lowering the rear

[xkamikazestormx]

if this is in the wrong section please move it.

well i have a s14 with megan coils and i want to make my rear lower. but since the threaded shock body bottoms out against the shock mounts i dont know of a way to make it go lower.

i know in the fronts you can take off 2 collars but what about the rear? i have like 6 inches of threaded part left but i cant lower it more cause it bottoms out.

if anyone has any input on how to make it lower let me know.

thanks in advance zilvians.

[DriftCat]

You can lower it but you'd also have to tighten the dampening.. I'm getting Megan coilovers too I wish I already had them so I could tell you how exactly but I've never really got to play around with them before sorry.

[xkamikazestormx]

what do you mean tighten the dampening?

you mean preloading the springs? because my problem is the rears do not have the hole (unlike the fronts) so i cant get it past the point its at right now.

thanks for your input tho

[DriftCat]

sorry I thought you were saying you could drop it but when you did it was bottoming out. That'd be the result of your car being lowered but not stiff enough to keep from full compression. Like I said that was the only thing popping to mind but I'm having to imagine the set up you're looking @ from memory of looking @ my friends once. hopefully someone with em will hope in here any minute now haha they're fairly common too...

[xkamikazestormx]

sorry I thought you were saying you could drop it but when you did it was bottoming out. That'd be the result of your car being lowered but not stiff enough to keep from full compression. Like I said that was the only thing popping to mind but I'm having to imagine the set up you're looking @ from memory of looking @ my friends once. hopefully someone with em will hope in here any minute now haha they're fairly common too...

sorry my question was kinda confusing.

because on my friends s13 he was able to remove the collars in the rear and actually go lower since the shock body itself is shorter in length compared to the s14.

[Teddy]

http://www.tiscali.co.uk/shopping/images/saw-screwfix-70x70.gif

[xkamikazestormx]

teddy i dont care about your opinion LOL.

[brokeAs240sx]

what do you mean tighten the dampening?

you mean preloading the springs? because my problem is the rears do not have the hole (unlike the fronts) so i cant get it past the point its at right now.

thanks for your input tho

For the megans, once you hit the bottom of the threaded shock body, that's it. The only thing left is preloading the spring or getting a shorter spring.

[DriftCat]

yeah my friend has an s13. never had to fiddle that in depth in dropping more than it wanted to let him though so I'm not sure how you could sweet talk a little extra out of them. please and thank you if that doesn't work try teddy's idea. cut springs! =p

[xkamikazestormx]

For the megans, once you hit the bottom of the threaded shock body, that's it. The only thing left is preloading the spring or getting a shorter spring.

ah are you serious? where would i be able to get a shorter spring? you think eibach can get them? and if i preload the spring would it make a difference?

[Teddy]

Yeah Eibach has them I believe

[xkamikazestormx]

http://fireproof.bravehost.com/myPictures/haha+Thou+PWNED.jpg

pwned.

i am not going to saw my coils LOL.

i guess if theres no other choice ill just contact eibach

[DriftCat]

good call cut springs freak me out. I've rolled in them before and just from the shape of them being off like the top never tapers out a good seat for the mount they tend to sit crooked and vibrate...at least these did so we had a super rapid metal popping sound and we definately got scared just driving to the store for milk let alone tryin to push them @ all on a fun road.

[brokeAs240sx]

you can also get swift springs - a few of the vendors carry swift springs here; I think FRSport still carries them, but you have to call (not on the site).

I got swift springs for my megans. stock is 6", depending on how much thread you have left, you can go 5" or maybe even 4". I would probably just go 5" to keep a decent amount of travel possibility.

Preloading the spring is usually not recommended unless used to corner balance a car (hence the invention of dual height adjustable) - you can search for more info on that; a little preloading doesn't hurt too much though.

Going with a shorter spring will give you less total travel, obviously - so you will have a greater chance of bottoming out.

Also, if you do decide to get Swift Springs or Eibach springs, you may want to consider getting a pair for the fronts as well - they feel totally different (as well as much lighter) than the ones that come w/ the Megans, might as well replace the entire set.

