Coilover Problems!!, Give me some help you coilover'ers! Options

[deX]

Guys, i have my coilovers installed. But i dont know if i put them on right. Is the spring suppose to be attached to the top cap or just sit on the bottom part(the part where you can twist it to adjust height)? I can lower it up and down no problem but theres a freakin cranking sound coming out whenever i turn my wheels, fawkin sounds like my car is breaking down! Any help would be greatly appreciated!

[forkee]

u grease the top cap, put a rubber bushing that fits tight on top of that and grease that, put the original bearing on top of that, then the rest of the top spring assembly.

[Doge]

yeah i installed mine and i wanted to make sure i was doing everything right so i took it to les schwab and they looked at it. I asked him if it was ok that the cap was loose from the spring and he said that as long as you make sure the spring cap lowers onto the spring when you jack it down it will be fine..the weight of the car will make it so the spring wont come loose. But did you make sure you put all the rubber pads between all the metal touching metal. The only piece of metal from the coilovers that should be touching metal from your car is the sleeve and the top cap. Everything else should be padded. Hope that helps...good luck. By the way...how far were you able to lower your car? Did you leave the foam bumper stopper thing on the rod of the strut?

[Mynzeyes]

QUOTE (Doge @ May 2, 2003 - 9:06 AM)

yeah i installed mine and i wanted to make sure i was doing everything right so i took it to les schwab and they looked at it. I asked him if it was ok that the cap was loose from the spring and he said that as long as you make sure the spring cap lowers onto the spring when you jack it down it will be fine..the weight of the car will make it so the spring wont come loose. But did you make sure you put all the rubber pads between all the metal touching metal. The only piece of metal from the coilovers that should be touching metal from your car is the sleeve and the top cap. Everything else should be padded. Hope that helps...good luck. By the way...how far were you able to lower your car? Did you leave the foam bumper stopper thing on the rod of the strut?

what he said, plus what forkee said...grease the top cap. also, check out my How-To to see if anything in there cna help you out.

-John-

[deX]

thanks guys, ill check up on it!

[snadman]

This all soudns way too complicated. How much would it cost for a shop to install these?

I think i'm right but wanna check, you have to take off your wheels to adjust the coilovers right? Like the ride height I mean...and can you really lower it almost to the ground?

This post has been edited by snadman: May 2, 2003 - 2:32 PM

[forkee]

no, all u have to do to adjust the coilovers is lift the car up so that the wheels go down and there isnt any pressure on the springs. oh, hey john! i made a how-to also! hehe. its for my site, www.97celica.cjb.net, check it out and lemme kno what u think

Coilover Installation

[Rivo]

So you're saying don't even bother with a spring compressor? I can't imagine that's safe at all....and you forgot to mention to drive it to a 4 wheel alignment shop when you're done...and every time you radically change the height

[forkee]

yea, neither john nor i found the need for the spring compressor. it won't shoot off like some kind of projectile. i had it laying against the grass while stepping on it (crowbar through bolt holes to keep it from rotating while i was turning the top bolt the other way) , using a socket wrench to unscrew the top. it just made a popping noise as it expanded maybe 5 inches.

[Doge]

ya it just jolts really...just enough to scare you but the bolt goes probly a foot and the spring expands hardly anything. Lowering and raising teh car after the coilovers are on is easy..just lift the car and adjust...the springs arnt compressed when you jack up your car..so there's no danger of that. Installing these was accually easier than i though..its just hard to explain everything in words to make it sound simple like it is. John did an excellent job explaining everything..just do what seems right and it most likely is.

[deX]

Guys,

I found out the problem to what makes this sound. When I turn the steering wheel, the spring also turns or something and this makes the top cap pop out of place and then when I turn the steering wheel back, it pops again into place. I tried using zipties to hold the top cap and that helped! It didn't make any noise no more but then the zip ties broke off. What can I use to hold the top cap and the spring together??