Suspension Redo!

[Zedyone_kenobi]

Well today I got back into the Z after almost a year of playing solely with the roadster.  Man it was nice to show some love her way.  Well my first hour of work went swimmingly

 

I got to here rather quickly.

 

 

I managed to get all of the parts off rather easily. My lower control arm pin, looked brand new so I think at some time it was replaced, so I did not mess with it.  I will save that mamma jamma for later

 

Well anyway, I have been thinking my struts were kaput for a while as they are at least 18 years old according to the receipt from the PO.  

 

Here is what pulled out. And it came off without any fuss at all.  I think the gland nut is stuck to the strut though.  haha.

 

 

Sorry for the grainy iPhone pics, I did not have my camera.  Now, I can push the strut in with my hand almost all the way to bottom and it slowly rises back up. you can hear the fluid squish as it rises back.  So I think that means it is doing it's job. I have nothing to compare it to.

 

The reason i am doing all of this is I want a bit more ride height and some actual bump damping.  Was thinking of getting some eibach springs, but not sure if they give a better ride or not.  Those are the tokiko springs and struts as you can see. 

 

Was thinking maybe going with the eibachs as I mentioned, and just getting some new tokikos, but not sure if that will give me more ride height.  

 

Any suggestions?

Edited March 27, 2015 by Zedyone_kenobi

[Zed Head]

Those springs have been cut.  Both ends should look like the top.  A new set, uncut, might do the job.  Word is that they drop height 1" from stock.

 

The shock re-extending just means that the gas charge is intact and the seals are good.  Hard to tell when shocks are bad.  But if you mean that the shocks aren't damping bumps, allowing too much travel, maybe they need replacing.  On the other hand, if they don't move fast enough, giving a harsh ride, maybe you need a softer shock.

[Diseazd]

Zedy.......You'll love the ride you get with Eibachs........they don't lower the stock ride height much....maybe a half inch. Glad to see you back on the Z. Any pics of the roadster? Hope you have your "safety socks" on when you're working on that suspension. BTW.....Eibachs are black, so they look stock.

Edited March 28, 2015 by Diseazd

[Zedyone_kenobi]

Oh definitely, OSHA white safety socks!  HAHA

 

 

 

I will never ever stop working on the Z's guy!  

 

I am concerned with the Eibachs as I hear they make the but droop too much.  Is that an older problem?  I really think the HP tokicos are fine now that I read more about them.  IT takes quite a bit of effort to push them in and they rise instantly by slowly.  

 

So it would see I have a choice now. Which springs to try.  Eibach's or tokicos.  IF mine have been cut that would explain the harshness.  I cannot even push down on any corner of the car. It does NOT MOVE. I think I would dent the sheet metal before the spring compressed.  I may have to do a search to see what the free length of tokicos are to verify if mine have in fact have been cut!

 

I would have never suspected that!

[Diseazd]

Ride height of Eibachs............

[Patcon]

The roadster looks great. It's too bad I am so tall...

C

[240260280z]

Guy, Stephen said you have a droopy butt!

That is a gauntlet throw if I ever saw one.

[Diseazd]

I wish he wouldn't use those big words........Sometimes I think engineers read too much. I love that roadster, but I think it has a little too much DRIP in the front!

[Zed Head]

On second thought, it could be the angle of the photo.  Maybe check the ends for paint.  But you can see that the last few inches of each end are normally bent to offer a flat seat on the perch instead of the point of the wire end.  In your picture, the gap looks like the seat area is gone.

[Zedyone_kenobi]

I actually checked the ends and they are all painted with same extra thick rubbery paint as the rest of the spring

Well I ordered new hardware, 4  new top hats and 4 new eibach springs. 

 

They will be here in a week. So nothing left to do but start pulling springs!!

 

The roadster is what started me on this.  It actually has damping and suspension movement when it goes up and over bumps, the Z feels like the suspension cannot move an inch upward at all. Like I am riding the bump stops all the time.  So even though the struts appear to be fine, I will check each one the best I can when the spring is removed.

[Diseazd]

Stephen.....Good choice on the Eibachs......I think you'll love 'em. Nice soft ride around town and progressively firmer under G. Did you ever put the new interior in the white car?

[Zedyone_kenobi]

Yup, got new rear vinyl for the parcel shelf, got the OEM seats completely redone(sold the miata seats), new convertible cover, new top, new door cards, polished the stainless door panels, and got new window cranks.  Still have some work do to, but it looks awesome.  Just need to figure out how to redo the dash. That will be after the Z suspension. Not sure how I ever thought I could afford to restore two of these things!

 

I ran out when my youngest was sleeping today and removed the passenger rear strut.  

Well the story is not so good.  I got it out without any issue, but it is much easier to push in and it only VERY slowly raises up until its about 2" shy of fully extended.  I have to pull it to get it finish the return stroke. Meaning, that the driver was probably healthy and the passenger was NOT.  So this means, I am back to new HP tokicos blues unless you guys can talk me into something else