Here we go! Coilover sleeve setup and install! S13

[nissun1]

So ladies and Gents i decided to buy a couple of sleeves to run my megan coilover setup..hopefully i can provide a good way to show you guys how i did it.

By the way here is the link for the sleeves if you are interested in goin the same route:

http://www.zccjdm.co...__STRUT_PLATES_

Credit also goes out to crazy octopus' thread for showing his step by step guide.

Here is his link:

http://forums.hybrid...st/page__st__80

Here is another link of helpful resource goodies on the build as well as coilovers:

http://forums.hybrid...coilover-bible/

With that being said i hope this guide helps in answering any of the questions i ran into while attempting this setup.

Also thanks to Apex944 for selling me his coilover tubes. Good Seller!

 

What you will need:

1 Zccjdm coilover sleeves and camber plates

2 A mig/tig welder

3 a die grinder

4 a plasma cutter (this will be your best friend)

5 cut off wheel

6 a good hammer as well as a vise

7 a grinding wheel

8 a chop saw

9 water

10 some beer!!!!!!!

 

after you get the tubes you are going to want to remove your lower control arm and strut assembly from the car to make it easier to work with.

once its off you are going to disassemble your strut and remove the shock inside that is inside the tube casing

once that is bare you can cut your strut tube with a chopsaw..note i left a good 1" and a 1/2 so it can slide into the sleeve.

here is what the rears look like cut.

both rears

if you want you can remove the spindle pin to make things even easier.. i used a press and that seems to work the best for me so far but if you dont heres is an alternative to take the pin out : http://dirtys30.blog...in-removal.html

i ended up cutting mine from the lca with a sawzall before pressing the rest out lol

now after thats done you are goin to get those bad boys welded up. If u have access to a tig welder/arc go for it but if you dont just take it to someone to weld it up

now that its welded up have some fun and mach up the tubes with the coilovers

now that you have got a good feeling of what they are gonna look like lets put em on!

start first with cutting off the round lip that is on top of the strut tower. How u diggin those safety glasses HAHAHA

ooooo sparks

now place your plates on top of the tower and trace an outline around it

before you cut make sure you trace the same shape of the plate on the inside of your initial tracing line this will be about 1/2 inch or so..that way when you cut on the inner trace line the plate has something to sit on to weld.

first cut with a buddy of mine

here is what the shape we cut it out looked like

Note: we tried to make room in order for the top coilover mount to the plate will have a good range of movement

slide the coilover through the hole and check for movement and clearance

this is what the top looks like.. notice the right edge of the plate is hammered down in order for it to sit flush with the towers lines.

now im guessing you want more range of movement at the top of the tower right? so this is what i did. i cut the top of the mount just enough so it can sit further in to the tower. I also rounded and or cut the edges a lil bit more just for an easier fit and more range of movement.

before u weld make sure the top your starting with is square and equal with the other tower. This takes a lil maneuvering around and some ingenuity. what i did was i got a 2x4 and put it up against the bulk head and marked the wood where the camber plate track was.then i moved the wood along the bulk head to see if the mark stayed in line with the same position of the track of the plate. here is what they look like after i finished welding them up. Dont forget to hit off any extra slag from the metal as well as pour some water to quench the steel.

same goes for the other side

i couldnt find a washer so i ended up using cardboard hahah

this is what one of the tubes looks like after the weld

 

And that is as far as i have gotten with the coilover setup i will post more and it will be about the rear of the car being setup. If you have any questions dont hesitate to ask.

Edited June 13, 2011 by nissun1

[ashintar]

nice write up so far!

[turboHLS30]

Nice write up, I eventually want to do this conversion.

[nissun1]

Yea man for what it's worth it's definitely a to do for the suspension.

Edited June 14, 2011 by nissun1

[ryanfudger]

How do you plan to adjust camber in the rear? Seems like this conversion is a good all-around solution aside from that...

