I picked up some full body coilovers, lower-mount adjustable.


Fronts are on the right.
The front end on my EF wont go low enough, so to fix this, I could spin the gold spring-perch rings 1.5 inches down (so its touching the lower red mount). This would allow the shock to compress 1.5 inches before the spring starts to seat and compress, and would make the assembly that much shorter (=lower ride height).

However, doing this shortens shock travel by 1.5 inches, and that is sketchy with these cheaply made shocks, I dont want them to blow out because they are compressed 1.5 inches farther than originally intended.

To compensate, I was thinking of running extended top hats that are 1.5 inches taller than the included top hats. This would let the shock shaft mount 1.5 inches higher than normal, so the shock would then be back to full travel and length, correct?

I am aware that the top hat tubes must be wide enough for the shock body to fit into. That set aside, would this method work? Spring perch is 1.5 inches lower, which makes shock compress 1.5 inches (1.5 inch drop). add 1.5 inch top hat, and shock is back to full travel, while ride height is still 1.5 inches lower. Will this work?

 

So what you are saying is this...you threaded the shock body (red) all the way up the shock (gold threads) and then lowered the spring seat (gold collar) so that its on the shock body (red) and that isn't low enough for you? Is the spring loose when you lift the car's weight off of it? I don't understand why the EF is so hard to slam the front without a lot of modding...how is the top hat setup? Can you post a picture of it? I know extending the top hat is a good way of doing it. (I'll have pics of my setup this weekend if i finish) Just not sure about doing it with a full coilover.

 

The lower red mount can only twist up so far before it hits the shock body. In the picture above, the red mounts on the fronts are up as far as they go. With the mount at the lowest ride height position, there is still 1.5 inches of wheel gap. The preload is fixed and doesnt move (gold collars) but by spinning them down to the red mount, the shock body compresses 1.5 inches and is that much shorter. Since the preload on these is not supposed to be messed with though, I was trying to find a work-around. Extended top hats of 1.5 inches would allow the shock to work as it does with factory preload (removing the constant 1.5 inches of compression), yet the ride height to remain 1.5 inches lower. Atleast that is my thinking. I will probably be making my own top hats, using my old stock ones and some tubing.

 

Since those extended top hats were mainly made for OEM type shocks where you have alot of droop due to shorter springs and your F&F's have a shorter than stock body and stroke, in theory your bump stop will bottom alot sooner or spring bind.

 

spring bind would not occur. everything would be exactly the same since the spring perch would be spun down the same amount that the top hat is extended. I'm sure now that lowering the spring perch 1.5 inches and running a 1.5 inch top hat would essentially result in a 1.5 inch shorter shock body, while retaining full stroke.

now i just need to figure out if the shock bodies will fit into the top hats.

 

I was saying that the f&f shock body and stroke is shorter than oem. You can run a extended top hat if you wanted to but it wouldn't be much help since it wasn't designed for that shock.

 

as long as the f&f shock body fits into the top hat, it would be exactly what i need. the 1 inch ebay ones would allow me to drop the spring perch an inch and still have factory preload and shock stroke. It would work like any other setup. The description on ebay says coilover shocks such as omni fit inside the top hat, which im pretty sure is the same as f&f shocks. but im not sure, and i certainly dont want to spend $50 if they wont work.

Anyone ran ebay top hats with ksport, omni, or ff coilovers?

looking at these http://www.ebay.com/itm/CIVIC-INTEGR...#ht_3311wt_952

 

Look dude I'm tired of trying to talk you out of wasting your $ so go ahead and do it already. Ask this guy how well it worked.........
https://honda-tech.com/forums/suspension-brakes-54/function-form-type-2-extended-top-hats-2728583/

 

Lol, i've already seen that thread.

He didnt adjust the preload to accommodate the higher shock position. By lowering the spring perch the same amount the top hat is extended, droop would remain the same, along with spring rate, damping, and everything else, except of course ride height.

I have already confirmed this works. Now i just need to figure out if the shock bodies will fit into the ebay top hats.

I don't know how to explain this setup any more clearly. Try rereading and visualizing what i said in my original post, or maybe learn more about how fixed-perch, lower-mount adjustable coilovers work.

 

Progress runs a shorter shock body and they are adamant NOT to use extended tophats. Got to be a reason for that.

 

Have you cut your towers yet? If not none of this even matters.

 

hahahahaha, you do know you are at the max setting for your coilovers right? and replacing the pillowball top hats with extended hats is kind of a . if you want your front end to be lower, you should get some drop forks.

pic for reference

 

Been riding at the height im at for awhile, never bottomed out the uca's so I'm not worried. I just want to relieve the shocks of the shortened stroke.
The guy i said that to doesnt seem to understand any of my explanation. If he had one of these coilovers in front of him he could figure out what im saying. Drop forks cost a lot, and are known to break. vs. making my own top hats for free.

What are pillowball top hats?

EDIT:

they allow the shock body to rotate around on the the top hat, like that crooked one up top? Function forms for EF applications don't have pillowball top hats, they're fixed.

 

I was assuming you were doing this to get low, my bad.

No need for pillow ball mounts on a double wishbone car.