Post by Neil on Jan 8, 2012 21:36:58 GMT 2
Posted about a few times in case you guys miss it!
So, onto the write up and a bit of a fitting guide if you guy's are thinking of going down the same route..
Ok, first thing to take into account is that you will have to get your hand dirty, It's not a direct fit so some basic tool's are needed
* A Trolley jack / flat surface and axle stands/ wheel chocks
* A decent Bench Vice
* Hacksaw with a new blade.
* Copper Hammer (nice weight one)
* C spanners (make sure you get them with the coilovers)
* A round/ flat metal file/ and some Emery cloth.
* Copper grease / anti seize compound
(I will supply you with a 70g tube like pictured with front kit)
Also, if you have a low trolley jack, and if you have enough room to lift the back up from the diff, Do that, It makes life a whole lot easier with both wheels on/off at the same time ;D
Loosen the nyloc nut at the top of your new coilover and slide off the S13 Pillowball top mounts, along with the top and bottom spacer hats.
Next, Dig out the standard Rubber bushes from your old MA61 dampers (If they are perished, buy some Superpro poly replacments, No point putting any old crap back on.
My rubber ones were like new, so i will get some later on.
And arrange them like pictured.
the curved washers on the top and bottom bush SHOULD cup the bushes, so make sure you put them how i pictured.
the middle washer is a centre locator to guide the damper strut in straight. The washers may not fit, so a bit of filing will be involved. Not a lot though!
Next step is the bottom mount,
before you go any further, and if your using second hand Coilovers Make sure all the threads are free to turn, so spend some serious time cleaning everything till they're like new .
Notice i've already pressed in the spacer tubes.
Also, this is the bit if your using New dampers your warranty will go out the window, as this next bit requires some cutting..
(But you DO want decent/ cheap suspension don't you?! )
My advice, If your dampers do blow, just send them back the broken shock , and keep the bottom tube .So, don't be a Pussy and get it done.
As you can see in the picture ^ i have removed one of the lips on the bottom mount. (Reason will become apparent in next pic)
As you can see, the damper sleeve is longer than the lug, but its not so bad, the s13 dampers had some little lips which makes for awesome cutting guides..
I only removed one lip as i had some 16mm OD washers to make up the difference. If i were you, and had more time i'd trim them both so you use less washers .
Bolt's need to be 30mm long, but try finding them
I just chopped them down as left the ones i did have to supply at work
This is the next fun bit. Clean up your bottom lugs! (not pictured)
The tolerences for the lugs were awful, Are designed to support rubber bushes, plus 20 odd years of wear means they are not usually dead on 16mm, So spend a bit of time with some emery cloth/ glass paper till the bottom Damper tubes (with my sleeves) slide on nicely without lateral movement. So DON'T go mental with a dremmel
It's hardly any material, so go SLOW!
Your nearly there, so don't lose faith yet man!
Next you want to take apart the damper sleeves and Grease the absolute crap out the female bottom damper tubes. And i mean/ don't scrimp on the grease, really go to town on it!
This is the bit where a low trolley jack is so useful, jacking the back up from the diff allows you to get the springs sitting right, and more level than doing one side at a time.
Reassemble, then jack up the car from diff (always support) & remove the wheels, then position the top of the damper through the holes
Making sure all bushes and washers are in the correct order.
Lightly wind on the nut a couple of turns.
DON'T fully tighten as this gives the dampers some much needed movement.
Put the wheels back on, and nip up the wheel nuts, you WILL need to take it off again, so just do them up to hold the wheel.
Drop the car so the wheel/ arch gaps about 0.5" off being fully supported by the springs, This will give the dampers a bit of compliance. Do the same for the threaded bottom tubes. ie, allow the holes to line up about 0.5" BELOW the bottom lugs.
push the bottom of the damper up to meet with the lugs and make sure the strut rod is centered through the top mount.
if you've cleaned up the lugs properly it should slide on with a few light taps with a COPPER hammer, Ma61 bottom lugs are not horizontal to the damper sleeve by the way
(probably L -110 / R- 250 degrees clocked on a 360 deg scale ) so you need to give them a bit of encouragement till the poly bush allows the sleeve to slide on.
