suspension issues!

[JTSHO]

Lets see if anyone can figure out where i screwed up? ok guys, i bought some trw rear springs for my 93atx (CC859) which is the same as moogs i believe. so i get them home and cut one coil off of the bottom and they were really loose in the housing. i noticed it doesnt look like it will sit right but ok anyways. i put them on my tokico struts and start installing. I get my driver side rear on and and move to the passenger side. to make a long story short i broke the caliper bolt off and all 4 bolts are so tight i cant get bracket or caliper off w/o breaking them. so i didnt do the passenger side. i figured id get my knuckles and vented discs ready and ill finish it then. heres my question i drove the car down the road and at low speed there is a clunking thats pretty loud.seems to be mostly when turning everything is tight and i have rear swaybar bushings on order but they all looked pretty good. The car is low in the back w/ a coil cut but only about 1/4 inch more than w/ the other side w/ the sagging spring. Did i throw the geometry way off or is it that cut spring moving around? i noticed the tokico perch did not have any rubber on the seat of the perch, are they supposed to? any ideas are appreciated cuz im at a loss right now . BTW the strut mounts looked fine from what i could tell. everything but the springs came off my 91 and it didnt have any noise before.

 

[Ishodu]

Well the biggest mistake was cutting the bottom of the spring. If you must cut the spring you have to cut it where it goes on the upper strut mount. You will need a new spring.

 

[JTSHO]

i found several posts on here that said fronts you cut off the top, and backs you cut a "dead" coil off the bottom which makes sense you wouldnt want to cut your progressive coils right?

 

[NWGRN94MTX]

What Marcel said.
We got a SHO with Eibachs and the rear coils cut at the bottom. The springs went to the scrapper with the last car we hauled down there. Hopefully you can buy just one, It cost almost as much for a set of 4 to replace just for the two rears and it was a PIA to find someone that would sell just a set of Eibach rears.

 

[NWGRN94MTX]

i found several posts on here that said fronts you cut off the top, and backs you cut a "dead" coil off the bottom which makes sense you wouldnt want to cut your progressive coils right?

I would not know, because if I wanted to "lower" the car anymore,I would do it right with either custom built springs or coilovers. I just know that a cutting rear springs made the car handle and sound like :hpoop: .

 

[Ishodu]

The dead coils are at the top front and rear. When you cut the bottom ones out you changed the taper size it will never fit the strut perch anymore with means its to the garbage for the spring.

 

[NotSoSlowSHO]

The dead coils are at the top front and rear. When you cut the bottom ones out you changed the taper size it will never fit the strut perch anymore with means its to the garbage for the spring.

WRONG.

Dead coils up front = TOP
Dead coils in rear = BOTTOM

Before you can diagnose any noises properly, you NEED to install the same setup on BOTH sides of the car.

The rear end of that car is quite confused right now.

 

[Ishodu]

How will the spring fit the rear strut perch correctly when you change the size of the opening on the spring?

 

[NotSoSlowSHO]

Take a look at a rear coil.

Tapers are at the top.

 

[strings1732]

NotSoSlowSHO is right. The dead coils are up top in the front and on bottom in the rear. The "dead coils" are wound tightly at the bottom in the rear and therefore, cutting them, changes nothing but their hieght. they will still mount in the perch the same way.

Imagine something like this:
/ / / / / /////
this is the bottom of the spring: /////
cutting one coil would be making it like this: //// The geometry is still the same, but with one less coil.

 

[JTSHO]

the geometry is fine and no they dont sit in the perch as flat as i would like but they do work fine. what about those rubber insulators on the perch though my tokicos didnt have them so could that be banging around back there? seems to be a little bit of noise on bumps but the knocking is definitely at low speed turns mainly. what would be the main things to make a knocking noise back there?strut mounts? strut rod bushings? those insulators?

 

[strings1732]

The strut mounts are most likely bad. I'm not sure if the tokiko's are supposed to have a rubber piece or not, but at any rate, Get the other side done, install new mounts and bushings and then let us know if it is still doing it.

 

[JTSHO]

ok guys, i finished all the rear end stuff up, set of moogs 1 bottom coil cut, tokicos, 26mm rear bar, tpr torsion strut rod bushings, tpr sway bar bushings,tpr endlinks, and vented rear rotors off a 91. man what a difference, no clicks no noises just very tight handling car now. Now just gotta get the front done. for anyone who was following this post the knocking was the endlink. i cant say for sure b/c of the worn front components but i think im definitely gonna stick with the 23mm up front. it seems to be a good combo for the atx.