Install day! Just got done with the fronts. Nothing to it really. About an hour and half of not rushed install time. Took some pics with iPhone, as my wife has the good camera. Will post them up and a mini write up soon.
One question. My before ride heights were 14 1/2" at all 4 corners. This is an 09 with 09 spec konis. Is a rake recomended? How much lower should I be in the front?

 

^take lots of pics and make a DIY! good luck!

 

I know Eric Meyer mentioned that in a road race setting the Koni Challenge RX-8's responded very well to rake. Personally, I was going to start off with a 1/2" of rake.

My coilovers arrive this coming Wednesday.

 

Done. Nothing hard at all. Will do a write up tomorow. I still need to mess with camber and alignment.

Being an 09 I start off lowered 15mm in the rear. So I raised the rears to the highest recommended setting and am at 13 1/2". An inch lower than stock with konis. I'm going to set the fronts a little higher than 13". See how that handles.

 

Sounds like a good starting point. Should be fun!

 

Agreed. Sounds like a great starting point to me as well.

 

First of all, is this normal. Oil leaking from the top of th Koni.

Pic of all side by side.

This is all you will use of the stock parts off the front.

Easy. Just use the 2 factory rubbers with the supplied metal insert.
Supplied washer, 1 rubber with supplied insert, stock top mount, then other rubber, and supplied washer and supplied double locking nuts.

 

The rears are not any harder.
This is what you will reuse off the rear.

Supplied washer, then rubber with stock insert, then stock topmount, then rubber, then stock washer, with supplied nut on top.

 

Pretty quick and easy if you have power tools, spring compressers, and install juice.

Still have to do the alignment and mess with the ride heights. Took a ride with them set on 3 all around and ride was great. Better than the Konis on hard for sure. Played around in a dirty *** parking lot, but its 25 degrees and the lot is covered in gravel and dirt. So I couldnt really get an idea about grip levels. But it was way easy to drift

 

Yes. It's very common to have a little bit of oil "weeping" from the tops of the front konis. It doesn't seem to have any affect on performance though.

 

Anyone know when the PSS10 will come out for the RX-8?

 

Bilstein already has a PSS10 kit available for the NC MX-5. They should be able to adapt that for an RX-8 chassis w/o too much hassle. However, I've been told by 2-3 different people who are very experienced in this sport, that the PSS10's aren't worth the $400-$500 premium over the PSS9's. The PSS10's still adjust rebound and compression together - you just get a 10th adjustment (instead of 9). That's it.

 

You do get an inverted monotube out front just like the rear though with the MX5 PSS10. If that is of any true benefit to anyone.

 

Correct - I forgot about that design difference.

 

Can you do me a favor and list all of the tools you needed for the install? I'm aiming to do the install this coming Saturday at a friend's place and he wants to start stock piling all the tools we'll need. Also, what's a reasonable estimate for how long it took you to do the entire install? TIA!

91 Impulse RS, I'll try to get pics of the stock front & rear shocks next to the PSSS9's to compare travel. I'll hopefully have them up by Friday evening.

-Chike

 

Sockets and wrenches, 17, 14, 12, 10mm.
extension for the sockets
Spring compressors and tools to use them
Allen wrenches metric, can't remember the sizes, but you will need really small to fairly large.
Adjustable wrench
All I can think of

I had a cordless inpact and ratcheting wrenches, which will help cut time.

With the tools I had and 2 people you should be able to get it done in 3 to 4 hours.

 

Thanks -- I'll pass this list along to him. We have all of those tools.

Btw, did you have toe plates to adjust your toe settings afterwards?

 

I use the string method to do alignments.

 

My PSS9 coilovers arrived yesterday! Big thanks to Stranoparts for hooking me up and to Bret @ Bilstein in CA for putting up with my million-and-one questions over the last few months!!! I must say I'm completely blown away by the build quality of these coilovers. Much better quality than the typical stuff I've seen in the sub 2K price range.

91 Impulse RS, I took a few pics of a front & rear bilstein shock next to the stock equivalent. I also included a pic with a tape measure to use a guide in determining the amount of travel. NOTE: With the rears it might be hard to determine a value for total travel as the shock is an inverted monotube. Let me know if these pics help. If you need me to take any more specific pics or specific measurements (I have a vernier caliper), I'd be happy to over the next 2 days before I do my install on Saturday.

S0l08, how hard is it to adjust the lower spring plates on yours? Mine came set at the lowest setting and I'd like to raise both my front and rear plates. Is there something I need to loosen before they turn? or should I just hit the threads with some WD-40, and turn the plates with the supplied wrenches? This is my first set of coilovers ever, so everything is kinda new to me. TIA.


PICS-

Front shock comparison




Rear shock comparison

 

The lower spring pearches are easy to move once you get the two keeper unlocked. And they were very tight on mine too. Had to use both wrenches and a hammer to get them unlocked. Once they are unlocked it's cake.

 

I want!!!

 

S0l08, can you send me the measurements you used to set the ride height at 13.5" rear and ~13.0" front. I want to tackle the spring plates again this evening and try to get them adjusted before doing my install tomorrow. I'll bring my camera with me, so hopefully I'll remember to take some pics during the process...

 

I ended up at 14 1/4 rear and 13 7/8 front. But I do not know what the measurements are. Just done by trial and error. And a lot of time.
Anyone know what the stock ride heights are?

 

I just measured the ride heights on my '06 6spd w/ konis on flat ground with a full tank of gas, and got 14.5" Front, 14.0" Rear. I've been told the low gas pressure konis lower the ride height ~1/2" from stock.

My car sits flat with these ride heights. So I'm thinking I'd like to go with 13.5" front & rear. This way the front will be lowered an additional 1", while the rear will come down just a 1/2". This should give me a 1/2" of rake.

 

The ride height I posted are not right.
With 1/4 tank of gas, I started at 14 1/2" all around. Now I'm at 13 3/4" in the rear and 13 3/8" in the front. For 3/8" rake.