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Coilover swap out and camber change-piece of cake!

9266 Views 39 Replies 15 Participants Last post by  Evl
Swapped out all four springs today, and took out all front shims to help with negative camber. It took about three hours to do this, and I was working pretty leisurely. Following are pics of the work.

This one has my light illuminating the front suspension. It rained all afternoon, so it got dark.

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THis one shows the 8 MM allen wrench hanging out of the rear bolt holding the shims in place. It wasn't too hard to break all four of the bolts (I removed the shims from the front only). As noted earlier, you only have to remove the rear two. The front two only have to be loose. The stand-alone 8 MM Allen worked fine, although it is a bit awkward getting a good grip, and there is a very limited field of motion. A socket 8 MM would have been a lot faster.

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The shims from the driver's front. THe middle one was twice as thick as the other two on the driver's side. On the passenger side all three were thin on my car (.25MM, I believe)

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All the tools you need for the shim removal:

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Rear suspension upper:

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Rear suspension lower:

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My car with one last damper to change out:

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And finally Stan's most excellent tools! This is a pain in the ass because you have to do it 8 times, four off, four on. But it's not all that complicated, and I had no springs go boinnnnnng! The LSS springs were stiffer, but it wasn't much of a difference in compression power needed. I guess I should change my signature line now. My car is LSS as soon as I drop the SSRs on, and they're due to arrive next week. Feel free to post any questions, although others have already done this, too, and they probably know more than me.

I'm very happy; in two weekends I have changed out the exhaust and converted the car to LSS springs and increased the negative camber in the fronts. Tomorrow I wash her down and relax.

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damn Jer, Im very impressed...you're not really an accountant are ya???...:):). What about the dampers/shocks?. Isnt LSS shocks abit more firm??. You will have to drive it now to see if you can feel a difference. Also, can you point out on your original pic where the shims are located? thanks. I will prob try for more negative camber when I get car.
My etch a sketch skills are not great, but here you go. I do not know how you can get more negative camber and be SCCA SS, but good luck.

The three shims are visible, the front bolt is not. The reat bolt is behind the ABS break line thingy-look at whee the allen wrench meets the back.

Yes, I really am an accountant (Controller, CPA) :)

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I kept the LTS dampers. I couldn't justify spending $800 for dampers I would toss next spring when I put in adjustable ones. It's still SCCA compliant for me to use the wider rims now. That's why I had to take springs off and put the LSS ones on.
who makes that spring compressor? A link and a part # would be great! TIA
you can go to the local Pep Boys or Napa and rent them or even buy them.
CrashTestDummy said:
you can go to the local Pep Boys or Napa and rent them or even buy them.
I own a set already but I have been unable to find a set that will work on our small springs. My current ones are too thick between the coil and the shock body. Since they already have them I figure it would be simpler to ask someone who knows than to continue asking people at the different stores who don't even know what they're for!
I ground down the thickness on mine and have lent them out to a few folks. You can also check motorcycle shops as they tend to have suitable tools too.
My local Harley dealer looked at me like I was from another planet when I asked them about a compressor. They did like my car, but were no help at all. So I turned to Stan!
I wonder if the extra thickness in driver's side shim was to compensate for driver weight or for other suspension situation.
Thanks guys. I'll buy a set of single prongs and grind them.
Surferjer said:
The shims from the driver's front. THe middle one was twice as thick as the other two on the driver's side. On the passenger side all three were thin on my car (.25MM, I believe)
You are supposed to remove equal shim thickness from each side. So you need to put back a thin shim in the drivers side.
Andrew S said:
You are supposed to remove equal shim thickness from each side. So you need to put back a thin shim in the drivers side.
The car is not built symmetrically, you have to measure the result to determine how many shims are needed on each corner.
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