NC Coilover Install....OHLINS, JIC, etc...

[Brian]

SANTA arrives early at Good-Win Racing! New Delivery of OHLINS and our Holiday Kit Price continues while this delivery lasts!

[JosephC737]

Just installed the Ohlins over the weekend. I have to adjust height/dampening, but they feel so much better than what I had. Both front and rear feel planted and over rough roads, I could not get them to unsettle.

For the rear install, I unbolted the damper while installed using a 5mm allen key to keep the shaft from spinning and the 14mm wrench for the locknut. After removing the damper locknut, all I had to do was unbolt the 17mm bolt at the bottom of the damper and I could remove the unassembled damper body through the bottom and the springs separately. This really helped when installing: hold the new spring against the mount then raise the damper through the hole at the top of the mount (I had to do this laying on the ground to see the hold and it took a few tries to get it through). Then I bolted the damper and then screwed in the locknut after finishing assembly. Using a wingnut instead of the regular locknut would probably have made this part much easier since the space is tight (Brian mentioned something like this in earlier in the thread).

I've never installed coilovers before and am a novice mechanic at best, but if you have patience and basic tools, you can do this yourself and save tons of money. Can't wait to take them on the track!

[Brian]

Thanks for that report, glad you got it done smoothly and are enjoying them!

[RBNetEngr]

I read through the thread but didn’t see it mentioned specifically...

Just to be clear, are these the bolts that need to be tightened under load?

Front: Upper control arm bolts and bottom shock bolt

Rear: Upper Lateral arm bolts (BOTH) and bottom shock bolt

Is that correct? No other bolts for rear bushings need to be loosened and re-tightened while under load?

Thanks,

-rb

[Brian]

I read through the thread but didn’t see it mentioned specifically...

Just to be clear, are these the bolts that need to be tightened under load?

Front: Upper control arm bolts and bottom shock bolt

Rear: Upper Lateral arm bolts (BOTH) and bottom shock bolt

Is that correct? No other bolts for rear bushings need to be loosened and re-tightened while under load?

Thanks,

-rb

Ideally all the rear link connections get tightened under load.

[EdwinB784]

am a complete novice mechanic, but received the ohlins kit for the ND, swift spring upgrades 7/4, and karcepts spherical mounts recently, and I had a couple of assembly questions as the parts don't match the (already not-so-great) instructions from Ohlins

1. the karcepts mounts *do* include their upper spring perch, so if using them you don't need the included ohlins part "upper spring seat" (part 8 for rear, 10 for front) - GWR patiently answered this for me already, but adding this for posterity

2. Swift springs - the ohlins mounting instructions recommend 2mm of preload and show the spring mounted in diagram at 198mm, but the springs received are 205mm. 7mm of preload at the same spring rate doesn't sound right? should I take that extra 5mm out of height adjustment?

3. camber adjustments - out of curiosity as I look the ohlins instructions and compare with the karcepts mounts, but how do camber adjustments work with this setup?

[Brian]

This is not a front wheel drive car that is starved for camber such that coilovers come with camber adjustment in the top upper mounts as you might see for struts on front drive cars. In other words, camber is still adjusted per the factory on the alignment eccentrics that are on the car, not something on the coilovers.

The whole point of a little preload is just keeping the springs from moving around when suspension unloads, therefore slightly longer spring makes no difference... you still want about 2mm of preload.