dave120

Well after installing the rear torsion bars on Saturday, we started the fronts yesterday and finished up this morning. Installing the coilovers was a lot easier and less time consuming than the rears. The thing that takes the most time during this part is cutting off the lower spring perch.

Here's what it looks like coming off the car. Make sure you use spring compressors before you try and take it off the car!



Dad tried out his new plasma cutter on the spring perch. After cutting the big section off, he used the angle grinder to get it down to what we wanted. We didn't go too crazy as to avoid damaging the housing for the ABS stuff, etc. If we had more time we might have taken that off and gone more, but it works and looks fine.



Here's what it looks like after you cut the lower perch off. You can cut as much as you want, or even just leave the whole thing on, but it'll look much cleaner the more of it you get off. You only need to leave enough so that the new threade collar can sit on it.



Lacking any yellow paint and not having the time to try and find any, we just masked the strut off and used black on part of the strut. It still looks pretty good, and the threaded collar covers most of it anyways. Here's what the first one looks like assembled.



And here's how it looks installed. That was the first ride height we tried, which ended up being about an inch too high. That was all we got done yesterday, as it was about to rain and we had a family gathering to go to. We picked it up this morning before I had to go to class and finished up.



The second strut after chopping part of the lower perch off with the plasma cutter.



While we were grinding it down we used this metal sleeve to protect the strut from all the flying sparks and things since we didn't have any yellow paint to touch up with if we messed it up too badly. After a good degreasing it looks much more like the Koni yellow we're used to.



Here's the second one fully assembled and ready to go back in.



Here's the driver side installed and at the correct ride height that we wanted. One adjustment is all it took to get it spot on. Just set it somewhere initially, go drive around a bit, and then measure how far down (or up) the sleeve you need to go in order to get the ride height you want.



Passenger side all in and adjusted right.



A couple shots a few feet back so you can see what they look like.




And that's it. Thumbs up to Paragon for the great kit and the instructions they provide give you pretty much everything you need to know. There's not much to doing the fronts.

One of the main things I was worried about with installing these was not being able to keep the ride height high enough, but I was relieved to see it too high (after driving it around the block to let the suspension settle while taking measurements) at the first setting we tried which was near the top. One adjustment later and it's perfect.

If you read my other post about the torsion bars, I commented on how much it oversteered before doing the fronts. It's much more balanced now, with just a slight bit of oversteer which is how I want it. I need to get an alignment (although if you measure correctly you can keep it pretty close) and might want to play with the shock settings a little bit, but it's pretty good right now. Almost no body roll even on tight turns now (the few I had time to do before I had to leave for class). No noise from the Delrin spring plate bushings or anything yet. I have some more driving to do soon to really get a feel for how it drives now, but initial impressions are pretty good. The 300# springs and 28mm torsion bars aren't too still on the street (for me anyway) with the shocks set to about 1/2 stiff. It's actually a nicer ride than the 200#/24.5mm with the shocks almost at full stiff.

I'm happy with it at this point. Can't wait to test it out on the track in a couple months. I'd post some pics of the whole car and it's new (only slightly changed really) stance but it's way too dirty right now

macnewma

Awesome man! When I finally find the time, I will tackle the same exact install. I can hardly wait to get rid of the damn stock suspension!

Max

joseph mitro

they look really good (and remarkably familiar )

i've got 275# fronts and 140# helper rears. i'm considering delrin bushings and lowering the rear. did you lower the rear? (sorry, I can't remember)

oh yeah, and where did you get the delrin bushings from? I want those. is the ride stiffness intolerable on the street? (not that it matters because i'll use it mostly on the track)

kinda5150

how tall are the coils in the unsprung position? how tall are the threaded sleeves?

hosrom_951

Dave: Great work, i hope you replaced those inserts after going through all that work

dave120

I lowered the rear by about 3/4". I dropped the front the same to match it. I was trying to keep it as close to the way it was as I could, but that's about as close as we could get it, and I think it sits nicer like that anyway. Got everything from Paragon...they're Racer's Edge Delrin bushings...about $160 for both sets. Not intolerable ride quality at all. I think it's actually less jarring than my previous setup probably because my rear shocks were at full stiff before and now they're at about 1/2. The fronts are about 3/4 I think.

dave120

hmmm..you know what? I don't know exactly...I didn't measure those things during the process.

dave120

The Koni inserts? They're actually not inserts...they're full new struts that were bought by the PO a couple years ago before they were discontinued, so they don't need to be replaced yet....they're still perfect.

pete944

I was going to suggest the zip ties on the top of the spring but I see you got it.

IMB951

mmmmmmmmmm plasma cutters.... **drool**

dave120

Yeah they keep the top on when the suspension is unloaded because these springs are a lot shorter than the ones that came off.

tifosiman

Those look like the 10" springs, due to the position of the adjuster barrel in order to get the car to the proper ride height. I have 8" springs on mine (so that they are the same length as the rear coilover springs and thus interchangable if ever needed) and the perch/barrel is much higher than that for even an extremely low ride height.

Looks good!

B&G

Were you able to get the same diameter springs front and rear? I didnt think the 2.25" ID springs will fit over Koni front strut bodies, and I would think 2.5 plus ID rears will rub on the trailing arms. ? . Or are you using a smaller diameter front strut like bilstein?

tifosiman

Front's are Koni's with Paragon's GC kit, rears are KLA units that use a 2.5" spring as well. The KLA units are upside down, so that the spring is at the top, thus no rub on the trailing arm.

Hope that helps............

Jeremy

dave120

Thanks tifo....10" sounds about right. With 8" ones on there you must have quite the lowrider