[xkamikazestormx]

hmm ..

thanks brokeas240sx! ill look into getting a shorter spring i guess

[joshchewuhh]

spartan laser that bitch
http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b162/chewbaccalover13/lasercopy.jpg

[JDM671]

......:wackit:

[5t341tH]

wait u guys preload ur springs to lower more? i thot u droop it. i droopped mine and it helped a little. i have the same prob as the OP on my JIC's

[murda-c]

wait u guys preload ur springs to lower more? i thot u droop it. i droopped mine and it helped a little. i have the same prob as the OP on my JIC's

yeah this thread has been full of fail.

[xkamikazestormx]

yeah this thread has been full of fail.

ya i kinda thought the same thing. cause i thought adding preload raises your car.

but im kinda scared to run like negative preload lol. isnt that bad

[240esux]

ya i kinda thought the same thing. cause i thought adding preload raises your car.

but im kinda scared to run like negative preload lol. isnt that bad

yes. if you lower from preload you have a better chance of blowing your coils alot faster.

[Clowny]

yes. if you lower from preload you have a better chance of blowing your coils alot faster.
thats what ive always heard too. dont think preloading them a little would do much damage, but doing it to the point where the car is where you want t is probably not good.

[wow-thats-a-cool-car]

get a torch and get the coils hot and compress them
or buy some cement and pour it into the trunk of you car to add weight and lower your rear.
Or pay a really fat dude to permanently sit in your back seat or trunk to add weight and lower the rear.
Or raise the ground everywhere in the world and that would make your car look lower

[Clowny]

Or pay a really fat dude to permanently sit in your back seat or trunk to add weight and lower the rear.

thats what i keep tellin prople when i get in my car. i am my own lowering kit! lol.

[g6civcx]

I'm curious. What do you mean by this?

the threaded shock body bottoms out against the shock mounts

i have like 6 inches of threaded part left but i cant lower it more cause it bottoms out.


I'm not sure I understand what's going. Can you post a pix or explain it again?

[s13silady]

I'm curious. What do you mean by this?



I'm not sure I understand what's going. Can you post a pix or explain it again?

he's saying when he's turning the threaded part,(the part that turns when using the spanner wrench to lower the car), it stops. kind of like bolting in a bolt and it runs out of threads and you cant turn it anymore. just like that.

http://img391.imageshack.us/img391/9590/coildq1.png

[murda-c]

he's saying when he's turning the threaded part,(the part that turns when using the spanner wrench to lower the car), it stops. kind of like bolting in a bolt and it runs out of threads and you cant turn it anymore. just like that.



after all that you drew a front coilover.

You can see where in the rear coilover on the left, the black threaded body can only thread so far into the silver bottom mount before it hits the end.

The fronts don't have this problem and you can just take out the locking collars when you want to go lower.
http://www.harmanmotive.com/catalog/images/meganCoilOvers.jpg

[xkamikazestormx]

ya i just hoped that i can get it lower but i guess not ..

[SoSideways]

ya i just hoped that i can get it lower but i guess not ..

Megans should allow for a little bit of rear spring droop to get you to the height you need.

The only reason why rear shocks will blow, is if the shock is A) bottoming out, or B) operating in a range they weren't designed to do.

Now, I know Stance GR+ will allow for some droop with no problems, as they were designed to do have a little droop in mind.

The Megans... well I think some people have drooped the springs on their's a little bit and haven't had any problems, so it's really a "just do it and see" type of situation.

[xkamikazestormx]

how much lower would i be able to go by doing that?

[s13silady]

after all that you drew a front coilover.

You can see where in the rear coilover on the left, the black threaded body can only thread so far into the silver bottom mount before it hits the end.

The fronts don't have this problem and you can just take out the locking collars when you want to go lower.
http://www.harmanmotive.com/catalog/images/meganCoilOvers.jpg

hehe i know.. i have the same coils and ran into the same problem. so i know what the OP was talkin about.

[SoSideways]

how much lower would i be able to go by doing that?

I don't know?

How much lower do you need your car?

I would say that with 1" spring droop you should be OK... if not, well... you probably need some better dampers anyway.

[murda-c]

What would happen if you took a hacksaw to the threaded portion?

how far into it does the actual strut assembly travel?

