Custom Adjustable Front Coilovers for All Years (fabrication required)

The never-ending quest for low...

I'm thinking either 300lb front 250lb rear or 350lb front 300lb rear..... Thoughts?

Front Options:

350lb: http://www.summitracing.com/parts/hal-12-350/overview/

300lb: http://www.summitracing.com/parts/hal-12ht300/overview/

Progressive 175lb-350lb: http://www.summitracing.com/parts/hal-12-175-350/overview/

Rear Options:

250lb: http://www.summitracing.com/parts/hal-8cs250/overview/

300lb: http://www.summitracing.com/parts/hal-8cs300/overview/

Progressive 225lb-475lb: http://www.summitracing.com/parts/hal-10-225-475/overview/

Those progressive springs sure look tempting...

Sir Psycho Sexy wrote:

The never-ending quest for low...

LOL +1

Robo, what spring length/sleeves/top hats did you get for the rear shocks, and is there a cheaper alternative than the Koni's @ $180 each?

I got these sleeves from speedway

http://www.speedwaymotors.com/Coilover-Kits-2-Inch-Body-7-Inch-Coilover-Sleeve,31667.html

no top hat.I fabricated a bracket from steel plate

springs are 10" eibachs

Koni was the only manufacture of inserts I could find.I'm sure there are others

SCOOORREEEEE, just got 5 Koni 30-7325's (for the rear) for $65 shipped. They were mis-listed as 30-3725's. Looking into springs as we speak. I'll probably try 2 of them out with the stock springs and to get the mounts made, then use 2 more for the coilovers and have a spare.

We're all counting on you, Matt, to be the 2nd gen 8 coil over Riv.

Just need springs and top hats and the rear is all done.

holy crap, he's really doing it!

I figured I would post how to make bumpstops and how to adjust these shocks since I haven't seen it posted here yet. This is also just a general guide as to what parts you need to assemble your rear coilovers. I'm sure there's better shocks to use, but me and Robo both have the same shocks and they seem to go together pretty well.

Parts List:

Shocks - Koni 30-7325 (2)

Coilover Sleeves - Allstar Performance AAF-ALL64163 (2)

Coilover Top Thingies (These will ONLY work with Koni shocks, buy yours according to what shocks you buy) - Allstar Performance ALL64173 (2)

Coilover Adjusting Nut (you can get 4 of these to jam them together if you want) - Allstar Performance AAF-ALL64180

Bump Stops - I had a spare set for the front OEM struts that fit perfectly after being trimmed a bit. You'll see what I mean in the pictures.

You can also buy rubber thingies to isolate any noise. They go between the top thingy and the springs. I don't have part numbers for these handy at the moment.



Assembly:

First you want to break loose the jam nut on the eyelet. The best way I found was to put the eyelet in the vice and then use a giant wrench to break the nut loose. After that the eyelet can just be unscrewed as well as the jam nut to put the bumpstops on. You don't need to do this step if you aren't using bumpstops like a dum-dum.

Next you can put the sleeve on. Pretty simple here, it literally slides right on.



After that you can make your bumpstops. Just follow the pictures for where to trim. If you don't trim the outermost ring on the OEM bumpstops a spring will not fit, so don't cut corners here. You can possibly get away with not trimming the height of them, but why risk it?









As you can see, since the top of the bumpstops is conical they fit pretty well in the inside of the top thingies since they have a conical inside (sorry my vocabulary is sucking tonight).




Adjusting:

Remove the black plastic cap with a flat blade or something.



Press in this button and rotate the shaft (giggity) clockwise or counter-clockwise for more or less rebound respectively.




I'll post more pics when I get my springs and make the actual mounts for the shocks.

Because some of you prooobably think I'm just blue-balling everyone......



The Springs: http://www.summitracing.com/parts/hal-12-250

Got them on today. Turn in is a lot sharper, but the ride quality isn't as awesome (obviously). Glad I only went with the 250lb springs because any harder and it would probably be to harsh. I might try adjusting the dampeners to see if I feel any difference. We doubled up every weld and used grade 8 bolts so nothing should break. We also reused the original bolts and nutserts for the bottom since they fit just fine (original bottom mount is 3/16", just like what we used to make the new mounts). We'll have to see how they do at the next autocross. If anyone has any questions feel free to ask. I'm just at original ride height until we do the fronts whenever.

