discostig Manual mode ________________________ All day, erryday Donating Members 13,798 Member For: 16y 11m 21d Gender: Male Location: Probably above atmospheric pressure Posted 10/03/13 05:39 PM Author Share Posted 10/03/13 05:39 PM Update on important engine work is overdue but I'm too lazy to get pics from my laptop so I'll put this up instead.Further suspension work completed today! About time, 190,000km on the car now.Tips in pictures for anyone who is in a similar boat.Bought a set of Koni Red shocks matched with King Springs from Pat at Wholesale Suspension. I am using the shocks on the softest setting - they are adjustable off car. As they age I can compensate for it to some degree - picture in box shows less "yo yo-ing" of suspension after a bump once adjusted.So the fronts took me longer than I care to mention. I work slow, careful and have a lot of drink/snack breaks On to the rears! Should be able to smash these out/in by nightfall, right?The bottom shock bolt is fairly tight, like wheel nut torque levels, and not undone for a long time. I am working on the garage floor with jack stands so cannot get good purchase on the breaker bar.Solution: jack under the handle of a ratchet. Poor ratchet, not recommended but breaker bar was too long...Seems I need to buy new spring pads, found this one worn right through! Rears come out pretty fast though so no drama.The new shorter springs will drop out easier than the old ones.New vs old rear shocks. Pay no attention to the lengths as I don't think I had fully extended the Koni in this shot.Tightened everything back up to torque spec and voila! Suspension upgraded.Took her for a spin through the windy roads up here on the way to Mundaring roundabouts and back again. I'm impressed by the handling through the roundabouts that's for sure. Even with light rain the turning was excellent. 245 Invos on the front helped too I'm sure (great tyres, must try them on rear again with new suspension). Bumps are softened as well, the whole ride is more pleasant. I want a swaybar upgrade now though!! Luckily that's an easy job and parts aren't too expensive.I think I might need shorter rear bump stops now though, that seems to be what most people do when going new springs? I now have SSL rears installed. Thoughts? 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sexual harrassment panda I see a red door and I want to paint it black Donating Members 5,919 Member For: 15y 19d Gender: Male Location: Far north queensland Posted 10/03/13 07:39 PM Share Posted 10/03/13 07:39 PM excellent write upgot any pics of how the car sits now? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bellato Donating Members 2,713 Member For: 14y 26d Posted 10/03/13 10:42 PM Share Posted 10/03/13 10:42 PM You can probably get away with just cutting one notch off your bumpstops.Good write up! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Panda Eyes flame magnet Gold Donating Members 5,674 Member For: 16y 5m 29d Gender: Male Location: adelaide hills- 'race air' central Posted 10/03/13 10:48 PM Share Posted 10/03/13 10:48 PM well done. the slowly jacking is good advice... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ralph Wiggum Moar Powar Babeh Lifetime Members 19,323 Member For: 19y 1m 22d Gender: Male Location: Perth Posted 11/03/13 01:58 AM Share Posted 11/03/13 01:58 AM well done Steve! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
discostig Manual mode ________________________ All day, erryday Donating Members 13,798 Member For: 16y 11m 21d Gender: Male Location: Probably above atmospheric pressure Posted 11/03/13 06:08 AM Author Share Posted 11/03/13 06:08 AM Thanks all! Very satisfied with my efforts. Also thanks as always to Ralphie for answering a couple of questions as I went along and for making sure I was aware not to point the hat at my body. Pat had also mentioned this to me when discussing fitting myself.So yeah got some pics of the car but forgot to get a before of the fronts! The fronts haven't changed much anyway they were already about 340mm hub to guard thanks to age. Rears were a touch lower than that thanks to all the gear I pack in. Seriously there is almost no room in my boot at all times...work stuff and tools in case car breaks down etc. Jack stands and the red pneumatic jack seen here are always with me. I remember at a cruise a couple years back back Mike (XF Falcon) and Stef (sixappeal) asked me what I'd changed in the suspension to lower it...lol.Here's the day I picked it up in 2008:Last cruiseAfter new parts all in, a bit of a drive to check for any mechanical farkups I made and then left overnight (sorry for the crappy pic I tried to adjust the brightness at front):Biggest change is the rears going to SSL:BeforeAfterOn Pat's advice for the fronts I opted for whatever the springs are that are higher than SLs, due to driving up many bad pea gravel driveways etc. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EFSIX I Lead Not Follow... Member 1,026 Member For: 12y 6m 25d Gender: Male Location: Westside,Melbourne Posted 11/03/13 04:24 PM Share Posted 11/03/13 04:24 PM very nice write up buds,car looks ten times better now.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
discostig Manual mode ________________________ All day, erryday Donating Members 13,798 Member For: 16y 11m 21d Gender: Male Location: Probably above atmospheric pressure Posted 12/03/13 05:30 AM Author Share Posted 12/03/13 05:30 AM Cheers man, it was already much lower than factory so it was really the safety and handling that I was gunning for.If anyone wants some barely broken in stock suspension let me know. Only 190thousand on them. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
discostig Manual mode ________________________ All day, erryday Donating Members 13,798 Member For: 16y 11m 21d Gender: Male Location: Probably above atmospheric pressure Posted 12/03/13 01:07 PM Author Share Posted 12/03/13 01:07 PM Just in case anyone is wondering what the exact springs are here's the message Pat sent me when I was deciding on optionsNo worries mate, I would recommend KFFL-57 and KFRL-68SSLHD, this should sit you at 350 front and rear, plus you'll have the extra spring rate for when you load it up. The SL/SSL combo would leave you at 340 then settle after that, I had this combo years ago and it looked good but the front would scrape on everything an destroyed my front barCheersPat 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sexual harrassment panda I see a red door and I want to paint it black Donating Members 5,919 Member For: 15y 19d Gender: Male Location: Far north queensland Posted 12/03/13 07:59 PM Share Posted 12/03/13 07:59 PM looks like it sits pretty level, I think that's the springs I have in the front too. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now