Urethane Spring Seats - possible source found

04_Sport_LS

04_Sport_LS

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Ok...

Since Energy suspension didn't want to play,,, I did some digging and found a possibility for new urethane spring seats for the LS and/or Jag suspension conversion. They are somewhat local to me, (although I am working in the opposite direction at the present).

Custom Molded Polyurethane Parts | Compression Molded Urethane

And guess who has one new front LS spring seat,,, and one new Jag spring seat, (fits all 4 corners of Jag... and rear LS springs), to offer as prototypes?????? :D

Spring Seats.JPG


Keep in mind that this isn't even in the developement stage yet. This is just to get a price quote for manufacturing them. They could be $100 for all 4... $100 a pair... or $100 each.

At this point I am just checking to see who would be interested... and in which type and how many. I would imagine that the bigger the order,,, the cheaper thay would be. So if interested,,, post your request and amount.

Example: If you plan on sticking with the LS suspension,,, and want isolators for all 4 corners.... Type

2 - LS front
2 - Jag rear

If you plan on doing a Jag suspension conversion,,, and want isolators for all 4 corners... Type

4 - Jag

And obviously... if you only want 2 for the front or back,,, then you would type

2 - LS
or
2 - Jag

If/when enough people respond,,, I can contact them with a large enough order amount to make it cost effective for both them and us. And if anybody is wondering... I am not affiliated with the company, (or anyone working for it),,, and don't stand to make even a penny out of this.
 
Yeah... scorching.

Sport or non sport doesn't matter. What does... is whether or not you plan on keeping the LS factory suspension setup,,, or converting it to Jag springs and shocks on all 4 corners.

Retaining the LS would then be

2 - LS front
2 - Jag rear

Converting to the Jag suspension would be

4 - Jag

Tried your link and nothing specific came up. However,,, if you were referring to "4 - SPRING ISOLATOR" ... then that would be the same black plastic one I have pictured above. A urethane version would be much more durable against the elements, wear, and age.

I may have a chance to visit the company I linked,,, early next week. If it happens... I'll see what they say.
 
thanks 04_sport_ls,
id be interested.

i have the jag rear springs (p#XR811174). have not taken the old apart yet. i could use the old rear spring seats but new urethane ones might be a nice option depending on price.

i also have the jag front springs, but i went with the ones for the 6cyl jag (p#XR835296) since my LS is the 6 cyl (the 8cyl ones are p#XR835298).

surprisingly these front springs came from jag with spring seats included, as pictured below. they are, as expect bigger than, the original 6cyl LS's (broken in the picture). did your p#XR835298 come with spring seats too? can you tell if mine are plastic too? if so id consider urethane ones for these too.


want me to try to take some measurements and we can see if they are the same as the springs seats for the p#XR835298?
thanks!

20180723_090411.jpg
 
Only 1 of my front springs came with an isolator. That's the one in my pic above.

This project may actually go somewhere. I ended up getting to UUP on Monday,,, and showed them what I had. We talked for a while,,, and to keep costs down.... it was decided to forgo the spring alignment tabs and clips,,, and just use an inboard solid rib tapered to match the spring coil... to keep the spring centerd on the isolator.

They are going to try and actually prototype a mold for these. They said if they make a 4 cavity mold, (making 2 LS and 2 Jag at the same time), they might be able to get the cost down to $20-$25 per isolator.

It was kinda ironic,,, because one of the guys I was talking to had a strange smile on his face. When I asked him what was up,,, he said he was just looking at the isolators on his vehicle, (non LS), and thinking they needed changing out.

The place was fairly small... but they have contracts with the military to make "dummy" training firearms and grenades out of urethane, (within a couple ounces of actual weight). They also make other parts and tools,,, such as hammers, (dead blow shot filled), for automotive or other "shop" needs.

If the LS urethane isolators becfome a "go"... they would likely sell them direct out of their Ebay store,,, since I made it clear to them that I have no intention of being a distributor.

Cross your fingers....... maybe I will hear from them in a week or 2. I gave them the parts to work off of to reverse engineer a mold.
 
Jokken,

All of the S-Type, (and LS) springs should be the same size, (diameter), regardless of engine. All that is different is the spring rate... based on the size of the coil wire used,,, depending on how much weight it has to support.
 
thanks 04_sport,

good work, a thank you from all of us!
 