Does anyone know where the fuse for the automatic level control is under the back seat? I found one labeled ELC that I thought was the right one, but it just disabled all the gauges and the air conditioning

Looks good man! I'm just concerned that the control arms weren't designed to hold the entire weight of the rear of that car at that point. Of course it sits fine, but what happens when you hit a big bump? There's not really a whole lot that it's holding on to at the bottom. Just my 2 cents.

That's a valid point. Or, it may hold up just fine. Our control arms are pretty stout. Props for trying this, and look forward to feedback. I use adjustable Koni inserts on all four corners of the GTO and love them.

Sir Psycho Sexy wrote:

Looks good man! I'm just concerned that the control arms weren't designed to hold the entire weight of the rear of that car at that point. Of course it sits fine, but what happens when you hit a big bump? There's not really a whole lot that it's holding on to at the bottom. Just my 2 cents.

It is a good point, I think somebody else brought it up when Robo did his. Considering he hasn't had an issue and the OEM shocks go there anyways I'm not to concerned about it but if anything happens I'll speak up. I was more concerned about the top mounts flexing since they have the added pressure of the springs now, but that should be solved by my massive (and solid) strut tower brace.

I figured I should also go into more detail on how the shocks are mounted. I used a lock washer on either side of the eyelet so that it has room to flex and do eyelet things. Then after the lock washers it's 2 3/16" steel plates that are roughly 1 3/4" tall welded to another 3/16" steel plate. We doubled up the outside welds and did a single bead on the inside (where the eyelet goes).

Codith - The top mount is pretty much the same (even the bolt holes are the same size/distance apart). The only difference is we used a wider piece of steel here to cover up the big hole where the stock rubber mounts stick through.

Exciting! I see that bracket you made up for mounting to the control arm so how did the top get mounted?

This would be a great problem to solve with FEA analysis. IBx1: you have some fancy CAD packages at your school. How about Matt sending you a spare control arm?

AA wrote:

This would be a great problem to solve with FEA analysis. IBx1: you have some fancy CAD packages at your school. How about Matt sending you a spare control arm?

Hah, I don't have one. If he's interested enough in messing with one I could probably pick one up.

Codith - I answered your question on my previous post, I saw you had posted your question when I was typing so I added it to that post.

Sir Psycho Sexy wrote:

I'm just concerned that the control arms weren't designed to hold the entire weight of the rear of that car at that point. Of course it sits fine, but what happens when you hit a big bump? There's not really a whole lot that it's holding on to at the bottom. Just my 2 cents.

Keep in mind that if the ride height ends up being the same, the amount of 'lift' created by the spring is no more than the amount of lift created by the airbags when you have stuff in the trunk. So you aren't holding the weight of the entire car any more than the air shocks do.

Very nice! You make me want to spend money on the 95 again.

Karma wrote:

Very nice! You make me want to spend money on the 95 again.

I've got an extra pair of the Konis if you want them.... I'd be willing to let them go for a decent price.

Woo!


Got a noob question about the sleeves for anyone out there who can answer.  Which way is up?  One end has a square inside shoulder, the other end is a bevel. (Images below)





I have two thoughts, the bevel would jam the circlip against the shock, but would the stress of the car weight cause twisting/stress/issues?  The square shoulder being down against the shock circlip currently makes the most sense to me.  The only thing I could find that would say one way or the other was this site:
http://www.miataturbo.net/suspension-brakes-drivetrain-49/better-bilstein-ebay-coilover-thread-78451/page11/
(post #217)

I ask because I notice in Matt's pics, his initial test assembly has them with the square inside shoulder down, but the installed pics are the other way with the bevel against the circlip. (Note the square inside edge has the outside end beveled, and the end with no outside bevel has the inside chamfer.)

I have mine flipped from what you have in the picture so that lip thingy is pointing up instead of down like you have it. Before I sent your shocks out, I moved the circlips to where they are on mine. I never noticed that one side was different than the other. I would imagine that the flat side would probably sit on the circlips better though. I've beat the piss out of these as they are now and they're just as solid as the day we put them on, so do what you want with that info.

Pic for example:

Yeah, that's what I noticed. Your outer bevel is up, so that means you have the inner bevel down and against the circlip. So far I've opted to have the opposite so that the inner bevel is not against the circlip and the square shoulder is against it. Unless I hear otherwise I think I'll go with that.

We'll see what Robo says since this setup is pretty much exactly the same as his.