How To: Ground Control Coil Overs (pics gone :( )

**JPMX6GT** · 2-25-02, 10:17

TOOLS NEEDED:
- 1/2" and 1/4" drive ratchet wrench
- Various size 1/2"and 1/4" sockets
- Various size open and closed end wrenches
- Long 1/2" drive lever wrench
- Flathead screwdriver
- Grinding machine / metal cutoff wheel
( I used my handy dandy dremel high speed drill tool )
- Car jack / Jack stands
- Table vise

Here are the parts. In the picture on the left you can see the Spring, the aluminum sleeve, the top hat, gold spring perch and inside the red sleeve is a rubber o ring that I forgot to remove for the picture. If the setup performs as good as they look...... WOW! On the right you can see the front and the rear setup at the lowest and highest setting. The height difference seems to be about 2 1/2" to 3 " though they claim up to a 2 1/2 inch drop.

**JPMX6GT** · 2-25-02, 10:17

First and most obvious, you have to remove the wheel. As you may know, it's best if you just slightly loosen the lug nuts before jacking up the car. You don't want to start jerking the car back and forth trying to loosen a lug nut AFTER the car is up on stands. Then jack the car up and place jack stands underneath it. If you are doing the front first, make sure you secure the rear tires to make sure that they do not slip or slide down. After, simply remove the pre-loosened lug nuts and remove the wheel and place it on the side so it could be out of the way.

**JPMX6GT** · 2-25-02, 10:19

Then after removing the wheel, in my case I had to remove the strut bar and brace. Simply remove the 4 nuts located on the top of the strut inside the engine compartment. LEFT). The next thing I did was loosen the nut that holds the strut into the top mount. I did this before removing the strut because it is way easier then trying to clamp the strut mount somewhere. I used the long lug wrench lever with the 1/2" drive socket I used fro the lug nuts.

**JPMX6GT** · 2-25-02, 10:19

Next, after removing the 4 nuts that hold the entire strut assembly in and loosening the big nut that holds the strut to the top mount, you have to detach the brake line from the strut and unbolt the two nuts that hold the strut to the axle. After you remove the 2 nuts that hold the strut in place, the entire strut assembly comes loose and can be removed. So remove it, clean it and get ready for the grinding....

**JPMX6GT** · 2-25-02, 10:21

On the left you will see the white Tokico Illumina 5 way adjustable strut with the Eibach spring. This combination was awesome, I loved it. It was stiff at turns and it had a smooth ride. The drop it gave y car was a little more than 1". Some say it's because of the Tokicos.... SO, after removing the strut, you have to remove the top strut mount. Now here is where you have to be careful. In my case, when I installed the Eibachs on the Tokicos, I did not need a spring compressor. The spring seemed to be low enough to allow me to bolt the top mount to the strut mount without any compressing. So before you do this, see if the spring is loose while is sits on its perch. meaning that is the spring wobbles around and you see that there is gap between the spring and the top mount, then the spring is not compressed. If you feel that the spring is tight and that there is no give on the top and bottom of the spring, USE A SPRING COMPRESSOR. You do NOT want to unbolt the strut from the top mount and have the nut fly at you and the spring uncompress in your hands. Please BE CAREFUL.

After this, it's all just a matter of bolting and tightening the nuts that hold the strut in place: The two nut's and bolts by the axle and the 3 nuts on the top of the strut in the engine bay, and the big nut that holds the strut into the top mount. With this nut, it is much easier to just hand tighten it in the beginning and then , after you have the strut tightened just get your lug wrench and tighten the nut after the strut is in place (Be careful not to over tighten). Then simply slap the wheel back in and go for a test run to se that everything settles in. And now for the rear.......

**JPMX6GT** · 2-25-02, 10:23

Well, next is the procedure that took the most time out of the entire installation, the <GRINDING>. First measure the width on the inside of the red aluminum sleeve. it measures approximately 2" inches. Next, measure the lip on the top of the strut (PICTURE) it measures approximately 2 and 1/8" inches.

