Bilstein PSS Install
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Bilstein PSS Install
1. I know I'm supposed to pre-load the shock before I torque everything. Which bolts do I need to do this for, the top two and the one that holds the bottom shock (and for the control arms on the fronts)? What do I do about the bolt at the top of the shaft on top of the top-hat? What do I torque it to?
2. I'm slightly confused on how to put together the spring assembly. Right now I've got from bottom to top:
Bump stop > curved washer > dust guard > random washer > (OEM top hat) > bolt
Is all I need from the OEM suspension the top hat? I feel like the instructions have a bunch more parts in there that I'm really unsure of.
3. Assuming these aren't preloaded, how exactly do I do that?
4. Lastly, how do I adjust ride height once everything is installed? Just jack up the car, take the wheel off, then move the perch up or down, then tighten? Can someone try to go through more detail with this? I'd like to be positive on the mechanics of it as well as how to use the two wrenches that came with the setup.
Thanks in advance.
2. I'm slightly confused on how to put together the spring assembly. Right now I've got from bottom to top:
Bump stop > curved washer > dust guard > random washer > (OEM top hat) > bolt
Is all I need from the OEM suspension the top hat? I feel like the instructions have a bunch more parts in there that I'm really unsure of.
3. Assuming these aren't preloaded, how exactly do I do that?
4. Lastly, how do I adjust ride height once everything is installed? Just jack up the car, take the wheel off, then move the perch up or down, then tighten? Can someone try to go through more detail with this? I'd like to be positive on the mechanics of it as well as how to use the two wrenches that came with the setup.
Thanks in advance.
Joined: Jan 2006
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From: CA, San Diego,
I will try to answer your questions to the best of my memory, others feel free to correct me or chime in! This should also be moved to the suspension/brake forum for better responses.
1. You will use oem torque specs for the install on the top hat and bottom strut bolt. You will preload the upper two control arms by compressing the shock bound to where the shock should sit at either full bump or standing height. I forget which one though. In order to remove the top hat you will need to use an allen key to hold the center allen bolt while using a crescent wrench to undo the nut. DO NOT over tighten the allen key head onto the bilstein assembly. If you put extreme force on the allen key this could damage the coilover.
2. See my original post that I made a few months back. https://www.s2ki.com/s2000/topic/841...phat-location/
All you need from the OEM setup is the top hat, some people run the OEM bump stop to keep the tire outa the fender if you drop to low or have an aggressive soft tire setup.Make sure you line the springs correctly onto the under side of top hat (look on the underside of the top hat) and then LIGHTLY grease the rubber under side. This could prevent any binding that could occur.
3.See number 2. Preloading suspension is exactly what it sounds like. You preload the suspension by putting a jack underneath the control arm that holds the bottom strut assembly and you keep jacking up towards the top of the car till what you think is "parking" height. Some may confuse suspension break in or sag due to not preloading their suspension bushings correctly. Some people torque and tighten the top two bushings wayyy to much, this could lead to torn bushings.
4. Once you adjust everything, you will need to spin the top black collar upwards and the bottom collar downwards, once you figure out which way to turn em (each will go in a opposite direction to unlock from each other) you will drop the top perch back onto the bottom collar and lock them into place by using the spanner wrenches given (so you spin the top collar down until it contacts the bottom perch and when it does spin the top and bottom collards into eachother to lock them). What determines your ride height drop is the BOTTOM collar, so spin that to your preference and then lock it in with the top nut. Depending on the look that you want, bilstein systems at stock new settings (about 4-6 threads from the bottom) will have the top of your fender to the ground at about 13.8 inches (about 1.5-2 finger gap). If I had to guess on how to spin the wrenches you would want to spin the top perch (looking from the underside of the coil) clock wise to move it up to release it from the bottom perch, spin the bottom perch COUNTER CLOCK WISE (again looking from the bottom of the coil) to your desired height, and then spin the top perch onto the bottom perch counter clock wise again it makes contact with the bottom perch. You will then want to spin both the bottom and upper perch INTO each other to lock them into place using both spanner wrenches at the same time.
Tips
The driver side rear will make you curse like no other, you will need someone with small hands to work around the fuel filler neck to screw in the top two strut bolts.