Its not a crazy angle though, so wont cause any long term damage
It's much kinder on the damper units to have a bit of droop as the wheel sometimes wants to drop slightly when going over a crest/ speed hump ect.
Make sure when you have enough travel in the damper though!, first test drive i did resulted in a shit scary no travel moment!
wasn't a good experience either
If you've ever experienced a knocking sound, this is usually the Root cause, hence why lots of posh coilovers now come with preload helper springs below the main ones.
Ok, so Now everything is lined up, cleaned and lubricated
the home stretch in sight!
Once you've Slid the bottom mounts over the lugs, ( Don't forget to grease) observe the gap and space the remainder with some washers like i've done, hell, you could even use the sleeves you took off the Nissan top mounts if they're the same size but a few washers wont hurt to space out the remainder
(Less are needed if you take off both lips)
Thread in the new 30mm bottom bolt (Grease!) and fit spring washer between the bolt head and the original cup washer.
Fully tighten the tops (good idea to replace the nuts if Nylocs)
Jack up the car again and remove the wheels (last time! )
you should be looking at something very similar to this..
You then will need to tighten up the locking collars , so, once again everyone! "GREASE" Haha ;D Yeah, wipe a bit of grease between the end of the threads , then wind the collar down over the grease till it nips up against the top of the bottom tube.
Grab you c spanner and tighten them up till your happy.
(A few taps with the copper hammer against the spanner is my technique)
Refit wheels, drop car, then chill! you've done well, so, before you take it out for a drive remember to set your dampers to an equal level, (i set mine to 16/32 clicks)
and as stated before, check you got near full piston travel when the car is back on the floor, you may need to adjust again when the car has settled on the springs.
Oh, and to anyone who want's to know about running the springs the same as the S13, check pic below...
Picture ^ shows the amount of clearance between the damper unit and the body of the car. The Nissan S13 2.5" dia springs
would def. foul against the body. there's about 20mm between them at the bottom, and gets tighter as you go up!
I have Whiteline Anti Roll bars on my car, so the spring rate doesn't have to be really hard to support the weight of the car.
I just have shortened originals, but i will post up some details on part codes for some Eibach replacement springs and spring cup adjusters v. soon!
Hope this has been useful to you guys anyhow!
So, onto the write up and a bit of a fitting guide if you guy's are thinking of going down the same route..
Ok, first thing to take into account is that you will have to get your hand dirty, It's not a direct fit so some basic tool's are needed
* A Trolley jack / flat surface and axle stands/ wheel chocks
* A decent Bench Vice
* Hacksaw with a new blade.
* Copper Hammer (nice weight one)
* C spanners (make sure you get them with the coilovers)
* A round/ flat metal file/ and some Emery cloth.
* Copper grease / anti seize compound
(I will supply you with a 70g tube like pictured with front kit)
Also, if you have a low trolley jack, and if you have enough room to lift the back up from the diff, Do that, It makes life a whole lot easier with both wheels on/off at the same time ;D
Loosen the nyloc nut at the top of your new coilover and slide off the S13 Pillowball top mounts, along with the top and bottom spacer hats.
Next, Dig out the standard Rubber bushes from your old MA61 dampers (If they are perished, buy some Superpro poly replacments, No point putting any old crap back on.
My rubber ones were like new, so i will get some later on.
And arrange them like pictured.
the curved washers on the top and bottom bush SHOULD cup the bushes, so make sure you put them how i pictured.
the middle washer is a centre locator to guide the damper strut in straight. The washers may not fit, so a bit of filing will be involved. Not a lot though!
Next step is the bottom mount,
before you go any further, and if your using second hand Coilovers Make sure all the threads are free to turn, so spend some serious time cleaning everything till they're like new .
Notice i've already pressed in the spacer tubes.
Also, this is the bit if your using New dampers your warranty will go out the window, as this next bit requires some cutting..
(But you DO want decent/ cheap suspension don't you?! )
My advice, If your dampers do blow, just send them back the broken shock , and keep the bottom tube .So, don't be a Pussy and get it done.
As you can see in the picture ^ i have removed one of the lips on the bottom mount. (Reason will become apparent in next pic)
As you can see, the damper sleeve is longer than the lug, but its not so bad, the s13 dampers had some little lips which makes for awesome cutting guides..
