car with WHEELS!!!! not clean or done with lowering though!

[Nospeed]

i was just talking to bobafett, and he is selling me those springs...from what i understand, and saw, he has always had that front gap, even before putting on those rims. the back does sit a little lower than the front. ii cant vouch for him before he lowered his ride, but yeah, it sits lower in the back. maybe this is a problem with hatches? i dunno...im gonna find out here soon though...im gonna install the springs on my 3g, and i will find out if it is the springs, or if it is bobafetts' shocks.

[Defiant[YD]]

dude, nice ride man.
don't worry about the wheel gap. mine are huge with my rims on. muther..... if i dropped it another 2-3 inches, it'll look like stock....

[88LXiHB]

Originally posted by bobafett
i can go take more tomorrow when its not dark!

I was kidding man, because there are like 20 pics of all 4 rims...

[bobafett]

lol well i did that on purpose because nospeed is prolly gonna buy my springs. and so i wanted him to see the hideous wheelgap so he would know EXACTLY what he is getting himself into!

hehe since i dont have to ask people to PLEASE HOST MY PICS, i cant figure out how to use the <[{img<>{}[] ??????? omg jeez it doesnt work can anyone host them.... so i just posted all of them

btw can you email me some pics of your car? i dont want to buy it really but i wanna see a black HB... :P and i remember liking your car!

email to [email protected] please!

[goldyaccord]

Originally posted by 88LXi68
Those rims look great on the car and I do kind of agree that the moldings kind of compliment the look. Get those Ground Controls on and SLAM that thing!

I couldnt resist. I had to see for my self.

Hope that was okay chris.

[bobafett]

thanks for getting those ground controls on there for me buddy! it looks good.. i am not gonna tuck the tires, but i am gonna drop the front down a few good inches!

looks cool tucked like that though!!

[goldyaccord]

Originally posted by bobafett
thanks for getting those ground controls on there for me buddy! it looks good.. i am not gonna tuck the tires, but i am gonna drop the front down a few good inches!

looks cool tucked like that though!!

I wouldnt go that low Like i modified it in the pic but I just wanted an idea what it was going to look like. I'd lower untill the tires almost want to tuck, no lower.

It handles real good then. Any lower and you'd be bumping around. I do know you will have to change the way u drive over bumps etc. watch for potholes and advoid them as much as possible.

[bobafett]

yeah i know... even with these wheels and tires it changes the way i avoid potholes. i am also going to save for some rear konis... since i am gonna have ground controls... i am thinking that the tokicos might not cut it. although its ok now. :P

once i drop the whole car down i am going to have to replan every place i drive! hehe hopefully i will do ok before i learn the hard way!!

[goldyaccord]

Originally posted by bobafett
yeah i know... even with these wheels and tires it changes the way i avoid potholes. i am also going to save for some rear konis... since i am gonna have ground controls... i am thinking that the tokicos might not cut it. although its ok now. :P

once i drop the whole car down i am going to have to replan every place i drive! hehe hopefully i will do ok before i learn the hard way!!

I'd Check and see if it would be cheaper to rebuild the rear koni's before buying new ones.

If rebuilding is better, I'd look into matching the spring rates with the struts so they wont blow.

understand comprende?

[bobafett]

yep yep. if i did that i could have the konis revalved and shortened. i wonder how much that would cost though. prolly $800 to do EVERYTHING...

[markmdz89hatch]

if you learn the hard way, trust me, you will not be happy. Props go out to all the slammed hatch owners out there. Josh, it was truly a sad day to see goldy go down the tubes. But Chris, you're keeping the hatch tradition alive and keeping a memory of goldy out there.

I know that you don't want to slam it that much, but trust me, neither did I. Now that it is, I'm dreading the day that I actually have to bring it back up. The hatchs do look so damn good on the ground.

Chris, I'm loving that car, and I agree with you, keep the moldings black. It's a great compliment to the gunmetal wheels. When I put my gunmetal 17's on mine, they looked so damn good. Then winter came.. ....but they'll be back on in no time.

[markmdz89hatch]

Originally posted by bobafett
yep yep. if i did that i could have the konis revalved and shortened. i wonder how much that would cost though. prolly $800 to do EVERYTHING...

To revalve and shorten a Koni, they quoted me roughly 175 per shock with all materials included. Well worth it if you get to ride in a bounce-free car, and don't ever have to worry about a blow shock anymore.

[bobafett]

175.4=$700....
i think i will do it though.. i mean. i have all 4 blown konis anyway... would prolly be worth it to fix them up. save me $450...

yeah if they are already blown will it cost more than if they werent?

yeah i will prolly save up and fix the struts so i can lower the car a little more. maybe i will play it safe and have like 1" of gap on each wheel.. dont wanna ruin MY relatively new struts!

[markmdz89hatch]

shouldn't cost any more b/c included in that price is also a rebuild. This way they will not be putting in any old parts. Everything in the strut, with the exception of the casing, and possibly the piston, will be replaced. That price should also include an external adjustment.

