[The Black Car]

After many months of waiting and planning (yes, its a big thing for me), I have finally installed my shocks, struts, and lowering springs. The rear was easy (1.5-2 hrs) , the front was a pita (about 5-6 hrs). After I installed everything, the car needs a slight alignment, as it pulls slightly to the right, but nothing to urgent or too noticeable/annoying.

My setup is as follows:

Eibach pro kit lowering springs
Tokico Illumina shocks
Tokico Illumina drag struts

Previously I had all stock suspension parts which were worn an rusted (my car bounced like some of your avatars here). Since installing the new parts my car still seems to bounce pretty hard on the potholes (which there are very many of where I live). Now, I know I chose a drag racing setup (or at least what i thought a drag racing setup is, hey I'm a beginner, gimme a break), but are these suppose to take bumps in the road so hard? Maybe there is a way I can adjust them for better pothole infested street driving. Plus I also have trouble pulling into my driveway, as the under body of my car rubs against the ground when i pull in on the incline, if anyone has any tips, it would be very helpful and save my car's poor under carriage (please don't tell me not to park in my driveway, I could have thought of that myself).

If anyone can clue me in on good settings for street driving, plus what other settings I can use for the track as well as for high speed turns. (the shocks/struts are 5 way adjustable so if anyone can give me some examples, maybe like a list of setups i.e.. set to 3 in the front, and 5 in the rear= better turning at higher speeds, etc... that would be greeaaat, mmmmkayyyy? -Bill Lumbergh-office space <-----btw one of my favorite movies, lol).

I'm going to post before and after pics of the difference in the wheel well gaps, but I can't do it till it stops raining (I don't want to get my camera water damaged). Once the weather clears up I'll show you guys.

If it helps I have a 2003 3.8l vert, as you can see from my avatar.

If anyone has any questions on how I did it, (it may not be the best way but it worked for me), or if you live in my area and need me to come and help you, feel free to ask, I am more then happy to help out.

[The Black Car]

heres the pics.... the first 2 are before pics and the rest are after the lowering springs

[The Black Car]

heres some more after pics..... of my hands!

[buddyantunez1]

it will settle out a little more. did you reuse your isolators? and as far as driving tips, you have a lowered car, so now you need to be more aware of objects and blemishes on the road and steer clear of them. avoid potholes as much as you can and to prevent dragging the bumper and exhaust, take aggressive angles when approaching your driveway or speed bumps. if your not careful now, you can easily tear something up, so stay smart when driving in rough conditions.

[goren813]

+1 ... remember how you used to always laugh at ricers who crawled almost sideways over speed bumps? Now you have to do that...

[ewells2420]

Originally Posted by goren420 +1 ... remember how you used to always laugh at ricers who crawled almost sideways over speed bumps? Now you have to do that...

lol

[The Black Car]

lol hahaha, i am crawling sideways on speed bumps lol, i did figure that much out (to take angles). btw i definitely have my isolators on, i wouldn't even think of taking them off, besides, i feel the car is low enough anyway. i've been thinking about getting bigger better tires in the rear, not because its too low, but because i think it will look really agressive and handle better then having stock springs/tires. my stock springs were soooooo rusted if anyone wants to see pics i'll put em up for laughs, up to you guys though.

well thanks for the tips. and btw if anyone has the know and can make one of those lists of setups for tokico illumina drag struck and shock, it would be greatly appreciated.

[neverfastenough1]

How did you do the fronts? They are a PITA! I took the sway bar nut off, the tie rod out and the nut off the arm ball joint. I loosened the two bolts that hold the arm to the k-member, and I beat the heck out of the arm with a not so light hammer and nothing! Tried both sides. Hey we both live on the east coast so come on over and give me a hand.

[The Black Car]

+1 million on the front being a pita!

the way i did the front was as follows (on a gt it may differ slightly, but idk),take a hydrolic jack and place it under the control arm, under this ball sort of thing that you can feel if you put your hand under it towards the end of the control arm(ya i know that sounds gay), then jack it up only till you have some kind of tension resting on the jack for when you need to lower the control arm, then loosened the bolt on the abs clip connecting to the strut, then the 2 bolts on the strut, then lossened the strut screw under the hood and removed the strut, then loosened the bolt on the sway bar then to change the spring i loosened and removed the caliper to make room, at this point i believe the steering knuckle should be able to move around(dont forget that if you remove the caliper you MUST tie it to something with a shoelace or drawstring or something you know that wont snap, so that the break bleeding hose or whatever that thing is called connected to it does not get disconected) also try to have a buddy around who can step on the whole break assembly to help lower the control arm to remove the spring, now is the tricky part that my buddy did while i was pressing my foot down on the steering knuckle assembly or whatever you call it (i.e. rotor,break pads, etc...), ok first of all i really really DONT recommend you do this without spring compressors (it can be your life at stake), although i did not have them. we then SLOWLY lowered the jack and in turn it lowered the spring on the control arm just to a point where there was almost no tension on the spring and we were able to nudge it out of the control arm, the install is vice versa, and make sure you put the isolators on the new springs, contrary to what people say you will regret not having them on your new springs, or you ride will be noisy as hell plus i wouldnt think that it would be to healthy on your spring (metal against metal) (oh and there is a certain way to install the springs in a certain position that i am not sure of, luckily my buddy is a guru so he was able to get it right but if i were you id research it, if you dont have experience positioning springs). well thats about what i can remember from the install, i hope i didnt leave anything out, it may not be the best method but it worked for me, so you can try it if you want. i hope this helps, good luck.

