so yeah 3 years ago i purchased a set of skunk2 coilovers for my 97 z24...
bought them from a local shop that had bought them for a 2003 ls sport-told me that they were the wrong ones for THAT car, so i bought them for my car cuz they had my years on the box.
paid half price ($150)

well, needless to say they didnt have any instructions included with them...

took it to a shop to have them installed on my 98 z24, they said they wouldnt even attempt it til they had some sort of instructions.

looked on skunk2's website and they dont even sell them for our cars ne one, so obviously they arent gonna have any instructions anywhere. today is saturday and im sure there closed so i was jw if anywhere here had them on there car and still had the instructions that had came with them?

pleae? im desperate

thanks guys



Black 97' Z24
Blacked Out and Lovin' It...
"Z Yaaaa"

its pretty straight forward like any other spring install. any good shop should be able to put them on. take the strut mounts off. remove springs. slide on coils, cut bump stops, put mounts on and reinstall.

i hope you have very good struts for those coils because the spring rate on them is pretty high. your stock struts will blow in about a month with them on probably

idk how good the struts are...look decent to me, car rides well. dont really care, want the car lowered for this summer, next year im buying koni yellows and eibach sportlines.

only planning on lowering the car an inch and a half.

too me it looks confusing, there are like brass schims that came with the kit, rubber o rings etc... no one has any idea where all the stuff goes.

thanks



Black 97' Z24
Blacked Out and Lovin' It...
"Z Yaaaa"

It's not engineered for the car. DId they even come with top hats and any sort of bearing?

When Skunk2 listed them on their site, they said "sleeves only", indicating that it wasn't a complete kit.

Basically, you got screwed.

If you actually still want to install them, you'll need some Konis or Tokiko D-Specs to keep them under control and you'll have to source out some sort of top hat and bearing mechanism to use with them. You can probably order the top hat from Ground Control.

i had skunk2 coils. they come w/ top hats, just no bearings thats all

Wild Weasel wrote:It's not engineered for the car. DId they even come with top hats and any sort of bearing?

When Skunk2 listed them on their site, they said "sleeves only", indicating that it wasn't a complete kit.

Basically, you got screwed.

If you actually still want to install them, you'll need some Konis or Tokiko D-Specs to keep them under control and you'll have to source out some sort of top hat and bearing mechanism to use with them. You can probably order the top hat from Ground Control.

agreed.


and the fact they dont come with bearings as said above... just retouches on what weasel said.

as for directions, check ny-j's site... there some stuff on there for the generic leftovers companies sell for cars stuff isnt designed for. its vague, so it not step by step for everything, you might have to fabricate some stuff or compensate...

also they should sit on the stock spring perches at all....

my kit came with a ton of stuff...springs, aluminum deals that u adjust to make them go up or down...and they have aluminum deals that sit on top of the springs (i think that means the hats)

bearings? doesnt the front strut assembly have a rotator bearing assembly that sits on top STOCK? whats wrong with that



Black 97' Z24
Blacked Out and Lovin' It...
"Z Yaaaa"

The stock bearing is likely too big and won't mate up with the top hat. If it does, then yes, that will do. I believe the Tein basic kit actually uses it.

ok...so, is there anywhere that sells a smaller bearing assembly for crap lowering springs that come w/o them?

anyone know if the stock ones will work with skunk2's?



Black 97' Z24
Blacked Out and Lovin' It...
"Z Yaaaa"

I would say just toss these skunk things in the garbage and buy some ground controls or some other quality product designed for the car...

like i said above...next year im buying koni yellows and eibach sportlines

i want it lowered for ONE summer

why doesnt anyone understand that I DONT CARE if the struts blow I DONT CARE if "they werent designed" for the car



Black 97' Z24
Blacked Out and Lovin' It...
"Z Yaaaa"

i dont care but your running the risk of ruining other parts and dangering the life of you and others on the road, but then again you dont care.

