Make Your Own Coilover With Stock Strut

I'm sure many of you have toyed with the idea of upgrading to a coilover setup. However, after having already dropped a decent amount for lowering springs and upgraded shocks and struts, you just can't justify swapping it all out again. Yeah, me too. After doing a lot of online searching for coilover options, I came across something that almost looks like it would be a perfect solution. Well, possibly.

What I found was an adaption kit setup that uses the stock strut, or stock style strut as a coilover strut. The kits are basicly a coilover sleeve, with a spring and integrated caster camber plate as the strut mount. I've only found two out there and I included the links to their site, one was an ebay item.

I started to think that this is an en-genius idea, coilovers can be had. But then I started to the rethink. There are a number of companies who make full coilover setup's, and I've only found two vendors who offer this adaption style kit. If these are a usable alternative to a full coilover setup, why don't more companies offer them? Has anyone had any experience with using something like this before? Below are the links for the two that I've found. I'd love to hear anyone's thoughts on these.

http://www.ground-control-store.com/products/description.php/II=644/CA=121

http://www.ebay.com/itm/142241413240?ul_noapp=true

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moved

Ground Control has been around for over a decade. But the stock dampers suck. Why the heck would you want to covert them?

It may seem like an odd question but does it say in the product description you can lower the car with these or just adjust the ride height. Reason why I am asking is that without looking at the product I don't see how you can lower it from it's current ride height. Bottom perch is fixed and I can't see how you can raise the upper mount within the strut tower to let the suspension ride lower. Maybe I'm completely wrong here but it just doesn't make much sense to me.

Sky Render said:

Ground Control has been around for over a decade. But the stock dampers suck. Why the heck would you want to covert them?

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The quality of Ground Control's dampers is irreverent. They are just one of the two company's I found that offer this stock strut coilover conversion kit. Now, are you asking me why I would want to convert to a coilover setup? If so, it's to have the ability to adjust the suspension.

07 Boss said:

It may seem like an odd question but does it say in the product description you can lower the car with these or just adjust the ride height. Reason why I am asking is that without looking at the product I don't see how you can lower it from it's current ride height. Bottom perch is fixed and I can't see how you can raise the upper mount within the strut tower to let the suspension ride lower. Maybe I'm completely wrong here but it just doesn't make much sense to me.

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This is under the product description.

"Optional spring seat allows added range of front adjustment"

My thoughts, would be to go with a reputable setup.

I wouldn't want to run the stock shocks and struts at a too lowered position. They're crap. Can't control much with stock valving -- especially not when effectively bumping the spring rate up and not allowing them travel.

Get some dampers that work with the spring rate you want to run. That goes for both coilovers and regular shocks and struts.

Rasmus said:

I wouldn't want to run the stock shocks and struts at a too lowered position. They're crap. Can't control much with stock valving -- especially not when effectively bumping the spring rate up and not allowing them travel.

Get some dampers that work with the spring rate you want to run. That goes for both coilovers and regular shocks and struts.

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I'm sorry, I should have listed the shocks and struts I'm using. They're Strange Engineering 10 position single adjustables. S6009LM Strut, S6008LM Shock.

Benwhite911 said:

This is under the product description.

"Optional spring seat allows added range of front adjustment"

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That's fine but does it say anywhere that you can lower the car with them? I'm just wondering how much shallower the upper mount can be? By moving the mount you can raise the car but I'm the only way to lower it with the upper mount is to make it thinner than the stock. I'm just leery of the wording in the description. Added range of adjustment does not necessarily mean lower in my book. It means you can adjust ride height but doesn't say anything about in which direction. Assuming you can lower the car with them might be a bad assmption. Maybe I'm completely wrong here but I'm just trying to grasp how it functions so I can see how to lower the car with these. Not that I would ever buy them. Just curious.

Benwhite911 said:

The quality of Ground Control's dampers is irreverent. They are just one of the two company's I found that offer this stock strut coilover conversion kit. Now, are you asking me why I would want to convert to a coilover setup? If so, it's to have the ability to adjust the suspension.



This is under the product description.

"Optional spring seat allows added range of front adjustment"

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Your thread title said you wanted to use the stock strut, not an aftermarket one. The stock dampers suck and should be thrown in the dumpster as soon as possible.

There are several people on here who have been pretty successful autocrossing with a Ground Control setup using their custom-valved Koni dampers.

If the coilover kit is compatible with Koni yellow dampers, then I might be interested, otherwise forget it.. My car also has Eibach pro spings, so I could probably get by with just the upper spring perch and adjusters minus the ground control springs..

So I have this kit on my car. You can get a good amount of drop and adjustability because you will be running true Coilover Springs vs a full size spring like you are now. A stock damper will not hold up to the spring rates. I have it set up with Koni Yellows and the GC plates. The GC plated are very nice also. If I could do it over it again I would just buy a true set of coilovers since the valving will match your spring rates and what not. Here is a pic or 2 of my stance now so you have an idea of height.





Boss so the upper mount isn't any shallower then a stock or any other Camber Plate setup. Where they get the adjustability is like a standard coilover. They have a sleeve that slides over the housing and with a shorter spring gives the adjustability.

So in other words the GC springs included in the kit aren't valved for Koni yellows but rather for just the stock P.O.S dampers only

06 T-RED S/C GT said:

So in other words the GC springs included in the kit aren't valved for Koni yellows but rather for just the stock P.O.S dampers only

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No, the actual GC coil over kits are valved. I had yellows prior to the conversion kit and just add the conversion kit and camber plates to regular yellows.

00blkvert said:

No, the actual GC coil over kits are valved. I had yellows prior to the conversion kit and just add the conversion kit and camber plates to regular yellows.

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Okay so I have the Koni yellows along with Eibach pro springs and GT500 strut mounts.. So what would be replaced with the conversion kit, would I replace both my Eibach springs and GT500 strut mounts ?

Heres the link.

https://groundcontrolstore.com/coll...ts/2005-14-mustang-gt-coilover-conversion-kit

06 T-RED S/C GT said:

Okay so I have the Koni yellows along with Eibach pro springs and GT500 strut mounts.. So what would be replaced with the conversion kit, would I replace both my Eibach springs and GT500 strut mounts ?

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Just the conversion kit is self will change the springs only. I would definitely suggest getting camber plates to. I didn't like how the kit sat on the strut with out them.

Ok, so no one here has had any experience with the kit that allows you to convert your stock, or stock style struts to coilovers.

Yes, it has been done. Search "Ground Control" in the Corner Carvers' section.

Sky Render said:

Heres the link.

https://groundcontrolstore.com/coll...ts/2005-14-mustang-gt-coilover-conversion-kit

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With Koni yellows, the GC kit looks really interesting..

00blkvert said:

Just the conversion kit is self will change the springs only. I would definitely suggest getting camber plates to. I didn't like how the kit sat on the strut with out them.

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Looks as though I'll be contacting GC, as I'm definitely interested