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Stock links were 60mm
I wanted a 1/2” drop so set the adjustable links at 58mm since that video said 5mm shorter = 1” drop.
It worked our perfect, 1/2” drop in the rear!
Now all four fenders are 26” off the ground and I love it.
Stock link 60mm center to center. Every 5mm shorter is 1" lowered
26” to fenders all four corners
It looks "even" in real life. In the photo it looks like the front should go down more ... but .. IRL it's perfect. Must be angle or dirt on tires or something.
Last edited by I.T. Guy; Aug 18, 2022 at 04:03 PM.
Stock links were 60mm
I wanted a 1/2” drop so set the adjustable links at 58mm since that video said 5mm shorter = 1” drop.
It worked our perfect, 1/2” drop in the rear!
Now all four fenders are 26” off the ground and I love it.
Stock link 60mm center to center. Every 5mm shorter is 1" lowered
26” to fenders all four corners
It looks "even" in real life. In the photo it looks like the front should go down more ... but .. IRL it's perfect. Must be angle or dirt on tires or something.
Your car looks fantastic! Do you know how many mm or number of threads you have between the adjustment collar and the bottom of the threads for this ride height?
Your car looks fantastic! Do you know how many mm or number of threads you have between the adjustment collar and the bottom of the threads for this ride height?
REAR ADJUSTMENT LINKS:
I only measured center to center 58mm to start since I only wanted about a 1/2" drop. 5mm in rod shortening = 1" drop in height so instead of shortening the stock 60mm to 55mm like the video, I shot for 1/2" drop with 58mm center to center. I never counted turns or measured how many threads or length of threads between. I just measured and set the starting centers length on my bench then installed them on the car.
It doesn't matter anyhow, you will not get it perfect first time. After you do yours you _will_ have to adjust it once or twice anyway even side to side they are all a little different. Adjusting it after is a breeze just take the tire/rim off and pop off only the bottom link and turn it a turn longer or shorter and pop it back on until you are happy. Remember to drive the car in sport or sport+ or whatever before measuring and adjusting again. And also I found when I jack the car up and down any corner, the air bags freak out and start really raising/dropping all kinds of funky stuff so I could never just adjust and measure always had to drive a bit first and then measure.
Last edited by I.T. Guy; Sep 15, 2022 at 10:28 AM.
I only measured center to center 58mm to start since I only wanted about a 1/2" drop. 5mm in rod shortening = 1" drop in height so instead of shortening the stock 60mm to 55mm like the video, I shot for 1/2" drop with 58mm center to center. I never counted turns or measured how many threads or length of threads between. I just measured and set the starting centers length on my bench then installed them on the car.
It doesn't matter anyhow, you will not get it perfect first time. After you do yours you _will_ have to adjust it once or twice anyway even side to side they are all a little different. Adjusting it after is a breeze just take the tire/rim off and pop off only the bottom link and turn it 1/2 or full turn longer or shorter and pop it back on until you are happy. Remember to drive the car in sport or sport+ or whatever before measuring and adjusting again. And also I found when I jack the car up and down any corner, the air bags freak out and start really raising/dropping all kinds of funky stuff so I could never just adjust and measure always had to drive a bit first and then measure.
I agree, you will never get it just right the first time. It's extremely tedious. I switched from the metal links to the KW plastic once simply because the KW are double sided where as the metal ones are single. And a full rotation was getting me too low or too high on the metal ones. I had to re-adjust 12 times to get it dialed in this last time!
Your car looks fantastic! Do you know how many mm or number of threads you have between the adjustment collar and the bottom of the threads for this ride height?
Re-reading this, man, I may have misunderstood - I think you were taking about the fronts not rears?
FRONT ADJUSTABLE SPRING PERCH:
On mine there is about 8-9mm, or just about 3/8" "threads" between the collar and the purple adjustment ring to get me "just a bit" under 26" ride height measuring ground to front fenders in those pictures. This means I have about 3/8" more I can lower if I wanted to.
I wouldn't bother trying to guess height before getting the springs on the struts. In fact I recommend assembling them with the purple adjustment ring touching the collar because you will have to compress the springs that much less. Then just slap the struts back on the car, don't worry about adjusting them first.
With the purple ring right down against the black bottom you will be around 25.5" from ground to fenders. Then each 1mm or each 1/4" or whatever you raise the ring it directly lifts the car that amount. So I didn't do it by turns I never counted I did it by by measuring from the ground to the fender, whatever that was - if it was 1/4" too high or too low I moved the ring up or down that 1/4" amount and I just kept measuring the ring to black perch after a few turns with cheap plastic calipers to monitor progress.
Also to save time I never took the wheels off I just jacked the weight off the wheel using the jack point in that corner, then there is enough room to get the tool in between the wheel and fender with my hand/arm spin the ring a bunch, measure collar to ring gap, repeat spinning ring until perfect, let the car back down. Don't mess with the set screws leave them out or loose until you know the ride is perfect then lock them down. Too much agressive use of the set screw may impact threads, I have no facts just a feeling so I didn't even use the set screws for about two weeks while I constantly fiddled with the ride heights. It only takes minutes like literally 1-2 minutes including getting the jack from the trunk. I kept the ring adjustment tool and a tape measure in my cup holder and just used the factory jack to make quick tweaks every day wherever I was around town lol. It's fast. Then after it settled and stopped changing I locked them in with the set screws.
After each adjustment I had to drive the car a little to get the wheels to "center" again as when you jack up and down the wheels camber in and out until you roll forward and backward to get them "neutral" again.
so
1) measure floor to fender on left and right fenders 2) jack up left and right and move ring up or down the amount you want to change the measurement 3) roll the car back and forth drive it like 10' or so or just forget it until the next time you drive the car around over bumps and stuff to work and back, I took my time and took a few weeks to dial it in.