read up on suspension stuff before you do stupid things

well i gave you instructions on what to do, where to go.... you might can buy bearings from ground control, but i wont garuntee they will fit.




as for the " i dont care if they were designed for the car" .......well you should on the basis that things that arent designed usually dont fit well...

can you see a thong designed for a woman who is 5'5 and 126lbs fitting a woman who is 5'8 and 436lbs, fitting right or working right?


thats the MAIN REASON you should get something thats designed for the car, struts aside. so the crap actually fits the car and not another car, unless you are prepared to do the fabrication necessary to make the parts fit...

in that case, its more of a DIY custom ordeal.

just being honest.




to start, most coilover sets should come with a D ring, that the sleeves sit on, and the spring perch should be removed from the strut itself.


with konis, theres no need of removing the rear perch for coilovers as there is already a welded ring on them. you usually have to remove the perch from the stock struts anyways by smackin em off on the rear stock struts with a hammer.



like said, i dont really care if you dont care about other parts such as your bushings, ball joints, and tie rods.... really i dont, there will be plenty of people here to say "i told you so" when things do go wrong. i learned the hard way, and i realize your issue is only one summer.

but more or less, i'm just focusing on the sleeve actually sitting in the right spot which will prob be the most crucial part.

Funky Bottoms (Event) wrote:like said, i dont really care if you dont care about other parts such as your bushings, ball joints, and tie rods.... really i dont, there will be plenty of people here to say "i told you so" when things do go wrong. i learned the hard way, and i realize your issue is only one summer.

agreed. i also learned the hard way. i had these coils. trust me its not worth doing and wasting money when other things break just because you were to impatient to wait. in the end though you will do what you want anyway but that doesnt mean we cant tell you what is possibly going to happen.

ive waited 4 years to lower my car...its been long enough.

i took it to the shop where their resident expert (who wasnt there the first time) installed the kit on the car.

car rides excellent, handles like a dream...i dont hear or feel anything that would make me think something is wrong.

ALTHOUGH...the car is basically at stock heidth just maybe a half inch lower than stock

they guy said if he lowered it anymore there would be problems with the struts bottoming out so yeah
i didnt even get my way, the car looks like total CRAP and i WASTED $270 to get them installed. yippie.



Black 97' Z24
Blacked Out and Lovin' It...
"Z Yaaaa"

hate to say it but that guy was an idiot....

the struts wont bottom out if its .5 inches lower than stock......


think about it.

theres about 3-5 inches of suspension travel in any given stock car....

subtract .5 inches

you still have 2.5 to 4.5 inches.... and with the spring rates being higher than stock, it takes more force to compress and bottom out.


the stuff might be on there, but the crap he told you about bottoming out, the guy was full of HORSE DUNG....





also check to see if the spring perches are there.... if they are, you will prob have problems in the front sooner than later. everything when its new "is a dream"

its 2 weeks and beyond where stuff shows.





and yea you did waste money especially when i told you where to get directions.....

^ This guy knows his stuff

and $270 for install? You got hosed realllllly bad....

well, i didnt want to do them myself-thats why the shop did it, i dont have a REAL spring compressor and its too fricken dangerous to do it with them POS ones you bolt onto the springs.

no, the stock spring perches were left on the struts.

so yeah...IM going to adjust it myself and try lowering it down another 2 inches...
the guy said the back was absolutly as low as it COULD posible go, so idk whats up with that the adjuster rings are all the way at the bottom-touching the spring perch so idk how i can get them any lower.

he also said he took it out and drove it lowered down more in the front and he said he HEARD the struts bottoming out, so idk if that really means CRAP skunk2 making noise or if the struts are indeed acctually bottoming out, but like you said event...theres no way it could so idk whats up.

thanks alot for everyone's help and insight so far-sorry ive come off as a d!ck sometimes, but you gotta understand how frustrated i am.



