03- SE convertible - Suspension upgrade and Stiffening brace

[rsd]

Hello

My wife and I just bought two 93s an 03 SE convertible, my wife's car, and an 06 aero sportcombi for me and the dog. It's been three weeks and we've been pouring over the info on the net for little tweaks that we make to sweeten the ride, especially the SE.

We are looking at the stiffening brace kit (chassis, steering and ARB rear) from talieferro and a set of Koni FSD shock and spring upgrade. I have a few questions that I need help with.

Shock and Springs:

Are the springs on the 2003 SE the same as the other 93s in the years <2003? The koni site, H&R, and others don't give me any springs for my SE, so I'm having trouble figuring out which springs options/models will fit. I'd like something that will match nicely with the Koni FSDs like Eibach Pro, Koni, H&R or Vogtland spings. We didn't want to lower the car, the streets here are third world, so more ground clearance will keep things intact. The shock info in the EPC was a little confusing, the choices varied depending on the letters in the vin number.

Edit: I've attached a diagram from the EPC. I've been looking at the wrong struts. Any suggestion for a performance option?

6 point Stiffening Brace:

Has anybody used an aluminum skid plate in the same configuration as the 6 point brace? I was thinking of a 3/8" shaped and cut aluminum plate like the one I used to have on my 97 TDI to protect the oil pan. I live in Montreal and the snow and ice wreak havoc on oil pans. I guess I could also use a thinner plate over the 6 point brace, so a brace/skidplate combo.

The other items on the SE list are:
Speaker upgrade and multimedia/navigation head unit
Fix rubbing/wear between window panel and roof brace on convertible top. It's slowly wearing a hole through the canvas
Stage 1 ECU upgrade

I'll surely have questions on those items.

Thanks