Seized coilover why oh why!!

[elucid]

Been searching all over for a solution to my problem and can't seem to find help.


(Greddy Type S Coilovers)
Was shaving down my over fenders to make some room for more low. and came across a problem. I set my coilovers all the way down and i have about a 1 1/2" difference in height. Coilovers have pretty low miles and seem to be in great shape. Tried loosening and lubricating all the connecting bolts in the suspension but no dice. Going to assume its a seized spring or something..


Anyone out there have a solution or tip for my situation?

Will update with pics

[winter]

Be a man, and beat it. Nothing a 5 lb hammer can't handle.

[brndck]

seized spring??? WTF???
remove the top hat, pull the spring off, then see if you can compress the shock.
if the shock is seized, order a new one.
springs don't seize.

[elucid]

Originally Posted by brndck

seized spring??? WTF???
remove the top hat, pull the spring off, then see if you can compress the shock.
if the shock is seized, order a new one.
springs don't seize.

that's what i meant to say -_- i'll give that shot tho.

[The Dude]

Originally Posted by winter

Be a man, and beat it. Nothing a 5 lb hammer can't handle.

Yeah, hit that spring with a 5-pound hammer. Nothing could possibly go wrong...

[codyace]

Originally Posted by The Dude

Yeah, hit that spring with a 5-pound hammer. Nothing could possibly go wrong...

IT works...I've loosed plenty with a punch or drive on the adjuster 'points' and a hammer. THe shock/sudden impact can jar things loose and work to your advantage. Other desperate remedies include large pipe wrench to loosen the collar as well.

[winter]

If it doesn't work, throw it down the stairs.

[ultimateirving]

Order a new one? i know my k sports were under 150.

[elucid]

The collars aren't the problem I can adjust them freely. The problem is that my ride height is the same whether the coil is adjusted to the bottom or 15 full spins higher.

[S13CoupeLover]

ok, let me try and understand this. You can't adjust the coil up or down as a whole? or you can only adjust the spring up and down?

I'm thinking you are moving the spring up and down? so basically adjust spring load, not height.



I'm thing you're only moving the 2 collars that the black arrow is pointing at. You should be loosening the 1 collar the white arrow is pointing at. The white one is the one to move the assembly up and down to lower or lift the car.

[brndck]

/\/\/\/\ nailed it.

[elucid]

Not quite , i took the rear coils off, i took the shock body all the way off, and gave them each the same number of spins (in my case 35)((white arrow)) adjusted identical preload. and i still have about 1" difference in height. I also removed one of the top plates(purple plate on top of coil shown in pic) on the coil that was not dropping enough and that helped but still pretty damn uneven, when they were off i did check the shock and both compressed perfectly well. I mean the coils can't have more than 2k miles.

I should also add that i know these old cars can have twerks in the chassis making it uneven, but this is one of the cleanest, straightest, 240 ive ever owned.

For the sake of not looking so uneven i gave the troubled coil some more pre-load and added some more spins to the shock body. so suspension geometry is probably off now.

[jdhariwal]

^lol what?

[240boi115]

Originally Posted by maronpatsy

Where u located interested in intake manifold

dafuq?!?!?!

[uraznfriend]

Originally Posted by maronpatsy

Where u located interested in intake manifold

haha i died
anyways back on topic, im confused whats wrong you can adjust ride height fine? now whats the problem?

[elucid]

Originally Posted by uraznfriend

haha i died
anyways back on topic, im confused whats wrong you can adjust ride height fine? now whats the problem?

TLDR; Basically coils are fine, i can adjust everything. but when coils are matched IE: shock tower height, pre-load, i get about a 1 1/2 difference in height.

[S13CoupeLover]

Try lifting the car up to where you can adjust the spring off the coil perch. Then adjust collars up till the spring just seats on the perch, snug but not too tight against the perch, to set pre-load to zero. If you want, count threads to see if you're exact. Then I'd suggest, if you want the body to be even/level, set the car back down and measure from the ground to center of the fender, adjust coils, and... keep going until desired height. I don't like using the full height of the shock as a measuring point, that is if your going to looks and not function.

If you have it set up similar to this, then i wouldn't worry about it. If you're really worried about it go to a performance alignment garage, they'll be able to help you out better then some mom and pop shop or a commercialized tire/alignment shop.

Also I actually have these on my car, never had this issue. And I've been running these for like 5 years.

[Brockstar]

Are your sway bars hooked up? Sway bar preload can drastically affect and/or hide things. The proper way to do it (assuming you don't have a messed up shock) is to disconnect the sway bar on one side for the front and rear, then set your preload (if you haven't yet), then set your ride height. It doesn't matter if its unequal. Cars aren't always symmetrical. After your ride height is set, you hopefully have an adjustable sway bar end link, so you adjust it to the appropriate length where it bolts back on easily without having to bind. Voila! You've just properly set up your shocks (err...coils, y0) and your sway bars have no preload and will work better.

If you don't have an adjustable sway bar end link on at least one side of each sway bar, go get some cheap helm joints and bolts and make some. Otherwise, the non-adjustable end links will create a bind in the sway bar and it will jack weight to the opposite side of the car. Then you'll be back to chasing your tail on ride height adjustments to fight the preload from the sway bars.