Shock removal and Omnipower coilover install

[strikeachord]

Hey guys the coilovers are comin in today whenever UPS gets here. Thought id let u know in advance i'm gonna put up pics and instructions for the swap in my coupe incase anyone wanted to install their own suspension. I'll keep you posted later on when the coilovers actually get here.

[AllShowNoGo]

sounds good i think i see a sticky in your future

[H22accord]

yeah good shit, i am planning on picking them up and selling my ground controls new in the box. I just need to wait to get paid and see where i stand with my bills. I been working 12 hour days lately so I should see some fat paychecks coming up.

[strikeachord]

Ok guys the coilovers are on, but they're pretty low so later on i gotta raise it up a lil. I dont have many pics cuz my garage was an oven last night and i forgot to take pics lol. I never sweated so much in my entire life and i can tell you i lost weight lol (sorry if that was a lil too much info). I can do my best to describe what to do as clear as possible. I'll write up the removal and install of the rear prob thursday cuz i gotta work all day today. Hope this helps. If you have any questions or are confused about anything email me/pm me/IM me (eltor07) and i'll try to help you out as best as possible.

Measure all sides of the car for the stock height. We forgot to do this somehow VERY STUPID. This is why my car looks very low just gotta check the alignment and camber and see if i gotta raise it or not.

Omni wants you to unscrew the nut at the top of the coilover (19mm) until it is flush against the top of the screw. We found this to be very hard since whenever u go to turn the nut it turns the boot inside the spring as well so the best way we found to do it was to just install the coilovers and bolt it up inside the engine that way we could turn the nut w/o any problems. VERY IMPORTANT: there is an allen key hole inside the screw at the top. We didnt realize this until the 2nd shock but holding the allen key steady will allow you to turn the nut without the boot and shock spinning.

Jack up the front end and place jack stands under each side and remove the wheels

Now to the removal of the front shocks:
WD-40 EVERY BOLT
First thing to do is remove the 2 bolts holding the brake line to the shock this could be removed with a (i believe) 12mm rachet. Next, time to remove the damper fork. Follow the fork down until you see it connected. Use a 17mm rachet i believe and a 17mm wrench with the wrench on the side where the screw isnt showing. Hold that steady and place the rachet on the other side over the nut. Use your strength and unscrew the nut. What we did next was use the jack and place it under the fork and raised it depending on if there was pressure or not on that screw that goes thru the fork and the (axel?). Hammer the side wit the long screw until you cant see it and then use a screwdriver either be a flat head of phillips to get the screw out. once that large screw comes out place it aside wit the nut.
Next go into the engine and remove the 3 nuts holding the rest of the shock in place.
GO back under the strut and look behind it there is another bolt holding the FORK to the STRUT. What that screw does is squeeze together the fork over the strut so it doesnt move. Remove this screw (Don't remember what size mm it was could be 14 or 17). Now here is where u need 2 people. One has to push down on the hub wit their foot while the other person tries to wiggle the fork out of the strut. This took some time but it should separate and make it ezier to remove the strut and fork since there isnt enuff clearance to remove the whole thing together. Now that you're strut and fork are out you can install the coilover.
take the coilover that has a blocky bottom and place it under the fender into the engine bay and bolt down the 3 nuts in place.
Here is where you use the allen key and 19mm wrench the bring the nut flush wit the top of the screw. Go under the fender and turn the coilover sleeve part (has the spring in it) until it reaches the top of the fender and lock it in place. Omni calls this "preloading" the coilover. Now you can place the fork under the fender. Now you can either unscrew the bottom of the coilover until it reaches the fork where the fork connects to the axel or just use the jack under the hub to raise it so the top of the fork can slide into the bottom of the coilover. Once its in fully then use the bolt and tighten it so the bottom of the coilover is completely held by the fork. You dont have to tighten it completely yet because if you're not satisfied wit the height you have to loosen it up and twist the lower part of the coilover until it extends to the height you want. Then raise or lower the jack so you can position the axel and rebolt the fork into the axel. Now the front shock is done.
Do the other side the same way and put the wheels on, put 2 lug nuts in the wheel and lower the car and see if its at the height you want, If not then measure both sides, jack it up and loosen the fork from the strut wit that one bolt, push down on the hub and twist the bottom part of the coilover until it extended to the height you feel may be right. This took some time to get everything the same height but its better to do it now.
Once at the height you want it at then go back inside the engine bay and tighten that nut (19mm) on top of the coilover as much as possible. Also tighten all the locking pieces on the coilover wit the locking tool they give you. Put the wheels back on and the front is done.

[strikeachord]

Got pics.... i'll get to the rear tomorrow or so just dont have time cuz of work... but u can see the car is very low. I'm gonna raise it tomorrow and the camber is off now.