Also when you disconnect the front assembly from the strut the disc brake will want to "fall out" towards you. Make sure to either place the OEM jack under the disc brake to prevent this from happening, you will put un needed stress on the ABS lines and sensor which are fragile and expensive. Also ensure to bolt your brake hangar lines onto the existing bilstein hangars.
1. You will use oem torque specs for the install on the top hat and bottom strut bolt. You will preload the upper two control arms by compressing the shock bound to where the shock should sit at either full bump or standing height. I forget which one though. In order to remove the top hat you will need to use an allen key to hold the center allen bolt while using a crescent wrench to undo the nut. DO NOT over tighten the allen key head onto the bilstein assembly. If you put extreme force on the allen key this could damage the coilover.
2. See my original post that I made a few months back. https://www.s2ki.com/s2000/topic/841...phat-location/
All you need from the OEM setup is the top hat, some people run the OEM bump stop to keep the tire outa the fender if you drop to low or have an aggressive soft tire setup.Make sure you line the springs correctly onto the under side of top hat (look on the underside of the top hat) and then LIGHTLY grease the rubber under side. This could prevent any binding that could occur.
3.See number 2. Preloading suspension is exactly what it sounds like. You preload the suspension by putting a jack underneath the control arm that holds the bottom strut assembly and you keep jacking up towards the top of the car till what you think is "parking" height. Some may confuse suspension break in or sag due to not preloading their suspension bushings correctly. Some people torque and tighten the top two bushings wayyy to much, this could lead to torn bushings.
4. Once you adjust everything, you will need to spin the top black collar upwards and the bottom collar downwards, once you figure out which way to turn em (each will go in a opposite direction to unlock from each other) you will drop the top perch back onto the bottom collar and lock them into place by using the spanner wrenches given (so you spin the top collar down until it contacts the bottom perch and when it does spin the top and bottom collards into eachother to lock them). What determines your ride height drop is the BOTTOM collar, so spin that to your preference and then lock it in with the top nut. Depending on the look that you want, bilstein systems at stock new settings (about 4-6 threads from the bottom) will have the top of your fender to the ground at about 13.8 inches (about 1.5-2 finger gap). If I had to guess on how to spin the wrenches you would want to spin the top perch (looking from the underside of the coil) clock wise to move it up to release it from the bottom perch, spin the bottom perch COUNTER CLOCK WISE (again looking from the bottom of the coil) to your desired height, and then spin the top perch onto the bottom perch counter clock wise again it makes contact with the bottom perch. You will then want to spin both the bottom and upper perch INTO each other to lock them into place using both spanner wrenches at the same time.
Tips
The driver side rear will make you curse like no other, you will need someone with small hands to work around the fuel filler neck to screw in the top two strut bolts.
Also when you disconnect the front assembly from the strut the disc brake will want to "fall out" towards you. Make sure to either place the OEM jack under the disc brake to prevent this from happening, you will put un needed stress on the ABS lines and sensor which are fragile and expensive. Also ensure to bolt your brake hangar lines onto the existing bilstein hangars.
Thread Starter
Registered User
Joined: Jan 2009
Posts: 165
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I will try to answer your questions to the best of my memory, others feel free to correct me or chime in! This should also be moved to the suspension/brake forum for better responses.
1. You will use oem torque specs for the install on the top hat and bottom strut bolt. You will preload the upper two control arms by compressing the shock bound to where the shock should sit at either full bump or standing height. I forget which one though. In order to remove the top hat you will need to use an allen key to hold the center allen bolt while using a crescent wrench to undo the nut. DO NOT over tighten the allen key head onto the bilstein assembly. If you put extreme force on the allen key this could damage the coilover.
2. See my original post that I made a few months back. https://www.s2ki.com/s2000/topic/841...phat-location/
All you need from the OEM setup is the top hat, some people run the OEM bump stop to keep the tire outa the fender if you drop to low or have an aggressive soft tire setup.Make sure you line the springs correctly onto the under side of top hat (look on the underside of the top hat) and then LIGHTLY grease the rubber under side. This could prevent any binding that could occur.
3.See number 2. Preloading suspension is exactly what it sounds like. You preload the suspension by putting a jack underneath the control arm that holds the bottom strut assembly and you keep jacking up towards the top of the car till what you think is "parking" height. Some may confuse suspension break in or sag due to not preloading their suspension bushings correctly. Some people torque and tighten the top two bushings wayyy to much, this could lead to torn bushings.
