Geo Metro 4X4? (added bigger wheels, now want fix ride height)
 

Finished installing 14" tires and wheels on the jelly bean. Went with complete struts from a 96 4dr with 1.3 engine for heavier springs. Thought this might help with bounce after cutting. As some have pointed out. Gained vented disc over solids too, plus as CoyoteX pointed out, (Thanks) 12mm studs were needed. Took his advice and drilled rear drums with new studs worked great.

As Blackfly pointed out on his site, pulling away is quite different and if the pic works it shows, it now sits to high. Please tell me again CoyoteX how easy it is to cut them. Little fear here, at least the originals are availabe. Had my wife set the cruise at 60 on the express way(in our comfortable Buick! yes I'm old!), my speedo is only off by 2 it's showing 58? It had been very accurate before the swap. According to calculators it should be way off, IF 3.51 was acheived from 4.1?? site used is https://wildcatent.freeyellow.com/zookmods/calc.htm

Original tires were 155 R12 76S Arizonian. New 175/65 14 Kumo

Yes the width is bigger and I wish it wasn't. Tire set at 44 psi. Doesn't seem to have affected coast down. Will know more about that with my regular commute. Would like to nail down the FD so a replacement speedo gear can be chosen.

One negative to this swap already is weight. Original tires 20lbs. New ones 34lbs. Anyone have a spare 13" that could weigh it for me? Took out the spare and jack, the tire won't fit anymore and fix a flat is a lot lighter!

WOW that sure is high up in the air - should give a nice ride compared to the stock springs that would bottom out on my 94 all the time on typical road bumps.

We have a Celta at work which is an 07 version of the Geo, from Brazil. It has 14's so I knew it would work, handy thing to have around. Hope we have it for a while I'm curious as to it's final drive. They increased the wheel openings 2" over my geo. So the tires seem to fit better to the openings in a 94.

I thought about putting 14s on my car but that is really high up in the air :)

If you have changed springs then you pretty much know everything there is to cutting them. You just have to take your time and don't cut a lot on each pass. I need to take pictures sometime and put a howto together on cutting metro springs since this seems to come up pretty regular.

Some had said they had a bouncy ride after cutting them. As to much stiffer no, donor car had over 100000 miles (but had brand new brakes) so it probably sits were it did new. Steering response is no different, height right now is a problem. Need to get brave and cut them. Still have originals if these don't pan out.
I'm sure not going to be running as fast through the traffic circles at work. Acceleration is different, not objectionable as blackfly stated on his veh. when he went to 3.5 ratio. At highway speeds it is fine. I would like to get the weight of a 13" because if you go by the difference from 12" to 14" and fit 13" in between. I would think it would really be 7 lbs a corner?

oh and about your speed thing the buicks could be off too! its not the best way to tell if your spedo is off but it gives a good estimate (unles you were to do 2 runs, one how you had it before, and one after and compare the results)

I am totaly lacking expereince here and had to differ to others. Hopefully they will be shortened tommorow and I'll know. No one knows anything on figuring FD ratio? As to why it working the way it is?

wow, that is the equivalent of putting 17" wheels on a civic, lol. but anyways, now you can acquire "smoothy" hubcaps for cheap and tires for cheap. :thumbup:

They have just been ordered. Sold my 62 mini sat. sooooo........... 4 years ago 12" tires were $101 installed not anymore!!! Had a bent wheel and the cost of tires helped make my decision. Junkyards wanted a low of $25 each for 13". Got the steel 14" for $33 new from Discount tire. Tires were the same price either way.

UPDATE Cut springs well sort of. Fronts did not go very well. Tried Coyote X method and possibly because these are 4dr springs I could not get things lined back up. Bearing fell out and even with lots of grease and vise grips with a protective rag on the strut no go. So the stock struts and springs are back on the front. Ride is improved so stock springs will be cut when a spring comp. is available. Rears went great. To get a 2" drop if you measure from the A arm end of the spring cut 13.5" of or about 1 coil. Rides fine and tire fits wheel well much better. THE CLENCHER WAS CORRECT!

Ok first commute. Success!!! The car is totaly different on the highway. It's tons quieter. Geompg said a 25% drop in rpm for him. I'll differ to him as I have no tach. It feels great. According to what I have come up with so far 3.51 is what it should be from the tire swap. In 10 miles of watching mileage post I lost 1 mile or a tenth per mile. CoyoteX if you have lots of hills in your area, don't do this. The last couple of miles to GM proving grnds. Is hilly and 4th is now top gear on a couple. 3rd gear by 3 car lengths is gone too. Only problem was the drain wash in the parking lot I had never felt before!!!
The Celta this was modeled after has a 4.86. They regulary see 4 people in the veh. So there is quite a difference between 3.51 and 4.86 works for me.
Spring comp. is on order so hope to cut the frt. springs this weekend. Now to wait a few tanks to see the real change. With lots of driving I've found you need to prove changes for awhile, at least I do. I tend to catch myself driving to optimize the change. THATS CHEATING

Looking forward to hearing about the completed effects.

