cjk911 Posted May 13, 2005 Share Posted May 13, 2005 OK, After riding with my coilovers for a while, I decided to fiddle with the dampening. I adjusted the front ones no problem. A few clicks here or there. But I tried to adjust the rear ones, but there were no clicks. I backed out one of them too far and heard a sickening sound: PSSSSST. I immediately tightened it, but it continued. A little bit of oil has leaked out, but the hissing has stopped. What have I done? Did I just bleed abit of the pressure that had built up? Or is it all gone and now I need to rebuild that side? I am also attempting to call someone at HKS about this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xenonk Posted May 13, 2005 Share Posted May 13, 2005 You just let all the Nitrogen out possibly.. do you still have the clicking going on when you turn the knob? Keefe Keefe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PGT Posted May 13, 2005 Share Posted May 13, 2005 Oh n0es! That can't be good. Let me know if/when you need help swapping the stockers back on. I'll bring my compressor and impact gun - it will go quicker this time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cjk911 Posted May 13, 2005 Author Share Posted May 13, 2005 Talked to HKS, they said that it should be fine if I only let a little bit out. Only about a drop of oil came out, and I drove it to Ashburn and back with no problems. It does still click, Keefe. HKS also set me straight on how to adjust the dampening, so I can mess with that a little now. I'm probably going to leave it as is since it will cost me $150 per shock to have HKS refill it, plus the shipping to LA. If a problem arises, I will have it serviced. Keefe do you know anyone in the area that does that? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
B4_Maniac Posted May 13, 2005 Share Posted May 13, 2005 I also hope our conversation helped too! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cjk911 Posted May 13, 2005 Author Share Posted May 13, 2005 Yes it did. Thanks again.Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xenonk Posted May 14, 2005 Share Posted May 14, 2005 Talked to HKS, they said that it should be fine if I only let a little bit out. Only about a drop of oil came out, and I drove it to Ashburn and back with no problems. It does still click, Keefe. HKS also set me straight on how to adjust the dampening, so I can mess with that a little now. I'm probably going to leave it as is since it will cost me $150 per shock to have HKS refill it, plus the shipping to LA. If a problem arises, I will have it serviced. Keefe do you know anyone in the area that does that? HKSUSA is just a distribution site.. wherever you bought your HKS coilovers from, that vendor/dealer will just end up shipping them to HKSUSA... from there HKSUSA ships it back to HKS of Japan for a rebuild and then ships it back to the USA and back into your hands. I had the HKS coilovers on my WRX and I did my research on it.. they were very picky of how the rebuild process worked. If it's still clicking and very little oil came out of the shock, then you are ok.. it's when the darn thing starts staying "wet" and you'll know when the seals are borked. Keefe Keefe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cjk911 Posted May 17, 2005 Author Share Posted May 17, 2005 OK, now I tried to adjust the height to get away from that thug look. I counted the exposed threads on the bottoms of each, they were all 12-16. I raised them to 16 in the rear and 15 in the front. The front spring perches wanted to rotate, and I realized that they were aligned differently. Not sure if this makes a difference. After setting the car down, all looked pretty good. I took the car for a spirited test drive to seat them, and when I came back, the right side is slightly higher than the right. And the right rear (where I had the aforementioned mishap) sits much lower than before, even though I raised the spring perch. In fact, it is almost touching the fender, I can not get one finger in between. On the other side I can easily slide two fingers. I really need help. On another note, the car felt GREAT! By increasing the preload on the springs it feels like it's locked to the road. EDIT: checked the screw at the bottom, no leaks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xenonk Posted May 17, 2005 Share Posted May 17, 2005 each thread is either 1/8" or 1/16" of an inch.. it's a good idea to mark off your current settings with a permenant marker.. Keefe Keefe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cjk911 Posted May 17, 2005 Author Share Posted May 17, 2005 But what about my one corner sagging so much. I bounced up and down on the trunk, it seems to be dampening the same on both sides. But I raised the spring perch, why would it have dropped even more? Counter weight from the opposite corner? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CFar Posted May 19, 2005 Share Posted May 19, 2005 Good to know someone else in the area with a leg. When I had Tein's on my old WRX I ended up putting the driver side a couple threads higher to compensate for me in the seat. Seemed to work out pretty well. Which coilovers did you end up going with and where did you get them from? