Suspension swap part 1

[speedyblue]

Part one: Front Springs

First I measured the height of each corner, from the centre of the wheel to the bottom of the guard. The measurements I came up with were:

Front left: 360mm After: 342mm

Front right: 365mm 345mm

Rear left: 345mm

Rear right: 340mm

New stuff: 4x Tokico HP's and a set of ST springs, lowers an inch.

Then the work began. I jacked the car up under the subframe and removed the wheel. Notice how clean the floor is. First step was to disconnect the sway bar. Easy, 14mm socket on the rachet drive. Then was the brake line. 10mm open ender. The only nut that would undo was the one on rhe caliper, so It came off. The brake line also connects to the strut. I used pliers to pull the retaining clip, then wriggled the line loose. I had to be pull the hard line back through the hole in the bracket bracet. No other way around this.

I then pulled the cap off the top of the strut and cracked the nut while it was bolted in place, just to make it easier later. 17mm socket with a short extension i think. I then used a 14mm socket to remove the three nuts and screw washers that hold the whole assembley in place at the top. Wiggling it around dropped the studs through the holes, but not very far. The radius rod holds it all in place. By pushing down on the whole thing with my foot and jiggling it all, i couldn't get to come out. I took the nut and bushing off the rear end of the radius rod (17mm) but the lower control bushing stops any twist that would allow it to come out. It still wouldn't lower enough to come out. Eventually I put the spring compressor on and squished the strut down enough that with the use of more foot power it came out of the little box area that the strut fits into. Then it was simple to take the already loosened nut off the top of the strut.

This allows the top piece to come off, which is the top spring perch, an old cruddy bearing and the top bit with the three studs that hold it all to the strut towers. The spring comes out also.

At this point I was quite worried, because my new springs were about 3-4 inches shorter than my current ones. The floor is alse a little dirtier by now. The strut lock nut was a large octagonal thing, that was much larger than my shifter so I used a pipe wrench. I soon discovered I'm still not strong enough for stuff like this, so a length of pipe was added to the handle. Still wouldn't budge, so I used the secret weapon, a strong bloke named Phil. My father is very good at persuading tight nuts and bolts to come loose. He had the strut out in about a minute. Placing the new strut beside the old one, they are exactly alike, casings and all. Just the old one doesn't absorb much shock any more. I slid the new shock into teh tube, where it was a tight fit. I then pulled it out and added a little ATF, slid the strut back in, where it stuck about an inch proud. I spent the next 5 minutes pushing gently on the strut, extruding all the excess fluid. Very tight fit. New octaganol nut on top, tightened to approx 80lbft. The bar was about 2 foot long, and about 20kg (44lb) force applied by guess. Not quite an exact science but it works.

[speedyblue]

I chose this point to clean all the crud out of the bearing using the spray cans full of degreaser. Took no time at all. Then pushed in some grease and spun it to get it all in there. Dropped the spring into place over the strut, then the top perch, then bearing then the top bit. The strut poked through the hole enough to put the nut on. I tightened it up. The spring was captive just. Squished about 5mm from full length. One thing I noticed when I pulled it apart was there was no bump stop. Since I didn't have any, I put it all back together with out one, a little worried about it all.

There was then another great effort required to swing the whole assembly back into place, but after about half an hour I was putting the three nuts and screw washers back on, securing the whole thing to the shock tower. I added brake lines and a wheel, but left the sway bar till I did the other side.

The other side was a little different. For one thing, the strut lock nut thingy was round with little keyways in it for the "special tool" The pipe wrench had a little difficulty biting into it, but eventually I got it. That was the other thing, I got it undone myself, with a medium effort. Low and behold, there was a new looking white pedders shock in there. Now the other corner had a plain black shock that was utterly shot, but this corner has a newer shock that was still in good condition, but with the older style locking nut. Go figure.

I measured the height again after re-assembly and discovered the ride height had dropped by an astonishing 5mm. Hmm. I guess my springs really were sagged a little.

Got it all together, including bleeding the brakes (crutial step) and took it for a spin. First, hit the brakes hard. Nose dive still there. Then weave erratically about on the road. Body roll still there but limited. I have a 24mm front sway bar fitted. On hard weaves at about 40kph the tyres (195's on the front) were starting to wail a little and the total roll was about 2-3 inches, ie 1-1.5 inches each side. The rear springs are way worst than the fronts, really mushy so they could be contributing a fair bit.

Drove to work the next day and really noticed the difference. It now goes over speed bumps and other lumps like a car, rather than a 30 year old bucket of bolts. Thats so much better. Pushing it around a corner with a very bumpy, uneven surface is way better than it used to be. It used to skip along the top to some degree.

I can't wait to do the rears, but first I will fit some other goodies, like new radius rod bushes, lower control arm bushes, and while I have it dropped out, add some bump stops. All in a better than rubber compound, which have now arrived in the mail.

[HKSZ]

You'll notice a HUGE differance in ride.

Are those black inserts Peddar brand? Will you be fitting bump stops on the new inserts

[speedyblue]

The black insert May just an original one. The casing is EXACTLY the same as the Tokico one. Welds, end shape and all. The pedders one is white and has rounder ends and the such.

I now have the bump stops, so they will go on in the next day or so. Till then, I will avoid large bumps like the plauge, but with the car the same height and stiffer springs, I don't think i will suddenly start bottoming out the struts.

I just re-measured the guard heights. When I first installed them, I could grab the guard and bounce the front end a bit, but now after two days, the springs have settled and It barely moves if I do the same thing. The body roll is a bit tighter too.