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[YZ250]

Vehicle is 52 plate 3.2 Elite Estate with 60K on the clock.

Offside wishbone subframe bush is showing signs of splitting and offside front tyre is just starting to feather on inside edge to confirm it so I know both wishbones will need changing soon. While I've got it apart I am going to change the front struts/springs as I can't be ar$ed to do it again at a later date. My original elite front struts are not leaking but are quite bouncy.
Due to OOF's varying opinions I am opting to re-bush my GM wishbones subframe bushes with GM parts and poly the front bush. I'll also give poly donuts a trial on the rear.
The question is, do I buy new MV6 front struts and springs or go for Bilstein B4's/Eibach springs, bearing in mind that I have only just fitted brand new rear SL dampers. Will it look odd with MV6/Bilstein front dampers with elite SL dampers on the rear or should I just keep my elite springs to maintain correct height?
As the rear dampers are brand new I'm pretty much stuck with them and they are handy when towing but I would like the car stiffened up a bit. Will MV6 front & elite SL rears cause any issues? WIM is not far from me so set-up would be done there.


Any comments/suggestions welcomed. 

Regards
Alan

[Darth Loo-knee]

You will be suprised how much difference it feels putting new standard shocks and springs on being honest.
If you tow or put any wait in the boot, then personally I would stick to standard stuff.. Why?
My Mrs had an elite estate which I changed all the wishbones etc at the same time as Steinmetz Springs & bilstein shocks. It sat beautiful handled brilliant, but speed humps were a pain, when we put wait in the boot it dragged its arse everywhere...... Would i do it again?? Probably not with a car that I may tow with or putting weight in the boot.

Just my opinion of course 

[YZ250]

Cheers for that Daz.
Point taken. I have fitted new GM self levellers on the rear so I suppose it could get a bit lairy if I stiffen the front and leave the rear standard.

Regards
Alan

[Darth Loo-knee]

If you have fitted self leveling at the back then I would personally leave those on, just put new standard ones at the fronts whilst you you rightly said are doing everything.. 

[TheBoy]

I took my Elite out yesterday for a thrashing drive, after fitting sports suspension to the front, and found it really lairy at the rear.  Examining the rear SL suspension I tunnie took off today, its probably not a fair test .

[YZ250]

I took my Elite out yesterday for a thrashing drive, after fitting sports suspension to the front, and found it really lairy at the rear.  Examining the rear SL suspension I tunnie took off today, its probably not a fair test .

Did your sports shocks feel notably better on the front end than with the elite front dampers and springs though TB, even with the SL's on the rear, or would you say it was a total mismatch? Think I'll stick to standard replacement shocks and springs but just curious.

Regards
Alan

[TheBoy]

I took my Elite out yesterday for a thrashing drive, after fitting sports suspension to the front, and found it really lairy at the rear.  Examining the rear SL suspension I tunnie took off today, its probably not a fair test .

Did your sports shocks feel notably better on the front end than with the elite front dampers and springs though TB, even with the SL's on the rear, or would you say it was a total mismatch? Think I'll stick to standard replacement shocks and springs but just curious.

Regards
Alan

I cannot comment, as the SL shocks are wrecked. Knowing how soft SL is, I personally would feel uncomfortable with that setup.

[Martin_1962]

Air adjustable and sport springs can work

[feeutfo]

Sl shocks are great for ride hight correction. In conjunction with sl springs they are soft and wobbly, with too much role around diff, if you see what I mean. Miss match with your plans with the front IMO.

Given you need sl for load carrying purposes I would be tempted to stick with GM lowered sports chassis all round with sl shocks to meet your needs. That would mean lsc rear springs as well though, which will work fine with sl shocks. More expense but worth it.


However,having said all that, there is another member suggesting air bladders in the springs work well, which might be a solution allowing b4's all round AND keeping some self leveling capacity. Personally hoping that will work.
But mean time....As above IMO.

[Entwood]

Sl shocks are great for ride hight correction. In conjunction with sl springs they are soft and wobbly, with too much role around diff, if you see what I mean. Miss match with your plans with the front IMO.

Given you need sl for load carrying purposes I would be tempted to stick with GM lowered sports chassis all round with sl shocks to meet your needs. That would mean lsc rear springs as well though, which will work fine with sl shocks. More expense but worth it.


However,having said all that, there is another member suggesting air bladders in the springs work well, which might be a solution allowing b4's all round AND keeping some self leveling capacity. Personally hoping that will work.
But mean time....As above IMO.

Fitted these many years back to the old 2.3 granada (square shape) before we got the scorpio with self levelling 

They do work .. to a point ... the ones we had were a ball shape and fitted into the springs and were then inflated. This gave both increased stiffness and increased ride height (unloaded) as the air ball "assisted" the spring ...  actually .... it prevents that "ring" of spring from compressing.

Problem is ... the parts of the spring above and below the "ball" now have to do all the work as the centre has become fairly rigid in comparison .. its almost like having 2 small springs instead of one large one.... after 3 years the nearside spring broke just above the ball. Both springs were replaced and the offside one had some serious signs of cracking below the ball. Car was traded in for the self levelling granada scorpio ...

