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I made a metal preload rig that fits shocks from S2000's, civics, integras, Accords, TSX's, and other Hondas.
But one can be made from wood. Drill 3 holes in a thin wood or plastic plank for the 3 tophat nuts. Use the plank to hold the shock.
Also, if you have a bandsaw....you can make polyurethane slide bearings to make it easier for the seat to spin for high preload. I needed 1.63" of preload on another setup I put together, and these bearings with some silicone paste on them made it glide easy AF.
BTW, a non preloaded spring doesn't clunk when the car is sitting on it. For that to be the source of the clunk, the situation would have to be very unusual and very specific.
Of course, the vehicle's full weight will compress the damper to contact the spring while it's sitting. But driving is a different story and he was experiencing clunking when driving, not sitting. Suspension travel doesn't even need to be at full droop for a spring to move around with negative preload (especially if there's no helper spring), which is why i asked about preload. Conversely, a spring with too much positive preload can make noises as well--from coils making contact with each other.
Y'all are some reckless heathens.
and an other person is using an impact on the shock shaft. This is a really really terrible idea.
Sorry, the real world begs to differ. Sometimes you have to employ a BFH on various parts of the car...other times you have to use an impact gun for that extra bit of 'finesse.'
There are quite a few different suspension and top hat designs out there. Some top hat nuts are so recessed that you can't get an offset wrench or a crows foot on it. Other shafts don't have a allen key hole or a flat spot on the shaft to hold it with. You just have to adapt. If every great mechanic only went by "the book" then 1/2 the jobs out there wouldn't ever get done. No i'm not condoning every hack shortcut there is out there, but 'gunning' top hat nuts is hardly one of them.
Here are a few installs that use air gun/impact gun for the top nut...including the SBG video OP just posted.
I dont have a Allen key provision or any other way to lock the piston in place to aid in securing the top nut on my coilovers, ive just used my hand strength to hold the top hat in place and the force of compression fit to secure the nut, once install with full spring/car weight I can get a final twist out of the nut to get me satisfied its torqued enough. Done.
As soon as the weight of the car compresses the coils it’s normal to have to go back and put another hit on the top nut. I installed my Ohlins, then hit the top nut with the weight of the car on them with a open end wrench, no problems.
04-07-2018, 09:46 AM