04_sport,
i am trying to decide if I wait till UUP gets back to you or if I should continue replacing my coil-over-struts. i only have one front out and apart right now.
in the meanwhile I wanted to ask you. what is the small round plastic part called, and where does it go? it is white in my picture, above the broken spring seat, it is kinda hollow/channeled on the other side.
 
Where did it come from? Was it in the box with the shock? Might be a spacer for the lower shock mount. I haven't seen that part before, and it didn't come with any Jag parts I ordered.

As far as assembling your shocks and springs... that's up to you if you need the vehicle. I haven't heard anything from UUP yet. If I get a chance I'll call,,, but work has me tied up lately.
 
ah you are right! it is the spacer for the lower shock mount. I see the second one on the old shock still. I guess i'll put them back on the new Bilstein.

cool hopefully UUP gives you an update soon,
thanks
 
Bottom mount on the Jag shock is different. Pretty sure the spacer won't fit. IIRC,,, the factory LS shock uses a rubberized bottom mount... and the Jag uses a pivoting ball socket type mount.
 
OK... raising this from the dead. I dropped the ball on this, because I have been very busy this past year. Plus the initial interest in these seemed... overwhemingly... underwhelming.:(


Since it seems now that more people are replacing their shocks lately... and there seems to be more of an interest in the Jag conversion too... we'll see how this goes.

I called my contact again today... and he still has my donor parts on his desk.

At this point he's going to send pics to another company in Deerfield, MI to get an estimate to manufacture the mould for the larger Jag isolators only.

It would most likely be a single mould, (one part at a time), to keep costs down... instead of a 2 cavity or 4 cavity mould.

Expecting low demand... he's estimating the cost per isolator would be $75-100 per isolator. If enough are ordered... the cost would go down. How much? I don't know.

Yeah... $400 for 4 isolators is a bunch of coin... but keep in mind that this is a "one off" item for a low production vehicle... and a virtually unobtanium part. These are compression moulded. Injection moulding would be even pricier.

Plus... these are made out of urethane... instead of some cheap plastic that could be found aftermarket... if they can still be found aftermarket.

If this goes well... I might be able to talk them into making the ones for the front LS shocks too.

I'll state state again that I have nothing to gain from this... and am not being compensated for my efforts. Just trying to help other LSers out, (and T-birders, and S-Typers).
 
Ok... One last time...

Seems the interest in this is still underwhelming, so I gave up again... and had no further contact with UUP.

However... UUP must have passed on my contact info to another company... because I recently received the following text.

" Hi Mike, my name is Stephanie and I work with all Philpott Rubber and Plastic. We do some business with Universal Urethane Products and I met with them yesterday and they mentioned that you have some injection molded plastic spring isolators that you're trying to have produced. I tried calling you and leaving you a voicemail but your voicemail box is full. Would you please give me a call back at your earliest convenience to discuss further? I think we may be able to help you out. "
 
I guess my next question to the members interested... if I could get Philpott to join this thread for an open discussion... would this help generate interest and remove any causes for concern?
 
i'd be interested. hopefully they come in at less that $100 per piece! thnks for your work on this!
 
I know the reference in that broken link. Those "isolators" will most likely work on the rear of the LS... or all 4 corners of an S-Type... but will not work on the front if an LS... due to the size of the spring, and the size of the bottom plate on the shock, (which is actually the spring seat).
 
But... there is no guarantee that those isolators will work... without taking measurements or buying one and test fitting.

Plus... if they are the ones I'm thinking of... they are plastic instead urethane.
 
Yeah... this got ad much interest as a snail race.

Sad part is that as these cars age... that isolator is getting harder to find. I saw this coming.z

The front LS isolators are no longer available in the aftermarket.

It's done and over. I gave up on this quite a while ago.
 
04_Sport_LS said:
Yeah... this got ad much interest as a snail race.

Sad part is that as these cars age... that isolator is getting harder to find. I saw this coming.z

The front LS isolators are no longer available in the aftermarket.

It's done and over. I gave up on this quite a while ago.
Click to expand...

I guess I will have to go to the parts store once the springs and shocks arrive and see if they can find something that can fit. It sucks that someone does not offer a replacement part for this still.
 
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