I was inspired by the hood shocks that we installed last week and remembered that i had some Volvo shocks from a wrecked truck(they are used for the boot box) sitting at home doing nothing. Sooooo i decided to test fit them
these are the damm things that i am getting rid of. Getting rid of them Frees up almost 3"
First thing you need to do is gut your trunk. this is easy enough and needs no explanation, just remove the clips and then the carpet.
Step two is determining a position for the shock, i used the hole from the current bars, to do this get in the trunk. I'm a Big boy and there was quite enough room in there. I would rate the trunk at Only one body though.
here is a pic of the shock on the current bar, I way trying to see what kind of travle I could get.
Once i saw that the system was going to work I set out to take out the torsion bars without killing myself as they are under about 50lb or rotational force each with the trunk closed. this means that
IF YOU ARE NOT CAREFULL THEY CAN BRAKE YOUR HAND AND/OR DENT YOUR TRUNK!!!
You need to unclip them from the clips on either side of the sub like in pic one.
then with A pry bar you need to take out the bars
PRY CAREFULLY!, once it comes out it will TRY to torque out the prybar from your hands.
I Decided on useing the stock hole, tried mountings on the inside and outside to see what i could get away with.
I had to make my own ball joint for this as the ones that i had where only a 1/2" long. for this i took the grinder to 2 12mm bolts 2" long Rounded the heads into balls then welded the washer to the shaft... Sorry no progress shots.
then i scoped some lower points.
Made a bracket, drilled the holes and bolted it down.
First one bolt to make sure i had clearance... the shocks are really strong and need 50lb-60lb of force to compress each one. so i cant hold them
Here it is in the closed position.
Ever so minor touching. i would say withing spec for now.
That was A lot of work... lets have a Beer!
Here Is the left side done.
And bolth all hoocked up.
There is enogh room that you can cut a tiny hole and peek the lower ball joint through the carpet. For me the carpets arnt going in. but rather a 2.5Cu" custome MDF box with a F/glass face. all fresh black carpeting.