H&R Coilover - Install Notes

So, couple weeks ago I installed my H&R Street Coilovers which I believe are extremely similar as far as install goes to the H&R RSS and Bilstein PSS10's. I took a bunch of pics and a few videos as well while I was installing. The stuff is pretty basic but I figure that anyone getting ready to do a job like this could use all the info they can get to maybe make the job easier.

Anyway, my install went very smooth but there were a couple things I noticed that could have made life even easier.


Number 1, the instructions are pretty much non-existant. Besides just telling you how to initially setup the ride height range (the position that you should have the lower spring perch on the coilover shock body) there is pretty much nothing else to go on.

It would have been very nice to at least have a diagram of what exactly needs to be re-used from the stock parts to assemble the coilovers.

For the front coilovers there is a small, slightly dished washer that sits on top of the OEM shock piston. This small washer must be re-used. see below.





Also, here is the basic order that things need to be in the front. The shocks come loosely put together from H&R in the box with the springs, perches, bump stops, etc.

First slip on the small dished washer onto the top of the new shock piston. Next will be the larger dished disk that contacts the bottom of the bushing in the top hat. Then you will place the large angled aluminum spacer that H&R provides followed by the large rubber spring seat cover+bearing holder/bearing assembly. Then the shock hat goes over all this with the other large dished washer (with dish facing up) and the nut. Done

It sounds a bit confusing and I wish I had taken better pics but once you have the parts in your hands it will all make sense.

Here are all the OEM parts that must be reused along with the H&R Provided angled spacer..




Below is a close up of the bearing holder/bearing assembly



Fully assembled front coilover...





Number 2, the stock rear shocks have fixed mounts for the sway bar drop links. The H&R's have adjustable height mounts for the drop links. They are pretty cool looking pieces and I think many of the high end cilovers on the market use a similar drop link mount. BUT, they are a bit of a pain to set up.





First of all, you are supposed to use them with the stock/original rear drop links but there is no mention of how high or low on the threaded shock body the drop link mount should be in order to work with the original drop links. Basically, I ended up using a caliper to measure from the center of the lower OEM shock mounting hole to the center of the hole in the OEM drop link mount. I used this measurement to determine the height I should have the H&R drop link mount on the shock body.

There is some wiggle room here because the main concern is that you just want to be sure that both sides are the same height. Once you do one of the shocks you can count the threads up from the bottom and do the same on both sides.

The other issue with these bad boys is that you need to tighten the living heck out of them or they will want to move. Tighten them as tight as you can with the wrenches and then tap them with a pin and hammer to finish them off..TIGHT.

Also, I found that at first I wanted to install these drop link mounts with the drop link mounting hole lining up to the center line of the shock on the side of the shock that faces the motor/center line of the car. At then end I found that having them a few degrees towards the front of the car kept them from wanting to be twisted back under load and away from everything in the area.

There were some pics on here of someone whose these drop link mounts got loose and damaged intake pipes that are near by. That must have been a huge nightmare for the owner! Must be TIGHT! (I will try to find the pics and add them)

Also, I would recommend that once you have the new rear suspension installed fully with the drop links I would have the car on the ground and jack up the front driver side nice and high to fully compress the passenger rear. Then have a look in the rear for clearance or any issues with a flashlight. Then repeat on other side. Then go for a drive!!

Below, Rear corner compressed with Front corner jacked up to check for clearances of drop link mounts and drop links...





Number 4, Drop links. In the front the new H&R drop links that the kit comes with are a perfect fit. Lots of clearance, no problems using the stock sway bars. Not sure if this will change when/if I upgrade swaybars.

Rear drop links, I was able to get them to work and so far so good. I did have to do more fine tuning back here, may be better to have some adjustables back here.


Number 5, My original suspension had no issues at all. I decided to only purchase front upper bearings and re-use the stock upper hats. This turned out to be a mistake. I had visually checked my upper hats prior to removal and again since I had zero issues on the stock setup I decided to skip the new hats. Once I pulled it apart I found some very small hairline cracks in the bushings. I had to order a new set of hats and wait to finish the car. I highly recommend getting new upper bearings and new upper hats for the fronts. The rears were perfectly fine and there are no bearings back there anyway so it's up to you to replace the rear hats if you wish.


I think there were one or two other small details that I wanted to add here. If I remember them I will add them. For now these were the two things that I felt might trip someone up along the way.

I will say that this coilover kit improves the handling of the car in EVERY way. Feels just a little firmer than stock but not uncomfortable at all, less roll, no more floating. Actually feels more composed than stock over bumps in the road too. I had posted a bit more info here as well... https://www.6speedonline.com/forums/...m-i-happy.html

Anyone, getting ready to install these coilovers with any questions, feel free to shoot me a pm too. I'm happy to help.


+++Info below applies to installing front coilovers without having to separate tie rod ball joints. Rear coilover install is rather simple so I am not addressing the rear here. Refer to the great diy's on 6speed for rear.

Before I did my coilover install I had read a few guys mention that it was possible to remove the front stock suspension and more importantly install new front coilovers without the need to separate the front tie rod ball joints. Although I do have ball joint separators so it would not have been an issue I still wanted to see if it was possible.

My conclusion: Yes, it is possible.