[SoSideways]

What would happen if you took a hacksaw to the threaded portion?

how far into it does the actual strut assembly travel?

Pretty sure the threaded housings for the rear dampers serve the purpose of providing a place for the shock to bolt to as well, so hacking the bottom off would probably be not possible.

[xkamikazestormx]

i need it about 1 1/2 " in the rear lower..

[brokeAs240sx]

You know, now that I think about it, I'm not sure if changing to a shorter spring will really make your car lower; it would just change how much travel you have. I think any height differences you experience from that will just be from how the springs react to the first xxx pounds - I know we are all suppose to have linear springs w/ the coilovers, but the quality of each spring manufacturer is a lil diff.

I actually run longer springs on my megans & it didn't get higher. Sorry. You may still want to change out the springs anyway, but I don't think it will lower the car much, if at all.

Looks like your only chance is to preload the springs, but you're going to have to probably preload quite a bit.

[SoSideways]

Looks like your only chance is to preload the springs, but you're going to have to probably preload quite a bit.

Argh.... preloading a spring will only make the car sit higher.

You need to droop the spring in order for the car to sit lower.

[essforteen]

drop the locking collar and buy some helper springs and put them between

the spring and top mount and they compress while there is weight on the

car and giving you up to 2"+ drop. kinda like what the tanabe coils use
l
ike these
http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn259/essforteen/swift_helper_spring.jpg

[xkamikazestormx]

really? will those helper springs work? i dont get how they would tho

[hustlervibes]

Helper springs in this case would help if you had spring droop and your car was airborn long enough for the spring to become unseated from the top of the shock. If you had the helper spring it would act as if there was 2 extra inches of spring holding it up allowing it to stay seated, but once the weight of the car is put back down the helper spring compresses back down and gives you your desired ride height.

Edit: You would still lose shock travel from the spring droop though. Either way, just man up and do it. See if it works (it probably will be fine) and if you accidently blow them, whatever they're just cheap megans anyway.

[Flybert]

In the rear, spring length has nothing to do with ride height. Only thing that matter is whether you droop the spring so cutting springs, heating springs, and switching springs in the back will do nothing for you. So much misinformation posted in this thread.

Droop the spring the amount you want your car to go lower. You will lose the amount of shock travel that you droop it but in my experience it doesn't cause the shocks to blow faster. I've been drooping mine about a half an inch now for years with no problem. I could care less about helper springs because my car is never air born unless I'm working on it or if I'm going up a steep driveway slowly, both of which you don't need helper springs to pick up the slack.

[essforteen]

I could care less about helper springs because my car is never air born unless I'm working on it or if I'm going up a steep driveway slowly, both of which you don't need helper springs to pick up the slack.

have you thought about freeway bumps when there is a bump like the one on the 405 that causes my suspension to be at full extension thats why i recommended helper springs. And he wants to go more than half an inch which will cause it to most likely blow

[!Zar!]

Go slower, or choose another lane.

Helper spring isn't really going to do shit about being airborne.

[ms!3]

Isn't that what these are for?

http://www.tougefactory.com/shop/images/612.jpg

[essforteen]

Isn't that what these are for?

http://www.tougefactory.com/shop/images/612.jpg


those are if you have a z32 conversion and use the uprights

[neoninja]

Pretty sure the threaded housings for the rear dampers serve the purpose of providing a place for the shock to bolt to as well, so hacking the bottom off would probably be not possible.


I think he was talking about the threaded part, not the sleeve. I think that idea is worth looking into if the threaded portion goes all the way to the bottom of the sleeve. That way you can change the preload, then crank the extra threaded portion into the sleeve. ??? maybe?

[xkamikazestormx]

i am going to try putting the preload thing.

[Dousan_PG]

if yoru going to lower rear dont add preload
droop the spring

[g6civcx]

Question: why do you need to go that low? Cosmetics or performance reasons?

[wow-thats-a-cool-car]

dude ryota I have some cement at my house when you come over tomorrow we will fill your trunk up and then the weight will lower the rear. Easy fix

[xkamikazestormx]

Question: why do you need to go that low? Cosmetics or performance reasons?

for cosmetic reasons lol. when i go to streets of willow im going to raise it up.

i drooped the spring and it worked. thanks flybert