Now things may well have progressed  in the intervening years ..... but a tad of research into the effects of the inflatables on omega springs might be worthwhile IMHO ..

[feeutfo]

Sl shocks are great for ride hight correction. In conjunction with sl springs they are soft and wobbly, with too much role around diff, if you see what I mean. Miss match with your plans with the front IMO.

Given you need sl for load carrying purposes I would be tempted to stick with GM lowered sports chassis all round with sl shocks to meet your needs. That would mean lsc rear springs as well though, which will work fine with sl shocks. More expense but worth it.


However,having said all that, there is another member suggesting air bladders in the springs work well, which might be a solution allowing b4's all round AND keeping some self leveling capacity. Personally hoping that will work.
But mean time....As above IMO.

Fitted these many years back to the old 2.3 granada (square shape) before we got the scorpio with self levelling 

They do work .. to a point ... the ones we had were a ball shape and fitted into the springs and were then inflated. This gave both increased stiffness and increased ride height (unloaded) as the air ball "assisted" the spring ...  actually .... it prevents that "ring" of spring from compressing.

Problem is ... the parts of the spring above and below the "ball" now have to do all the work as the centre has become fairly rigid in comparison .. its almost like having 2 small springs instead of one large one.... after 3 years the nearside spring broke just above the ball. Both springs were replaced and the offside one had some serious signs of cracking below the ball. Car was traded in for the self levelling granada scorpio ...

Now things may well have progressed  in the intervening years ..... but a tad of research into the effects of the inflatables on omega springs might be worthwhile IMHO ..

Yes that was a concern I had re allowing the spring to work correctly, and I believe these are more comparable with the inside void of the spring itself... :-/ i presume rugby ball shaped
it's only a suggestion at this stage and the member in question is working on it now I believe, also sugests it was a set up he had on a previous mv6.
I would guess the most immediate issue would be the connection of air bladder to GM sl air pipes, but if they fit in the void snuggly it > "sounds" < promising. We'll see. Personally I wouldn't be using it at all for day to day use, only with a full boot, rest of the time pull the relay....?

[tunnie]

I took my Elite out yesterday for a thrashing drive, after fitting sports suspension to the front, and found it really lairy at the rear.  Examining the rear SL suspension I tunnie took off today, its probably not a fair test .

I had to take it off the chav too cause you were being a lady boy and not able to lift anything heavy!

With sports setup and 18" rims, I was surprised how good the ride still was. Goes around corners very well! Need good tyres though, even I lit up the outside rear on roundabouts 

[TheBoy]

I took my Elite out yesterday for a thrashing drive, after fitting sports suspension to the front, and found it really lairy at the rear.  Examining the rear SL suspension I tunnie took off today, its probably not a fair test .

I had to take it off the chav too cause you were being a lady boy and not able to lift anything heavy!

With sports setup and 18" rims, I was surprised how good the ride still was. Goes around corners very well! Need good tyres though, even I lit up the outside rear on roundabouts 

Indeed, that was not LPG lag as you initially thought.  The big orange flashing light on the dash was the giveaway

The current kits with KME evap, although a pig to calibrate compared to older setup, have seemless LPG, as you found out

[tunnie]

I took my Elite out yesterday for a thrashing drive, after fitting sports suspension to the front, and found it really lairy at the rear.  Examining the rear SL suspension I tunnie took off today, its probably not a fair test .

I had to take it off the chav too cause you were being a lady boy and not able to lift anything heavy!

With sports setup and 18" rims, I was surprised how good the ride still was. Goes around corners very well! Need good tyres though, even I lit up the outside rear on roundabouts 

Indeed, that was not LPG lag as you initially thought.  The big orange flashing light on the dash was the giveaway

The current kits with KME evap, although a pig to calibrate compared to older setup, have seemless LPG, as you found out

Yes very impressive 

On the drive home though mine is fine as long as its below 5k rpm

[TheBoy]

I took my Elite out yesterday for a thrashing drive, after fitting sports suspension to the front, and found it really lairy at the rear.  Examining the rear SL suspension I tunnie took off today, its probably not a fair test .

I had to take it off the chav too cause you were being a lady boy and not able to lift anything heavy!

With sports setup and 18" rims, I was surprised how good the ride still was. Goes around corners very well! Need good tyres though, even I lit up the outside rear on roundabouts 

Indeed, that was not LPG lag as you initially thought.  The big orange flashing light on the dash was the giveaway

The current kits with KME evap, although a pig to calibrate compared to older setup, have seemless LPG, as you found out

Yes very impressive 

On the drive home though mine is fine as long as its below 5k rpm

The swtiching to petrol aside, I couldn't help but feel yours was 'holding back' when I drove it Saturday  :-/, worth checking its not going lean, as that could be terminal.

That said, its been a while since I've tried to keep up with a 3.0 V6 whilst driving a 2.2  :-/