Help - Tein SS

Wheels, Suspension, Brakes & Tyres questions and answers

Moderators: timk, Stu, zombie, Andrew, -alex, miata

Philip Lee
Racing Driver
Posts: 521
Joined: Tue Sep 23, 2003 11:00 am
Vehicle: ND - 2 GT
Location: Brisbane
Contact:

Help - Tein SS

Postby Philip Lee » Sun Apr 09, 2006 1:00 pm

hi all,

got a question re height adjustment. i have lowered the car and there are now 11mm (front) and 6mm (rear) of threads left on the shocks but the car still sit 330mm from centre of wheel to guard.

i want the car to sit 320mm but with the limited threads left, i don't think i can acheive that.

so my questions:
- has i done something wrong re: installation? with the Tein factory settings, the car was sitting around 335 to 340mm depends on the corner. and the springs didn't seem to zag around 5 months and 2000km....

- anyone tried the lowest height on the SS? are there still enough travel even if it's at the shortest??

btw my SS is Jap spec with 6k (F) and 5k (R) springs on Tein top mount and my car is an import NA6.

thanks in advance.

Philip

Babalouie
godfather of saké
Posts: 1457
Joined: Wed Apr 23, 2003 11:00 am
Vehicle: ND - 2 GT
Location: Sydney Australia
Contact:

Postby Babalouie » Sun Apr 09, 2006 3:27 pm

That's odd...Mine's been down to a bit less than 315mm and still with some threads left to go on the adjuster...
Image
Japanese Nostalgic Car Magazine - Dedicated to classic japanese cars

Philip Lee
Racing Driver
Posts: 521
Joined: Tue Sep 23, 2003 11:00 am
Vehicle: ND - 2 GT
Location: Brisbane
Contact:

Postby Philip Lee » Sun Apr 09, 2006 3:50 pm

i am out of idea now.

i hope i don't have to take the thing off to find out......

just looking at it, it's seems normal. is there some nuts i need to tighten???

i'm lost.

Philip Lee
Racing Driver
Posts: 521
Joined: Tue Sep 23, 2003 11:00 am
Vehicle: ND - 2 GT
Location: Brisbane
Contact:

Postby Philip Lee » Sun Apr 09, 2006 3:52 pm

also i didn't fiddle with the unit.

it was just a case of out of the box, onto the car.

Juffa
Racing Driver
Posts: 1751
Joined: Sun Apr 27, 2003 11:00 am
Vehicle: ND - 2 GT
Location: Bayside - Melbourne
Contact:

Postby Juffa » Sun Apr 09, 2006 8:53 pm

When you tightened the suspension nuts/bolts, after putting on the Teins did you have the suspension under compression? If not, that might explain why it is sitting higher than you expected. Whenever I have removed/replaced/upgraded my suspension components I have used a jack to press up against the lower arm and raise it until the car is almost lifted off the stands. I then tighten everything, lower the jack, fit the wheels, take the car of the stands.
I read on the big forum that you can damage the suspension bushes if you don't tighten everything under compression.

J
Former owner of Mailbu Stacey, Smurfette and Tweety.

Babalouie
godfather of saké
Posts: 1457
Joined: Wed Apr 23, 2003 11:00 am
Vehicle: ND - 2 GT
Location: Sydney Australia
Contact:

Re:

Postby Babalouie » Sun Apr 09, 2006 9:51 pm

Juffa wrote:When you tightened the suspension nuts/bolts, after putting on the Teins did you have the suspension under compression? If not, that might explain why it is sitting higher than you expected. Whenever I have removed/replaced/upgraded my suspension components I have used a jack to press up against the lower arm and raise it until the car is almost lifted off the stands. I then tighten everything, lower the jack, fit the wheels, take the car of the stands.
I read on the big forum that you can damage the suspension bushes if you don't tighten everything under compression.

