Hey fellas when i puchased my car noticed that it handled very nicely compared to previous vl's i have owned.. the owner did not make any suspension mods but thinks the car had FE2 suspension, which it may have or it might just handle ok due to the fact the car has 130000 original kms and everything is still tight .. how do i identify FE2? i am looking at upgarding my suspension eg struts and bushes etc but dont want to interfere with the FE2 specs.. I have a HOLDEN VL Supplement Manual which covers a few things about FE2.. from what i can see there is quite a few upgrades besides the springs and shocks it seems thicker diameter sway bars, and zed bars and all sorts of things are changed. Is anyone very familiar with FE2 how can it be identified and what should u leave and change apart from the obvious springs and shocks? thanks

on your compliance plate it will say FE2 after the suspension type. Aftermarket coils will have a heavier rate, thicker wire diameter, and you can get them around the same ride height that you already have..a lot of people that upgrade their front sway bar use the ones of a later model SS or something..and as for the rear, i feel that the existing 18mm is fine, gives you a bit of rear movement helping you steer in, just update to noltec or superpro mount bushes front and rear. Chances are radius rod bushes will be flogged, i would use only genuine rubber or superpro bushes in that application. Lovells will sell the desired height to you if you send them the centre of wheel to guard height measurements, and they are pretty spot on.

Quote: Originally Posted by PISTVL Hey fellas when i puchased my car noticed that it handled very nicely compared to previous vl's i have owned.. the owner did not make any suspension mods but thinks the car had FE2 suspension, which it may have or it might just handle ok due to the fact the car has 130000 original kms and everything is still tight .. how do i identify FE2? i am looking at upgarding my suspension eg struts and bushes etc but dont want to interfere with the FE2 specs.. I have a HOLDEN VL Supplement Manual which covers a few things about FE2.. from what i can see there is quite a few upgrades besides the springs and shocks it seems thicker diameter sway bars, and zed bars and all sorts of things are changed. Is anyone very familiar with FE2 how can it be identified and what should u leave and change apart from the obvious springs and shocks? thanks Don't know why the VL Supplement Manual would say that the Z-bars are different because they are exactly the same. The only things that are different in the FE2 setups are the springs, the diff has a different tag number http://www.calaisturbo.com.au/showthread.php?t=21047 There is also a rumour that the front Sway bars are different but I'm not sure .

i did also hear that the panhard rod is a bit shorter or bent a bit too to compensate the ride height difference

Replaced the calais suspension on my car to fe2 last year. Changed the front and rear springs and front and rear sway bars. Definatly felt the diference compared to the calais suspension. Also the fe2 lowers u car by a practically unnoticable amount.

I have the Holden Commodore VL Series supplement Volume 6 3.0ET And associated components its a green manual from holden i think they use to use as a supplement OK the changes to Front FE2 suspension are as follows spring rate increased and spring height decreased changes to font strut valving

I have the Holden Commodore VL Series supplement Volume 6 3.0ET And associated components its a green manual from holden i think they use to use as a supplement OK the changes to Front FE2 suspension are as follows - spring rate increased and spring height decreased - changes to font strut valving - revised rate font stablizer bar - revised orientation of upper mount to strut tower - revised front wheel alighnment and trim height specifications - addition of sump guard - upper stur mount rubber durometer increased Tag on FE2 springs for sedan VW - stabilizer bar 24mm coulour = grey - Sedan without FE2 26mm Brown Strut Identification Fe2 = XS "tag on strut" Angle Castor castor FE2 2 degrees +- 1 degrees std suspension >> 1degree30+-1degree camber -0 30'+- 0 30' -1 +-0 30' if anyones wants more info let me noe ill post it up

Compliance plate does not mention anything about suspension but i did go under my car and had a look at the labels and colours of springs etc and it explains why the car handles as it does, because it did come with the FE2 so every who thinks they have got FE2 look at the previous post and go have a look under ur car and measure ur stabilizer bars and check the tags on ur springs and struts etc andrew this is some helpful info for all the ppl who want to noe about FE2 on the VL commodore Some original photos have not been recovered yet.

if it doesnt say fe2 on yours tags then it wasnt fitted with fe2 from factory.

i also checked the struts left strut on the top side just before the round thing the spring sits in it has this engraved GM Monroe 92023915 drivers side - Gm Monroe 92023914 I had no sticker labels on there as the manual states there should be but there is some grime/dirst might wipe em over and see if there is a label! i thought struts were MAcpherson how come they have Monroe written on them ?

Quote: Originally Posted by PNKBTS if it doesnt say fe2 on yours tags then it wasnt fitted with fe2 from factory. Fe2 on what tags bud?? i have measured stablizer bars and tags on springs and they match the manual for Fe2 specs so i think ur wrong dude! i doubt they were fitted by dealer and not factory and how can i check if they were factory fitted???

AFAIK all cars fitted with de2 from factory have fe2 somewhere on 1 of the tags. maybe some1 over the 18 or so years of the cars life have fitted fe2 which is actually a common thing.

Quote: Originally Posted by PNKBTS AFAIK all cars fitted with de2 from factory have fe2 somewhere on 1 of the tags. maybe some1 over the 18 or so years of the cars life have fitted fe2 which is actually a common thing. EG my car

Quote: Originally Posted by PISTVL i thought struts were MAcpherson how come they have Monroe written on them ? Haha! Macpherson isn't a brand mate! It means the shockie is down the guts of the spring, i.e a strut. The idea was thought up by someone Macpherson. Some original photos have not been recovered yet.

Tag on FE2 springs for sedan VW - stabilizer bar 24mm coulour = grey - Sedan without FE2 26mm Brown wouldnt fe2 have thicker sway bars not thinner than stock??

the FE2 id is on your compliance plate under bonnet...

Look at the springs and see if they are factory black,sit lower than standard and drives nice and firm instead of wallowy n/a springs its a good chance they have been changed,its all in the ride man.

yea the 2 plates near your fuse box in the engine bay