Everything needed for a suspension upgrade? Options

[Spider77]

Well, finally did it. Took me and one of my friends about 5 hours to do all 4 corners. Wouldnt be so bad, but both my rear struts are the same P/N. Which I guessed I check them, but probly overlooked it. So placed the old strut on, have to order a new driver rear strut assy. Other than that, it looks great. I'll take some pics and post it up tomorrow.

[Joe_1985]

i lucked out and got kyb with h&r springs with good mounts and bumpstops all for 120

i got the rears on, fronts will be wensday when i do the cv axles

[Spider77]

i lucked out and got kyb with h&r springs with good mounts and bumpstops all for 120

i got the rears on, fronts will be wensday when i do the cv axles

Say what?! That is a great deal. The only thing I paid for was struts (100) front mounts (which I didnt need), and boots/bumpstops. Still 120 for what you got is a helluva deal!

BTW....Changing rear struts in a coupe sucks.

This post has been edited by Spider77: Nov 8, 2009 - 8:24 PM

[Joe_1985]

thats what i did today, in my coupe, the rears

wasnt that bad, fold down the seats, push in the push pins, lift the deck cover, that was a pita, unskrew the 2 phillps on each side for the plastic panel, use a 3/8 12mm with a regular size socket wrench, remove 3 nuts per side.

rest is pie

oh wait i have air tools and that massive harbor freight shop jack

This post has been edited by Joe_1985: Nov 8, 2009 - 8:43 PM

[Spider77]

Yeah, air tools woulda made it alot faster. And perhaps if I was a good foot shorter I could cram myself in the back a bit easier as well. But yeah, that deck cover was annoying.

[SwissFerdi]

How hard was it to do though, overall? Considering your mechanical inclination.

[Spider77]

How hard was it to do though, overall? Considering your mechanical inclination.

Well, the only hard parts was cramming myself in the back seat to get those nuts, and popping out those rear struts (took a punch and hammer to get the bolts to move). I have to say rebuilding the fronts was much easier, although messier. They went in and out with little to no problem. The rears, well, the hub just dosent move around a whole lot (as compared to front). But after figuring out a plan of attack by breaking down the first one (which really took the longest), we cruised right through it. Not real hard at all, just taking our time to make sure that everything was put back right.

[Joe_1985]

i dunno about you guys but my car rides a whole lot better and vibrates less( i got a set of wheels and tires for 150, but they need to be balanced)

[SwissFerdi]

Well, the only hard parts was cramming myself in the back seat to get those nuts, and popping out those rear struts (took a punch and hammer to get the bolts to move). I have to say rebuilding the fronts was much easier, although messier. They went in and out with little to no problem. The rears, well, the hub just dosent move around a whole lot (as compared to front). But after figuring out a plan of attack by breaking down the first one (which really took the longest), we cruised right through it. Not real hard at all, just taking our time to make sure that everything was put back right.

Good. Looks like I'll be attempting this myself then.

This post has been edited by SwissFerdi: Nov 17, 2009 - 10:47 PM

[Joe_1985]

if your tall it helps to remove the 4 14mm bolts from the seats and move them

im only 5'9 so i didnt do this but i have done it on smaller cars

[Spider77]

That sounds like its adding more work. Id rather cram in somewhere than start removing stuff that I dont really have to.
Swiss-----Make sure that you have a friend there to help, if your rebuilding the fronts a bench vise/ford wrench (or pipe wrench) helps things, and pb blast the bolts/nuts and give it time to work in.

[SwissFerdi]

^ LOLWUT?

PB blasting? Something WD-40-like, I assume?

This post has been edited by SwissFerdi: Nov 9, 2009 - 10:42 AM

[samir0189]

^ LOLWUT?

PB blasting? Something WD-40-like, I assume?

http://blasterchemical.com/display.cfm?p=50003&pid=4

it works wonders.

[SwissFerdi]

Shweet, thanks man. Is it available at auto parts stores?

This post has been edited by SwissFerdi: Nov 9, 2009 - 3:41 PM

[Spider77]

Yes it is! Is probably the best stuff of its kind.
Oh, btw...I did post some pics of the lowered celica....
but here is a close up of the new gap (after installation)

The rear.....3 Finger'ish gap

How it used to be (had to play with the contrast so you can see the wheel well) I could get almost shoulder deep in that thing!


The Front....2 Finger gap


Thats pretty much dead on as I could get. Of course, looks lower when your standing over it!

Ok, so I went out and took some other pics, here you go....


So that is the front gap, and pretty much how I see it from where I stand next to it.



Same as before, but for the rear.
I'll admit looking dead on and level, it dosent look like much, but standing over it, well, it makes me realize that I need spacers, or a better offset. And they are just one there, been 1 day now, so Im assuming that they will settle over time.

This post has been edited by Spider77: Nov 9, 2009 - 6:54 PM

[SwissFerdi]

Hopefully they'll settle a lot, because that's still a pretty huge gap...I'm not sure 1.5 inches is enough for me.

This post has been edited by SwissFerdi: Nov 9, 2009 - 5:49 PM

[Joe_1985]

yeah i have h&r springs, so far im thinking it would look better with another half inch or so lower

what size tires on on the chome gts rims?

[Spider77]

um...not GTS. They are like 15 inch versions of gts. but i thik im running 205 55 15

[mmmchocolate]

did your car settle anymore? i mean how does it look now after you've had them on for awhile?

[SwissFerdi]

Rather than making a new thread...ordering KYB GR-2 struts and probably S-Techs. Provided that I don't break the sway bar end links, this is all I need right?