2¼" coil conversion

After the pinto conversion I found that the front of the car was about an inch lower than before. This meant that the engine crossmember was now only an inch from the ground! Rather than ordering some longer springs I thought I would take the opportunity to convert the front struts to 2¼" coils.
Leda recommended that for a road going Escort with a Pinto engine the best springs would be 225lbs with a free length of 10.5 inches.
Once again Rally Design were the cheapest with the conversion kit costing only £19.50 per strut. 2¼ coils were £10.50 each. Added together, multiplied by two and VAT added the whole lot came to £70.50.

After removing the struts from the car I unscrewed the large nut and removed the inserts. Using an angle grinder with a cutting disc, I cut off the original spring seats and cleaned up the strut tube with a wire wheel.
The next bit was easy. I gave the whole lot to a friend and asked him to weld the sleeve onto the casings. Leaving about an inch gap at the top he welded it at the bottom only (otherwise you would never be able to replace the alloy spring seats).
While the struts were off the car he also made up and welded on some gusset pieces to strengthen the bottom of the strut. Definately a worthwhile modification. All Leda struts are 'wedged' so it must be worth the effort.

I gave the finished struts a quick coat of black Smoothrite and then replaced the Koni adjustable inserts. These have three settings and were originally on the middle setting. I took the opportunity to set them to the firmest setting in anticipation of some trackday action! I assembled the strut with the springs and the standard rubber top mount and put the struts back in.

After driving for a few miles to settle the struts I measured the front and rear ride height . The front was now an inch higher than the back. I soon had the wheels off and the 'C' spanners out. I lowered the spring seat by about 15mm which has leveled the car out nicely.

After driving the car for a few days, I noticed that when turning the steering at low speeds there was a strange juddering noise. This turned out to be the spring trying to rotate and then suddenly managing to. This is why most people fit roller bearing top mounts! Unfortunately, at the time, nobody made the 'standard' roller top mount. The only type available were the alloy mounts with the spherical bearings so I ordered a pair of eccentric mounts from Rally Design. This allowed me to increase the castor and/or camber.