Heavy Springs And Lift Upgrade

Very cool. Your ride height is good and it looks like you've got it dialed in just right. This whole topic is like a 1000 piece scenic puzzle. You can go nuts trying to find the right info and reading lots of technical stuff, then one day you have a breakthrough and find that piece or two that fits perfect.
StrawBrad, thanks for sharing this info. Let me get your thoughts on my situation. By the way, there's something fun about a You-pull-it Junk Yard isn't there? Maybe it appeals to the kid in me. But it's like a treasure hunt in a way.

Anyway, I like to go up into the Blue Ridge Mountains at times and wanted to raise my car about an inch or so. Also, when I bought this Prius about 6 months ago, two things were immediately clear. MPG was fantastic and I couldn't believe how vulnerable the car is when pulling into a business or place with a curb. Most of my cars have been suvs or 4x4's of some sort with good ground clearance.

So I ordered a 40 mm aluminum lift set from Rising Tuning. I haven't installed that yet bc I am gathering other suspension items to install at the same time. I also ordered heavy-duty rear springs from Valley Spring Works in California to put on the rear. These rear springs were originally designed for people putting in an extra hybrid battery in the trunk to handle the extra weight. But they are also good for beefing up the rear end (light towing, bike racks, heavy loads in the hatch area). Just these springs are supposed to lift the rear end about an inch higher than stock. This company used to do the custom springs for Lucious Hybrid Garage in California that used to do those conversions back in the day.

Now I have a cache of four 40 mm aluminum blocks, a set of rear heavy-duty springs from Valley Spring Works, and some new OEM rear replacement shocks. Don't want to make this car too high. But want the extra clearance like you have while maintaining a pleasant driving geometry. I'm just reading a lot of threads and trying to compile information on the right way to proceed with my project. Any inputs (from StrawBrad) or other savy Prius owners who enjoy turning a wrench is very much appreciated.

 

Great news. I would think you wouldn’t need the tema4x4 kit if you did these springs.


iPhone ?

 

Todd, I think you may be right. I'm still processing all of it. In the military, we use the term "Helmet Fire." My brain is a little fried tonight. I'll have to revisit this thread tomorrow and re-read it. BTW, my lift is the 40mm aluminum blocks from RisingTuning. The Tema 4x4 is the poly rubber one that others have used. Both block systems basically do the same thing.

 

Yes. I searched the riser ones on eBay from reading that you got them. This may be a more incognito way to get the lift and support for hauling I’m looking for.


iPhone ?

 

How is the spring perch removed from the vibe, or does it just slide off the vibe and then back onto the prius rear shock?

Just to clarify, the new fronts were for a prius (OEM, KYB, etc) with upgraded ACDELCO 45H1478 springs installed?

Are there any plug and play part numbers beyond the springs? (thinking AWD struts or shocks that would direct fit a gen2 prius)

Thanks for sharing!

 

Don't you just love a tape measure where the case dimension is a round inch. I've got one like that; it's my go to, saves the mental gymnastics when checking inside clearances.

Meanwhile, there's another thread here, where a guy lowered his AWD 4th gen. The best you can say is nothing.

Marvelling over your stripped down interior: you need a van, lol. Or not.

 

What shock tower brace did you use?

 

corolla struts don't fit? dang. I was thinking of getting corolla bilstein rear struts, I was afraid they wouldn't fit...

 

I am starting to scrape over few specific speedbumps when the whole family is in the car...

I pride myself in being quite affluent in English, but technical terms give me a headache sometimes...

What's the perch? Is that where the coilspring ends, that rusty thing that the spring sits on? The diameter seems larger on the right one, but it seems like it is fixed (welded) on the strut? Or should I try to get my hands on one, examine it and everything becomes clear then?

So the spring fits the strut without modification, right? And then it's a straight swap?

I'll try to do some more research, but the Matrix is a FWD (Korean) Hyundai here, so I doubt it is the same car

 

See pics of the two perches. I hope that helps.

PS In your posting, it should be "fluent" rather than "affluent." If you are affluent then you are very wealthy$$$$!!!!

 

Those strut bumps must be fairly robust to suspend the perch/spring.

Sure wish I could see myself locating or visiting a junkyard to find a set of matrix perches / springs. It would be great if one could just purchase replacement perches individually, though it doesn't seem very likely.

Of course I'm still enjoying where this, and other PC threads like it are taking us. It would be helpful to collectively crowd source addition clearance / lifting options and add to our growing Prius knowledge base, be it gen2, gen3 or otherwise.

Though not exactly Prius related (only for the Previa platform), I found the link below to be quite thorough in regards to current available knowledge. It may act as a starting resource for the various lifting options that currently exist in the wild, there are all kinds of links (many broken). Some of what interested me was the DIY coilovers, the DIY HDPE spacers, the various alignment bits and pieces, and the crossover/reference of available off the shelf parts and dimensions that could potentially be usable for that platform. Hoping we can also find similar options for our own vehicles.

Here is the link : Zen Adventure Previa Suspension Page

 

I hang my head in shame... If there was ever a horrible place to make an error like this, then it must be in this sentence.

If I were affluent, I probably wouldn't be reading threads on scavenging junkyard Matrices for lifting a Gen2 Prius

OK, knowing about the bumps, I can see how it works. But you leave the Prius perch in place, correct? I find that hard to tell from the pic so just to reiterate (this is in no way a criticism on your photographing skills, I am very happy with them and they are very useful. My DIY pics from during a car repair are almost always lacking when I review them lateron and I never take apart my newly repaired car/wipermotor/electronics-module/etc to take better pics...).

 

I have not done the conversion (namely, Vibe AWD rear springs on rear of Gen2 Prius) yet. However, my understanding based on a different thread here on PC is as follows: i.) remove Vibe spring perch with brute force (likely a hammer) from strut body; and ii.) install Vibe perch onto Prius strut body while keeping the original Prius perch in place.

When you are done, you should have the Vibe AWD rear perch sitting on top of the stock Prius perch attached to the Prius Gen2 rear strut.

 

Though not for conventional springs, this company affordable steel coilover perches, at only $25 for a pair.

Maybe they could supply perches for other applications as well. Looks like they also offer packaged coilover options as well.

Techno Toy Tuning | Performance Parts for "Interesting" Sports Cars