I'd say at worst case scenario, you're looking at 8 bills total.

[bobafett]

not bad. considering then i could drop from 1-4 inches safely~!

its definetly worth it. i guess by the time i save the $$$ amber might have money saved up for springs and she can have the good old tokico/koni setup!

hmm so what "rates" do i need to get the struts revalved to? and where/who to do i go to, to get this taken care of?

[goldyaccord]

Originally posted by bobafett
175.4=$700....
i think i will do it though.. i mean. i have all 4 blown konis anyway... would prolly be worth it to fix them up. save me $450...

yeah if they are already blown will it cost more than if they werent?

yeah i will prolly save up and fix the struts so i can lower the car a little more. maybe i will play it safe and have like 1" of gap on each wheel.. dont wanna ruin MY relatively new struts!

You might still blow your shock at any height. When koni revalves, it's just like rebuilding. So, either way it's like rebuilding the shocks but with i believe smaller holes for the oil to squeese though thru compression and rebound.

That's how I understand it.

I learned this at Nascar Garage on tv.

They were doing a thing on strut assembly,

[bobafett]

but isnt there more of a chance of ruining the strut if you are dropped lower? if nothing else it will be struts that are better matched to running the ground control springs!

[goldyaccord]

Originally posted by bobafett
but isnt there more of a chance of ruining the strut if you are dropped lower? if nothing else it will be struts that are better matched to running the ground control springs!

Yes definately. It wont be in it's stroke range. and that happens after an 1.5 drop. I dunno. but i heard it's in that area.

[markmdz89hatch]

Josh is right, there's always a possibility that something can go wrong, but the main reason for a strut taking a dirt nap is b/c the spring is bullying it around. It's mostly on the rebound of the spring that kills the shocks.

A way to think about it would be to stand up, extend your arms to your side, but not all the way. Now have someone stonger then you on each side of you grab your hands and try to pull your arms. No matter how hard you try to hold them, you'll lose.

Now, do that, but instead, use two people that are much weaker then you. What happens? They don't budge your arms.

Now, what do you think will happen if all three of you are the same strength?

Get my point?

As for what rates, find out what the lb. ratings are on the springs you'll be using on the GC's and when you send the shocks directly to Koni for the revalve, specify that you want the Koni, at 1/2 adjustment, to equal that lb. rating of the spring. This way you can stiffen or soften the strut depending on your preference. ...and with the new external adjustment, you won't need to take the whole thing apart to adjust it. Just adjust on the fly.

[bobafett]

oooooh that WILL be really cool... i am starting to understand, but where do i do it?

[Jims 86LXI HB]

Call ground control, they are now a authorized Koni service station and they can revalve them for you. But first I would talk to Gordon at Koni and have him tell you the revalve specs for 350lbs front and 250lbs rear. Then talk to GC and speak to their koni tech and see what his opinion is on gordon's revalve specs.

One benefit to useing GC to revalve is shipping will cost less since they are located in california, instead of kentucky.

I learned about GC being authorized for Koni's because of a article in GrassRootsMotorSports where they had GC revalve and modify some Koni's and GC coilovers for thier 2002 civic Si project car.

[bobafett]

ooh thanks for the advice jim!

[markmdz89hatch]

Talk to Jim on that one. He's got the phone number for Koni. You're best bet would be to call them up and speak to one of the technicians there. He'll explain to you everything you could possibly ever want to know about a shock. Call him only after you've gathered up all the info on the springs/c.o.'s that you'll be running, and their spring rates. Also, you'll want to figure out what height you'll be running your car at the majority of the time. That will help him calculate the amount of "shortening" needed. When all is said and done, ask him for the address to where you'll need to send the shocks for the rebuild.

Don't forget to inquire about turn-around time. This doesn't just get done overnight. They'll have ur shocks for a while. Depending on season, and thier workload it can take a real long time.

I'll be sending mine in soon enough too, so I'll have to call him back up for the addy. I've already spent about 2 hrs. total on the phone with Koni techs about this stuff.

[goldyaccord]

Originally posted by bobafett
oooooh that WILL be really cool... i am starting to understand, but where do i do it?

What do you mean where do you do it?

Mark, That was beautifull. Would you be my spokesperson on that matter?

Mark explained it perfectly.

Chris, you should do whatever is in your budget. If that calls for only revalving and shortening that do so. If that is out of your range for the time being, Dont do it. Save Save Save. You WILL not regret it.

I have wished that I took the step to get it completly right the first time BUT, Back then, We all were not very educated on this subject mostly untill Jim came around.

I had those coilovers and koni's for gosh, almost as long as i have had my car. way back in 2000? Oh, wait i think it was christmas 99. Long time.

[bobafett]

so will i be "ok" running the coilovers with stock konis in front and tokicos in back?

i dont wanna hear "you should upgrade your struts so you wont bounce around" all i want to know, is, is this a recipe for disaster?

at least i have the 4 struts "laying around" and i wont have any downtime while they are getting worked on!