Well, finally finished fighting it all to get them on. Now I have a few isssues:
Firstly, my rears are clunking, bad. All the strut mounts are brand new. I'm fairly sure I torqued everything down correctly, unless there's a major discrepancy in the Hayne's Manual to GM's notes.
Secondly, my front wheel gap, as mentioned in my other post, is uneven. I thought it was my carport that leans slightly, however, the gap in the rears are even, so that can't be the issue.
Thirdly, I noticed that the writing is upside down on my front Tokico springs when installed... However, I installed the rears with the writing up. Which way is supposed to be correct? The front just do not work if flipped upside down.
Last little tid-bit, I noticed the struts I removed have some sort of rubber/plastic 'lining' for the bottom of the strut, this wasn't the case with the D-Specs. I don't believe they are necessary, but I'd just like to double-check!
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2002 Sunfire -->
- Ractive steering wheel
- ASA 17" EM9 + Nexen N5000 215/45/17 (steelies for winter)
- D-Spec Lowering kit @ 1.4" (issues currently
)
- Rockford P250.1 + MTX MZS1004 + Panasonic CQ-C8313U head unit
- Barely legal tint.
im pretty sure that rubber lining you are talking about are your bump stops. and yes, you need to remove those from your stock struts and put those on the tokicos. you do need to resuse some stock stuff; IE the bump stops and dirt guard. (or whatever the technical name is for the plastic sleeve the bump stop is in)
in my case, the writing on my eibach pro kit springs is facing up. i would assume that is the case with other springs as well. if they dont work you might have the front mount put together wrong
unsure why your rears are clunking, mine clunk when i go over some potholes and bad bumps, but i assume thats normal since i dont have any problems.
12.33 @ 111.67 mph [Oct 2009]
Dyno'd on 08/02/09 - Mustang Dyno:
327.6 WHP 333.6 WTQ [10.1 AFR]
I think the rubber piece he is talking about is the spring seat, the little rubber flap that keeps the springs from being metal on metal with the srping perch. That will cause noise if you do not transfer that over. I would put those spring guards onto your d-specs. It COULD be the cause of your clunk.
The wheel gap is going to be more of a spring issue, and should settle in about 1-2 weeks time.....which side is it leaning to out of curiosity? (to lazy to read other post)
Make sure you have the rear springs on correctly. You'll notice the rears are a progressive spring, so you want the part with the springs really close together at the top of the car, and the part with loose coils at the bottom. If you have it backwards, that could also be the source of some of your clunking.
There will always be someone faster than you, but thousands slower and dumber than you.
John: It is the driver's side, front.
F-Body: yes, the tighter coils are near the top. Which is odd, because that makes the writing on them appear right-side up. The fronts are impossible to mount upside down, as the smaller end of the coil will not seat properly in the strut mount. However mounting the springs in such a fashion makes the writing on the front springs to appear downwards.
I'm going to try to source out some bump-stops/covers for the rears, as well as spring seats tommorow. I already have front bump-stomps and boots, and have no issues with those (apart from some very, very vague instructions...
)
--------------------------------------------------------
2002 Sunfire -->
- Ractive steering wheel
- ASA 17" EM9 + Nexen N5000 215/45/17 (steelies for winter)
- D-Spec Lowering kit @ 1.4" (issues currently
)
- Rockford P250.1 + MTX MZS1004 + Panasonic CQ-C8313U head unit
- Barely legal tint.
So I went ahead to try and find the boots and bump-stops for the rears in town... not a single soul has any in stock. The cost at the GM dealership for the boot + bump-stop came up to $140,
per corner, meaning $280 total!!!
I told them they had to be joking... And walked away. There's inflated, and then there's just plain @!#$ raping...
And how the heck do you put together a front mount wrong?
Edited 3 time(s). Last edited Thursday, April 17, 2008 7:33 AM
--------------------------------------------------------
2002 Sunfire -->
- Ractive steering wheel
- ASA 17" EM9 + Nexen N5000 215/45/17 (steelies for winter)
- D-Spec Lowering kit @ 1.4" (issues currently
)
- Rockford P250.1 + MTX MZS1004 + Panasonic CQ-C8313U head unit
- Barely legal tint.
Dude, its dave, let me know and ill take a look at it for you, ive probally done at least a dozen suspension set-ups on a j-body, im sure ill be able to figure it out.
Pm'ed ya bud.
P.S. TImmies is on me.
--------------------------------------------------------
2002 Sunfire -->
- Ractive steering wheel
- ASA 17" EM9 + Nexen N5000 215/45/17 (steelies for winter)
- D-Spec Lowering kit @ 1.4" (issues currently
)
- Rockford P250.1 + MTX MZS1004 + Panasonic CQ-C8313U head unit
- Barely legal tint.
Writing on the springs SHOULD be right side up i would think.. Remember to cut the bumbstops in accordance with the spring instuctions. For the piece of rubber plastic, did you mean the bumbstop, or just a round ring of rubber, which would be the spring insulator(this piece you could do away with as they are a pain to find) As for rear dust boots, and bumbstops, just take them off your old struts.. The rears you really don't need a spring compressor for, just an extra set of hands to push down while you take the nut off; thats all i did. Then just tap and wiggle the metal piece that the dustboot is attached to and pull it off.
No instructions came with the springs, other then some very generic diagrams. No mention of cutting the bumpstops suggested (the rears were clunking already, and I didn't have any bumpstops at all, D-Specs still on factory full-hard.)
Yea, after the best quote I got was something ridiculous like 120 to do my rears, I said fawk it, went to Crappy Tire, got some tire cleaner and rust paint. My rear dust boots look brand new now.
And I originally meant the spring insulator, they are a pain to find, and stupid-expensive at the dealer, so I snatched the old ones if I need them.
And the front springs are definitely correctly instaled... there's just no way the narrower part of the spring coil will sit in the top mount properly (as to make the writing face-up).
--------------------------------------------------------
2002 Sunfire -->
- Ractive steering wheel
- ASA 17" EM9 + Nexen N5000 215/45/17 (steelies for winter)
- D-Spec Lowering kit @ 1.4" (issues currently
)
- Rockford P250.1 + MTX MZS1004 + Panasonic CQ-C8313U head unit
- Barely legal tint.
Had the same problem with the writing with my KONI setup. Oh, has anyone noticed that it says "FAG" on the KONI coils?
Caution: I have an odd sense of humor, so don't be offended by the things I say
MMMM, HIDs
If you did not keep the old ones just go to a junk yard/recycle center and get 4 old ones for a few bucks for the whole strut. Much cheaper than $280.
2004 ecotec 5 speed. Injen intake,better plugs and wires. Just lowered it and added a wing.
If the ride height doesn't even out jack up the car and let the wheel hang and you should be able to rotate the spring a bit on the perch, I evened mine out by doing that, just matched the high/low spots side to side.
