kt411gcn

I'll make sure to snap some pics when I work on the car within the next few days. My brain has melted and I can no longer reply with any thought haha. This isn't my first coilover either. I had coilover setups on a 2007 civic si and a 2010 evo x and they didn't melt my brain like this and throw all logic out the window lol.

kt411gcn

Before I installed the coilovers on the car, I made sure that everything was to Ohlins' recommended starting specs, except preload. I made sure to set zero preload before installing. I made note of how Gernby said to set preload only after installing. After all the coilovers were installed, I remember checking the preload on all 4 corners, and they were preloaded quite a bit. Nowhere near zero preload. I would guess that just bolting up the coilovers added anywhere from .25 to .75 inches of preload due to comrpession of the shock. I didn't measure how much preload it was because I figured that maybe it was normal for the tension from the arms/swaybars etc to compress the coilover a bit even if a corner was jacked up. Is that normal?

King Tut

That doesn't sound normal. I set the preload prior to installing them, and I definitely didn't notice .25 to .75 of an inch of preload being added once the coilovers were installed. Now I am questioning if your top hat parts were installed properly. If the shock is compressed, then it is loaded thus you aren't really adjusting preload at that point. I will go back and read Gernby's thread.

kt411gcn

Hmm ok. So let's say (and these are random numbers) before installing, from the tophat to the middle of the bottom mount hole, it's 20". After installation, the shock length at full droop is now 19.5". Definitely not normal, right?

Is preloading and tightening the bushings via ramps a good idea? I did the rears at the same time, then the fronts.

King Tut

I never measured from the tophat to the middle of the bottom mount hole. I set the preload when I assembled all four shocks inside my house to the 198 mm measurement Ohlins recommends. Here are the Ohlins numbers:

http://www.roadandtrackbyohlins.com/...MI_HOSMI20.pdf

Then I installed everything in the car and set the ride height. Then I preloaded the suspension and tightened/torqued down the A arms and lower shock mount bolt. Ramps should work just fine for preloading and tightening the suspension. I used the jack stands and jack method like Gernby. When I decided to change my ride height adjustment I put the car back up on 4 jack stands and simply loosened the lower collar, made the adjustment, and tightened the lower collar back down. I always based my ride height measurements and adjustments off the distance between the lower two collars like in the Ohlins documentation.

kt411gcn

Alright, I fixed it. With the front sway, there are two positions that you can lock it in place with the endlinks. A really high position, which can be achieved by preloading the suspension with a jack, and a lower (by about an inch) normal position, which I achieved by simply placing both front tires on ramps, achieving equal, and correct preload. I am now able to adjust my height higher, since the suspension isn't locked in place with a higher swaybar position. I checked the rear, and there is only 1 position for the swaybar to be in.

Thanks King Tut for helping me narrow down the problem.

King Tut

I still think you are making it more difficult then it needs to be. There is no preloading or placing of tires on ramps or worrying about swaybars involved in changing the ride height. I am glad you finally got the results you were looking for though.

kt411gcn

The way the swaybar was positioned made it literally impossible to adjust the height higher than a half finger wheel gap. It's normal now. The control arm is no longer stuck. You do need to preload the suspension a bit in the rear to get the endlinks on, but not the front

King Tut

I didn't mess with any of my swaybars when I installed the DFVs, so I have no knowledge on that. I just undid the lower shock mount, upper shock mount, and the upper A arms from the frame. Getting at the upper A arm bolts in the rear to torque them was a bitch, haha.

kt411gcn

Oh I see. For the rear I just undid the endlinks, not the upper arm.

Looking back, there was no need to unbolt the front endlinks, just the upper arm..haha oh well