neverfastenough, do you live in the tri-state??? if so i have no prob coming to help you, as long as your not more then 3 hours from my house, just make sure you have all the right tools because i dont.

[neverfastenough1]

Yea, thanks for the offer, but I live a little further away. I gave up on the method AM had on their site and just went the strut way. No need to take the strut out, just the two lower bolts. Disconnected the brake line instead of removing the caliper, and even on a 02 you don't need to slide the top of the caliper out to get the strut bolts out. That wasn't directed at you just threw it out there because I saw in another thread someone said you had to slide the caliper out to get the bolts out. No need to take the ABS sensor wire off either, you can just unclip the wire from the clip on the frame and then you have plenty. And, yes, on the front spring lower perch there are two holes. When you put the spring in it should cover only one of them.

[ESG-642T]

Originally Posted by goren420 +1 ... remember how you used to always laugh at ricers who crawled almost sideways over speed bumps? Now you have to do that...

More like the ones with stock rims that would be lowered to the ground...

[The Black Car]

Originally Posted by SSStang More like the ones with stock rims that would be lowered to the ground...

^ i have stock rims. but i really dont give a shit about them. upgrading rims to me IMHO is a useless upgrade, i dont give a shit about chrome or flashy stuff like that it serves no functionality in my car's performance. the only rims i would ever consider buying are ones lighter then my stock rims so that they can have some performance functionality. but other wise i didnt really lower my ride for cosmetic reasons, i did it for a lower center of gravity and better handling on turns. but what i wrote above about rims is just my own opinion as i am sure many on this board are interested in cosmetic upgrades (sorry guys its just that im not into that cosmetic stuff, i don't really like to show off or grab attention, or be the center of it).

Originally Posted by neverfastenough1 No need to take the strut out, just the two lower bolts. Disconnected the brake line instead of removing the caliper, and even on a 02 you don't need to slide the top of the caliper out to get the strut bolts out. That wasn't directed at you just threw it out there because I saw in another thread someone said you had to slide the caliper out to get the bolts out. No need to take the ABS sensor wire off either, you can just unclip the wire from the clip on the frame and then you have plenty. And, yes, on the front spring lower perch there are two holes. When you put the spring in it should cover only one of them.

hey thanks for your method man, the only reason i listed disconnecting the strut and all is because i actually changed the struts also, so like i said i would just give it a step by step the exact way i did it, so i apologize if any of the steps i listed were irrelevant to you. well i guess its always good to know some alt methods though so thanks for your insight, and i hope everything installed smoothly for you, and that the info i gave you helped even somewhat. and if you didn't complete the job just keep trying, look at it this way, if i can do it anyone can, and i'm definitely no pro.

[neverfastenough1]

Yeah, thanks for the info. I got it all done on Friday. Changed the springs and put in UPR double adjustable uppers and adjustable lower control arms at the same time. When they said sphericals cause NHV, they meant it! I have jacked it up like three times to see if I forgot to tighten something, but I guess it is normal to make noise. She definately looks better with her new stance and 315's out back and NITTO's all the way around.

[The Black Car]

Originally Posted by neverfastenough1 When they said sphericals cause NHV, they meant it!

that's awesome that you finally got your car done, congrats man, enjoy it, and watch the bumps. btw what is nhv? and what noise exactly do you mean (perhaps a sound clip with description?)? oh and post some pics, with some before pics also if you got them.

[engineer1229]

For drag racing you want the shocks as stiff as possible without spinning. Usually the fronts on 2-3. and the rears on 3-4. Try it out on F3, R4. If it doesn't spin stiffen the rears up to 5, if it spins drop the rears one notch, if it still spins drop the fronts 1 and so on.

[The Black Car]

hey thanks engineer, that was really helpfull! im going to try it. when you say spinning, you mean the tires, right? and does stiffening the suspension also help for really, really heavy people in the car too, so it wont bottom out?