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xenonk Posted May 19, 2005 Share Posted May 19, 2005 But what about my one corner sagging so much. I bounced up and down on the trunk, it seems to be dampening the same on both sides. But I raised the spring perch, why would it have dropped even more? Counter weight from the opposite corner? You bought the LS+ right? Those perches are not made for ride height.. they are made for preloading the springs, and yes, you are also dealing with corner balancing at the same time. Keefe Keefe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cjk911 Posted May 19, 2005 Author Share Posted May 19, 2005 Do you know how to adjust the ride height then? They are supposed to be adjustable according to the website. Also Keefe, is there any other way to corner-balance the car without the weight pads at a track? Is there a ghetto way of doing it at home? Cfar, I bought a used set of HKS Hypermax LS+ from another poster. They are a great quality unit, I'm just trying to get them dialed in to my preference now. It's a trial and error process for me as I'm not accustomed to car suspensions. I am a former Land Cruiser enthusiast so my experience has always been with 4WDs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xenonk Posted May 19, 2005 Share Posted May 19, 2005 The LS+ you got only have 1 way adjustable and that's for pre-loading and corner-balancing at best. Unlike mine which are 2-way adjustable (with 2 spring perches, one for ride height, other is for spring preload) is designed for such task. This way, the spring preload is seperate from the shock-travel distance as well as ride height. So for your case, the most you can do is spring-preload the car which will give the car a stiffer feel as you raise the car up, the car will act as if it was always turning. You need 4 exact same scales that can handle 1500 lbs each.. (elephant scales?). There is no health scale that goes past 500 lbs that I know of. The left front corner of the car should tip over 1000 lbs... trust me, you dont want to see what happens when you drive your car over a bathroom scale. I can do a corner balancing for you at my house (PM me for a price). I have all the ramps, bridges and scales to do the work, just let me know if you are interested.. most speed shops charge anywhere WAY north of it. It would take me about 2 hours max to do it. Keefe Keefe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PGT Posted May 19, 2005 Share Posted May 19, 2005 LOL Keefe, if you didn't get the chance to do it with those HKS on B4's car, you can do it on Chris'. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SC GT Posted May 19, 2005 Share Posted May 19, 2005 LOL Keefe, if you didn't get the chance to do it with those HKS on B4's car, you can do it on Chris'. This is OT, but Patagonian, empty your PM box. It's full. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drift Monkey Posted May 19, 2005 Share Posted May 19, 2005 [shameless plug]I can do a corner balancing for you at my house (PM me for a price). I have all the ramps, bridges and scales to do the work, just let me know if you are interested.. most speed shops charge anywhere WAY north of it. It would take me about 2 hours max to do it.[/shameless plug] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cjk911 Posted May 19, 2005 Author Share Posted May 19, 2005 The left front corner of the car should tip over 1000 lbs... trust me, you dont want to see what happens when you drive your car over a bathroom scale. Speaking from experience? HKS' website says they are height-adjustable, I guess this is what they mean. Kind of a dissapointment. I also called HKS today and the friendly tech lady said I need to align my car to get the height even. I asked if this was the same as corner-balancing and she said no, that anyone who can do a four-wheel alignment can do it. This doesn't make sense to me. If I roll down to the local alignment shop, are they going to sit there with the spanners and adjust the locking collars? I don't see that happening. Thanks for the offer Keefe, Pm'ed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PGT Posted May 19, 2005 Share Posted May 19, 2005 This is OT, but Patagonian, empty your PM box. It's full. Done. Thanks. Pesky people and their PM's!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xenonk Posted May 19, 2005 Share Posted May 19, 2005 Speaking from experience? HKS' website says they are height-adjustable, I guess this is what they mean. Kind of a dissapointment. I also called HKS today and the friendly tech lady said I need to align my car to get the height even. I asked if this was the same as corner-balancing and she said no, that anyone who can do a four-wheel alignment can do it. This doesn't make sense to me. If I roll down to the local alignment shop, are they going to sit there with the spanners and adjust the locking collars? I don't see that happening. Thanks for the offer Keefe, Pm'ed. I have seen some really stupid stuff done by ricers that ask me for info about how to set up a race car.. I can't believe someone was dumb enough to buy 4 bathroom scales from ebay that can do 500 lbs. and try to corner balance the car.. it was the dumbest thing I saw.. granted they thought their civic hatch weighed less than 2000 lbs for some reason (4 x 500 lbs scales). I guess they never thought or know what front/rear weight ratio means. I have done corner balances on my car about 3 times now for 3 different occasions. I know that front left corner is HEAVY (the battery is a dead give--away). Correct, dont talk to the guys at HKSUSA, they dont care for customer inquiries UNLESS you are dealer for them. HKS-USA's website for translation of their Japanese site is pretty off.. I dunno how they hired those Monkeys at HKS-USA. I only give respect to the people at HKS of Japan since they are the ones making and developing the products. Keefe Keefe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
B4_Maniac Posted May 22, 2005 Share Posted May 22, 2005 Sorry, for the late reply to this..I have been in L.A all week. But, then again, I wouldn't be much help because I never changed the ride hight... B4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cjk911 Posted May 23, 2005 Author Share Posted May 23, 2005 No problem, I'm going to have Keefe balance it out. I've turned my attention to another project. The grill mod! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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