JDMsalinger

Hey y'all, first time poster here, been lurking for a while but I need some help.

I recently bought a '91 CRX in pretty bad shape, and I'm in the process of fixing her up. The ride is SO low and tight that the car is practically undriveable. I bottom out all the time, have had a motor mount bolt come loose and FALL off, I've even hit my head on the roof going over a bumpy road, etc.

Anyway, next month I'll be able to afford some coilovers, and I was just going to wait to do anything suspension-wise until then, but I can't keep driving to work like this. It's effing unbearable.

BACK TO THE POINT (sorry, I ramble):

I bought some cheap Gabriel shocks to tie me over, and I'd really like to avoid having to buy new springs as I'm getting coilovers next month. There are already some cheap sleeves on the car already, and I'm hoping to use those. The only problem is that the allen bolts in the adjusting collar are completely stuck, stripped, have their heads missing, etc.

Since there's no locking the collar, I'm wondering what (if any) of these short-term solutions you would recommend:

1. Buy new collars. But where? The sleeves are no-names.

2. Drill out holes in the collars, use zip-ties? Anyone done this?

3. Leave the collars loose? Again, anybody done this? Terrible idea?

Any other ideas? I live in an apartment on a hill of all places, and today I'm going over to my buddy's shop (only have access to it on Saturdays) and I'd really like to get this done today.

Any help is greatly appreciated!

MAD_MIKE

If they are red anodized sleeves with gold collars they may be Ground Control units. Post a picture of them.
This would be the cheapest thing to do, just have to be careful not to drill into the softer collar over the allen. You can use a few pieces of hobby brass tubing to help guide the drill bit and protect the collar.
Done it. No ill affects. It would be hard for the collar to rotate on its own or when loaded. Could always set the height, mark it with a market or the girlies nail polish, drive around, check after a day, check again after a week. But I doubt you will have any issues, unless they are really cheaply made and have been hammered.

JDMsalinger

Thanks for the tips. I'll post pictures tomorrow (had to cancel today because my buddy had a few surprise customers), maybe ya'll can make a better guess than I can. Sleeves are black, springs themselves are red. I have a hunch it's an ebay kit or something. Ironically there are two spare sleeves the guy I bought it from left in the trunk; I checked those out and the bolts are messed up in those too, go figure.

I think I'll try just leaving them loose and see how it goes. I'd rather not risk messing up my collars if I don't have to.

MAD_MIKE

Could be a few different brands, I think Allstar(?) is a fairly low cost brand that is black. Bilstein also is black, the collars and spring seat rings would be the telltale signs.
These could be Eibach, but they have the part number silkscreened in white on the coil.
Oh, herp derp. I thought they were locked down and you wanted to loosen them. If the screws are buggered but are not locking the collars by all means leave them be.

JDMsalinger

Well, went to switch shocks today and didn't get anywhere. The dude who had the car before me welded the bolts into the lower mounts on the rear shocks.

I also discovered that the two "spare" sleeves I found in the trunk weren't spares -- they were for the rears. I was able to adjust the ride height on the front though, and while I really wish I could raise the back of the car, the ride is much better now, and the shocks that ARE on the car actually appear to be fairly new. I think the ride was just so terrible because the car was so low the shocks couldn't travel.

Thanks for the help though! I'm gonna wait to fix the rear springs until I can afford to do coilovers and replace a bunch of bushings and components.