What I discovered is that all you have to do is loosen (not remove, just back out about 1/2") four bolts that hold a plate on each side under the front sway bar and lower control arms. By doing this the sway bar drops slightly lower and gives you room to push down on the wheel carrier and have the newly mounted coilover swing under the fender and into position.

(If this sounds confusing I apologize but I made a video to make it clearer and I will post it up soon)

I'm going to add a "Quick, no ball joint removal coilover install diy" (sorry couldn't think of a shorter name...lol) and pics/video that I am working on so. Just adding a rough draft below. Anyway here are the basic steps....

Raise both front wheels off ground and remove wheels. Leave front end on jackstands. You do this so that nothing is pre-loaded. You can start on either side but there are a few steps I did that need to be done on both sides before moving on. See below.

1. Remove bolt holding the shock to the wheel carrier.
2. Remove brake caliper and brake line holder + sensor connector that are behind brakes. Carefully hang caliper off to the side with zip ties or similar.
3. Unbolt/remove the drop links. (on both sides so sway bar can hang down)
4. Remove the small lower spring perch bolt. This will allow you to spin the perch around.
5. Spin the perch until you can see a small recess under the spring. Use a flat screw driver to pry the stock spring out of the perch and then wind/screw the spring down the perch and over the shock body.
6. Remove completely the 6 allen bolts from inner CV joint to diff. Once allens are removed pull inner CV joint towards outside of car to shorten overall length of driveshaft.
7. Loosen 4 bolts holding plate for swaybar bushings and lower control arm. (Back out these bolts about 1/2", no need to remove fully.) You must do the 4 bolts on passenger AND driver side regardless which side you start on. (see pic below to see which bolts)
8. Remove the three bolts holding top mount/camber plate of shock inside frunk.
9. Compress the shock piston so that you can swing the entire shock/spring/wheel carrier outside of fender.

Reverse process to install new coilovers. I suggest lowering coilover perches to lowest settings on bench and then once they are installed in the car follow the specs as to where to set the perches in their correct range according to the coil over manufacturer.

Below are the 4 bolts that should be loosened about 1/2" so that the sway bar can hang slightly lower.

Pic below is of passenger side, you will find the same on driver side.

 

Very helpful, thank you for sharing this.

 

Mind if I add this to my consolidated suspension thread?

 

No prob Thanks

 

For sure...I was going to shoot you a pm to see if you wanted to add it.

 

Awesome write up. The devil is always in the detail and this will be super helpful when I eventually tackle the coilovers on my car. Thanks so much!

 

Done. Thanks for the writeup man!

 

+7! great write up! as i've been leaning toward new coilovers for mine also and would opt for NEW h&r's or i have the option to re-build all gt3 bits which would maximize my ability to finally re-do all the front end geometry from 96t to 6gt which i have so far avoided. I'm already rwd and lsd, but still with the front diff hanging albeit disconnected ( i know, i know lol )..

but great advise on the top mounts/bearings as they MUST be replaced. weird thing is, i recently replaced mine and and am AGAIN getting the weird creak/crunch when cold at hard lock. then it goes away..annoying! anyway.. sorry for the rambling..

great thread and upgrade!

 

Thanks man...I appreciate it.

If it wasn't for the fact that you were considering changing the geo (also, that you have a set of gt3), I think these would be a no brainer for you. My understanding is that these are very similar to the GT2 factory pieces in design (but obviously still retains 6T geo). Before I bought them I considered just getting a set of new shocks and H&R springs and calling it a day...but that was until I started pricing out shocks + springs. I believe I would have spent the same if not more and then not had the ability to fine tune ride height. Which by the way..being able to adjust ride height = best thing since sliced bread

I know you are really happy with your current setup but you won't regret doing the coilovers whether the GT3, these, or other

 

Great post!! Glad you sorted out your sway link mount issue in the rear.

You might want to revise the order of assembky to include bump stops/dust covers FYI. Those are important.

 

i know, you're right! but primarily to get my front end carriers/uprights "correct"! but i'm always straddling that very thin line we all struggle against, btw bang and buck! i'm pricing out the bilstein gt3 revalving soon, and then need to know if new springs are needed on top of that ( ..and why wouldn't they be?! ) so i can maximize my spend vs return

also, fully agree vs ride height. i'm just below gt2 height now, and cant handle anything higher

again, enjoy the new set! i'm sure it'll be perfect for dual weapon use! cheers!

 

Agree with tightening the hell out of the sway bar mount bracket. Perhaps even some blue Loctite. I had one get loose a couple weeks ago, you will hear a clang/pop noise. I did not use any blue loctite, but will this winter when everything is apart again. Using a paint marker too so you can quickly see if it did get loose is what I do on my track car with everything.

Picture of markings on my TT

 

Yeah, thanks for your feedback when I was having that problem. It was really the only pia with the install. Tough to get the supplied wrenches on both locking collars at the same time.

I'll add a note re the bump stops/boots.

 

Yup, I was really frustrated by those. There is a beautiful piece from Tarett that I'm sure would solve this once and for all....

"
Finally, a solution to the problematic rear drop link brackets used on the 996 & 993. Conventional bracket designed to be used with most aftermarket shocks. These new brackets use our proven split clamping method for full proof holding power, which prevents it from rotating and breaking the rear drop link.

Fits all 996 and 993 with JRZ, Moton, MCS, H&R, and Ohlins rear shocks. Also designed for 996 GT3 and 993 with PSS9s. "

 

Those are nice :thumbup: