Apexi N1's swapping springs/height
 

On my old FD i had Apexi N1's, and stock body. I had no issues lowering the car and having the ability to lower more. Sold the old FD, bought a new one and got another set of Apexi N1's. I installed Shine FEED kit, and i have a huge gap and im already lowered where the threaded body won't go any further down.

The specs are 7inch / 180mm / 12kg springs.

My question is... if i were to install 6 inch springs would that drop the height of the car? Or would it not drop at all because im already capped out on how low i can go.

Are your coilovers independently adjustable for length and preload? If yes, and you are as low as you can go on your height adjustment you should be able to get it lower with 6 inch springs and raising the height adjustment some.

I'd recommend you get PAC or Swift springs that will give you extra spring travel to ensure you don't coilbind with a shorter spring.

Ya I know what I need to do in regards to not having coil bind. Get shorter spring raise the height. I think my last Apexi coil overs had 6 inch springs cause I could lower way farther than these ones. And I believe they were 8kg so the car sat lower due to less stiffer spring.

I'll call swift Monday. Thanks for the input.

FYI - PAC springs are a bit cheaper than Swift and they have all the specs of their springs (coil bind load and heights) on their website.. Which is rare.

You might want to go stiffer if you get shorter springs, you can be bottoming out your shocks a lot if you go softer and shorter, plus going from 12kg to 8kg will most likely required re-valving your shocks.

I swapped from 12KG F+R on my ark coilovers to 8/6 swift springs and the ride is much better. For damping the front I run between 0-7 clicks on the softest settings and the rear I go from 0-4 on the softest settings. this damps very well.

The car rides much smoother and better with these rates. In fact, I think a 7/6 might even be doable for the street and be better for ride comfort in terms of a flat ride. 7/7 might work as well.

The softer springs are not only more comftorable but they provide more grip. softer = more grip. as long as you can stay off the bump stops. I still don't feel much body roll from a 8/6 spring rate. I do feel the rear being soft and grippy which I like a lot, the front still seems a hair too stiff.

I called Apexi, and talked to them. They recommended sticking with the same KG rate, but informed me swapping length of the spring to a shorter one will not require revalving.

That is what I would expect. I just installed my 6 inch springs on my coilovers to replace the 7 inch ones, and had no issues at all. I went from 12kg/mm to 700 lb/in, which is around 30 lb/in stiffer. You can see the new spring has fewer coils per inch than the older long spring. It is probably half the weight. All I did was reset the preload, and the car sits at the same height.


https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx7...b6471eabbf.jpg

https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx7...184c598d37.jpg

@large,

I got my lowered springs from Apexi. The 5 1/2 sit too low because I still have a gap between the top of the top mount and the bottom seat of the spring.
https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx7...7d8785e3ce.jpg


https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx7...5bf1cddc9e.jpg


https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx7...aec86fde93.jpg


https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx7...85f295e8a3.jpg

The bottom seat is raised up as much as it can go. No threads left to go higher.

Loosen the red jam but adjuster on the bottom of the strut where it screws into the lower mount.

Then unscrew the lower mount a bit until you can properly preload the new springs.

That's the thing, i can't get the spring to sit flush with the top mount, and the bottom seat ring. There's no threads left to raise the bottom-spring seat any higher.

My last FD with same coilovers but 10/8 front/rear.
https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx7...c85785eca0.jpg

Same coilovers but with 12kg/12kg.


https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx7...9986ae6ee8.jpg

Read my post again. Loosen the jam nut at the bottom of the strut where the black threaded part goes into red lower mount. Unscrew the strut from the mount to raise the ride height. If the springs are loose at full droop that is ok.

I'm sorry if i'm not understanding you correctly, but i think i know what you're saying.

You want me to raise the car. That's not what i want. I want the springs to sit without being loose between the top mount, and the locking nut at the bottom of the spring.


https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx7...a0b59bb2d4.jpg

It's ok for the spring to be a little lose, it'll be snuck with the car's weight on it, you can always add helper spring if you hear suspension noise.

If what you have pictured is how loose the spring is, don't worry about it if the car is sitting where you want it.