AE86 Stroke, STD length strut case with st185 cartridge

[lil_cons]

Would anyone be able to give me any information from previous experience on minimum stroke on an 86?
I have a std length strut case, i'm looking at bumping the cartridge to the bottom and machining up a spacer for the top, and i have 6kg springs.

From a rough measurement i should have 90mm of stroke (full extension to bottomed out)
I realise this isn't much stroke at all but could it work on a street driven car?
I have ran a similar set up with around a 20mm higher ride height and a softer spring
which bottomed out once (under hard braking on a bumpy road).
I will 'preload' the 6kg spring to a certain extent.

Has anyone ran a 6kg spring with a similar stroke on std length cases and had any problems with it?

Advice would be appreciated, cynicism, not so much....

[RobertoX]

Hey,
In my opinion and experience, only 90mm would not be enough.
Even if you set your shock position so that you have enough bump stroke (which it sounds like you are doing with putting the spacer at the top of the tube) you will not have enough rebound stroke. you will top out a lot and it feels very harsh. The more you 'preload' the springs the harsher the clunk when you top out also.
Ideally you want more rebound stroke than bump stroke. This is what OEM runs and you still get topping more often than bottoming.

It's better to get the strut cut down to suit the insert, running the st185 cartridge I think you need about a 20~40mm spacer in the bottom of the tube and then get the tube cut & welded to match.

[Jonny Rochester]

From memory, with the ST185 shock and a standard AE86 strut, you would need a ~60mm spacer. You can have a 60mm spacer at the bottom, probably the best compromise, you get the most stroke. Of you can have a 30mm spacer at the bottom, and a 30mm spacer at the top of the shock, that may work also.

Common setup is to have the strut cut and shut 40mm shorter with a coilover sleave. Then use a 20mm spacer at the bottom, under the shock.