Fitting coilovers, top mount, how does it go?

[-Neil- 0]

Got my coilover kit and new top mount kit for all 4 corners.

 

Going to fit this myself as i have a vaigue idea of how to do it but is there anyone who can just give me a quick 1, 2, 3 step of what i need to do?

 

Just so i can do it in the right order and make it easier for myself.

 

Cheers if anyone can help!

[Tempest 0]

Right, since I have just finished fitting the Koni coilies on my own C (and don't try what I did what i posted in another thread here, when I was trying to save myself some work :lol:):

 

Assuming you don't want to do additional work, such as drop beam to hange rear beam bushes (like I did):

 

Rear: Jack up car and support on stands. Remove road wheels.

Undo nut and bolt on brake compensator bracket holding spring. Undo lower bolts on existing struts. Undo bolts on rear beam swivel attachment (not the 3 big ones going into the chassis, the single horizontal one per side). Remove the side speaker shelves in boot (after you've removed parcel shelf, of course). Undo nut at top of strut. Remove bolts at strut bottom, and support brake disk. Remove top nut and remove strut.

 

Fit new bushes to new strut (a lower and upper, use Bentley piccies to see which way around they go). Use new nuts where needed. Inspect top of wheel arches and clean out, remove any traces of rust and treat.

 

Insert strut, insert lower bolt (copper grease and new bolt, preferably) to attach to rear beam. Do for both sides. Re-attach road wheels, and slowly lower the car, whilst keeping an eye on the strut tops so they nicely start to poke through the holes in your boot. Now working inside of boot insert top rubber bush, then the plate, then the nut (don't tighten anything yet!!!), attach the little disk (look at old strut for guidance), then the 2nd nut.

 

Front: Jack up car, place on axle stands, remove road wheels.

 

Inside engine bay, undo the top nut, counterhold the shock piston with a 7 mm Allen key (might need a Lambdaprobe socket or something similar to allow you to rotate the nut whilst holding the piston, else the piston will rotate with the nut). Do for both sides.

 

Get breaker bar and undo both bolts and nuts on both sides on strut, where strut is held to bearing housing.

 

Support bearing housing/wishbone assembly before you remove both bolts on each side.

 

Remove nut at top of strut (in engine bay), remove limit stops, and remove strut.

 

Inspect, clean, treat an rust in wheelarch.

 

Attach new top mount to front coilies. Coilies will usually use normal nuts instead of those horrid special VW-only nuts (so no special tools needed :-) ) to attach the top mount assembly (VR6 and other late-spec Cs use a 2-component top mount, a small circular ring, and the huge rubber thing - see bentley pics for correct order in which they go onto your strut).

 

Fit new coilies, use new bolts and nuts, coppergrease, to bearing housing. Attach roadwheels. Poking the strut top through hole at top of wheelarch slowly lower car.

 

Secure limit stops to strut top with nut.

 

Push down car at all 4 corners a few times. Only now start torqueing up all still loose bolts and nuts at front and rear. Take off road wheels at front for this. At rear leave wheels on, so you can tighten up all bolts at bottom of car with everything settled in (important for those rear beam bushes, otherwise you'll be replacing those soon, if they're under constant stress due to lowering and hence being out of their ordinary rest position). Tighten up bolts and nut on compensator bracket such that spring is not quite under tension yet.

 

Think that's about it.

 

Tempest

[-Neil- 0]

bloody hell, i didnt expect so much help!

 

I think i'll be printing that off and having that to hand whilest im doing it!

 

thanks alot Tempest!!!!!!

[robster 0]

Thats handy, have set ordered from Darren & Rob so will be fitting soon.

 

Cheers

[Mark_Storm 0]

That's really handy, nice one. Haven't got a Bentley manual though, any chance of scanning in the relevant pics?

