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Well, I finally replaced my rear springs today. Since there had been no word lately on any progress for the progressive sport springs for our 444/544s, I came up with my own solution.
I realized that I could get some racing springs and put my old Ground Control coil-over sleeves (from the '92 Nissan 300ZX) to use. I took some measurements and did some math, and concluded that a 14" tall 2.5"ID spring could get me in the right height range. I chose to go with 130lb./in. springs to give me a slightly stiffer ride.
I fabricated some spring seats by welding steel pipe/tubing to flat 1/4" discs of steel, and drilling a bolt hole in the center. (Actually, I had my neighbor--a professional welder--do the welding.) The lower seat uses ~2.5" OD pipe fitting which inserts inside the spring, and the upper seat uses a 2" OD tube which the spring perch slides over. The wall thickness of the tube is 3/8" and the pipe fitting is approximately that thick as well.
The bottom seat:
The upper seat (with the spring perch already slipped onto it):
I used some 3m rubber insulating electrical tape to wrap the tube on the upper seat so that the sleeve would fit snugly. Rubber o-rings could also possibly be used, but the sleeve is only minutely larger than the 2" OD tube, so they would have to have a very narrow cross-section or else you probably couldn't fit the sleeve over them.
Another view of the upper seat (with the spring perch already slipped onto it):
A comparison of the old springs vs. the new spring setup:
One new spring in place, view from side:
Same spring, view from behind:
Both springs installed:
So far, it seems pretty good. Unfortunately, I haven't had a chance to test drive it yet, but I will do that tomorrow and update this thread with the results from that. I've raised the rear end slightly more than an inch (which is about right, considering how badly the old springs were sagging). I'll try to get some pics of the car as a whole (to give you an idea of the rear ride-height) tomorrow when I go for the test drive.
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