4. Once you adjust everything, you will need to spin the top black collar upwards and the bottom collar downwards, once you figure out which way to turn em (each will go in a opposite direction to unlock from each other) you will drop the top perch back onto the bottom collar and lock them into place by using the spanner wrenches given (so you spin the top collar down until it contacts the bottom perch and when it does spin the top and bottom collards into eachother to lock them). What determines your ride height drop is the BOTTOM collar, so spin that to your preference and then lock it in with the top nut. Depending on the look that you want, bilstein systems at stock new settings (about 4-6 threads from the bottom) will have the top of your fender to the ground at about 13.8 inches (about 1.5-2 finger gap). If I had to guess on how to spin the wrenches you would want to spin the top perch (looking from the underside of the coil) clock wise to move it up to release it from the bottom perch, spin the bottom perch COUNTER CLOCK WISE (again looking from the bottom of the coil) to your desired height, and then spin the top perch onto the bottom perch counter clock wise again it makes contact with the bottom perch. You will then want to spin both the bottom and upper perch INTO each other to lock them into place using both spanner wrenches at the same time.
Tips
The driver side rear will make you curse like no other, you will need someone with small hands to work around the fuel filler neck to screw in the top two strut bolts.
Also when you disconnect the front assembly from the strut the disc brake will want to "fall out" towards you. Make sure to either place the OEM jack under the disc brake to prevent this from happening, you will put un needed stress on the ABS lines and sensor which are fragile and expensive. Also ensure to bolt your brake hangar lines onto the existing bilstein hangars.
1. You will use oem torque specs for the install on the top hat and bottom strut bolt. You will preload the upper two control arms by compressing the shock bound to where the shock should sit at either full bump or standing height. I forget which one though. In order to remove the top hat you will need to use an allen key to hold the center allen bolt while using a crescent wrench to undo the nut. DO NOT over tighten the allen key head onto the bilstein assembly. If you put extreme force on the allen key this could damage the coilover.
2. See my original post that I made a few months back. https://www.s2ki.com/s2000/topic/841...phat-location/
All you need from the OEM setup is the top hat, some people run the OEM bump stop to keep the tire outa the fender if you drop to low or have an aggressive soft tire setup.Make sure you line the springs correctly onto the under side of top hat (look on the underside of the top hat) and then LIGHTLY grease the rubber under side. This could prevent any binding that could occur.
3.See number 2. Preloading suspension is exactly what it sounds like. You preload the suspension by putting a jack underneath the control arm that holds the bottom strut assembly and you keep jacking up towards the top of the car till what you think is "parking" height. Some may confuse suspension break in or sag due to not preloading their suspension bushings correctly. Some people torque and tighten the top two bushings wayyy to much, this could lead to torn bushings.
4. Once you adjust everything, you will need to spin the top black collar upwards and the bottom collar downwards, once you figure out which way to turn em (each will go in a opposite direction to unlock from each other) you will drop the top perch back onto the bottom collar and lock them into place by using the spanner wrenches given (so you spin the top collar down until it contacts the bottom perch and when it does spin the top and bottom collards into eachother to lock them). What determines your ride height drop is the BOTTOM collar, so spin that to your preference and then lock it in with the top nut. Depending on the look that you want, bilstein systems at stock new settings (about 4-6 threads from the bottom) will have the top of your fender to the ground at about 13.8 inches (about 1.5-2 finger gap). If I had to guess on how to spin the wrenches you would want to spin the top perch (looking from the underside of the coil) clock wise to move it up to release it from the bottom perch, spin the bottom perch COUNTER CLOCK WISE (again looking from the bottom of the coil) to your desired height, and then spin the top perch onto the bottom perch counter clock wise again it makes contact with the bottom perch. You will then want to spin both the bottom and upper perch INTO each other to lock them into place using both spanner wrenches at the same time.
Tips
The driver side rear will make you curse like no other, you will need someone with small hands to work around the fuel filler neck to screw in the top two strut bolts.
Also when you disconnect the front assembly from the strut the disc brake will want to "fall out" towards you. Make sure to either place the OEM jack under the disc brake to prevent this from happening, you will put un needed stress on the ABS lines and sensor which are fragile and expensive. Also ensure to bolt your brake hangar lines onto the existing bilstein hangars.
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