butterbeer

I've searched and gone through the threads around preloading/clocking the bushings. The process seems intuitive but are there any bolts that I need to loosen / undo OUTSIDE of what's required to get the suspension off and install new coilovers before starting the process?

This is just one example but see screenshot below (referring to the bolt D that connects to the nut A) this is a bolt that connects the other side of the lower control arm (one side connects to the bottom mount of the coilover, the other side connects to the car's frame, I am referring to the latter). It isn't a bolt that is required to unbolt in order to install the coilover, but I would think that since this is kind of the pivot area where the angle changes based on the height of the car, it should be loosened before jacking up the car on its own weight to preload/clock and tighten. If that isn't the case and all I have to do is retighten everything that I've loosened required to remove the coilover, the that makes life much easier lol.

Any references to diagrams are helpful for the mechanically challenged like me...

Here is the manual and suspension pages:
http://s2000.club/OM/2000-08%20Honda%20S2000%20SM.pdf
Page 1075 via Adobe Acrobat, page 18-25 on the manual

Car Analogy

Clocking does require loosening A. In the front its:

A, that lower front control arm bolt
Both upper control arm bolts
Lower shock mount

Rear:

Both lower control arm bolts
Both upper control arm bolts
Both ends of toe arm
Lower shock mount

flanders

No need to loosen the ball joint side (wheel side).

Car Analogy

Dhoh! Good catch.

butterbeer

Thanks for the speedy reply. Just so I'm getting this correct wanted to double check here:

A, that lower front control arm bolt - Confirmed this is correct
Both upper control arm bolts - Required bolts for removal
Lower shock mount - Required bolts for removal

Rear:

Both lower control arm bolts - This is A and B/D in the below screengrab

Both upper control arm bolts - This is A in the below screengrab (applies to both bolts)



Toe arm (saw your edit just now): A/B/C in below screenshot


Lower shock mount - Required bolts for removal

B serious

The point of clocking is to make sure all the bushings end up being clocked correctly for the new ride height.

So...yes. You have to loosen and clock any bushings that pivot, even if they have nothing to do with holding the shock on.

You really should do yourself a HUGE favour and loosen all of them before unbolting the old shocks.

I loosen all the bushings so the arms allow full droop.
Use a jack to support the LCA.
Then "pull the pin" by removing the shock to LCA bolts last (both sides).
Drop the jack.
And the suspension goes into massive droop mode.
Shocks come out without any fight (after unbolting the tophats)

Takes 10 mins to do all that...

Then you EASILY load the shocks back in.
Clock.
Tighten.

Have a sandwich. Its still fresh. Because you're done with all the above in 20-30mins.

Sure beats the method of using a huge lever on a part that's not designed to take that force and having someone stand on the bar to fight the bushings and struggling for hours.

butterbeer

I like your way of thinking. Well I don't want to get too far off topic because I still low key want someone to confirm the pics of the bolts I posted and if I am referencing the right ones hahahaha.

But one thought I had is...do you think you're overcompensating by supporting the weight of the car on one point? Usually the weight of the car is distributed across all 4 corners, but if you're supporting it with one point then there could be potential overcompensation. I saw an interesting video where this guy bolts everything in but doesn't tighten it, then puts the car back down, measures the distance from the hub to the fender, then jacks the car back up and proceeds to jack the LCA up to match the distance he measured. It seems like that might be the most accurate but super time consuming method, but curious what the experts thoughts are on that. Regardless I am going to go with the first method cause I'm lazy and not someone who is serious about racing to know the differences, but I was just thinking about it lol.

engifineer

If you jack it up just until it STARTS to lift that corner off the stand, that is pretty darned close to what that corner will see under normal loading. Keep the jack as far out as you can. But, since you are jacking inward of where the normal force is applied (which is through the rim/rotor interface) then you are actually putting a little bit less leverage on the shock/spring than you are when it is sitting on its wheels. So it kinda compensates for itself and in general is plenty close enough for what you are doing here.

You could just install everything loose, put the wheels on it, set it down on 4 ramps and crawl under and tighten that way, then finish fully torquing with it jacked up and the wheels on it, but it is harder to get to everything.

butterbeer

Makes sense and sounds close enough for me thanks! That last method seems to be the best way to get 100% accuracy.

Car Analogy

First off, your diagrams, yes, you've correctly identified all the fasteners that need to be loosened and clocked. Sometimes we throw out these terms like upper control arm boltd and assume everyone knows precisely what fasteners we're talking about. We all started knowing nothing, and sometimes we forget others are where we once were.

Clocking isn't something you measure with a micrometer. Don't fret over millimeters here. All you are doing is setting the neutral position of the bushing to the normal ride height.

What is normal ride height? It varies. Even if driving on perfectly smooth, level pavement, aero forces lift up or push down on one end of the car or another. So normal ride height is not something so definitive.