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JIC's installed for 2006 NC MX-5 Miata!!!

Posted: Sun Sep 18, 2005 10:01 am
by Brian
After the NC performed poorly on the track we came back to the shop and ripped out the marshmellow factory springs and underdamped Bilstein shocks of the so called "Sport Package" 06 MX-5.

In went JIC coilovers yesterday. More details to follow and pictures too.

JIC installation

Posted: Sun Sep 18, 2005 10:14 am
by Brian
TOOLS:

Two metric wrench sets. Breaker bar, torque wrench. Note that a floor jack is VERY useful for jacking the old coilovers into compressed position for removal of the rear, and for jacking new coilovers into place so that bolts and nuts are easily reinserted.


FRONT

1) Jackup the front using factory jack points

2) Remove front wheels

3) Pop the hood and remove shock tower brace.

4). Disconnect front sway bar links from the lower A arms.

5) On the lower control arm remove the 17mm bolt that holds the base of the shock on.

6) Remove the two upper control arm 14mm bolts--this is the key to the front!! No spring compressor is necessary if you do this!

7) Remove the 3 upper hat 14mm nuts, after this the shock/spring assembly should drop down a bit and you should be able to angle it out (top first) by moving the control arms toward the rear. Note the thin plastic looking film on the top mounts...carefully remove and put this item on the JIC...it prevents squeaks.

8). I made the front JIC assembly exactly 2 inches shorter than the factory assembly. And it lowered the front end exactly 2 inches from stock.

9) The reinstallation is the opposite of the removal, first slide the strut assembly back through the upper control arm and under the fender

10) Screw on the 3 14mm bolts for the upper hat

11) Reinstall the 17mm bolt through the base of the strut

12) Screw in the two 14mm upper control arm bolts but do not tighten them all the way just yet. If you tighten them now when you rest the car down the front will be excessively high and the rear will look squatted like in a weight transfer, dont ask me how I know this..


13) After both sides are complete reconnect factory sway bar.

14) Reinstall the wheels

15) Lower the car down and let the car settle on the front suspension, I took a quick drive around the block

16) Rotate the wheels so you can tighten the upper control arm bolts.

17) Enjoy your new coilovers.


REAR.

The rear install is about the same but you pull the bolts for the top two links instead and you need parts from the rear top assembly to complete your install which means you need a spring compressor to remove the factory top hats and sandwich bushigs. The JIC come with gorgeous pillow ball mounts for the front but in the rear they reuse the factory top mounts. You will understand why after you take out the factory Mazda NC top mounts which are unique in shape and made of aluminum so there was little need to undertake the difficult task of recreating these.


WARNING...you do NOT adjust height on these by cranking the spring perches up against the spring tension and doing so can result in those perches getting jammed on the treads. Instead, you undo the lock perches and spin the shock BODY in and out of the base of the shock and then follow by sprining the perches up to put just light tension on the springs. In other words, you shorten or lengthen the shock first...then adjust the spring perch to snug the springs to keep noise down.

Pics to follow.

Posted: Sun Sep 18, 2005 6:09 pm
by Brian
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Lowered 2 inches from stock...

Posted: Sun Sep 18, 2005 6:10 pm
by Brian
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Posted: Sun Sep 18, 2005 6:13 pm
by Brian
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Stock height..rear.

Our car was remarkably level from Mazda. 26.5 inches all corners (15.25 as measured from center of wheel to lip) with the only exception being the driver's front corner which was 1/8th inch lower.

Posted: Sun Sep 18, 2005 6:14 pm
by Brian
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Stock height..front

Posted: Sun Sep 18, 2005 6:16 pm
by Brian
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After JICs rear lowered 2 inches.

Posted: Sun Sep 18, 2005 6:17 pm
by Brian
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Front lowered 2 inches...

Posted: Sun Sep 18, 2005 8:58 pm
by Brian
Note that the beauty of this setup is that you have FULL travel regardless of the height you set the car at. That's because the shock base on this setup spins onto the main shock body...making the length of the shock adjustable independent of the spring perch. Therefore, with this setup the travel does not change whether you are 1 inch lower than stock, 2 inches, stock height, whatever.

Posted: Mon Sep 19, 2005 7:21 am
by Brian
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