Black 97' Z24
Blacked Out and Lovin' It...
"Z Yaaaa"

you can lower it more and it will hold up for now but theres no tellin' when they stock struts will blow

Fast97z24 wrote:well, i didnt want to do them myself-thats why the shop did it, i dont have a REAL spring compressor and its too fricken dangerous to do it with them POS ones you bolt onto the springs.

no, the stock spring perches were left on the struts.

the guy said the back was absolutly as low as it COULD posible go, so idk whats up with that the adjuster rings are all the way at the bottom-touching the spring perch so idk how i can get them any lower.

he also said he took it out and drove it lowered down more in the front and he said he HEARD the struts bottoming out, so idk if that really means CRAP skunk2 making noise or if the struts are indeed acctually bottoming out, but like you said event...theres no way it could so idk whats up.

yeah thats what i was talking about on removing the perches....

the perches limit the amount you can lower the car, with the perch removed, there will be a ring on the strut thats a welded on ring.... the sleeve sits on the ring, but it would actually sit close to 3 inches lower, hence you would move the spring collar upwards to be near or at stock height, as opposed to how it is now all the way down and no room for lowering adjustment down.



the reasons the fronts sound like they are bottoming out is because of the front spring perches actually have a swirl divet in them, basically which aligns the narrow end of stock springs to the spring perch...

that should be removed as well as the sleeve doesnt sit perfectly on the front spring perch. it will sit on an angle until the weight of the car wedges it in there, at which that time you take a chance at COLLAPSING the entire spring perch. (think trying to wedge a 1 liter coke bottle into an reg sized coke can)

also the struts might already be blown.... like when you hit a bump, the strut damping is so weak, the spring actually makes it like a pogo stick. so the car is actually bouncing, although it may feel solid (mainly due to stiffer springs) but its actually bouncing a few cm, which is causing the clunk....

also the lack of bearings will cause clunk or squeal if not already.



yeah i understand the frustration... most of the peeps here are honestly just trying to keep you from having more of that, thats usually down the road

So he didn't cut the perches off, its making noise, the collars are all the way down the sleeves and it isn't that low....

Not that theres any right way to install crap, but he didn't do it right....

Get someone to put your stock springs back on and cut your losses, or buy your yellows and sportlines now

he did tell me that he had to cut some of out the perches to get them to sit down in them right...so maybe that they acctually did that part right.

the collars arent all the way down the sleeves in the front...JUST the back.
as i drove the car home and got out of it at home it seemed to have settled a little bit and the back came down i think what looks like another half inch. but the front are still gastly retarded looking.
its ok i guess...i have bigger tires to put on the car with my new rims (i have 17's now but tiny fork-lift tires on them) so that should help a little with the gap i hope...as far as the handling-it did improve so i guess i shouldnt be bitching.

and on the ny j-bodies website where i read the instructions...those particular coilovers came with peices to mount on the struts so u could acctually cut the perches off...my kit did not come with them-thats why they didnt cut the perches off-and yeah i can see why it wouldnt lower it any cuz of the stock perches.

so im going to leave it alone for now-until next year when i have the money to do things right.



Black 97' Z24
Blacked Out and Lovin' It...
"Z Yaaaa"

you bought cheap .. i bought cheap .. a lot of people have, im goin on to better stuff but if you want the back lower you have to remove stuff and that stuff is the top hats or whatever the spring mounts on to that came with the kit. in the end you spring will mount on the stock rubber mount that was on the car originally. im not tellin ya this is right or the best but this will allow you to make the car low its your choice to do this or not since you dont care

deflux wrote:^ This guy knows his stuff

and $270 for install? You got hosed realllllly bad....

I'm not so sure on this. A shop would normally charge around $90/hr or so for labour. So this is 3 hours. Considering that it wasn't a simple swap and that they had to figure out what to do with the parts, that seems pretty generous. I think it would have been fair for them to charge 4 or 5 hours under the circumstances.

Of course, that would be assuming they actually did it right, which it doesn't sound like they did.

that $270 included an alignment as well.



Black 97' Z24
Blacked Out and Lovin' It...
"Z Yaaaa"