Here are some pics of me and my buddies installing my Neuspeed Konis. The install took about 5 hours because some issues with the front right, but we got everything worked out. Using air tools made the whole process a hell of a lot easier. Overall the install was pretty straight foward, but it was helpful that I had a Helms. I am very happy with the upgrade, a ton better then my worn stock shocks. I have them set a full turn firm, but it rides like a race car so I'm probably going to back it off a little. Well here are a couple pics, click the link to see the whole album. Enjoy!!







http://community.webshots.com/user/adam911t




[Modified by 01SilverGSR, 12:49 AM 11/15/2002]

 

i have read somewhere that if you have it set at full firm and do not atleast
back it off like half of a turn you will damage your shocks.
i believe i read that along time ago in the ITR forum.

 

Nice I like it when people post pictures.

 

How far is full firm? I only turned it one turn from soft.

 

I just hade mine put on Tuesday & I set them on soft to let them settle in. If you set them on firm too soon, you may risk blowing out the seals. (so I'm told)

 

one turn FROM soft? or one turn TOWARDS soft?
full firm is all the way firm...which is, from what i've heard..bad..lol.
this is what i did...i backed it off about a turn and a half from full firm..
and then each day i would back off each side up front one half turn, till i got
the ride that i liked..then i stopped.

 

I set them one turn from soft. How far is full firm?

 

As far as you can turn it CCW is full firm. It naturally stops when you hit the end.

Also, why aren't you using the lock washers? Or did you add them later?

 

What lock washer? I used everything in the bag of parts that came with Konis.

 

NICE!!! Took me and my cousin like 7 hours(we took a small break to watch mischeif 3000 and eat carls jr)

 

Heh I bought that Mischief 3000 DVD the day it came out 2 weeks ago.

I don't see what the deal is with "might blow the seals" etc. Why in the world would Koni make the shock such that running at full stuff would damage the shock? Seems to me if that was too stiff, they would have made it so the **** stops before that. Just my speculation.

Anyway, I pretty much only run my shocks at FULL stiff during racing. Total range of motion is 1-3/4 turns. Around town I set my front shocks at 1/2 to 3/4 turn from soft, and the rears at 3/4 to 1 full turn from soft. For road trips I crank them down to full soft (smoooth ride ).

*edit* don't forget an alignment since your car is now lower than it was before.


[Modified by PatrickGSR94, 1:27 AM 11/15/2002]

 

The Neuspeed Koni's that I had came with a total of (8) nuts. Two for each shock. One as a fastening nut and the other to secure/lock it.

I meant to say nut, not washer....really I did. *doink*

 

Sweet ride bro. I'm going to be doing my suspension as well early next week.

 

Yeah I used all the nuts and lock nuts. In the pic if you look on the floor to the right of the shock you can see the lock nut that I put on after the pic was taken.

The day after I got them installed I took my car down to get it aligned (I have 5 yr alignment so it didn't cost anything ) and I was worried that they wouldn't be able to get it up the ramp. Well it turned out that my car made it up just fine, well except for the front mud flaps. The guy that was aligning my car actually complimented whoever "lowered" my car because he said it was very clean and only high quality parts used, etc. And then I was like, "Sweet I was then one who installed everything!!" The verdict on the alignment was that it was only out a little in the front, and he adjusted it back to factory spec.

 

On my Koni yellows, full soft to full firm is about 1.75 turns.

 

i have the neuspeed konis and 400f 350 r ground controls.. when i first got them in i put em on full soft and it felt like a rollercoaster.. full stiff feels well really stiff but it handles well.. i ride around at 3/4 all around and it rides REAL nice.. handles pretty good too. dont forget all your adjusting is the rebound with these shocks so the softer you go the more you get launched up in the air when you hit a bump

 

awsome man seems things went smooth. When i did my suspension it did not go smooth hehe. Alot of bolts seized and even after we soaked them in lube stuff for a day they broke on me. I was going to work from 11 am till 11 pm then working on my car till 2 am then doing it again for 4 days straight trying to get the broken bolts out(i had bought new ones) anyways ended up having to replace a controll arm (easier and cheaper) and get another arm torched hehe.
It was fun though and you cant do anything about seized bolts i guess.

 

lucky, my car scrapes the OEM sideskirts when going up onto the alignment machine.

 

Looks good man...

 

my car performs like *** at full firm, however a 1/2 turn away from full firm its great. So i would believe that.

 

Thats a nice shop, i need a alignment real bad. I suppose ill go after i get new rims and a front camber kit. i did the washer method for the rears already.

EDIT: what does an alignment cost these days. how much to install a front camber kit?


[Modified by SilverB18C1, 2:13 PM 11/15/2002]

 

If I remember correct it was around 50 bucks for a four wheel alignment. I go to Tire Kingdom, where they offer a 5 yr alignment for $150. That's not a bad deal. I've already had my car aligned 3 times this year, one as a standard 5000 mile rotate/alignment, then after I installed my springs and then after I installed my Konis. So it paid for it self already, and I still have a little less then 4 yr left You just have to make sure your car can make it up on the lift

I have no clue how much it is to install a camber kit...sorry


[Modified by 01SilverGSR, 12:03 AM 11/16/2002]

 

That's a Bill Heard Chevy dealer service department. One of my friends has his own bay back there w/ all his tools etc. When I get new tires I will give him $50 and he said he would mount and balance the tires and also re-check my alignment to make doubly sure that my toe settings are exactly zero. That's how I get by w/o a camber kit.

 

Thanks for the pix!
If you had to pick a part that was the hardest/unanticipated part, what would that be?

Nice lookin teg btw

 

I would have to say the only problem I ran into was the front brake line braket. I reused it from the factory shocks, but the paint on the Konis makes it hard to fit it on. So I used some WD40 and patients to work it on. Then I get it installed and I find the brake line won't match up. Well thats because I put the braket on wrong . So I took it out and tried it again and reinstalled it and still no dice . At this point I didn't think we were every going to get done because this was still the first corner, but then I just refered to good old Helms manual and it showed me the way (which I should have done in the first place). Other then that the install went pretty smooth. I didn't have any frozen bolts because I just did my springs back in March. Although the rears take a patients to get the LCA bolt realigned back up to finish up.

If your doing the job your self: 1) I highly recommend having someone there who has done this type of job before (if you have done it before then forget #1) 2) Get a Helms manual plain and simple 3) Make sure you have the right tools, sockets, wrenchs, alen keys, hammer, torch, baseball bat......just kidding about the last two. If you can get your hands on an air compressor it will make the job a lot easier.


Also, thanks for all the compliments guys.....keep your feed back coming


[Modified by 01SilverGSR, 1:30 AM 11/16/2002]