ae92 shocks

[Mux213]

SekiguchiUeno Wrote:less expensive is to use 3cm (or what your need size) spacer from polyurethane or aluminium over the shock, you dont need to cut your struts with those or with this T3 stuff.

The new T3 solution, or using other type of spacers at the top is a nice idea but you have to keep in mind that if you lower your car alot, there is this BIG piece of metal sticking half way up and you will much quicker hit the bumpstops.

So cutting the struts is always the better solution seeing it may be a bit of trouble, but its not expensive.

Still for very stiff suspention or not overly lowering your car, this is a very nice solution.

[jamiemirror]

With the T3 "solution" the shock will never work in lower part of his stroke.

[SekiguchiUeno]

OK you should calculate how much you lower your car and what for stiffnes you have. then place the shock in the right positionto not have bottoming and bumping or freeplay on spring. and then make the spacers.

The T3 stuff is in 6cm lenght? if yes then its not good option as jamie say, and it can hit the bumpstops.

[alimonos]

sorry guys but i am totally confused right now...
i have lowering springs installed NOT coilovers(about 4cm lower)
i have the T3 RCAs installed (under the struts)
What exactly should i do to use a pair of AE92 Bilsteins i have found?
If strut case cutting is needed please send me a design where to do this .
Thanks and sorry for so many questions...

[Mux213]

Alimonos,

I never had any AE92 bilsteins in my hands so no idea. Have you taken a look at my project thread and seen what I did for the tokico's?

Forget about your lowering and RCAs. Only think that is important is the length of the body your bilstein shocks. They will be shorter then the AE86 ones and if you just put them in your struts, they will be able to move and you do not want that.

Ergo, you need to shorten your struts. The amount you need to shorten them depends on the difference in lenght between the AE86 standard shock, and that of the bilstein shocks. Most likely this difference is around 6cm.

Shortening your strut 6cm is not a good idea however which is what all these guys are trying to explain If you cut 6cm underneath the perch on your strut (the thing the spring rests on) the result will be an additional lowering of your car by 6cm, you don't want that.

You can limit the amount of cutting needed by adding spacers underneath the shock. But this spacer should not be to heigh or it will make your shock work in a less effective range. I don't know what height is best for bilstein, I would just go with a 2cm spacer so you only need to cut 4cm off your strut.

Then if you use coilovers, you just remove the perch and cut 4cm anywhere but from the top (see my thread) because the coilovers allow you to finetune the ride height.

If you do not use coilovers you need to take a GOOOD look at your current ride height. If you are happy with your current ride height (so the lowering your springs already provide you), you should cut the 4cm ABOVE the perch, but make sure that you keep the top part of the strut in tact and weld it on because it contains the metric the top nut screws into.

If you want a lower ride you deside how much lower you want your car. If you want to lower your car by another 1cm you cut 1cm out of your strut BELOW the perch and 3cm out of your strut ABOVE the perch and weld it all together (yes that means cutting 4x and welding 2x!!).
The problem offcourse is that you wont know your exact ride height until you put everything together and you might find out you wanted 1.5cm lowering, and you can't... I really would get a coilover sleeve!

Else it's all a question of measuring what you want, and a little bit of gambling.

I'm busy doing a writeup of this based on my experience with my car. Hope to have it online soon..

[jamiemirror]

Quote:i have lowering springs installed NOT coilovers(about 4cm lower)
i have the T3 RCAs installed (under the struts)
What exactly should i do to use a pair of AE92 Bilsteins i have found?

Simplest solution is just to use 40mm under-shock spacers.
You already lowered the car with the springs. If these Bilstains are the same height as stock AE92 shocks (and I bet they are because they are intended to fit tight into AE92 front strut housings, replacing stock ones) - with 40mm spacers and NO cutting you will get most cheap solution. However it's possible that your shock will use his lower part of stroke (remember T3 solution - this is similar but their problem is that shock will use only higher part of his stroke).
If Bilsteins are short-stroke shocks - this solution will be fine IMHO!

PS: I measured only AE92 GTI (same as Diesel model) front cartriges, don't know if all AE92s use same size shock inserts.

[alimonos]

Jammie they are Bilsteins for AE92.
I 've ordered the T3 upper part spacers and give it a try ...
I 'll let you know :wink:

[jamiemirror]

Alimonos, just write them to deliver the tube spacers for 40mm shorter shocks (I hope they can adjust the height with ease). I don't know how shorter is SW20 KYB AGX shock (I think this is REAR shock but not sure).
If this topic is correct, the size is correct:
http://209.85.135.104/search?q=cache:e3h...=clnk&cd=2

Quote:The rear sw20 AGX will fit in a 40mm cut housing...not with an oem gland nut, but with a cup type nut that comes with most oem replacements. The front AGX will need a ~20mm spacer in the bottom.

[alimonos]

Thanks Jammie !
I 've already send Gabriel an e-mail...

[SekiguchiUeno]

can you measure both springs?
stock and lowered?
uncompressed and compressed?
then the amout of lowering on the car?

then the body lenghts between stock and the neu ae92 bilstein

then the shaft lenghts compresed and uncompressed between the two shocks?

with all those parameters its very simple to decide what for spacers your should run.

i calculated from the dimensions at dirokaze>
you have 40mm lowering
simple use 40mm spacer under the shock and 20mm above

edit: i dont know anything about your springs maybe they must be compresed to much when you mount the caps to shocks