Dbl_D718

For whatever it's worth, I didn't replace my rear spring seats either. They came off some donor struts with ~100k miles on them. But I don't have any squeaks, and I didn't add any tubing to my Epics or move the tubing that came with them.

What're you cutting with? This cut doesn't need to be exact, so don't sweat 3mm. I cut half an inch or so below the cap.

 

3mm is 0.12" lol

It'd definitely be bright. That said, the stock Bilsteins are full yellow housings and they didn't look out of place on the car. They'll get a coat of dirt over them pretty quick that'll tone down the brightness.

Ok

 

Would it be to much to ask if someone could provide pics on where to set the Pipe cutter at?

 

Basically, put the pipe cutter on the tube and then slide up it until it rests against the cap. I don't have pics, but you'll fully understand once you get the pipe cutter on there.

On mine, there was a hole between the top hat studs that had a rubber grommet/cap in it. I didn't pop it off, just kinda assumed that it was removable and that it's how I'd be able to adjust mine.

 

Was yours different?

I did mine by myself last weekend in about 3 hours. Having a pneumatic impact will make things pretty easy; there wasn't a single nut/bolt that I had trouble with, and my car is from WI/IL and I also didn't soak anything. Maybe I got lucky...

 

If you're just swapping pre-built assemblies, it's honestly a pretty easy job. Building the strut assemblies took longer for me.

 

The only challenge I encountered was getting the rear lower strut bolt out after I got the nut off. I didn't realize the need to jack up the rear suspension a little to get it out. Once you compress the rear suspension a little, I could actually see when the bolt wasn't being stressed anymore and it'll come out a lot easier.

Basically you need to build up the conical washer to be "thicker" what I did was go to Lowe's and picked up some stainless steel washers that matched the flat side of the conical washer.

 

http://www.pbase.com/paisan/image/104843625.jpg

 

-Mike Paisan

 

So with this, do you even need the conical washer anymore? Since the spec.B top hat has the extra surface area, the large side of the conical washer seems to mate up with it pretty nicely instead of the small side.

 

Would a stack of two regular washers with the diameter of the large side of the conical washer be better?

Do the spec.B top hats provide any benefit? I have a spec.B, but am kinda planning on switching to regular LGT top hats when I do my Koni install to avoid the extra "lift" in the front.

 

Can you offer any advice on that?

Spotted a white wagon with bronze wheels at the IGA in Eureka, IL today ~11:00am. Looked lowered a little, seemed like a pretty nice car. I was in a black F150 though, not the spec.B.

I lol'd because I worked in Pekin until just recently. Where'd you hear the joke?

^ lol stock suspension FTL? Lower offset makes the wheel gap look bigger; I need to lower it now.

http://i268.photobucket.com/albums/jj11/Dbl_D718/2012-07-14_18-42-44_432.jpg

 

Advan RCII, 18x8.5 +45 with 245/40 tires. Rear fenders need rolled, but not done yet.

Part number or specs for:

 

-Nuts on turbo-downpipe studs

-Downpipe-transmission hanger bolt

 

I lost both, so I could use part numbers or just specs to go buy them at the hardware store. Thanks.

I've only read the last two pages of this thread, but it seems not everyone understands the difference between RMS and peak numbers. And amp will never produce it's peak rating in the sense that people think it might.

 

When your subs hit hard, they aren't seeing that peak power level your amp is "rated for." At full tilt, your amp produces the rated RMS wattage (if it's a quality amp at least.) The peak rating is just a different way of measuring the wattage, measuring the total magnitude from maximum to minimum on the sine wave it produces. The RMS number is the magnitude from the zero point to one peak of the wave, half the peak number. That's why the peak rating is always double the RMS rating.

 

Reporting the peak number is just a marketing tool to make an amp sound more powerful to noobs.

 

Edit: You can't thermally blow a sub by underpowering it, unless the signal is clipped. And a sub won't automatically blow when sent a clipped signal; there still has to be enough power to overheat the voice coils. If you have a high power sub and send it low power, you can clip the bejesus out of it all day and not blow the sub.

Did you replace the OEM wires? Someone above mentioned not replacing but adding to the OEM. Using both?

 

Yeah just add new wires. You don't have to use factory ground locations either, if anything you should find better locations. By adding new wiring over the old, if your wires fail or you pick bad grounds, everything will still work like factory.

Real world cost is probably $60-$100 depending on what size and brand of wiring you use and prices you can find. It's also a good idea to fuse the alternator to battery cable, which will add to the cost some. Shouldn't take more than an hour or two to do if you know what you're doing.

 

The general rule of thumb is to do the big three in at least the same gauge as your main power wire for your amps. If you need to do the big three though, you'll likely be at a power level that requires at least 1/0 gauge power wire for your amps, so you'll most likely be doing the big three with at least 1/0 gauge wire.

It can only help so much though. If your system over-draws the alternator, the big three obviously won't stop light dimming. I wouldn't turn my system up very loud at night because I hated the dimming, and I'd imagine on-coming cars did too lol.

The big three is only really necessary once you start running a lot of power. Right now I run 300 watts RMS...it wouldn't help anything for me. Back when I was at 1600 watts though, it made a noticeable improvement in light dimming on hard bass hits. You won't likely notice any audible difference in your system though, it's more about light dimming with audio systems.