99 stock strut/coilover help

[99Roadster]

Hey Tony could you answer a couple questions for me.....Since I'm new to all this coilover stuff I just received my coilovers and they look great.....Took them 4 weeks to get here.

1) The coilover with the adjustable camber plate....The one with the 4 allen head screws up top is for the front or rear of the car ?

2) And the damper adjustment with the supplied screw for going down through the top did you use the settings the manual suggested which was 12 front & 8 rear ?

[tonythetiger]

Originally Posted by 99Roadster

Hey Tony could you answer a couple questions for me.....Since I'm new to all this coilover stuff I just received my coilovers and they look great.....Took them 4 weeks to get here.

1) The coilover with the adjustable camber plate....The one with the 4 allen head screws up top is for the front or rear of the car ?

2) And the damper adjustment with the supplied screw for going down through the top did you use the settings the manual suggested which was 12 front & 8 rear ?

the pillow mount is for the front (4 allens). They only go in one way so line them up correctly. I left the allens how they came, but made sure they were tight, they were. The holes are elongated, so line the nuts up where the old ones were too. I did the standard dampening and doubt I will change them...if it was 12 and 8 then, yeah, thas what I did.

A little floor jack really helps push the hubs up as you put things in. Youtubers will show you this. Also pay attention to the instructions on ride height, leave the spinners that hold the spring where they are, dont move them. You adjust the height by spinning the shock. I went close to stock, lowering about 1/2 inch, but you can adjust this after installation.
IMHO, if you lower the car more, you cant drive it on the street as something WILL happen. :+)

After installed, torque down the locking spinner. Have magnetic parts retriever handy for the nuts on the rear, in case you drop one. I also used my retriever to start the back nut you reach in the trunk trough. its tight.

Are you doing the suspension at the same time?

[99Roadster]

Thanks for the clarification on which coilover goes where.....I remember watching a video about the distance between holes.

Yeah the instructions say something about leaving the top 2 spinners where they are and after looking at the shock I figured out you spin the shock to adjust.

I measured the ride height before I took it apart and will set it to original ride height.....And the instructions say to torque the spinner to 70 / 80 nm.

When you say suspension are you referring to the rear struts ? If so no I am only doing the fronts at this time.

One more question for you Tony since I will have all 4 stock struts available do you think anybody would want to buy them and what might I charge for a fair price....All 4 stock bilstein struts have no rust anywhere and have 47,000 original miles on them and the only reason I am replacing them is because the right front strut started leaking and I decided to give some coilovers a try instead of going with struts.

[tonythetiger]

Originally Posted by 99Roadster

One more question for you Tony since I will have all 4 stock struts available do you think anybody would want to buy them and what might I charge for a fair price....All 4 stock bilstein struts have no rust anywhere and have 47,000 original miles on them and the only reason I am replacing them is because the right front strut started leaking and I decided to give some coilovers a try instead of going with struts.

im not the expert on used parts, I dont have anything for you one that, but you are replacing one of them because they are leaking? If its me, im not putting them on my car, especially when I can buy new. I went Coilover for the simplicity of having everything at once.
I encourage you to look at your suspension components carefully when you perform the swap. Droplinks and swaybar bushings are often bad by the time our cars get this old. The lower control arm goes quick in the front as well. When (if?) you do the rear, again droplinks and swaybar bushings, but the trailing arm (fork) makes noise at low speeds and needs replaced. I just swapped everything with TRW...cost about 1500 bucks but its done.

post some pictures of your project and lets see how its going, just size them correctly so they arent HUGE!

[99Roadster]

I have been checking all that suspension stuff you suggested and giving it a very close inspection and everything looks good except the sway bar drop links are shot front and rear.

So I put new drop links all around.

Check this out Tony I spent all day today putting in the new coilovers and the reason it took me so long was everybody says the last thing you do is tighten down the 3 nuts up top under the hood after the car is complete and on the ground.

Well I went to do that but I couldn't get it adjusted the way the stock camber alignment was which was both sides were all the way out toward the fender.....So after some checking it was those 4 allen screws on top were hitting against the angled metal under there were it mounts too.

So I had to take them completely back out and move the 4 allen screws to the other set of holes about a 1/2" back from the holes they had them in when they arrived.....Man was I pissed....So after doing that they could then be adjusted all the way out toward the fender like the stock adjustment was.

Then I spent the rest of the time guessing where to adjust the coilovers so it sits at the factory ride height....When I first put it down on the ground it was way to low so it took me 3 different adjustments to get it right.

[tonythetiger]

I have felt frustration when things dont go perfect, and reflect that error and troubleshooting are our best teachers. :+)
hows it look now? confident everything is tight and outta sight? Post a picture, everybody loves pictures

[99Roadster]

I'll work on getting a pic....Took it out yesterday and everything works good except now my steering wheel is very slightly off too the right when I'm going straight down the road and it was perfect before.
So to get the wheel straight again I would adjust the steering arms coming in from each side....Correct.

[tonythetiger]

Originally Posted by 99Roadster

I'll work on getting a pic....Took it out yesterday and everything works good except now my steering wheel is very slightly off too the right when I'm going straight down the road and it was perfect before.
So to get the wheel straight again I would adjust the steering arms coming in from each side....Correct.

that sort of stuff I leave to the alignment shop. Its 80 bucks for a 4 wheel alignment and they straighten the steering wheel...get your cambers and toe-ins correct.