DIY : 1st Gen Front Suspension (w/ lots of pics)
 

Alright. I recently changed out my front suspension. I installed Koni Reds and ST Springs. I did a lot of searching and question asking to make sure I got everything right. There are several threads out there with questions and tips. I decided to put something together for anyone else like me. Here goes.....

Jack the car & remove the front tires

The main problem I had the first time and most other people have had was removing big strut lockdown nut. This was very hard with the strut out, so I did it with the strut still on the car. With it jacked, I just put a pipe wrench on it and banged on it a couple times with a hammer. Once it loosened a little, I continued removing the suspension. You can see the pipe wrench teeth marks in this photo.

Attachment 700513

I then removed the four 14mm nuts on the strut top.

Attachment 700514


Then remove the brake caliper and bolt on the bottom and remove the caliper and set it aside. Make sure the pad clips don't get lost. I spent a few minutes looking for one when I needed it later.... Also use needle nose pliers or a flat head screw driver to remove the clip that keeps the brake line to the side of the strut tube. Don't lose this either.

Attachment 700515


Then remove two 17mm bolts which connect the strut tube to the control arm. Here's a picture. The easy way to do this is to turn the wheel all the way one way, remove the exposed bolt, then turn it the other way to get access to the other bolt. Here's a picture of the front one.

Attachment 700516

This will allow the front suspension to be removed from the car. I had to pull up on it to loosen it from the bottom and then pull the bottom free. Then it just slides out toward you. Then you're left with this and it is a good time to replace old worn out bushings.

Attachment 700517

Attachment 700518

Then use a spring compressor to compress the spring in order to safely remove the top plate of the strut assembly with the 21mm nut on top. Some people remove this while the car is on the ground and let the jacking of the car uncompress the spring loose. I opted not to do this. Once the spring was compressed, I hit the top nut with the impact wrench and it came loose after a few shots. The strut will turn inside, so I would recommend an impact gun. It really simplified the whole task.

Attachment 700519

Here's the 21mm nut to take apart the assembly.

Attachment 700520

With the stut apart (strut top plate, nut, washers, spring top plate, spring, & rubber stop) , I unscrewed the strut insert retaining nut completely off. Then I pulled the insert out of the strut tube. The way I did this may be a little unorthodox. I put the top plate on and tighted the nut a little. Then I grabbed the plate and braced the brake rotor with my feet. Then it was doing rows at the gym. :) With a hard pull, and some straining and cursing, the insert came out. Be sure to put paper towels out of a bowl to catch the fluid in. It can get messy.

Attachment 700521

Attachment 700522

I threw the old insert away and cleaned up the inside of the strut tube. I poured in a little bit of antifreeze to help dissipate the heat during use. Then the Koni red was inserted. I had to cut the bottom notch for it to fit. There is a place marked for this. I just used a hack saw. The Koni comes with it's own retaining nut.

Attachment 700523

With the Koni inserted and the retaining nut in place.

Attachment 700524

Attachment 700525

For reassembly, I didn't need to compress the springs. They were short enough that I just had to hold the strut out and put everything back in place in order.... Rubber Stopper, Spring, Spring top plate, washer, strut top plate, washer, lock washer, then 21mm nut. This I tightened again with the impact gun.

Reinstallation was the reverse of removal. Driver and passenger are the same.

Some hints :

Have a friend align the top bolts while you lift the strut to hook up to the control arm. Makes life easier.

Also, there is a natural outward angle to the strut. If the top plate is rotated toward the inside 90 degrees, the angle will change to be slightly forward. There is a little arrow on this originally pointing towards the front outside stut tower bolt. It should now point towards the front INSIDE to move the geometry. This slight forward angle of the strut will produce more of a negative camber in the outside wheel when the wheel is turned.

The overall drop in the car ended up being about an inch. The Koni Reds are also MUCH stiffer than stock so the car feels great. With the aftermarket front swaybar and strut brace, the car feels very solid and has minimal roll during cornering. I'm very happy with this upgrade. The next autocross in the 9th, so that will tell.