[nissun1]

http://forums.hybridz.org/index.php/topic/97762-adding-some-neg-camber-to-back-end/page__p__917874__hl__%2Bcamber+%2Bplates+%2Brear__fromsearch__1#entry917874

read jmortensons post on camber in the rear

[ryanfudger]

Eccentric bushings are the best option, then? I'm assuming biscuit-style camber plates will not work with megans?

[ryanfudger]

I guess LCA's, too.

[nissun1]

for the rear yes a pair of adjustable lca's would work fine as for the biscuit style camber plates( assuming they are the bolt ins) i would be 100% sure if that would adapt over.

[AleksS30]

Is it possible to do this conversion without welding in the camber plates? In otherwords, can you some how use the factory rubber strut mounts? Or modify them somehow to work?

[209runner]

For the rears in my car I had the Megan top hats redrilled to match the stock ones so they would just bolt up. I didn't want to cut and weld in the plates in the rear.

[nissun1]

You could do it that way although for the front plates to get the most out of the kit you would need to cut and weld up the strut tops. It really wasnt too bad in my opinion. It took about 1 day for the fronts and another day for the rears. 209runner that is a good idea although when it is drilled you want to make sure they are identical to the other coilover.

I forgot to post more pictures of my install..anyways thanks for posting here are the progress pictures.

 

Here are the rear control arms with a fully custom solid diff mount.

 

This is what it looks like assembled on the ground minus the other coilover ( it was being used in the fitment process while on the car).

 

Now to the fun stuff.

First grind down all the junk and debris (caulking) to get a clean welding surface.

 

Rough first cut.

 

This is what i did to get the rear plate to sit flush with the coilover top plate. I set the plate on top so that i can see how much i would have to cut away on the strut top.

 

Trace a circle and try to follow it.

 

You should get something close to this.

 

 

Do some welding!

 

After you are done welding sit back and enjoy some of your work. The plates should sit flat against the tops of the coilovers and they should not be crooked in any way. If they are just grind down on the inside of the plate under the wheel well.

 

Here is what the setup looks like after it was done being painted.

 

Lastly a rear shot of the car.

 

Next up is the front install! I will post pictures along the way guys so heres a quick look at where i am.

Edited July 13, 2011 by nissun1

[RB26powered74zcar]

Nice job, with great pictures.... !! Keep it coming!

[Robzzzz]

Cool post ! might have to do this , I like those control arms

[mistah mofro]

Why didnt you just drill two mounting holes for the rear coils? Or weld a pair camber plates?

[Wedge]

How can you be sure that the plate is leveld right, heat could distort the top plate or shock tower and change the angle no?

[johnc]

as pour some water to quench the steel.

 

Geez dude! Don't ever do this! You have no frickin' idea what you're doing. Read up: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quenching.

[nissun1]

 

Effect of Quench Hardening

Before the material is hardened, the microstructure of the material is a pearlite grain structure that is uniform and laminar. Pearlite is a mixture of ferrite and cementite formed when steel or cast iron are manufactured and cooled at a slow rate. After quench hardening, the microstructure of the material form into martensite as a fine, needle-like grain structure.^[1]

 

Before using this technique it is essential to look up the rate constants for the quenching of the excited states of metal ions.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quenching

 

Why wouldn't I quench the steel if it strenghtens the material?

 

 

 

[h4nsm0l3m4n]

For most materials strength and ductility are not independent qualities. When you quench a metal it becomes "stronger" but looses its ductility. What you end up getting when you quench steel in water is a very brittle material. Though I am not an expert on welding I also imagine that during the welding process you create lots of internal stresses in the metal. If you quench the metal afterwards you are effectively freezing the internal stresses in the parts, which makes the structure weaker. I imagine that businesses that do a lot of industrial welding where weld strength was critically important would like to, if possible, anneal the metal after welding and cool at a very precisely controlled rate to achieve an ideal metal structure for their application.

Edited October 18, 2011 by h4nsm0l3m4n

[SleeperZ]

You definitely DO NOT WANT BRITTLE in your suspension mounts. It will crack and fail with use.