Austarion

So the search function is really failing me at the moment... No references to D2's at all?

Anyways, I've bought some for my car, and am picking up some struts this evening to chop up. I called the certifier I'll be using here in Christchurch, and he said the welding has to be done on the mild steel shock housing part of the strut, not the cast stub/hub.

I was under the impression that out stubs/hub were cast steel (as opposed to iron), so welding to them would be fine, and you wouldnt his cracking issues. Is this the case, or am I better off to weld to the mild steet strut tubes?

The D2 installation guide (in a hilarious engrish way) says to weld to the cast hub, as it'll ensure correct camber angle.

Cheers for any info :)

I'd do it to satisfy the certifier. I think either would be ok? main thing is to get a good welder. I hope my guy does a good job. :?

I'm a pretty good welder, and have all the gear, but he want's someone certified to do it. I'll do all the prep and fitting, then get the fabricator guy at work to do em :)

Interesting contention on the welding to strut / hub though... Hmmmm. I would have thought that if our hub/stubs were steel, then that'd be the better spot to weld to.

Im sick of scrubbing all my ECI parts, Eugh.

Not sure if this is any help:

http://forums.austarion.com/viewtopic.p ... &start=165

For peace of mind, perhaps consider having the stub axles checked for any structural flaws before getting the welding done.
I think it cost me about $200 to have it done but it was a no brainer for my tarmac rally car, but I'd still have it done if mine was a daily driver.
30 year old car parts can hide many unwanted surprises.
:beer

JJH, you do make a good point, will think on it.

Can anyone out there with D2's tell me what it says on the side of their springs? My rear ones say 10.5-205, and the fronts say 11.5-180.

If the 10.5 and 11.5 relate to the stiffness of the spring, in kg/mm (im not sure if they do, just making a guess), isnt that really really stiff for a starion? I'm not sure what our suspension arm ratio's are like, so maybe our springs do need to be that stiff... Or maybe those numbers are just manufacturing numbers and dont mean anything to me at all... Thoughts?

that does seem quite stiff I had 9kg and 8kg springs in the Eterna and they were a little on the stiff side especially on the fronts, while in the Galant (with about 50kgs less) they were noticeably stiffer.

Do you think those numbers actually relate to the stiffness of the springs? Would make sense.

Will email D2 I suppose.

Just go a pair of 9.8kg rated springs from D2 and they are marked 12-180.
I'm pretty sure the last number is the unladen length of the spring, go no idea what the first one is though.

Cheers for that info, very helpful, I can assume these will just be whatever they normally come with then :)

Installed the 9.8's today and did some more measuring & am confident that the first number is the diameter of the spring steel used to create the coil; with the paint coating it measures a poofteenth over the number stamped on the spring.

Brilliant, thats good info.

Got a reply from the distributor here in NZ, they are fitted with the standard rates of 8.7kg/mm front and 5.3kg/mm rear. Hopefully wont be utterly back-destroying.

you wont have anything to worry about zac, my complaint about the spring rates is that they're way too soft!