I've seen a few suggestions on rally set ups, but nothing specifically on this. It seems most of us like to lower our cars, but what about the oldies here who want some more comfort? I want subaru suspension, don't mind to ride a bit higher. Maybe use oil shocks not gas and longer springs with variable rate? Any good combo's out there?

My car was built as a rally car buy the old owner, it has 175pound long coil springs as seen in my profile, and is fitted with bilstine shocks to suit! All custom! My suggestion is to talk to someone from a brand named suspension place of even try calling or pm Retrorally @ independent racecars

just stick with the standard stuff, but replacements that are in good condition, the car was designed to have good ground clearance and a comfortable ride.... why mess with it at all?

avoid pedders, they are a marketing company, definately not suspension specialists!

(although they may have 1 or 2 employees with some idea)

Ok so I don't have stock struts or engine, and thus I can't stick with stock set up. Long springs and good adjustable shocks sounds like the basic theme.
For the rear standard leafs with anti-tramp bar or similar and adjustable shocks. I've noticed some people use more leafs on front half of springs and less on rear to avoid tramp.
Any other ideas?

How about giving us info bout your current set up suspension brake and wheel size so we can make informed recommendations- so far it's like how longs a peice of string but you want jute

Sent you a Pm on this.................suspension is tough namely dampers.

Back in December I picked up a Beta 520RS enduro (street legal dirt bike) and it has state of the art suspension. One of the key problems was due to my weight (140lbs) the rear spring collar had to be wound down to get the rear sag set near correct, this made the damper piston ride lower in the body........so while the bike worked well it was not optimal. The key was changing to a proper spring, once that was done and the sag/ride height was correct the clickers (damping adjusters) could be set correctly. The forks were slightly revalved, namely washer stack.........which controls high speed damping. The bike worked well before but now it is spot on and I'm doing a lot less work to maintain the same speed.

So why bring this up? Mainly to illustrate how much work goes into this. Now with all that said, you could grab various rate and length springs that are known to fit and give them a try. As mentioned in my PM you could use motorcycle fork oil in the struts and play with various weights. For the rear leafs adding and subtracting them in conjunction with damping rates would work out the best set up. I prefer off-road suspension a little on the soft side as that seems to build grip but down side is if you hit a big wash out or other obstacle the car may bottom very hard. Some people prefer to have hard suspension as a safety margin for that possible oops. If you have hours of time and ability to test stuff then that would save tons of dough.

It's usually easiest to pony up the extra bucks and consult with someone who'll take into account the driving style and intended use........granted this may cost as much as the whole car. I've known folks who spent $1500 or more for each corner but I do think you can get a very good set-up for a lot less...............we already have one post here telling us what spring rate worked well. Personally I think 175lb springs front with the stock leafs rear and Bilstien dampers to match would likely work well.

Now for a Volvo--esque firm but supple long travel suspension for the street I suspect a day at the salvage yard with a tape measure and caliper will be a good start.

Tom

$$$ will get you what you need $$. See Murray coote
Suspension, Mca and $10 k later you will have
A set up race win ready. Other wise bilstein inserts,
Into custom coilovers (like mad dat) $2.5 and rear shocks (bilstein off a hq) $1k with reset springs
And extra half leaf to stop tramp.

I think anything other than those two combinations
Will not preform in dirt rally for too long.

Good luck

Great advice. I know this is very much a specialist area and one can spend a great deal on getting a rally set up. As people say, it's a process of experimentation to see what works. The weight of the car at each corner, getting the correct rate and length springs (what about variable rate?), and adjusting the dampners to match (non gas being adjustable with different oil weights).
I have a CA18 with 200b struts, so I would need front springs 50% higher rate than the stock 1200 in theory (A12=87kg; CA18=128kg). So stock spring rates are 91 pounds/inch, one would need a 47% increase in rate which equates to around 133 pounds/inch. Don't know if that really holds up in the real world though! Are the advantage of custom coilovers simply to offer more -ve camber?

Sounds like keeping the stock leafs rear (people have used a single leaf with good results apparently) with good shocks is adequate for a budget set up which is probably what I'm after.