[Spicy G60 0]

I got a bentley manual on cd from ebay for £3.50. Have a look think they are on there all the time. Best 3.50 I ever spent. Dont think its as good as a Haynes manual though, pity they don't make one. :(

[-Neil- 0]

recieved my toop mounts today, the bit im holding, does this go ontop of the strut and under the gold plate thing or should i get a new plate instead of using that one with the new mount? not sure how it goes....

 

 

 

 

and long should each strut take to do?

[herisites 0]

It doesnt take too long mate, the only hard bits are getting bolts off if they have been on there a while.

 

You will see how the top mount goes on when you take the suspension off and see how the old ones are on. They go on top of the coilover. I have took a few pics of mine to show you (im running the same suspension and new top mounts).

 

Rob.

[-Neil- 0]

so you've used new top mounts but same metal bits?

[herisites 0]

Yes mate :)

[Tempest 0]

The limit stops normally don't go that quickly. I simply changed mine, as I was still using the old ones with plastic rings rather than the newer ones which use rubber rings.

 

Top mount goes onto the strut then the whole thing is attached to the bearing housing, and follow my info further up. The top mount will then sit inside of the whellearch, right at the top. All you attach from inside of the engine bay is the limit stop.

 

Tempest

[Mark_Storm 0]

Had a go at fitting my FK Silverline X coilovers today and things did not go well!

 

Starting off i couldn't undo the nut at the top of the front shocks, totally seized. Tried all sorts with no success so after 3 hours went to a garage and they popped them off in about 30 seconds using a pneumatic wrench. I would recommend anyone to do this before they start!

 

Started again, fitted the first one in no problem, dropped the car and noticed the top mounts were about 6 inches higher thna they should have been. Was bloody glad the bonnet was still up! Basically the kit did not have everything you need, it was missing the bearing at the top which stops the piston from coming up into the engine bay. Luckily I had some spring clamps so took the ones of the original unit but obviously not happy having paid £600 for these that I was still having to use old parts!

 

And the final straw came when adjusting the unit to get the ride height set and the threads f*cked up and the rings seized so couldn't move them up or down. Brand new, not even any grit or anything and they seized.

 

So car is back to standard ride height and it's owner seriously p!ssed off!

[Mark_Storm 0]

OK, now that I've had my moan, has anyone else found that they needed to rob bits from their original suspension to fit their coilovers?

[coolrado 0]

its not normal to get top mount bearings with any suspension systems as far as i know. most people would fit uprated top mounts anyway so if they supplied a certain type of bearing it may not fit the uprated mounts, they are also a wearing part so if the suspension manufacturer did supply them they would constantly have people complaining that they had worn out withing the warranty period.

 

so yes it is normal to use your old bits or buy new replacement bits.

[herisites 0]

Other than the original bolts i got everything new with my Weitecs and top mounts from g-werks

[Mark_Storm 0]

The top mounts I had expected to use, but I wasn't expecting to get the spring clamps on the old suspension to strip it down and get the bearings off. According to Venom tho, this is normal.

 

Other than the original bolts i got everything new with my Weitecs and top mounts from g-werks

 

Did you get the new bearings with the top mounts or did they come with the Weitecs?

[herisites 0]

If you mean the bearings that sit inside the top mounts then yeah i got these new with the top mounts.

[Tempest 0]

Slightly confused here: It is normal to not get bearing, top mounts (call them what you like) with new-bought susponsion.

 

Fitting new suspension is then a good time to replace the top mounts.

 

The old top mounts were single units. The new style ones (late 16Vs and all VR6s) had 2-piece top mounts, a bearing over which you fit a large rubber bushing, whensticking both onto the strut. Both are dropped on at the top of your colie, ready to then fit (using a nut to tighten the top mount up, of course).

 

Tempest

[herisites 0]

Yeah i ordered a set of new top mounts with the coilovers, they didnt come with them.

[Mark_Storm 0]

OK cheers guys. Venom are going to replace the broken unit and I'll get a new set of top mounts so I can fit new bearings too. Where's the best place to get them from?

[Tempest 0]

Got mine from VW, as they're only next door to where I work :lol:

 

Tempest