Too pissed to go into details right now. But here are some cliff notes (this is for the front installation):

1) The collars / snap rings on the koni shock that the spring is supposed to sit on is weak and thin as hell! I tried to rotate the shock to get it lined up after we removed the spring compressors and the freakin snap ring popped off and the spring shot it downward! I really don't trust all that force being held on that little snap ring.

2) The big issue: My car somehow got raised about 2 inches instead of lowered. The front end looks like a freakin monster truck. Either I got the wrong parts, or I totally F'ed something up in the installation.

Couple things I noticed was that the koni shock was a good 3-4 inches longer than the OEM shock. Is that supposed to be right? With it installed the piston is like shooting out of the strut hole a good 3 inches......no way the strut tower is gonna fit over that.

I also noticed that the TEIN spring seems to be a little longer than the OEM springs as well. I didn't compare those when I had them off, but after installing everything and picking up the OEM spring, it felt shorter.

So basically my POS monster truck 350Z is sitting in the garage and I dont' feel like messing with it for a while.

Any ideas? I'll try to snap pics this weekend. But for now i don't even wanna look at that thing.

Grrrr.......

 

Have you driven the car around the block yet?

 

yeah, I had to drive it back from my friends place. Went 20 mph the entire time cuz I don't trust those snap ring spring seats.

I know this is probably nothing compared to your FI issues, but thanks for posting

Good luck on your motor stuff!

 

 

you probably got the wrong springs and shocks. yea, i know koni yellow all have that stupid snap ring that don't seem right, but the honda guys been doing it for years.
double check the part number and let us know

 

Well the springs came as a set, and the rears went in fine so I dont' think it's the springs.

I really think it's the shocks. I'll pull the wheels off this weekend and confirm P/N's.

Man I had nightmares about this thing last night lol.. Why do I even bother to mod......*sigh*

 

There are two grooves for the ring that retains the lower spring seat on Koni SAs. Did you use the upper or lower position?

 

I'm pretty sure we used the lower one. Cuz that question was brought up during the install. But I'll have to double check, but wouldn't using the higher one make it sit higher? guitman I noticed you're running the koni's, did you find that the koni shock was a lot longern than the OEM?1

So I feel like a retard for stating this (ok I am retarded), but I think we put the shocks on the wrong side. Basically put the "R" on the Driver side and the "L" on the passneger side. That might explain why the brake lines weren't lining up. But it still wouldn't explain the massive height increase. At least I don't think........

So I'll have to take it apart again sometime in the near future anyways.

 

There has never been a time when I've seen a Koni shock longer than the OEM shock. Ever.

 

you sure you didnt put the rears struts in the fronts location?

 

I didn't do a side by side comparison when I removed my stock shocks (that was a while ago now), so I can't say.

Either way, the shocks don't determine your ride height, springs do. I would do a few things if I were you:

1. Remove the shocks, make sure you have the retainer on the lower groove, and make sure you have the left and right sides correct.
2. You mention that the top of the piston protrudes about ~3 inches from the top of the upper shock mount when mounted. I just measured mine, and they protrude exactly 2" from the top of the mounting nut. Did you use a spring compressor to mount the Teins? If so, you might have over compressed the spring and tightened the top nut too much (FYI you don't need a spring compressor to install aftermarket springs on the Z). Although, this would probably result in less ride height, not more.

Not trying to be mean, but it sounds like this is most likely install error. That, or you have the wrong springs.

 

yeah i'm pretty sure it's install error. But there's no way I could have put the rear struts on the fronts because the rear struts dont' have any clips to hold the brake line.

After talking with some of the guys at work, I think I installed my lower spring seat upside down.

So far this is what I think I did wrong lol:

1) Installed the lower spring seat upside down
2) Installed the shocks on the wrong side of the car

I probably wont' be able to take it apart for a week since my weekend is packed. So hopefully leaving it like that doesn't damage any of the joints / bushings or mounts since the spring force is probably super high.....

Working on your own ftw!

PS ~ I'll still check the P/N's, as I'm almost 100% positive the koni shock was longer.

 

so I found this website:

http://weblogs.asp.net/christoc/arch...08/151427.aspx

which showed this picture:



This is how I installed the lower spring seat. But I think it should be flipped (basically the cup should be facing down). Can anybody confirm this?

 

Yes, looks like you installed them upside down.

 

Sorry But that's kinda funny Hope you get it installed correctly and everything turns out good for ya!

 

LMAO!!!! Phuckin' AWOL Koni directions. When's install party Part Deux?

Maybe I'll ask Stevie Wonder to give us a hand.

 

Finally fixed everything this past weekend. Having the spring seat sit correctly makes a world of a difference.

Car feels stiffer over small bumps (probably cuz of the springs) Haven't felt any difference with the shocks yet (probably won't get to really test them out until an autox).

But one thing I noticed was different (and maybe this is just psychological) but I feel like the brake pedal travel is a lot less than before. Like when trying to push the brake pedal, the pedal doesn't travel very far, even when I slam on the brakes.

And how I found this out was trying to heel toe into a corner this weekend. I pushed on the brake and rotated my heel to blip the acclerator and it wasn't there lol. I had to go a lot deeper than usual.

Anybody notice that when installing springs/shocks? I'm gonna pull the wheels this weekend to confirm no kinked brake lines or anything.

 

Glad to hear everything worked out. Konis are ok shocks, but as you are noticing they are hardly a paradigm of controllability in daily driving situations. I have found that keeping them set soft (below half stiff) for daily driving is best.

Maybe the decrease in dive under braking is giving you the perception of decreased braking effort?

 

So finally got to test out the shocks/springs today at the last autox of the year and man, the headache was WORTH IT! I feel the car has so much more ultimate grip through sweepers and slaloms (even though there was only a small one) felt good as well.

I started off full soft around and ended up with 1/4 turn up front and 4 clicks on the rear (1 click = 1/4 turn)

I'm really glad I put them on, but now I'm really curious how they would have felt on the stock springs and if it would have made me more competitive in stock class.

But yes, well worth it Just hpefully they don't start leaking prematurely like many other stories I've heard.