With Nick knowing what he was doing and me kinda helping we got the KYB Lowfer springs in yesterday. Apparently they are meant to take a week or so to settle, but based on what they're meant to lower by I don't think it'll be much more.

Much better

https://i.imgur.com/Wh32sYq.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/keSTUiu.jpg

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Well not long after the springs went in I went clunk chasing. One of the springs slipped out of the hat thing so we fixed that up, but yet they continued. Ordered new drop links and tie rods/rack ends, which definitely needed doing.

https://i.imgur.com/65vvSGy.jpg

And at the time of getting an alignment was informed that, yes, the 17 year old shocks had probably had it. I'd always heard lowering springs on standard struts would cause deterioration, but gee it was swift and unpleasant!

Still looked good though.

https://i.imgur.com/HEwYFka.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/IaT1ouv.jpg

But it was getting so bad I was often opting to drive my parents GJ6 to work instead since the difference in comfort was so stark...

https://i.imgur.com/0vXrkiH.jpg

It was barely more expensive than an OEM style replacement so I bit the bullet and ordered some BCs.

https://i.imgur.com/LJiKE8y.jpg

Thanks to learning the in's and out's from Nick the first time I've gotten the fronts done but lack a few tools, will get to it tomorrow. And threw on an Evo VIII wheel again just to see (tyre is waaay too big to think about driving on it though).

https://i.imgur.com/ItyxDtY.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/RGtaj9B.jpg

Oh, and picked up a Gates timing kit for like $65 from Repco on a clearance which was sweet. Just need water pump and a few gaskets now, major service is only a few thousand kms away.

Well, Nick and I got all the coilovers in and everything bolted up eventually. Some hitches included stubborn threads for the ABS sensor wiring on the front shock bodies, and the hole on the rear one not quite being wide enough, but we figured it out and made do.

Height out of the box is basically bang on, don't think I'll mess with it even though the front is like a half cm higher than the rear.

https://i.imgur.com/dkHAKQk.jpg

All seemed well until I took it around the block, and clunk clunk from the back... dunno if I was meant to use shorter droplinks or what, but the sway bar is right on top of the lateral arm, have emailed JustJap about it.

https://i.imgur.com/FSVb6sa.jpg

Asides from that, all the weird dying-strut pops and thuds are gone which is a welcome relief, and the ride does seem comfortable enough especially for the spring rates.

I really like the Evo wheel on there :)
Nice job so far!

I don't mind them either, but I don't think they'll fit very well with the 235mm wide tyres! As it is I have just a finger worth of gap between the rear fender and the tyre, pretty happy with the fit.

Ended up just getting some cut to length endlinks shortened to about 140mm, also discovered in the process the rear left nuts on the top had come loose which was probably the majority of my clunking. All seems pretty good now! As expected, the ride is firmish, hardly unbearable even over choppy road surfaces, but you do feel the effect of the spring rates over sharper bumps and dips. The benefit of course is that all the dipping under braking is gone, flatter through corners, and I think even downshifting from 4th to 3rd is smoother presumably because of less wobble through the suspension. Pleased overall.

https://i.imgur.com/l2O5kZu.jpg

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Also ordered a few more bits for the upcoming major service. Got a Gates water pump from Supercheap to match my timing kit, was 20% off on their storewide sale, and I even had $20 of store credit so it only cost $20 overall :D also grabbed the more comprehensive rocker gasket set for $45 off ebay. So $130AUD for basically all the pertinent gear, can't complain about that!

just get longer links for the rear. and place the sway bar under the lateral links.

I was told that was more ideal, but this doesn't seem to be that far off stock and haven't noticed anything too weird.

But even after all that, having driven it to work a few times I'm not sure I'm sold on them :| was probably an ill-advised decision in the first place for a car I wanted to tip the scales into comfort instead of handling. After finding out some specs from Rupe I think I may end up with some KYBs after all.

Logged into my account 4 years later since I was last active here, just to say thanks for the mention!

Not once...

But twice :cool::cool::cool: