Felicia Pickup lowering thread

[TeflonTom]

right i'm nearly there, i've been stockpiling bits and pieces for ages and now i just need to get on with it..

firstly i had a good look round at the general condition of the suspension components as it is allways a good idea to replace bits whilst it is all apart, my rear dampers are rotten at the bottom ends so i got a new pair from the dealer, surprisingly enough the genuine dealer supplied ones were cheaper than what my local motors could supply me by far coming in at £38 each and the rear mounting rubbers were only a couple of quid for genuine ones which is cheaper even than what jorily skoda parts can do on ebay.

genuine rear dampers and some other various stuff.

Edited 16 December, 2009 by TeflonTom

[TeflonTom]

notice that the pickup rear dampers are not the same as the hatch/estate variants because they have no spring platforms welded onto them as the pickup uses a seperate spring and damper setup. it may however be possible to use a hatchback rear damper with a spring platform as a substitute but i will have to check the clearances etc.

pickup rear suspension setup, harsh corrosion on dampers, and it cant be seen in this pic but they are seeping oil slightly.

[TeflonTom]

the plan is to use a pair of felicia hatchback front lowering springs on the fronts and to use a pair of mk4/octavia rear springs on the back end, this is not ideal because the mk4 golf rear springs are not really designed for the job and they are not designed to take the sort of payload that the pickup can handle but they will fit however, the mk4 golf/octavia rear setup is strikingly similar to the rear of the pickup. as an aside note to this i've done a bit of digging around through various spring manufacturers application catalogues and it turns out that the standard rear spring from an audi a8 quattro is near perfect spring for this application, they are made from a heavier guage spring wire than the mk4 golf ones because they are for a heavy old tank of a car, the only trouble is they cost a mint to buy from the dealer and they dont appear very often in breakers yards and all the usual aftermarket suppliers list it as 'no longer available'... i will get my hands on some one day!!

left: 40mm lowering spring kit from a mk1 octavia 1.6/1.8, as far as i can tell from the manufacturers spiel the rear springs are the same in all of thier octavia kits irrespective of engine size/weight and it's only the fronts that vary in the kits, this is handy because i only need the rear ones from this kit and i shall chuck the front ones in my next door neighbours wheelie bin next time they go to asda.... i obtained this kit from the geezers at skospares in poole for a cut down price of £20, but i think this must have been the only set they had.

right: 35mm fk automotive lowering spring kit for skoda felicia estate, again a bit of research revealed that the front spring is the same in the hatch & estate kits and only the rear ones are different. the estate kit was about £10 cheaper than the hatchback kit so i went for that.... there are a few other spring manufacturers that do a kit for a felicia, spax ones are good and cost roughly the same as the fk automotive ones, h & r are good but a bit pricey,

[TeflonTom]

front dampers, this was a lucky scrapyard find... these were on a car which had been bought in from the government scrappage scheme, these shocks are virtually brand new and have only been on there a few months, the invoice for them was in the back of the car!!! i paid £15 for the pair

[Jorily]

We do the complete kit for the rear for the pick up:

Felicia 1.3 Pick-up Comprehensive Rear Shock Absorber Kit

[TeflonTom]

^^ haha shameless profiteering

right first off i'll show you how the front struts go together

these are the components that make up the front suspension strut, i recommend using a new mounting rubber and top bearing at this stage too seeing as it is all apart!!

you will also need a pair of coil spring compressors to do this job, DO NOT attempt to dismantle your original struts without them, you have been warned!! i checked in halfords and they normally stock the laser ones above for £20

Edited 1 January, 2010 by TeflonTom

[TeflonTom]

ok, this is far easier if you can mount the damper upright in a vice, but i've done it like this to prove that somebody at home can do this with a few tools

use the spring compressor to clamp down the spring, don't use the ends of the springs, do it on one of the inner coils like the picture, place them roughly 180 degrees apart, it is ony necessary to compress the spring a little bit so you have enough play to get the nut on the end of the piston rod

pull the damper piston out fully so that it is at maximum length, then slide the dust shield and bump stop onto the piston rod

[TeflonTom]

place spring around damper ensuring that the ends align with the end stops in the damper body, also notice that these springs are progressively wound with tight coils at one end and loose coils at the other... the tighter coils go towards the bottom of the damper

[TeflonTom]

upper spring seat goes on, again make sure that the ends of the spring align with the end stops in the spring plate

then top hat washer and bearing goes on

[TeflonTom]

bearing locator on next

then the mounting rubber, as i said before, fit a new one rather than an old knackered one, i think you can buy these from jorily on ebay for a few quid.

