Topic: In the spirit of Lemons - Suspension downgrade

Coworker ranting saying apartment complex told him he has to move his car off the premises - which has been parked in the parking garage w/ the top down for 3.5 yrs.

him "Hey, what year is that? 1999 -- you want it? - $500 bux - I'm serious"
me "No, really, how much do you want for it - "
him "$500 I'm serious - I need it gone"
me "OK, but just to make sure if you still want to sell it in a few days, I'll buy it."
----
the interior was shot, starter wouldn't work - basically nothing was working - came w/ parts in the trunk (including oil pan gasket OMG this was practically like swapping the engine to change this thing, starter - had to pull the intake manifold wtf)
...long LONG LONG STORY of harbor freight trips and oil dri SKIPPING...

Seriously about 1 year later - The thing is running and driving OK.
Two days ago it popped a coolant hose - which is now filled w/ distilled water - but Today - and for the foreseeable future - it's fixed and running.

Stock motor, slow, 190k miles - interior is shot - there's really only 1 home for this car now and it's in Lemons, so that's what I'm gonna do.

ANYWAY
As crap as the whole car is, I googled the suspension on it and it's some old Bilstein PSS9
Am I gonna be able to use these shocks or do I need to put some other suspension on this?
I have read a lot of opinions about how I'm cheating with a BMW, but if ppl saw the journey this dang car has taken me on in my 2-car garage they'd probably say 'just run the car'. However, all the opinions on this board really have me thinking I should replace it w/ some cheap amazon shocks just to avoid the whole issue altogether.

Re: In the spirit of Lemons - Suspension downgrade

Since the shocks came with the car they shouldn't effect the classing of the car.  Just try to document what you paid for the car and the condition it was in.  I hope you had pictures?

Of course you could try to sell the shocks and deduct that from the purchased price of the car and use the cash to make some improvement somewhere else?

Re: In the spirit of Lemons - Suspension downgrade

Just run what you have on the car.  No reason to waste money on parts.  You'll be surprised how good people are at making crap cars fast.

LemonAid - Changing kids lives one lap at a time.

Re: In the spirit of Lemons - Suspension downgrade

Are the shocks even working?  My car had bilsteins all around when I got it, none of them had any pressure in them anymore.  If you try and bounce a corner of the car, does it bounce up and down like a hooptie, or is it stiff like a racecar?

Leave it alone, have fun, go race.  Worse case they put you in class A.

If you have pictures of the journey, bring them to entertain the judges.

Team whatever_racecar #745 Volvo wagon

Re: In the spirit of Lemons - Suspension downgrade

Keep the green in your wallet.
Run what you got.

Besides,  no one will ever believe you did a suspension downgrade

Former Captain
1996 Crown Vic. #55
Team Racing Cosmo

6 (edited by derekste 2020-08-12 12:49 PM)

Re: In the spirit of Lemons - Suspension downgrade

https://www.bilstein.com/us/en/technolo … e/service/

If you're going to spend any money, have those PSS9s rebuilt -- they're good shocks.

"THE WONDERMENT CONSORTIUM"
Everything dies baby that's a fact,
But maybe everything that dies someday comes back?

Re: In the spirit of Lemons - Suspension downgrade

bobnowoc wrote:

Keep the green in your wallet.
Run what you got.

Besides,  no one will ever believe you did a suspension downgrade

/agree

1992 Saturn SL2 (retired) - Elmo's Revenge -  Class B winner, Heroic Fix winner x2
1969 Rover P6B 3500S(sold) - Super G-Rover - I.O.E Winner, Class C Winner
1996 Saturn SW2 - Elmo's Revenge (reborn!), Saturn SL1  Dazzleshipm Class C x2 and IOE winner
1974 AMC Javelin - Oscar's Trash heap - IOE,”Organizer's Choice" and "I got Screwed" award winner

Re: In the spirit of Lemons - Suspension downgrade

bobnowoc wrote:

Besides,  no one will ever believe you did a suspension downgrade

this whole thread is kinda weird frankly. what kind of suspension advice are we supposed to give for this mystery car "from 1999" when we don't even know how you deduced your $1500 aftermarket is bad?

"THE WONDERMENT CONSORTIUM"
Everything dies baby that's a fact,
But maybe everything that dies someday comes back?

Re: In the spirit of Lemons - Suspension downgrade

rb92673 wrote:

Are the shocks even working?  My car had bilsteins all around when I got it, none of them had any pressure in them anymore.  If you try and bounce a corner of the car, does it bounce up and down like a hooptie, or is it stiff like a racecar?

I'll run it as-is and just see what they say.

Will worry about safe car, running car for now and worry about approval/perception/politics later.
I just have no frame of reference for any of the approval/perception/politics stuff, so that's why I asked the question.

Re: In the spirit of Lemons - Suspension downgrade

At first you will feel like you’re cheating if your car technically books out at more than $500.   They may even treat you like you’re cheating with giving you penalty laps.  (It’s ok if they do, you weren’t going to win anyway, not at first).  Then you’ll see other cars that have money in them, and you might feel you weren’t treated fairly.   Then you will realize the teams that have money in their cars mostly have had no hope of winning either due to reliability issues, driving issues or organization issues and the judges don’t penalize them because.. well.. it doesn’t really matter.  Then as teams become reliable, and can drive a little and are organized they may be lucky enough to win a race or their class.   Then (in the Midwest) you might start getting penalty laps, or bumped up a class, again to prevent you from winning.   Ultimately (in the Midwest) you will get BS laps not for the car you bring, but for the team you show up with.   Then you again stop caring about BS laps, and go back to showing up to race a little and drink beer.

LemonAid - Changing kids lives one lap at a time.