Lowering Springs
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I spent a few hours on the shocks again today and succeeded in getting one of them done... woot!
if all goes well tomorrow they should be all in and my car will be looking a lot better
Undoing the top wishbone bolt gave me just enough wiggle room to get the shock out bring on cybernetics or bioengineering I say, as it would have been a lot easier with four arms
if all goes well tomorrow they should be all in and my car will be looking a lot better
Undoing the top wishbone bolt gave me just enough wiggle room to get the shock out bring on cybernetics or bioengineering I say, as it would have been a lot easier with four arms
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By the power of brute force and ignorance (which I have bucket loads of) I finally got the lowering springs installed and am very happy with the result. Thank you very much Warrior for the loan of the spring compressors, I am very grateful
I will say however, that during the change over I had a terrifying moment of self doubt when, after doing the front springs, I removed the rear springs and found that they were noticeably longer than the front springs when the lowering springs are supposed to be the long ones at the front and short ones at the back. Thankfully I continued ahead with the installation and it all worked out OK but I did not expect the rear ones to be so long.
The tyres that are on currently are 185/60/14's and I am wondering whether I should get 195/55/15's or 195/50/15's for the new rims.... any suggestions?
I will say however, that during the change over I had a terrifying moment of self doubt when, after doing the front springs, I removed the rear springs and found that they were noticeably longer than the front springs when the lowering springs are supposed to be the long ones at the front and short ones at the back. Thankfully I continued ahead with the installation and it all worked out OK but I did not expect the rear ones to be so long.
The tyres that are on currently are 185/60/14's and I am wondering whether I should get 195/55/15's or 195/50/15's for the new rims.... any suggestions?
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luckily when I had it jacked up I had it on blocks, otherwise, I could have ended up with a flat white instead
-=edit=- here is a pic of the springs that came out, the longer ones were from the rear but are a slightly lighter gauge compared to the front springs, as opposed to the lowering springs which the front and rear were an identical gauge. The difference in un-tensioned height is about 100mm which is why I had a pang of paranoia.
-=edit=- here is a pic of the springs that came out, the longer ones were from the rear but are a slightly lighter gauge compared to the front springs, as opposed to the lowering springs which the front and rear were an identical gauge. The difference in un-tensioned height is about 100mm which is why I had a pang of paranoia.
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Thanks for the info Simon. My car seems to sit just a little lower than yours but that is probably because I am using 2nd hand springs.
I need to give my car a block test on a flat surface (slide a 100mm block under to check clearance) but I am pretty close to the 100mm mark now and I don't want to have any problems with WOF's or the Police so I am putting a lot of thought into my tyre selection.
As you guys know more about this sort of thing, is my mathematics correct in this case:
185/60/14 = 572mm diameter (111x2)+14" =572mm
195/55/15 = 589mm diameter (107.25x2)+15" =589mm
195/50/15 = 570mm diameter (97.5x2)+15" =570mm
If my maths is correct, then even tho' I am not a fan of the balloon tyre look I will probably go with the 195/55/15's as they would give me an extra 8.5mm to my current lowered height compared to the 14"s I have on currently (as long as they don't rub while turning the wheels)
Is my Bourbon fueled mathematics close to the mark?
thanks for the feedback everyone
I need to give my car a block test on a flat surface (slide a 100mm block under to check clearance) but I am pretty close to the 100mm mark now and I don't want to have any problems with WOF's or the Police so I am putting a lot of thought into my tyre selection.
As you guys know more about this sort of thing, is my mathematics correct in this case:
185/60/14 = 572mm diameter (111x2)+14" =572mm
195/55/15 = 589mm diameter (107.25x2)+15" =589mm
195/50/15 = 570mm diameter (97.5x2)+15" =570mm
If my maths is correct, then even tho' I am not a fan of the balloon tyre look I will probably go with the 195/55/15's as they would give me an extra 8.5mm to my current lowered height compared to the 14"s I have on currently (as long as they don't rub while turning the wheels)
Is my Bourbon fueled mathematics close to the mark?
thanks for the feedback everyone
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Lowering Springs
easiest way - www.miata.net/garage/tirecalc.html :)
On 20 October 2013 23:07, MrGrey <cornering@mx5forum.co.nz (cornering@mx5forum.co.nz)> wrote:
On 20 October 2013 23:07, MrGrey <cornering@mx5forum.co.nz (cornering@mx5forum.co.nz)> wrote:
[Posted via external email]Thanks for the info Simon. My car seems to sit just a little lower than yours but that is probably because I am using 2nd hand springs.
I need to give my car a block test on a flat surface (slide a 100mm block under to check clearance) but I am pretty close to the 100mm mark now and I don't want to have any problems with WOF's or the Police so I am putting a lot of thought into my tyre selection.
As you guys know more about this sort of thing, is my mathematics correct in this case:
185/60/14 = 572mm diameter (111x2)+14" =572mm
195/55/15 = 589mm diameter (107.25x2)+15" =589mm
195/50/15 = 570mm diameter (97.5x2)+15" =570mm
If my maths is correct, then even tho' I am not a fan of the balloon tyre look I will probably go with the 195/55/15's as they would give me an extra 8.5mm to my current lowered height compared to the 14"s I have on currently (as long as they don't rub while turning the wheels)
Is my Bourbon fueled mathematics close to the mark?
thanks for the feedback everyone
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I whipped the front shocks out, and ran into another problem...sigh
I was able to put the 5mm spacer in the rear shock fine and it fit perfectly, however, the front shock has a lip about an inch above where the shock sits, so I am unable to use the spacer on the front shock.
the spacer is circled (it has a rubber sleeve over it)
I could see about a spacer on the top hat, but as you can see in this pic, the threads are quite short which pretty much screws up that idea as even putting in a 5mm spacer there would be not quite enough thread to screw the 2 nuts on the top hat down safely.
very frustrating ...... does any one have any ideas or suggestions? (yes I know a set of coilovers would eliminate the problem but that is out of reach of my current budget)
I was able to put the 5mm spacer in the rear shock fine and it fit perfectly, however, the front shock has a lip about an inch above where the shock sits, so I am unable to use the spacer on the front shock.
the spacer is circled (it has a rubber sleeve over it)
I could see about a spacer on the top hat, but as you can see in this pic, the threads are quite short which pretty much screws up that idea as even putting in a 5mm spacer there would be not quite enough thread to screw the 2 nuts on the top hat down safely.
very frustrating ...... does any one have any ideas or suggestions? (yes I know a set of coilovers would eliminate the problem but that is out of reach of my current budget)
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- I have stars, you haven't. Deal with it
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I have put the old front springs back in as the lowering springs lowered my height by about 50mm when I could only get away with 25-30mm while remaining legal..... and I was scraping on nearly everything (our roads up here are not exactly level, so I have gone for legal practicality rather than lots of scraping that was illegally low but looked awesome.
that's just the way things go I guess.
All the more reason to save up for some adjustable coilovers in the future.
Thank you for all the help and suggestions everyone, I really appreciated it
that's just the way things go I guess.
All the more reason to save up for some adjustable coilovers in the future.
Thank you for all the help and suggestions everyone, I really appreciated it
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