replace the shocks but they still wont go low enough if i do that.

so in need of help i am handy with a welder so major mods isnt a problem just need to know the best way?

cheers

[pbottomley]

Lowering a HA can mean spending dollar with POP BROWNS for a lowered spring, the rear can be done a lot harder than it looks as the axle isnt actually connected directly the rear springs in the middle..... I am sure our resident Black HA owner will pop in with all the gubbins and details..

Ask a silly question why choose the worst possible car in the whole viva range to try and lower? Do you hope to gain the admiration by the supermarket carpark slags late at night?

[House]

I'm not familiar with the HA setup but i lowered my Pop by reversing the eyes on the bottom leaf. You shouldn't be able to bend it as easily as i did so it must of been shot anyway. Drew the curve out on some card like in the top pic and bent it the other way (bottom pic). Then reassembled the spring, gave me enough drop to bother the stops.





Can you make lowering blocks for the rear?

[lambaj]

Low down to follow..... oops, was that a funny ??
Seriously though, I'll type a load more when I'm more awake

Tony (yes the dropped black HA person)

[kawasaki kid]

great stuff but i really need help lowering the front, cant wait to hear from you lambaj

[lambaj]

Hi

I'll try to put some stuff together later today, bit busy at work - might get shot.....
Tony

[carmad]

i am also intrested in this 2

[lambaj]

OK, here goes.

1) rear suspension.
a) Fit lowing blocks. As done on my white HA. Simple, effective, but complicated by the need for extended U bolts, and the HA, or course, does not use standard U bolts. They are almost square topped, and this is the only shape that can be used due to the unique way the HA attaches the axle to the leaf. Pic to come

b) Decamber rear springs. As done on my V6 HA. Take one set of stock HA110 rear leafs, send to specialist and have them de-cambered. The springs on my car are flat when fitted, and being HA van , are uprated and this works well. Pic to come

c) Both mods work well and are complimented by the still available Spax adjustable shocks. (you need to order from spax direct)

d) Max stock arch tyre size is 205/60r13 or equivalent. I ahve run these on 6J 13 alloys, and all fits - just! All bushes have to be good else the play makes the sidewalls touch the arches in corners or hard acceleration.

2) front suspension. Much more complex this one - as any work almost certainly requires the removal of the front spring - which is involved, and should not be undertaken without an understanding of how to do it, else a nasty surprise awaits the person who undoes the wrong bolt at the wrong time.
a) Purchase/make/source an inverted eye main leaf spring. This will drop the front about 40mm and depending on what you do with the remainder of the spring pack, and where the leaf comes from, up to 80mm drop - ie on the stops. Done on V6 HA. Parts available from Pop Browns. Pic to come

b) modify the spring mounting cross bolt position to lower in the wishbone by welding in extention pieces to the wishbones. Care has to be taken to maintain the correct bolt/spring turning radius else you may well shear off the bolts.
Done on V6 HA. Pic to come

c) Channel chassis - for those desperate to have less that 70mm ground clearance. Not going there because if you mad enough to consider this option, you should be smart enough to understand whats involved, and it an awful lot ! Too much for me to be bothered with !

d) Max stock arch tyre size is 185/60r13 or equivalent diameter. I have run up to 6J 13 rims, but this width can foul the antiroll bar options.....

e) Fit HA 130 Van front wishbones which have extra mount for front anti-roll bar which fits to front of chassis and connects with rubber bushed extention arms - much like a chevette setup, Pic to come

f) Weld extention bracket to front side of wishbone and make you own arb setup bases on MK1 escort bits or something similar. give more options on roll bar diameters. Pic to come

g) Fit afor mentioned Spax adjustables

h) Fit coil overs - but this is a risk related task, and the coil overs can only be helper springs for increasing spring rate. If you remove the main leaf, the way the load is carried from the upright, through the ball joint, then the wishbone to the spring to the body all changes. The wishbones are simply not designed to carry the weigh of the car from the ball joint to the shock mount - its all too light, and will bend and eventually fail. Personally prefer to stick with the design as proven.

i) Other mods. Poly bush kits are available - but I find these fundamentally flawed in their design. I am working on a way to address the problems I have witnessed with these kits and will be fitting one to the white HA very soon. I will photo and document what I'm up too for a further techno update thingy later.


Hope that sheds some light on the options.

Cheers
Tony (HA21)

[pbottomley]

COOL read so far

[kawasaki kid]

ill get right on it while my viva not running, ill put up picture also on how it all goes

thanks very much lambaj

ohh just wondering what v6 did you put in your viva ha also what axle did you put in cheers again