new suspension inserts !

[scomr2]

Persistence rewarded! Make sure when you put the new inserts in you do the nut up to the full torque, don't forget to add anti-freeze to the strut as well - used to conduct heat from the insert to the strut casing.

Usually when you split a troublesome nut to get it off you just split the nut not the bolt as well!

[chrismanchr]

well Ive got about 2 litres of 0w40 oil left over from another car I'm not sure weither to use that or buy some red antifreeze ,the writeups do say light oil or coolant ,and in one write-up they used fork oil lol

I ordered the dust seals from toyota today that go inbetween the top mount that has the bearing in it and the spring mount ,gonna strip and clean the strut,top mounts next weekend and paint them not decided what to use yet ? I dont know if i can be bothered to use the por-15 i bought as it seems a right faf or just use hammerite

[LimeyMk1]

I used whatever oil I had floating about, I think it was 10w 40.

[chrismanchr]

I got the new strut dust covers that go inbetween the spring holder and the strut top that has the bearing inside today ,they dont look right ,maybe its because the original ones have been squashed into a completely different shape but theres nothing else between the spring holder and the bearing ,the old dust seal fit snugly into the bearing race but the new one doesnt look right ? hopefully someone will tell me no thats fine thats what they look like before they get squashed down? and i saw a build thread were they used some specail pink grease? whats that all about lol

[chrismanchr]

these are the new and the old seals i'm sure you can guess which is which lol

the old seal fits perfectly into the profile of the spring top and bearing but that might because its been squashed into that shape ,also is there a specail pink grease for this bearing?



it fits straight against this bearing in the top mount

I'm going to firmly mask up the strut top and either wire brush it or media blast it then paint it in either hammerite or por15

[boondougal]

Chris, looks eactly like the seal i put in mine, it seats into the bearing housing and just seems to squash up. I used a good quality lithium grease on the bearing, just packed it out before i assembled it.

Unless you can get the bearing 100% sealed i'm not sure i would media blast it. Anything getting into the bearing would not be good.

I used a drill attachment and then por15.

[chrismanchr]

thanks mate ive just been stripping the strut and spring plate and it was very messy lol got them both soaking in rust stripping fluid at the moment ,yeah i'm gonna dremel it with a little wire brush i think

[chrismanchr]

i painted the struts very carefully ,what a bloody waste of time lol as when i was putting them in I scratched alot of the paint off ,it was a right faff getting the strut in and then lining up the strut to hub bolt holes ,but its all in and lowered ,I pushed down on the suspension and it wouldnt budge really hard as it should be lol did the same with the other corner that still has the old struts in and it sprung up and down like a matress ,result !

[chrismanchr]

right one thing ! that dust seal ! I'm not so sure about it as the strut top was really hard to turn when i'd built it all up and before I put it in the car

anybody else had reservations about this dust seals do they bed in or once the weight of the cars on it are they fine?

and also the ride height looks really high lol

started on the otherside and nearly done it in one day verses 2 weeks for other side but i'm not painting them anymore its just a waste of time

[chrismanchr]

did the rear suspension and have you may have seen in my other thread I retained the original springs ,but the shocks were totally knackered !!! there was nothing ,push them all the way in and they didnt rise in 20 mins while i had a brew and then I removed them ,and once the kybs were fitted what a bloody difference !!!!!! the fronts were knackered and when pushed in very slow to rise but the backs totally ,there was hardly any oil in them at all ,i recomend doing this if you have a 26yr old mr2 !!!

[elbon50]

So you're happy with the KYB shock inserts front & rear Chris ?

It's just the KYB springs you don't like

I have some struts with KYB inserts to fit this year

Won't be using KYB springs though

[chrismanchr]

the springs were a joke they looked exactly the same as the stock springs same height and coils etc but ! they were much heavier sprung and this raised the car up by about 4cm which looked silly ,I emailed kyb and they told me to return them ,which I did this morning

I did wanna change the stock springs not because of the ride but because they have no paint left on them just rust

[elbon50]

You didn't like the Apex springs either IIRC

Other folk have said they are good

Will let you know how I get on with Whiteline ones

[chrismanchr]

yes the apex springs were softer and also shorter than stock springs lol

if they were that short and as hard as the kyb springs they would have worked ,but they bottom out and the 3 bottom spring coils were closed just with the weight of the car lol