[TeflonTom]

top mounting plate and then the dished washer

now, counter hold the piston rod with an adjustable spanner, and tighten up the top nut... on this damper the end top of the piston where you counter hold it is mashed so as an alternative I used a pait of mole grips to hold it whilst tightening the nut, you will need a spanner with an offset end to tighten the nut because it's recessed into the dished washer, it was 19mm on this damper but it may vary on dampers from other manufacturers,

again double check to make sure the spring ends still line up with the end stops in the upper and lower spring seats

Edited 1 January, 2010 by TeflonTom

[TeflonTom]

now carefully slacken and remove the spring compressors making sure that the spring ends locate properly into the stops of both top and bottom plates.. you may notice that the top mounting plate has a new nut and washer loosely screwed onto the studs... i only did this so i didn't loose them!! make sure you take them off before you try and fit the strut into the car!! :no:

and that's the fronts assembled, they are not handed. ie: they will fit both sides of the car.

more on this thread later...........

[TeflonTom]

ok fitting the fronts is dead easy

if your pickup has a front strut brace fitted, then remove the nuts arrowed with the car still resting on the floor on it's wheels, obviously do the ones the other side too!!! you will need a 13mm deep socket for this, it's better to use a 6 sided socket for this rather than a 12 sided on because these nuts round off really easily

remove the brace, then put the nut's and washers back on and do them up lightly again, you dont need to kill em, just tight enough to hold the top plate firmly.. then lever off the plastic covers from the top nuts on the dampers

Edited 4 January, 2010 by TeflonTom

[TeflonTom]

next you will need a 16mm spanner and a 16mm socket & ratchet, these bolts can be notoriously difficult to get out at times and sometimes need some good old fashioned persuasion!! you may also need a pin punch to knock the bolt through the hub carrier after the nut is removed.... if you do need to get lairy with it be carfull you dont strike the brake flexi pipe or apply any heat to the pipe. brake fluid is highly flammable

once the nut and bolt are out i used the handle from my trolley jack as a lever to free the swivel hub from the base of the damper... there's a great little bit between the track control arm and subframe right up against the chassis (as shown above) this is a good place becuase the lever wont slip and end up skinning your knuckles... DO NOT use the anti roll bar or brake disc/caliper as a lever point, get the bar into the v where the between the damper and track rod end..... give it a shove!!!!

Edited 4 January, 2010 by TeflonTom

[TeflonTom]

be carefull you don't nip your fingers between the base of the damper and the hub!!!! don't lever too far and put stress on the brake flexi pipe

now you can remove the nuts/washers from the top mounting plate, and carefully lower the suspension assembly out

[TeflonTom]

raise the suspension assembly into place and fit the nuts/washers on the top mounting plate, at this stage only tighten them down a little, using the jack handle (or similar) it may be necessary to persuade the damper base into the hub by levering it around like before when removing, dont get you fingers caught!!

make sure you use a new nut and bolt on reassembly, you may need to now place the trolley jack under the lower balljoint to 'lift' the hub up slightly to get the new bolt in, appear to not have a pic of this somewhow :no:

chuck the wheel back on, do the other side.. then refit the strut brace once the car is back on the floor on it's wheels

note: these steps shown above are working on the left hand side of the vehicle, the process for the other side is the same but obviously it's the mirror image

[TeflonTom]

now onto the rear end...... more on this thread later!

[TeflonTom]

now onto the rear end... next i'll demonstrate how the rear dampers are assembled

these are fitted with a retaining wire whilst in transit (as seen in very first pic in this thread), remove this and chuck it away, then extend the piston rod as far out as it goes

then slide on the piston dust cover and bump stop

[TeflonTom]

ok, there is a small circlip on the piston rod, this little collar is recessed on one side and it slides over the piston so that the circlip sits inside the recess. this collar comes supplied with the damper (if you buy a genuine one).

[TeflonTom]

next a little plate goes on

then a spacer

[TeflonTom]

next screw on the plain nut, counter hold the end of the piston rod with an adjustable spanner then tighten the nut fully

then the lower mounting rubber slides onto the spacer, it is a good idea to replace this rubber with a new one at this point seeing as it is all apart :yes:

this is as far as you can go with these, the rest of the components are assembled once the damper has been fitted to the vehicle

Edited 4 January, 2010 by TeflonTom

[TeflonTom]

oh how i love bolts that are rusted solid :'( ok, now to fitting in the rear dampers and springs

counter hold the top of the piston rod and undo the retaining nut, as you can see mine is rusted and it just snapped off when i tried.

after it's undone lift off the dished washer

[TeflonTom]

then the spacer lifts off, there's no reason why the spacer and the dished washer cannot be used again unless they are completely rotten

Edited 4 January, 2010 by TeflonTom

[TeflonTom]

next you will need a 16mm spanner and a 14mm socket, undo the nut and bolt at the base of the damper. place the trolley jack under the trailing arm to support the weight and carefully lower it down, the base of the damper will come free, and when the trailing arm gets low enough the rear springs will literally just fall out....

place an axle stand or a block of wood under both sides of the trailing arm to support it

[TeflonTom]

next, hold the rear damper up in position and refit the top components

spacer, rubber mounting, dished washer, and a new nut... counter hold the piston rod with an adjustable spanner and fully tighten the nut.

Edited 5 January, 2010 by TeflonTom