how low can u go ?

[mikuni]

zep said:

Nice write up man!! I'm interested in the reduction of the steering lock. How do you go about this, I think I may need to do this at some point and it'd be good to give it a go before I take the car for the cert!

I thought you needed them for your brakes. I remember seeing it on one of those brake pages (that I put in the tech place, I really should tidy that up), but its either hoppers kit or the ben wight one and he shows you how to weld small spacer plates onto the chassis or something. I haven't actually looked but I'll check now.

[mikuni]

He just says that they are required but doesn't say anything. Pretty straight forward tho, Id say it would consist of just extending those little plates about 10mm or so.

Wildplum, are you sure you want to spend that much money on adjustable shocks? Theres alot of other stuff that you could probably benifit more from, such as a panhard rod and I got my brand new rear gas shocks that are any length you want for $75 for the pair!

[wildplumdx]

dont really wanna spend that much lol 75bux sounds more like me! how do u mean any l;ength u want ? do u just buy em already shortened to the length u need?

[wildplumdx]

if so what brand and where u get em from!

[mikuni]

Well all cars use different shocks. Some long some short.

Get your car to the right height you want, I did this by cutting the springs to the height that I wanted but you could just buy some appropriate springs that lower it the required amount (yeah right, after market springs hardly ever lower your car properly).

Once you have the car sitting right, slowly raise it up with your shock in the car until the spring becomes un-captive, ie it moves around. If this occurs it means the shock you have in there is too long and you need a shorter one. Mark off on the shock the exact point where the spring is still captive, before it gets loose.

Then, take your old shock into a suspension place and they will push it down to where you made your mark and measure it up. Then they simply look at the measurements of the shocks they have untill they find a suitable replacement, no shortening involved. Thats why I say my shocks are out of an Isuzu Rodeo. Most utes have very short shocks compared to cars and use a similar eye and thread arrangment to the gemini, which means its a straight replacement.

Supercheaps catalogues don't show and length measurements so you can't go there, and I wouldn't bother with repco as in most cases, they won't have any fukn idea what you are talking about. Specialist suspension places are your best bet. I just found the nearest monroe stockest. I have heard bad things about monroe but the people are just so good to deal with down there that I bought them anyway. Better getting monroes that fit than fuking round with KYB's that are 4 times the price and don't fit anyway.

[wildplumdx]

thanks minkuni u been a big help! might go chop my springs now since nothing too do

[wildplumdx]

how many coils u cut off yours? should be similar ? if not dont worry i'll chop to my hearts content!

[mikuni]

I kinda cut too many off. I have spent most of today putting everything back in. I went down to placemakers to buy an angle grinder as they have them on sale for $20 awesome! But they had sold out all over hamilton haha. So lotsa cars getting lowered this weekend no doubt.

I do it trial and error aye. Rears literally take 2 minutes to put in and out so just have a play cutting a few off to start with then go down in incriments. Be super carefull that you get them both bang on and make sure both springs are the same before you start aswell. Sometimes they have already been played with! Also be carefull as cutting 2 coils of a standard spring does fuk all, but cutting half a coil of an already cut spring seems to drop it heaps! haha (woops :S)

[wildplumdx]

what a mish it was to do the front man just coz one ball joint caused me so much pain! i was not having fun! had to go buy a ball joint splitter from supercheap worked a treat getting it off but back on ? ooh how the hell u spose to get the bloody thing back on it just spins and doesnt do up ? tried jamming it down with a g clamp as its a taper bolt but nope ! so any help would be awesome! if it wasnt for that GAY ball joint would have taken 30mins a spring! only got one done! herss some pics anyways prolly go lower

[wildplumdx]

oooh yeah this is what else is awesome i pushed my shock up by hand to its max travel and it stayed there ? i think it might be rooted LOL!

[77vette]

Meh shocks are over rated anyway

[defcon]

haha nah that because the standard gem shocks are hydrolic. Generally shocks push upwards anyway, Its when they sag down with little resistance that your worried

[wildplumdx]

ahh that would make sense then! so can anyone help with the ball joint prob ?

[burntrubber]

Jack the ball joint up and smack/tap the arm with the hole in it down to force it together. Will hold it tight so you can do up the nut. Also in that pic the thread looks really dirty try cleaning it and if you have a small file clean any burrs that the threads may have got during the work you've be doing same for the nut make sure its clean.

[wildplumdx]

ok i already tired that but i'll clean it up and try again! thanks!