**JPMX6GT** · 2-25-02, 10:24

Then, grab a grinding stone, sand paper, metal cutoff wheel rock, or anything that you can use to grind away some of the excess metal. I have a high speed drill (Dremel) and I'm telling you, I've used this tool so many times over the past year or two, it was an awesome buy for like $75 bucks... So just grind and grind away until the width of the lip is a little bit less than 2". Once you get to that point, wrap the rubber O-ring around the base of the strut (where the sleeve is going over) and then push the red sleeve over the base of the strut. With the help of the rubber O-ring, it should fit in nice and snug with minimal play.(BOTTOM RIGHT). This must be done with all four struts, unfortunately. So be patient, sometimes if you have a metal cutoff wheel, that helps. Just be careful not to OVER CUT the lip, if you do, then the sleeve will be loose and you don't want that.

**JPMX6GT** · 2-25-02, 10:26

After you get the red sleeve in the strut, the next step is to cut the bump stop according to instructions and then assemble the coil-over on the strut. The bump stop needs to be cut about half way up, leaving only the thick part on and cutting the bottom half. In all you'd be cutting about 1" off the bumpstop.

**JPMX6GT** · 2-25-02, 10:28

After cutting the bump stop then you are basically ready to assemble everything. Simply screw in the golden spring perch, slip the bump stop in the strut, insert the spring in and then slap in the aluminum top hat. Once they are in, then you are ready to bolt in the top strut mount. So inset the top strut mount and then hand tighten the nut that holds it in the strut first. Afterwards, you can play with the height of the spring by screwing or unscrewing the spring perch. If you tighten it, it will lower the spring, if you loosen it, the spring will go up. I personally wanted the lowest setting possible so I tightened it all the way. The only problem is that the strut's spring perch will not let you lower it completely. The most it will lower is about 3/4" to 1" from the absolute bottom. So I left it as low as possible without cutting or modifying the strut. However, I think I will soon have a date with the strut and my dremel tool in the attempt to cut away the strut's spring perch so that I will be able to lower the coil-over as much as possible. But that's a different story.

After this, it's all just a matter of bolting and tightening the nuts that hold the strut in place: The two nut's and bolts by the axle and the 3 nuts on the top of the strut in the engine bay, and the big nut that holds the strut into the top mount. With this nut, it is much easier to just hand tighten it in the beginning and then , after you have the strut tightened just get your lug wrench and tighten the nut after the strut is in place (Be careful not to over tighten). Then simply slap the wheel back in and go for a test run to se that everything settles in. And now for the rear.......

**JPMX6GT** · 2-25-02, 10:29

Okay, the rear is basically simple and you have to follow the same exact steps as you did in the front struts. The only thing different is that with an MX6, the nuts that hold the top of the strut in place is located in the trunk of the car and may be a little of a pain to remove.

Well, as you can see, in my case, I have a rear strut bar installed so my first step was to remove the rear strut bar. This was a little bit hard because of the lack of space sine I had changed the stock 5X7's to Rockford's 6X9's. So what I did was remove the rear speakers and by doing that, it gave me a lot more room to maneuver the tools. So first I removed the bar, leaving the mounting bracket on that way I would have more room.

Now, you might not be able to see it but there is barely enough room to fit a ratchet in there to remove the nuts that hold the strut. The best tool to use would be a close ended wrench, (I forget what size) to remove these nuts. BUT, even with this, you still might have a problem removing them because since the wrench you might use is probably short, you can't really get a lot of torque in there. SO, what I did was get another close ended wrench and placed it on the opposite end of the first wrench and by doing this it basically made the wrench twice as big (Look at the picture carefully) I got this trick from mechanics and to my surprise, IT WORKS AWESOME. So if you ever have a problem with a nut that will not give, try this if you do not have an extension arm .

If you have a Probe, then all that you will have to do is remove the rear inside panels to reveal the these nuts that fasten the top of the strut to the car. I personally don't have any experience with Probes but hey, it can't be that hard.

After you get the top loosened up, Simply go through the same steps as the front struts, they are identical... You have to temporarily move the brake line off the strut. Then unbolt the 2 nuts and bolts that hold the strut to the axle. Once you do this, the entire strut assembly will collapse and you will be able to remove it from the car. Go back to the first page of the install or a refresher...