I only removed one lip as i had some 16mm OD washers to make up the difference. If i were you, and had more time i'd trim them both so you use less washers .
Bolt's need to be 30mm long, but try finding them
I just chopped them down as left the ones i did have to supply at work
This is the next fun bit. Clean up your bottom lugs! (not pictured)
The tolerences for the lugs were awful, Are designed to support rubber bushes, plus 20 odd years of wear means they are not usually dead on 16mm, So spend a bit of time with some emery cloth/ glass paper till the bottom Damper tubes (with my sleeves) slide on nicely without lateral movement. So DON'T go mental with a dremmel
It's hardly any material, so go SLOW!Your nearly there, so don't lose faith yet man!
Next you want to take apart the damper sleeves and Grease the absolute crap out the female bottom damper tubes. And i mean/ don't scrimp on the grease, really go to town on it!
This is the bit where a low trolley jack is so useful, jacking the back up from the diff allows you to get the springs sitting right, and more level than doing one side at a time.
Reassemble, then jack up the car from diff (always support) & remove the wheels, then position the top of the damper through the holes
Making sure all bushes and washers are in the correct order.
Lightly wind on the nut a couple of turns.
DON'T fully tighten as this gives the dampers some much needed movement.
Put the wheels back on, and nip up the wheel nuts, you WILL need to take it off again, so just do them up to hold the wheel.
Drop the car so the wheel/ arch gaps about 0.5" off being fully supported by the springs, This will give the dampers a bit of compliance. Do the same for the threaded bottom tubes. ie, allow the holes to line up about 0.5" BELOW the bottom lugs.
push the bottom of the damper up to meet with the lugs and make sure the strut rod is centered through the top mount.
if you've cleaned up the lugs properly it should slide on with a few light taps with a COPPER hammer, Ma61 bottom lugs are not horizontal to the damper sleeve by the way
(probably L -110 / R- 250 degrees clocked on a 360 deg scale ) so you need to give them a bit of encouragement till the poly bush allows the sleeve to slide on.
Its not a crazy angle though, so wont cause any long term damage
It's much kinder on the damper units to have a bit of droop as the wheel sometimes wants to drop slightly when going over a crest/ speed hump ect.
Make sure when you have enough travel in the damper though!, first test drive i did resulted in a shit scary no travel moment!
wasn't a good experience either
If you've ever experienced a knocking sound, this is usually the Root cause, hence why lots of posh coilovers now come with preload helper springs below the main ones.
Ok, so Now everything is lined up, cleaned and lubricated
the home stretch in sight!
Once you've Slid the bottom mounts over the lugs, ( Don't forget to grease) observe the gap and space the remainder with some washers like i've done, hell, you could even use the sleeves you took off the Nissan top mounts if they're the same size but a few washers wont hurt to space out the remainder
(Less are needed if you take off both lips)
Thread in the new 30mm bottom bolt (Grease!) and fit spring washer between the bolt head and the original cup washer.
Fully tighten the tops (good idea to replace the nuts if Nylocs)
Jack up the car again and remove the wheels (last time!
)you should be looking at something very similar to this..
You then will need to tighten up the locking collars , so, once again everyone! "GREASE" Haha ;D Yeah, wipe a bit of grease between the end of the threads , then wind the collar down over the grease till it nips up against the top of the bottom tube.
Grab you c spanner and tighten them up till your happy.
(A few taps with the copper hammer against the spanner is my technique)
Refit wheels, drop car, then chill! you've done well, so, before you take it out for a drive remember to set your dampers to an equal level, (i set mine to 16/32 clicks)
and as stated before, check you got near full piston travel when the car is back on the floor, you may need to adjust again when the car has settled on the springs.
Oh, and to anyone who want's to know about running the springs the same as the S13, check pic below...
Picture ^ shows the amount of clearance between the damper unit and the body of the car. The Nissan S13 2.5" dia springs
would def. foul against the body. there's about 20mm between them at the bottom, and gets tighter as you go up!
I have Whiteline Anti Roll bars on my car, so the spring rate doesn't have to be really hard to support the weight of the car.
I just have shortened originals, but i will post up some details on part codes for some Eibach replacement springs and spring cup adjusters v. soon!
Hope this has been useful to you guys anyhow!
