perry3188

This is a little hard to explain so bear with me...

Im going to lower my escort van by doing the axle on top of the leafs trick. I will have a set of 195/50-15's on the van and I DON'T want to have to roll the arches. I want all the wheels to be able to be seen through the arches... not "tucked in" if you know what I mean? I will lower the rear then raise it up a little bit on blocks if I need to to get the right height then get the correct springs to match the front.

I hear doing the axle trick will take it down about 80mm and I'm assuming that will be too much for the 15" wheels? (correct me?)

Can anyone share their vast experience with me and tell me what size springs I will need for the front? (or how many coils to cut... did I say that out loud???)

Also...I heard (read) a myth that Peugeot rear shocks will fit an escort van. Can anyone tell me if this is true?

s1 turbo stu

Ill look at mine tomorrow wot year van you got...... what mk ??????????

perry3188

Cheers it's a mk6 1998

escortmk3rwd

ive done mk4 conversion loads cut spring bedding plates off weld them on bottom of axle and i use vauxhall combo shockers diesel uprated ones and ive used mk1 escort before but combo cheaper and easier to get hold of i had 2 inch lowering blocks on mine also

Minirotty

To lower the arse of a MK6 1998 you'll need to do a bit of fabricating to get it spot on.

Axle flip is only part of it, as once that's done, it drops about 90mm and far to low for most of us.

To bring it back up, where the leaf springs mount to the rear of the van, I made longer by 50mm brakets, to raise the van back up.

Heres how she sits with 17's on.

perry3188

Thanks for the info. I read your thread on the rs2000 conversion. You've done a nice job. I like how it was supposed to be a low cost pikey adventure and you've managed to do a proper job!

Minirotty

Haha cheers, she is a pikey build though in the aspect the van was built from my spares pile lol

Dan j

My experience with lowering the mk6 van


This setup is achieved by doing the 3 leaf mod. . You do the axle flip as usual..I also kept my original axle brackets in place and bought some escort mk2 saddle brackets and buy some escort mk2 u bolts which are longer. These are available on ebay.. so you get another pair of van top leaf springs and cut them down so they are 1" longer each end than the bottom leaf spring.. fashion a longer locating bolt and put them all together which should look like this. .



Will be doing the same with my next van.

simon513

Ha there, like the work, I'm just about to start my van project with intention of lowering it, the axle flip seems the obvious choice, but I'm a bit unsure what to do about the brake bias, with the van being lowered, will this affect the bias?

Dan j

The load bias is designed for when extra weight is on the back more braking force is applied. . So lowering the rear will give the same effect as a weighted up van. Theres more of a chance of the rear brakes locking up under heavy breaking and no weight in the rear. As I say there is more chance but I know a few people who have done the job and removed bias with no issues.

simon513

Is there anyway I can adjust the bias to compensate for the axle flip?

Dan j

There is but I have not done it so cannot give advise

simon513

OK no probs, I'm sure someone out there will know.

cossieboy599

yer in my van when i lowered it i removed it and put a after market brake bias in and set it to how i wanted it to brake

simon513

where would i find an after market brake bias?
also im looking to find anyone on here that has turned there rear doors into a single door with top hinge.