Ordered shocks today. Got the koni yellow sport. When I get them, I think that I will do the free swaybar mod as well.

Can I put in the shocks "carefully" enough to not have to get another $90 alignment afterwords? Its not really the money, I just got the alignment a week ago.

 

well IMO you need to drop the rearward lower rear control arm to get the rear struts in and out easily, which means loosening the rear camber bolt at a minimum, just mark the adjuster indicator position and relocate it, might be off a tad but nothing too serious

in the front unbolting the top control arm from the chassis tabs makes the front much easier to do too, you might get some misalignment there

just do it and see how it feels, worse case you have to get aligned, best case not

 

I aggree on dropping the rear lower control arm. I did one side taking loose the upper arms and there was just to much prying, binding and skinned knuckles for my taste. If there is a special technique that I'm missing, please let me know.

As far as getting the alignment back is concerned, I use strings taped from the front of the front tire to the rear of the back tire. As long as you are zero to toe-out on the front and zero to toe-in on the rear this works effectively. Being off a little on camber is no big deal, but accurate toe makes a big difference. I also use the strings to adjust toe between runs at events. Note, this would not work on a car with different track widths, front and rear.

 

On the front if you pull the upper arm instead of the lower your alignment should be ok... I think the rest of you guys are doing the rear wrong, way to much extra work to pull that other stuff off. I take nothing apart on the rear suspension. The rear springs are soft enough you dont need to compress the spring. I just drop the upper mount down to the point I can get at the top bolt on the shock. Take the top bolt off and drop the shock out, I leave the spring and mount in the car. To install I just put the new shock up into the car and use the floor jack to preload it enough I can get the bolt on by hand.

I figured out how to do it without taking the rear arms off so I could do it at the track with no special tools and without changing my alignment.

 

It drops far enough down to get at it like that? Sounds like a plan.

Interesting. I was looking at the manual trying to see how they suggest... they want you to take the caliper off... but in doing so using their instructions, it doesn't look like it'll mess up the alignment either.

But if it drops down far enough without unbolting anything, just the strut itself... that's nice.

 

If it didnt there would be no reason to have your konis changed to top adjustment.

 

I'd like to see you try that with a degassed hydraulic Koni

I had a b-tch of a time getting those together, and I have a professional wall mount strut spring compressor

sounds like a plan for a gas-charged shock though ....

 

Yeah my way only works for us regular guys with stock konis. You guys with them trick custom jobs are on your own.

 

Thanks for the info. That sounds like a real timesaver.

 

well after more thought I'm confused, how do you get the nut on when the threaded shaft is way up out of reach at the top of the inaccessible shock tower?

 

I don't know why you touch the lower link in the rear...I've had mine in/out 2-3 times and I just remove the rear top link?? That way no alignment problems.

 

Drop the shock tower down to get to the top bolt. To install just leave the tower down enough to get to the top bolt. The key is to get the car high enough to get the shock in without taking any suspension parts off.

 

well you said you had to jack up the suspension to compress the spring and you can't do that unless the shock mount is full installed into the shock tower, hmmm ...

 

you think so?

those arm mounts have a lot of slop ... and I personally don't have an issue taking the lower link loose, I've only done it once though and just stumbled through it so I'll at least try the top arm the next time and see how it goes ..

 

Manual calls for the top arm inboard connection to be removed... but they also say remove the brake caliper..... LOL

 

Come on, think outside the box.... I more use the jack to hold up the shock, the spring only needs to compress a very small amount to get the bolt on. I put a deep socket on top of one of the studs on the spring mount between it and the body of the car. That makes it solid enough to put a small amount of preload on the spring and yet I can reach the top bolt.

 

just verifying that you aren't the Natl Champ

 

Well, had an event yesterday. Everyone from the FL ST Championships was there except the M3. I finished 2nd behind a very fast porsche driven by Kevin Kipta. Teamrx8, I believe you may know who I'm talking about. I feel like I have a TON of bodyroll. I suppose the koni's will help with that a bit.

All in all the car felt good, I can see a definite need for some sort of front swaybar setup. If I were to drill the hole in the stock bar, I suppose that I would have to get adj. front endlinks, correct? If I used the stock ones, the swaybar will be constantly preloaded... If this is the case, when I put the konis on, I will drill the holes. I just need to find some endlinks...

 

you shouldn't need adjustable endlinks

 

So the $50 RB enlinks will work fine, or just use stock.

 

there'sno reason to change from OE unless the money is burning a hole in your pocket

 

Just do the final tightening of the endlinks with the car on the ground and you shouldn't have preload issues. The adjustable endlinks are only useful for coilover setups where the ride height may be different from one side to the other.

JV

 

Even if you go with adjustable end links you only need one. There is no reason to put them on both sides. So find a place that will sell you one or spilt a set with someone.
For the most part it is a waste of money in stock class. Very few stock class cars, C5 vettes and a few others, can jack the weight and ride height around enough to need them. The only thing that changes the weight in the RX8 is how big the driver is. Even then why bother trying to get a small amount of preload out of the front when you cant touch the rear.