J


That's a good point...when you retighten the bolts the wishbones should be at the normal ride height level as much as poss. But I wouldn't have thought that it would make such a big diff to the ride height...
Image
Japanese Nostalgic Car Magazine - Dedicated to classic japanese cars

Philip Lee
Racing Driver
Posts: 521
Joined: Tue Sep 23, 2003 11:00 am
Vehicle: ND - 2 GT
Location: Brisbane
Contact:

Postby Philip Lee » Sun Apr 09, 2006 11:04 pm

well we fitted at my fd's workshop on a hoist. we screwed and tighten the bottom nut first (the one on the lower arm) and then drop the hoist used a jack to lift the suspension so we can screw the upper nuts and then fit the wheels.

i guess this is the same as what u described??

thanks

Babalouie
godfather of saké
Posts: 1457
Joined: Wed Apr 23, 2003 11:00 am
Vehicle: ND - 2 GT
Location: Sydney Australia
Contact:

Re:

Postby Babalouie » Sun Apr 09, 2006 11:18 pm

Philip Lee wrote:well we fitted at my fd's workshop on a hoist. we screwed and tighten the bottom nut first (the one on the lower arm) and then drop the hoist used a jack to lift the suspension so we can screw the upper nuts and then fit the wheels.

i guess this is the same as what u described??

thanks


Sounds like you did the right thing...why don't you take a side-on pic of the car for us?
Image
Japanese Nostalgic Car Magazine - Dedicated to classic japanese cars

User avatar
Brad
Racing Driver
Posts: 613
Joined: Fri Aug 29, 2003 11:00 am
Vehicle: ND - 2 GT
Location: Brisbane
Contact:

Postby Brad » Mon Apr 10, 2006 12:05 am

After installing mine only recently, I really can't see how installing them with the car hoisted would make a difference. The only vertical play you'll get is in the ring rubber at the top, about 2mm at the most, which would get compressed when you did up the three top nuts anyway, and the lower runner bush connecting to the lower control arm, which will have almost no play.

Mines sitting ataround 320mm all around with about 10-12mm left in their length, so <310mm could be achived as the wheel will drop further than the amount you change the perch height due to the lever action of the A-arm.
1994 MX5 Clubman - RB CAI & ARB - BD Rollbar - X-Force headers & Zorst - Tein SS
Image

Philip Lee
Racing Driver
Posts: 521
Joined: Tue Sep 23, 2003 11:00 am
Vehicle: ND - 2 GT
Location: Brisbane
Contact:

Postby Philip Lee » Mon Apr 10, 2006 9:12 am

come to think of it, we didn't put the thing under a lot of compression.

if that is important i guess i'd have to refit them under stronger compression again.

did everyone do this?

Philip Lee
Racing Driver
Posts: 521
Joined: Tue Sep 23, 2003 11:00 am
Vehicle: ND - 2 GT
Location: Brisbane
Contact:

Postby Philip Lee » Mon Apr 10, 2006 10:15 am

excuse for the poor quality, this is the current height @ 330mm all round.

LR:
Image
RF:
Image
RR:
Image
close up:
Image

thanks all for your contribution.

User avatar
Brad
Racing Driver
Posts: 613
Joined: Fri Aug 29, 2003 11:00 am
Vehicle: ND - 2 GT
Location: Brisbane
Contact:

Postby Brad » Mon Apr 10, 2006 10:26 am

Hmm, that does seem very high. Here is mine with about 1/2 inch left of thread.

Image

The front looks higher due to the loss of reflection from the tyre but it's the same as the rear.
1994 MX5 Clubman - RB CAI & ARB - BD Rollbar - X-Force headers & Zorst - Tein SS
Image

User avatar
Craig
Speed Racer
Posts: 6611
Joined: Wed Apr 23, 2003 11:00 am
Vehicle: Non MX-5
Location: Sydney

Postby Craig » Mon Apr 10, 2006 11:30 am

Being the JDM spec ones is it possible they are the NB and not the NA ones, if that's possible?
*** Audi Q5 55 Sportback - HYBRID! Zero -100 in 5.3 seconds! 8) ***

User avatar
bigdog
King of the kennel
Posts: 2233
Joined: Wed May 25, 2005 3:07 pm
Vehicle: NB SP
Location: Blue Mountains
Contact:

Postby bigdog » Mon Apr 10, 2006 11:35 am

*offers Phillip $500 for obviously faulty teins to ease his pain and help buy proper NA ones* :mrgreen:
Image
Marvin - '02 Silver SP - BD, PSS9, Guru, Build #62 Cardomain

User avatar
Brad
Racing Driver
Posts: 613
Joined: Fri Aug 29, 2003 11:00 am
Vehicle: ND - 2 GT
Location: Brisbane
Contact:

Postby Brad » Mon Apr 10, 2006 11:37 am

My understanding is the ones Fulcrum stock are the same for NA and NB, though the Tein catalouge does differentiate between the two.
1994 MX5 Clubman - RB CAI & ARB - BD Rollbar - X-Force headers & Zorst - Tein SS
Image


Return to “MX5 Wheels, Suspension, Brakes & Tyres”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 135 guests