Coilover install... - The real step by step how to...

[MaX]

for the spring compressor i got mine at autozone... and the first time i got the ones that were too big also... so i went back and they have soem smaller ones... look at the poster of the things you can rent... and there it is, the smaller one... the big one wont fit cus the coils on the springs are too close together right? and it good cus you get 100% money vack when u return it...

and one thing that really pissed me off was when you turn the screw on top the entire stut thingy will turn and you will get nowhere.... the hole on top of the enitre assembly id for a hex screw... and of course with my luck, i didnt figure that out until after i took them off........

if you dont want to use the spring compressor then shoot it out by getting a cardboard box and put a piece of carpet that covers the entire floor vaord fo the box, lay it down dtowards you and shoot that biatch out... the carpet is so that it kills the impact of the bolt... dont skip on this cus my friend shot his bolt through a box (with no carpet) and went through the wall of his garage and landed on his couch about a month ago... so be carefull...

or a safer way is to put an adjustable wrench on the nut on top and loosen it a bit (dont take it off) and then turn the entire assembly upside down and step on the wrench so it doesnt move...then as you put all of your weight on the stut assembly turn it.... when the nut comes off the spring will decomrpess but since your weight is on it, it wont go too far....

here are some step by step instrucions on what i did...
( i have a 1988 model so some things might be different but youll get the general idea)
- loosen all the tire bolts
- make sure your e-brake is on real tight or you are on a level surface
- raise the car up and place stands on the front & back
- take all the tires

FOR THE FRONT ASSEMBLY:

- you are gonna probably need a breaker bar to take off the screw that holds the strut to the fork arm (its a bitch cus its so tight)

- (you must do this first before anything else)

- then after the but is taken off, loosen the bolt on the bottom of the fork arm, tkae off the bolt and a get a normal sized screwdriver and hammer out the screw... the whole hub/brake assembly will fall about an inch...

- now wd40 where the strut and the fork meet and twist the fork off (fairly easy)

- undo the 2 bolts that connect the brake lines to the strut

- now the shock/spring assembly is hanging by from the top

- open the hood and undo the two bolts on the towers from each side

- take out the enitre shock/spring assembly

- now is where the spring compressor stuff comes in place

- take off the top bolt which ever way you choose form above

- take off spring off of shock assembly

- i took off the dust cover (your gonna have to, and they say its bad, but nothing has happed to mine a month later) of the shock and you might as well take off the bumpstops cus mine disentegrated in about a week (they were already shrouded to hell)
   - if you get after market struts then get polyurethane bumpstops

- clean the strut tube to tke off dirt and grime (hot water and a scotch brite will be more than enough)

- place one small "O" ring all the way on the bottom of the strut assembly about 1 inch before you hit the top of the spring bottome thigny (the part that sticks out of the sturt that holds the stock spirng up)

- place another small O ring about 1 inch before the top of where the sleeve would be

- wrap the poly-sleeve over the two O rings

- now place a big O ring right above the sleeve so you cant see the small sleeves (this will cover form dirt getting in) dont put it over or under the actual polyurethane sleeve as the coilover assemble wont fit...

- if you notice the poly-sleeve you will notice it is somewhat slippery kind of surface, this will help you slip on the coilover assembly(without the spring on yet) push down hard on it as it will be a very tight fit (this is good cus it will prevent movement of the coilover bottom)

- put the aftermaket spring on and reassemble in reverse order of removal.

- repeat for the other front side


FOR THE REAR:
- the rear is a bit easier

- unscrew the bottom bolt that holds the shock assembly to the lower arm of the rear

- unbolt the two bolts on the towers in the rear

- it will be a bitch to take out the shock/spring assembly, took me a good half hour trying to find out how to do it... just move it back and forth and youll eventually get it

- get a gun and shoot your car for pissing you off
- get bondo and repair damage

- do the same procedure as stated above to take off stock spring

- do EXACT same procedure to assemble the rear as you did the front

- stick in the completed assembly with the bottom first, make sure it goes in that hole (youll see what i mean) and then screw the top (towers) first

- the bushings on the bottom of the assembly decompress and makes it bigger than the actaul walls

- but an easy solution is to get your stock car jack and put it under the hole (its so easy you can do it by hand) and press the assembly until it lines up with the holes and insert the bolt in.

tighten everything up and double check everything

you should be happy with your results...

if i forgot anyhting ill post it later...

im gonna scan the diagram ground control gave me of the bushing thingys later...

hope it helps... took me 5 hours cus i had never done anyhting of that sort and i did the entire thing at night with a spot light...

some parts were aggrevating and stressful but well worth it..

[NeophyteDMD]

People often install coilovers and shocks (or struts for some of you) just for the fact of having them. The purpose is actually for traction and the balance of the car. Now if you take this a step further (or a step in the right direction) the coilovers will be followed shortly by adjustable or performance shocks. First thing to make note is that the coilovers or springs match the springrate of the shocks otherwise overdamping or underdamping could occur. I will give a non technical example for now, but this way it makes more sense than just a bunch of numbers. I didn't want to go into such detail on this thread. Factory springs have a really low spring rate as opposed to most aftermarket coilovers. I believe its something like 125 - 200 for stock, and usually around 300 for performance.  Now on to the adjustable shocks, for autocrossing on a honda you want the car to oversteer as much as possible. usually this would involve softer damping in the front and stiffer damping in the rear. For drag race, they recommend stiff damping all around and much stiffer springs. Now here some examples:

Over-damping: The shocks/struts are at their stiffest and the car does not budge causing understeer for fwd hondas. This also may prevent the springs from compressing/expanding as they were designed to move.

Under-damping: The shocks/struts are at their softest setting and the car may still have understeer, but not as bad as the stiffest setting. The springs may be overworked and once again, not operating as they should. In some cases this would cause "float" or the car would sway side to side, or in most cases, front to back after hitting a bump or going over a wide lump in the road at high speed.

Proper Damping: The shocks/struts are set based on the balance of the car. As mentioned earlier, for autocrossing in a honda, the best setting would be to stiffen the rear more than the front to balance the car for turns allowing the rear to slide out and the front to turn in, thus balancing the handling characteristic for this car or making the cars balance "neutral". Some cars are fortunate enough to have a neutral characteristic like the Toyota MR2 for it's mid engine, RWD design.

Well that's all for now. I hope that helps people in actually using their springs/coilovers and not just getting them because "they're JdM y0!". If I have missed anything let me know.