Konis came in today.

[Naaman]

Unfortunately, I can't get the damn upper nut off... the whole threaded shaft just turns with the nut... I've gotten each nut about half way along, but can't get it to turn independently of the "bolt" thingy.

On the driver side I drilled a hole in the shaft and used an allen wrench to wedge up against the body to allow me to turn the nut.... it worked until I ran into the allen wrench. Even tried to get my bolt cutters in there to cut the damn thing off, but they don't fit in that little space.

I went ahead and did the LCAs (pain in the butt without a lift--the shop I drove across town to use "closed early" before I got there yesterday... ) hoping that when I came back to the shocks they would miraculously cooperate... but here I am at a loss. I've sprayed some WD40 on the threads hoping it will seep down in between the threads on the nut and hopefully allow it to turn...

I need to head out to the auto parts store this morning to get a grease gun and some grease for the LCAs... wondering if there is some tool that I can buy to make these shocks come off.

[pajeff02]

Any room for an air impact to try and bump it off?

[Naaman]

You know how when you try your damndest to do a thing, and it's just not working out... so you put it aside. And then you come back later and try the EXACT same thing, and then it miraculously works? Yeah, that just happened. I bought some locking pliers (didn't even know I didn't own a pair... ) which worked out on the driver side. But they wouldn't fit on the passenger side (not enough space under the nut), so I went with the needle nosed pliers and it somehow worked this time.

Got the shocks installed in a matter of 20 minutes once the old ones finally came out. The next trick will be checking the torque on the upper nuts (can't fit any of my torque wrenches in there, but since it only takes 13 ft.lbs, I might be able to pick up a little one and use that. The Konis apparently come with two upper nuts instead of one. The second one really seems to secure the shock nice and tight, even though it's not torqued down a whole lot.

Ride is a lot quieter, but while working under the car, I developed a squeak somewhere. Not sure if it's the panhard bar or the exhaust, so when I get under there to grease everything up, I'll see if I can hit those other spots, too.

It's funny: you do things yourself to "save money" (and to learn, of course), but each job ends up requiring the purchase of more tools...

[Naaman]

So, I've done a few commutes with the new parts installed.

I have a noise at the back (been there since the install). It's sort of clunky, but very difficult to describe. In any case, I only hear it on the passenger side.

Right now, when the car is stopped, I THINK I can replicate it by pressing on the rear quarter panel and pushing the car side to side parallel with the rear axel. This leads me to believe that it might be my panhard bar...?

I did not make any adjustments to the panhard bar during the install of the LCAs or shocks; however, the rear end did move a little when I was taking parts off. I figured that the installation would put everything back to the previous condition (I used the bolts to match the length of the off-going LCAs, putting them side by side with the new, and then running the bolts through the aligned holes of both parts to confirm the proper adjustment of the new parts).

Also, I had trouble getting my torque wrench on the front end of the LCAs, so I can't say with 100% certainty that they are torqued all the way down on the front. But, the noise seems to be only on the passenger side, and it seems to be aft of the front portion of the LCA.

When driving, it occurs at low speeds on the slightest of road bumps (basically, road that would be considered "smooth"--I don't feel any bumps/dips while the noise is going on). At high speeds, I do not hear anything. The car also behaves much better over speed bumps than with the old parts, in case that helps narrow it down (doesn't seem to be a total failure of an install: at least something seems to be working right).

Any ideas on what I might have screwed up?

They are Koni shocks and poly/roto LCAs.

[pajeff02]

I would just get under there and run the torque wrench over everything again. If I recall, the LCA's are torqued to 75 lb.ft. Don't forget to check your rear shocks, grab ahold of them and forcefully try to wiggle the top and bottom to see if there is any movement that would allow metal on metal contact. Had that happen on our 'Burb and it drove me nuts for awhile... well, more nuts anyway.

[Naaman]

Sooo........ I developed what I THOUGHT was a failing fuel pump. The car had no guts under ~2200 rpm in any gear... in high gear, the car would nearly stall with light throttle application below 2K rpm...

Took it to my shop. They cleaned the intake (had oil in it from the PCV) installed my catch can, and said that the car was running strong (could not duplicate my problem). I had also asked for them to look under the car to see what my suspension noise was. Turns out, my jam nuts came loose and they were clunking like crazy. When I did the install, I didn't have enough clearance under the car to get them tightened enough, I guess (end of the wrench kept hitting the ground).

Anyway, with the intake manifold cleaned out, the new spark plugs installed and the suspension tightened down, the car feels great again.

I think I might want to adjust the Konis, but I'm not sure if adjusting them will address what I want: I want to reduce suspension travel in the rear, but I'm not sure adjusting the shocks will do that (?).

[pajeff02]

There is no way to "reduce" travel via the adjustments. Depending upon whether they are single or double adjustable shocks, you can fine tune the resistance the shock has to extension and/or compression. For a drag car, you want the rear to squat and the front to raise up on launch to attain the best weight transfer and that is what adjustable shocks allow you to do. For the street, you have to strike a balance between absorbing the defects in the road and the handling that you desire.

[Naaman]

Yeah... that!

Mine isn't anywhere near a drag car... I'd go more for the canyon carver effect (at least, as best as these things can achieve such a characteristic). Basically, I want the car to feel "flatter" when it rolls over an uneven part of the road... not sure if that means softer or harder setting... but I don't want to upset the rear end around corners too much, either (as I understand it, too soft of a rear suspension will yield more oversteer tendencies and too hard will result in understeer). I'll have to get out to some mountain roads and see what she's like, I guess.

[pajeff02]

I'll be there in two weeks... be happy to help you test it out!