If anyone has any questions at all or wants any extra detail, comments, or if I got anything wrong please let me know. If there are any additional hints of suggestions, I'd love them. I'm sure I'll do this again since this is going to be a full track car soon and more racing suspension will eventually find itself on the car.

Thanks! Hope this helps folks out.

Good write up. I will offer one suggestion in regards to the top nut. On worn struts, the piston tends to spin, once the unit is removed from the car. If one hits the top nut with the impact first thing and loosens, don't remove, the nut, it makes final disassembly easier.

10w to 30w oil will do the same thing as antifreeze will for heat tranfer and cooling. Do Not forget this step, it will shorten the life of the insert.

I found that removing the two tension rod bolts that attach to the control arm makes it a lot easier to remove and install the strut. Nice writeup man!

pics of the car witht he new suspension on!!!

No problem. I'll post car pictures this evening.

thats the same set up i have on my car that i havent got to drive yet. post how they ride. also, were your shocks adjustable? mine came in a box that said adjustable on them, but im not 100% sure how youd go about adjusting them. i also used antifreeze instead of oil.

also, whats the deal with your front sway bar end link?

Great write-up! I wish I had this two weeks ago when Nismo and I replaced my entire suspension.

http://www.matthewnanney.com/shockreplacement.htm


Made a page for it.

The sway is an adjustable TMC bar. The endlinks can be placed in 3 positions for stiffness. Is that what you're asking? Uses poly bushings.

^^yep, i like. where can i get more info or the set up? thanks

Where did you get your Suspension Techniques springs from?

are those chacos? nice writeup.

Adding oil to the strut housing?
 

Is it really necessary to add oil or coolant to the strut housing. I am getting ready to replace my struts with Tokiko blues. I thought these were gas shocks so why the need to add oil to cool them?

If I were to do this work I would have tried to couple it with a lot of other things as well like :

1) replace tie rod end
2) replace ball joint
3) replace wheel bearing
4) replace front disc
5) replace lower control arm poly bushing
6) replace front sway bar bushing

just a thought....since you now have access to that whole area

I got them from someone online on the forum.

I agree. I will do these, at least the ones I haven't already done. I'm going to go back and take care of the tie rod end, brake disc/bearing, and the lower control arm bushings. They'll all by poly bushings.

The ride height changed a good bit. I measured before and after the change, the distance from the ground to the wheel well lip at the center of the wheel.

Before: After:

DF: 23 1/2" PF: 24 1/2" DF: 22 3/4" PF: 23 1/4"
DR: 24 3/8" PR: 24 7/8" DR: 23 1/2" PR: 23 3/8"

Here are the pictures of after the change.

Attachment 700526

Attachment 700527

Attachment 700528

And here is a picture of the difference between the old and new rear springs. I forgot to take a front spring picture.

Attachment 700529

Would love it if this included taking it all the way down to bushing and ball joint replacement. :D

Just what I needed. Thanks for the write up with pics.

Give me a few weeks. I've got those on the plan to do as well.

Hey man, where did you get the info on the positioning of the top strut mount (arrow positioning)? I didn't have time to research and verify what you were saying, so I just tried it out last yesterday to see how it would effect the handling. I owe you one man! :)

I was having issues with understeer, although it was greatly reduced once the new suspension was installed, but still there a bit. Now, the car simply carves its way into the corners! What a freaking difference! I'm sure you've improved my times already for this weekend's autocrossing. Thanks again, I was just wondering where you heard of that...

I remember reading it on this forum a few years back. This is the first time I've tried it though. I'm also very happy with it. It's like a different car now! My wife is getting mad at me because I've been driving the 1st gen more than the RX-8 that isn't paid off yet. She's been telling me that we're making monthly payments on a garage ornament! :) I can't help it, the RX-7 is just fun!

i have found only konis for the front, what do you use in rear?

Tokico Illumina Adjustables for the rear.

Well, we had the test and tune last night. Top time was put in by a 3rd gen (Finky) who came in at just over 45 seconds. My best time was 49 seconds, but I'm pretty sure I can shave off a couple more today. We'll see how it goes. Handling totally kicks ass now! :)