speederx7@yahoo.com

Hi I have a 90 fc TII. I bought on ebay 4 koni yellows, 4 gc coilovers w/rear springs only, gc camber plates, RB swaybars, and a thrust swaybar. like $500. The guy said the fronts may need to be rebuilt. How do you tell what condition the struts are in. I have only the rear koni and coilovers on. With the hatch off, if I jump <135lbs> the car doesnt move much. If I turn the konis all the way counter clock and jump then all the way clockwise and jump there doesnt seem to be a diffrence.
Thanks

SpeedRacer

When your car is not in motion, it is the SPRINGS that are resisting "bump" motion of the suspension for the most part. The dampener(shock absorber) is like a hydraulic door dampener, it just slows the bump motion down. When you are going around a corner there is constant weight being put on one side of your suspension for the duration of the corner. The spring will start to compress as weight is transferred to it. The dampener is going to resist this motion, but like a hydraulic door dampener, slowly the dampener is going to compress allowing the spring to also compress. So what I'm trying to say, is that pressing down on the car won't really test the stiffness of the dampener, it is testing the rate of the spring. You really need to find the rate of the rear springs before you buy front springs or your car will probably not handle how you want it to. To test a shock, you need to do it BEFORE it is installed on the car. Just press down on the rod and make sure there is resistance. Make sure also that it extends out on its own. It should be the same for the left and right side. Also try adjusting the stiffness and make sure the resistance to pushing down on the rod changes. Also check to make sure there is no fluid leaking out of the dampener when you compress it and allow it to extend.