Well everyone after getting sick of changing inserts in my stanza struts on my 1200 ute I have booked the car in to a suspension specialist to shorten the struts by about 32mm above the spring seat, install shorter inserts and bump stops. I am not enjoying hearing that big bang everytime it bottoms out. I will let you know what the result are and how much it cost.

Definatley! and what springs and shocks you use and how it behaves on the road. Lack of bump clearance is probably the biggest problem with the stanza upgrade......

And get ddgonzal to add it to the stanza upgrade info in the tech section- no point having it get lost in the archives like so much of the useful info in this place.

you can run quite low without problems on a standard length stanza strut if you use a suitable spring. lots cheaper. going lower than what the stanza struts allow is not good for handling either - your rollcentre gets all messed up for starters...

So are you using Zed inserts like mine?

I think they worked out that 1600 inserts will fit but which model z inserts did you use and exctly how much did you cut off?

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Might be ok on the track, but for the road?

I think grunthunter is right, on the road if you try and run bump stops with standard stanza struts there is almost no travel. Well I got my ute back this morning and only just drove it to work and it felt fantastic. Ended up putting 240k inserts which are 40mm lower. The springs that I had in there were lowered stanza. The only problem now is I am going to try and find another steering box and try and get it rebuilt because even though the wheel alignment was done its still a bit sloppy. After that I will get the rear springs redone so it doesn't bounce around like a ute and I can remove the lowering blocks. To get the struts properly shortened and tig welded on a lathe is not a cheap option but you don't want to have to change inserts every six months. If anyone in Melbourne wants this conversion done I would definetly recommend Centreline Suspensions.

sounds the goods chris can i ask how much it cost for the job to be done ?? guessing you just left the car with them and they did it all ??

with the steering box have you adjusted the little grub screw thing on top of the box with the lock nut on it ?? if you tighten this in it will take up some of the slop.

Yeah I have adjusted the grub screw a few times in the eight years I have had it and you eventually run out of adjustment. I was going to take the struts out and get them to shorten them and then take the car back for a wheel alignment but I decided against that due to the distance to get there and back. So it was a drop off and pick up with new monroe gt gas inserts, new bump stop kit, all teh work including wheel alignment for just under $1k (ouch)...For koni inserts add another $250..

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yes on the road. My car was a road car for years before I went to a track day, and it was a dual purpose car for a couple of years too - everyday transport and track days.

with the right spring and a sensibly low ride height (ie as low as you can go and still have the roll centre in approx the right place) there should be no problem with stanza strut length.

I guess you either haven't got appropriate springs for the ride height, or you have gone too low. I know some people like the way their cars look when they are lowered too far (from a performance/handling perspective).