4) Just keep measuring floor to fender on the left and right and keep repeating until they are even and the height you want them both sides. It's really really easy, front adjustment is way easier then taking the rear wheels off and fiddling with the rear links.
Oh one more (simple) important thing - there is a line mark etched on the underside of the top coil, this line mark must be on the outside of the car not to the front or back or inside, must be the outside. This keeps both left and right springs orientated a certain way with the top coils starting at the same point in the top perch left and right. This sounds complicated but is also super easy as you are adjusting the collar up or down the spring spins, when you are close to the final position just feel up with your hand for that etched mark and a little more turns or turn it back so the spring is oriented the correct way.
The final height is subjective, whatever suits your fancy!
Last edited by I.T. Guy; Sep 15, 2022 at 10:53 AM.
Re-reading this, man, I may have misunderstood - I think you were taking about the fronts not rears?
FRONT ADJUSTABLE SPRING PERCH:
On mine there is about 8-9mm, or just about 3/8" "threads" between the collar and the purple adjustment ring to get me "just a bit" under 26" ride height measuring ground to front fenders in those pictures. This means I have about 3/8" more I can lower if I wanted to.
I wouldn't bother trying to guess height before getting the springs on the struts. In fact I recommend assembling them with the purple adjustment ring touching the collar because you will have to compress the springs that much less. Then just slap the struts back on the car, don't worry about adjusting them first.
With the purple ring right down against the black bottom you will be around 25.5" from ground to fenders. Then each 1mm or each 1/4" or whatever you raise the ring it directly lifts the car that amount. So I didn't do it by turns I never counted I did it by by measuring from the ground to the fender, whatever that was - if it was 1/4" too high or too low I moved the ring up or down that 1/4" amount and I just kept measuring the ring to black perch after a few turns with cheap plastic calipers to monitor progress.
Also to save time I never took the wheels off I just jacked the weight off the wheel using the jack point in that corner, then there is enough room to get the tool in between the wheel and fender with my hand/arm spin the ring a bunch, measure collar to ring gap, repeat spinning ring until perfect, let the car back down. Don't mess with the set screws leave them out or loose until you know the ride is perfect then lock them down. Too much agressive use of the set screw may impact threads, I have no facts just a feeling so I didn't even use the set screws for about two weeks while I constantly fiddled with the ride heights. It only takes minutes like literally 1-2 minutes including getting the jack from the trunk. I kept the ring adjustment tool and a tape measure in my cup holder and just used the factory jack to make quick tweaks every day wherever I was around town lol. It's fast. Then after it settled and stopped changing I locked them in with the set screws.
After each adjustment I had to drive the car a little to get the wheels to "center" again as when you jack up and down the wheels camber in and out until you roll forward and backward to get them "neutral" again.
so
1) measure floor to fender on left and right fenders 2) jack up left and right and move ring up or down the amount you want to change the measurement 3) roll the car back and forth drive it like 10' or so or just forget it until the next time you drive the car around over bumps and stuff to work and back, I took my time and took a few weeks to dial it in.
4) Just keep measuring floor to fender on the left and right and keep repeating until they are even and the height you want them both sides. It's really really easy, front adjustment is way easier then taking the rear wheels off and fiddling with the rear links.
Oh one more (simple) important thing - there is a line mark etched on the underside of the top coil, this line mark must be on the outside of the car not to the front or back or inside, must be the outside. This keeps both left and right springs orientated a certain way with the top coils starting at the same point in the top perch left and right. This sounds complicated but is also super easy as you are adjusting the collar up or down the spring spins, when you are close to the final position just feel up with your hand for that etched mark and a little more turns or turn it back so the spring is oriented the correct way.
The final height is subjective, whatever suits your fancy!
This was really helpful - especially the etched mark on the spring. I will take a look and make sure its oriented properly. Thanks for the tips. I'm going to be working on it today and I have a bette idea now of what to do. Thanks!
It's easy! I was really apprehensive going in but after I did one side, the other side was a cakewalk. Careful with the death-stick spring compressors if you are using those. They scare the crap out of me.
My car settled down itself about 3/8" to 1/2" in the first week of driving so in the beginning I just set it a bit high on both sides. I didn't even try adjusting the rears until the fronts stopped settling and were at the height I wanted.
Also when getting close to final height I would only change one corner at a time and drive it. Changing anything more than one corner I kept chasing it around. It might be because when one corner lowers or raises it affects the other corners, sometimes in the opposite direction. Or, my old eyes just couldn't read the tape measure ticks properly and I kept confusing myself. Anyhow I eventually got there one corner at a time until one day they all measured the same.
Last edited by I.T. Guy; Sep 15, 2022 at 12:42 PM.
It's easy! I was really apprehensive going in but after I did one side, the other side was a cakewalk. Careful with the death-stick spring compressors if you are using those. They scare the crap out of me.
My car settled down itself about 3/8" to 1/2" in the first week of driving so in the beginning I just set it a bit high on both sides. I didn't even try adjusting the rears until the fronts stopped settling and were at the height I wanted.
Also when getting close to final height I would only change one corner at a time and drive it. Changing anything more than one corner I kept chasing it around. It might be because when one corner lowers or raises it affects the other corners, sometimes in the opposite direction. Or, my old eyes just couldn't read the tape measure ticks properly and I kept confusing myself. Anyhow I eventually got there one corner at a time until one day they all measured the same.
I got everything installed and need to tighten down the control arms once the wheels are on. I also ended up replacing all the control arms and tie rods as well as wheel bearings. I am going to work on the ride height today. One of the forum members posted about doing his own alignment with alignment plates and I picked those up to get the alignment into spec. I’m looking forward to getting the car back in the road. It’s taken a while to get things done.
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