Koen's 86 - every drive a new issue

[Koen]

(06-25-2026 05:00 PM)decryphe Wrote:  Beautiful work!

Thanks!

I've made some (slow) progress the last month. The chassis rail is now repaired and the whole body received some white anti-gravel paint.


This is the result of the chassisrail repair that a friend did He just took a piece of U-shaped bar and fitted that. Made a few cuts in it to bend it in the form of the original one and welded it in. Job done, it's not a restoration.


Received the last bits to complete the front suspension assembly. Only the sway bar drop links are missing because they don't fit

It's Reiger 3-way fronts, Rally Corsa homologated gr.A front tubular arms, Whiteline adjustable swaybar and GRP4 track rod ends.


All in the car I had the subframe and the tension brackets powder coated in the candy purple color because it matches the reservoirs of the suspension and it looks funny . Unfortunately figured out that the right front stub axle is slightly bent at the treads so hopefully I can get that fixed ... can't trust facebook marketplace

Also started mocking up the rear setup. The dampers I bought didn't fit as expected. Ondafly measured his group-d coilovers so my plan was to copy this setup.


The top damper is as it came. It came of an AE86 rally car, but everyone in Ireland changes them to Ford MK2 running gear (turrets + rear axle) so these dampers are Escort fitment. Which means the length is ok, but the spring hits the body and the bottom eye is a different diameter. I've modified the axle to accept the smaller mount and ordered a longer spring holder with a smaller diameter than the spring.


This now clears . It needs a set of shorter springs, but that will follow when I set the ride height. Also one shock needs a new shaft because you can't trust Facebook marketplace fortunately the customer service of Reiger is very good so it's only a matter of time and money.

The rear now consists of Reiger 3-ways, Whiteline adjustable swaybar, GRP4 panhard (rose-joint), GRP4 4-link (rubber bushed). Apparently the rubber bush in the 4-link will take some shock out of the driveline which helps saving the axle