Garbage EBay coilovers

https://www.ebay.com/itm/282941337035

Tremendously cheap.  The Challenge Miata is way undersprung right now and I have about $400 left in the challenge budget.  I’d like to keep a bit in the kitty to make sure I can get the motor right.

Any better ideas?

Buy some used springs?

Cut a coil or two off of one of those?  Add a spacer if it is then too short for the adjuster? 

What shocks are on the car currently? I ran my Challenge Miata on the stock Bilsteins and a $60 set of Ebay coilover conversion springs and collars. The springs were 450F/350R. Combined with a 26mm front bar and no rear bar it handled surprisingly well.

Currently running on ancient KYB shocks and whatever MonsterMiata kit springs they included in the late 90’s.  FM front sway bar.  Good alignment.

I know it needs new end links.

It bottoms badly in quick transitions, it needs improvement.  Current tires are Federal 595 RS-R 205/50-15.  It DEFINITELY needs more spring before it gets bigger and stickier rubber.

Have you looked at the budget bilsteien coil overs? Theres a big write up on the internet somewhere. Miataturbo i think.

Im doing nb bilsteiens with ebay civic coilovers. 550/350 were rhe delivered rates. Im keeping my eyes open for stiffer fronts due to the 3400 in mine.

My new to me suspension is used Bilsteins $180, eBay coilovers $54, and substitute rear springs $50 on sale. That'll get me 450 front 250 rear. 

Deadskunk, did you stumble on close out the coil overs, or are they still available on ebay?  All I see are pricier, not for 99+  year cars, and no spring rates listed.  Your help would be appreciated.  

In reply to spin_out :

I'm not him but for my $2015 Challenge Miata I used eBay Honda Accord coilovers. This time I ordered NA coilovers just to see if the springs are longer than the 5.5 inch ones I got before or maybe different rates. 

Mine were civic. Cheapest ones on Amazon. 

In reply to Dusterbd13 :

Have you ever noticed that there are eBay people and Amazon people.  Chris is trying to convert me to Amazon but I've seen to many times people getting an Amazon box and then wondering what they actually ordered. 

Im bi.

I use them both.

Depends on who has what i need cheaper.

I tend to use ebay mostly for used stuff or imported Chineseum, Amazon mostly for new stuff.  Of course, it varies a bit depending on who has what I'm looking for.  

For me it depends on who has the free shipping

Stampie said:

In reply to spin_out :

I'm not him but for my $2015 Challenge Miata I used eBay Honda Accord coilovers. This time I ordered NA coilovers just to see if the springs are longer than the 5.5 inch ones I got before or maybe different rates. 

My Ebay springs were for an NB Miata and are 5.5 inches long. I suspect the only difference between various cars is the spring rate . Mine were 450F/350R.

Stampie said:

In reply to Dusterbd13 :

Have you ever noticed that there are eBay people and Amazon people.  Chris is trying to convert me to Amazon but I've seen to many times people getting an Amazon box and then wondering what they actually ordered. 

I rarely order car parts from Amazon, but SWMBO orders something from them weekly. However I am having that problem with Miata parts currently - they’re piling up faster than I can bolt them on!

Stampie said:

In reply to spin_out :

I'm not him but for my $2015 Challenge Miata I used eBay Honda Accord coilovers. This time I ordered NA coilovers just to see if the springs are longer than the 5.5 inch ones I got before or maybe different rates. 

Got my coilovers today. They fit perfectly on my Bilsteins.

Springs other than being red appear to be identical to the blue Accord springs I got 3 years ago.

DeadSkunk said:

Stampie said:

In reply to spin_out :

I'm not him but for my $2015 Challenge Miata I used eBay Honda Accord coilovers. This time I ordered NA coilovers just to see if the springs are longer than the 5.5 inch ones I got before or maybe different rates. 

My Ebay springs were for an NB Miata and are 5.5 inches long. I suspect the only difference between various cars is the spring rate . Mine were 450F/350R.

Ideally the NB ones will be longer - but we're talking about minimum-cost kits that aren't exactly carefully engineered by platform specialists so this is probably crazy talk

In reply to Keith Tanner :

But that's where the fun and skill in modifying cars comes from!  I kinda enjoy picking through a selection of random or cheap or non-car-specific parts and figuring out what will work for my application.  I'll have to post up some pictures of the next round of suspension tweaks for the Jeep when I do them...  Something about coilover sliders and tender springs without coilovers (planning to up-size the spring retainer posts and run the sliders on those).  

In reply to Keith Tanner :

Not sure if it fits business wise but I wish y'all carried springs. I called you guys first and the lady was confused that I wanted springs only before telling me that you didn't carry them.  I'd rather give you my money than some unknown person on eBay or Speedway in my case.

We do carry some 2.5" springs although the sales line may not be aware. Tell me what you want, I can tell you if we have it. We don't carry coilover sleeves, though.

rslifkin, those things are just using 2.5" generic springs. So buy the coilover sleeves then pick the spring you want and either get some from a circle track racer at a garage meet or order some from your supplier of choice. I can tell you that metallurgy counts, cheap springs may not keep their rate or length for long so it may be cheaper to buy good ones.

In reply to Keith Tanner :

The only good thing about those $60 Ebay coil over kits is that they're cheap and will last for the day of the Challenge. I'm going to see if they'll last two days by using last year's springs on this year's car. Living dangerously just runs in my blood , I guess. 

Sure, if you only need a weekend lifespan then the math is different. I always work on the assumption that stuff needs to keep working well as long as possible, which is why I've never built a Challenge car!

Keith Tanner said:

Sure, if you only need a weekend lifespan then the math is different. I always work on the assumption that stuff needs to keep working well as long as possible, which is why I've never built a Challenge car!

I've always worked under the "I only want to do this job once" frame of mind. So I don't skip on suspension/brakes/etc. 

In reply to Keith Tanner :

I'm going to get all my springs tested here locally. After that I'll have a better idea of what I'll need.  Thanks.

You can get awfully close by counting coils and measuring free length and dimensions.