I have a set of springs from a mk3 (89-94) car, which may be softer than the springs on my mk5 (98) car (the mk3 is a bit lighter). I may try installing / modding them in my car this summer.

A Metro Donk in the making?

I was hoping someone had imported the AWD system from the Swift/Subaru Justy from Europe for their Met by the titel of the post.....

https://www.autoweek.nl/autotestrapport.php?id=320

Sorry no, that would be going the wrong way for MPG. Would be cool though.

So what is the point of your modification then, just increased ground clearance?

Sorry - some of the confusion is in the title of the thread, which I edited to try to clarify. The "raising" was the result of adding his larger wheels/tires. Now he's trying to erase that height gain. I'll see if I can fix the title (again).

I bought 6 of the same model tire, in one day, last time I bought tires. I also did a size change on my Daewoo Leganza (sold to friend.) Stock size was 205/60 15 but I got 195/65/15 Kumho Power Star 758 tires. They are Taller and narrower. They seem to make the back end of the car lean more on turns, but it feels solid at the same time. Hard to describe, but they drive great.

Also they were also put on the front end of my Escort. https://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m...2/lefttire.jpg They have a lot of grip, even with overinflating them.

Sorry for the confusion, the 4x4 crack was a joke. It sat so high it reminded me of one. Swap was to lower final drive, by increasing tire size to 14's.

OK. If you will check my archive posts of 13 years of Metro ownership, larger tires (155) always killed FE for me. Suzuki knew what they were doing with the little wheels.

I know, it does not make sense to me either, as I thought the same thing, larger tires, lower final at top speed (a lot of fast driving in TN on the interstate).

So far I'm seeing an increase. I can't say how much since driving route had to change for awhile. Strut tools have come so hope to lower the frt. this weekend.

Geo Metro 4x4 Lowered ?
 

Ok need help lowered the front springs 6.75" top and 6.75" bottom of the coils. This matched the 13.5" taken off rears. See pics. Did not get the same results as the rears. Did not lower it much at all. Those of you who have done this check out the pics. of the springs. Did you cut off more than that. Afraid to go further without some miles. How do you like the Moonies? good for 10% LOL also there it is now a Swift spoiler on the back. Help PLEASE

Following this thread with interest...

Thanks went for a ride tonight and it did settle a bit, still not enough. Never bottomed out so there is room for more cutting. Maybe the 3rd time will be the charm. Getting good at removing it and cutting with the new spring comp. tools 1 1/2 hrs this time. Running the newer Geo struts so the brake line brackets match up and my old springs.

"Spaz" is that the car or the driver?

Hey MetroMPG could you do me a favor and take a measurment? If you have a flat place to measure, open the hood and measure from the bottom of the rad. core support to the grnd. Before driving the car it was 28". That was after jumping up and down on the bumper. I'm no light weight, could loss 40lbs. on me not the car lol. Anyway it looked different this morning and it is now at 27"? Wondering what a stock 95 or newer metro is? Thanks in advance

Whoops, I measured the from the wrong spot, but you can still compare:

From the bottom of the rad support cross member to the ground, in the middle = 7.5 inches. IE 7.5 in. ground clearance. Can you use that?

Yes I can, thanks I'll check in the morning. I put a 4 ft. level on the door ding strip and the car is level on both sides. So I may be done. I hope to go in the afternoon to our local salvage yard for some good fenders to get started building the closer to tire wheel wells. Similar to those on the dream car Precept. I just don't know how close it can be in a full lock turn if you hit a bump will the tire crack the fender? Show cars don't have to always be totaly road worthy like ours do. And I do drive some bumpy rural roads.

Yes thats true. Plus I had a stupid attack!!!!!!!!!!!! Each time you jack up the car you cant the wheels in at the bottom, out at the top. You can jump up and down on the bumper all you want. You need to drive the car to get the preloads correct. I was quite hummbled by the corrections of a suspension guy. LOL Measurments have stayed the same for me. From the base of the core support I have 8.5" so 1" above the stock 13" tire size of a stock 95 or newer Metro. Which is what it should be now that the car has 14" tires. What do you all think?
Got my fenders today for $20 so now for some design work. Thanks to everyone who gave me input, great stuff. Hope this might help someone else.

Glad to hear you got the ride height back to normal.

Question: how's the RIDE? Notice any difference? What was the total amount of spring removed (in # of coils, ie 1/2 etc)

And I'd start a new thread for the aero fenders.

Good advice on the fenders. It will be awhile as there is quite a bit to do. Need to try and hide all that rubber! Coils removed,(see earlier pics) Rear, one whole coil 13.5". Front 6.75" top and 6.75" bottom by doing it that way it seemed to fit like the stock spring in the strut pockets. Ride is firm but acceptable. If you hit uneven pavement such as drain channels like we have in our parking lots, it can be quite a shock. Easy to learn to drive around. Mileage is still a question, but it seems to be good. Love the lower rpm on the highway not so tiring to the ears. Did you find the same on your trans swap? Since you have a spare set, you might want to give it a try? You can reverse eng. if you don't like it. Thanks again