[strikeachord]

can i get some estimates of measurements of the front and rear bumper to the ground from the plastic lips of a non lowered accord or even better one wit 18s that isnt lowered? I have 6.25-6.5 inch from the front to the ground and 10.5 inch rear to the ground. and I know i'm around 2.5 inches lowered cuz the car is way too low.

[birdman]

Do you think this is too low? I might raise it up this weekend. They're supposed ride the same at any ride height, so im debating:

[birdman]

Got pics.... i'll get to the rear tomorrow or so just dont have time cuz of work... but u can see the car is very low. I'm gonna raise it tomorrow and the camber is off now.

I think you should just raise the front like maybe .5" and leave the rear. How do you like the ride?

[strikeachord]

it rides like a rock... feel EVERYTHING on the road but i'll get used to it. And my god does it handle when u pick up speed. Its aamazing.... My rear is kinda cambering in also so im gonna lift the rear as well... and urs looks hot and looks like the same height as mine urs is probably even lower. Do you have a camber kit? and the only thing id worry about is the mud guards cuz those will rip off easily

[strikeachord]

i'll take pics while i raise it up today so all the info i wrote above will make more sense... and new pics of the car when its done

[Zapman]

strikeachord,
What wheels do you have ? size ? price ?

[strikeachord]

i have exel rh-5 they are replicas of the Racing Hart c5's and they're lighter than the C5s. They are 18 inch and cost me i think $606 for all 4 wit road hazard and lugs. I got em from WheelMax. There are covers that go over the whole lug section but i didnt put em on cuz i was gonna raise the car up.

[birdman]

it rides like a rock... feel EVERYTHING on the road but i'll get used to it. And my god does it handle when u pick up speed. Its aamazing.... My rear is kinda cambering in also so im gonna lift the rear as well... and urs looks hot and looks like the same height as mine urs is probably even lower. Do you have a camber kit? and the only thing id worry about is the mud guards cuz those will rip off easily

Yeah, I was reading somewhere that's how a real racing suspension handles tight, short bounce,somewhere on the web. And you're right about the handling. Out of all the mods Ive done to this and my other cars, its the best investment/and best mod ever. My rear has some negative camber, but I have a complete progress camber kit, so I can fix that in no time. Yah, I had the front a lil' higher than the rear to help the front-heaviness on dips and speed bumps. The mud guards I will take off when I get the car repainted. When u post some pics of it raised up, can you tell us how much lower it is? Im still debating whether or not Im raising it tomorrow morning.

[honeycoombs]

the mud guards are held on by 3 or 4 screws that can be taken off very easily if you jack your car up a bit and turn the front wheels. the only problem i had with mine was the mud or something left under them. (any suggestions on that) also did the instructions for installing the coilovers come in the box or did you figure this out yourself? im thinking about getting some coilovers in the near future and im wondering if this is something you think my friends and i can do. we have lowered an 01 s10 and a 92 civic so we have some expierence. i know you put yours on but i dont know if you are very experienced and thats why you did it yourself. also you said something about height matching...are there notches or just a thread?

[strikeachord]

It was the first time my friend and i installed or removed the suspension so we had no experience when doing it. There are instructions for the coilovers cuz u have to preload them. Nothing about how to put em on just instructions about the coilovers themselves. There arent any notches... just threads so it is a pain to match the heights. I just raised the car cuz it was way too low and it took me a good few hours by myself to raise it. The only thing i have against the coilovers is that when u lift up one side to change the height and u put everything down and check it against the opposite side the height is completey different cuz the weight from the side u lifted was all on the opposite side.. sorry if the wording is a lil confusing but i guess u just gotta let everything settle to see the height on each side.

[honeycoombs]

yea i can see what you mean... well thanks for the info about installation and such hopefully it will be helpful for me in the near future

[strikeachord]

yea no prob i'll get around to writing how to do the rear lol and post pics... just so much goin on i dont have time...

[honeycoombs]

the pics you posted look pretty nice. any trouble scraping or with pot holes?

[strikeachord]

for the time it was that height.. nope its a lil higher now prob 1/4 to 1/2 in higher all around and i have no problems. The suspension is hella tight and it hardly gives way to anything

[strikeachord]

OK finally time for the rear. I got pics so here it goes....

Rear Suspension Removal:

Loosen up the lug nuts on ur wheels and jack up and place stands under each side of the car. Remove your wheels. There is a bolt that runs through the rear suspension and the arm which has to be removed. Image Dscf0924b.jpg will show one side of the bolt. once the nut comes off the bolt you have to place your jack under the arm and just lift it a lil until you see the bolt become loose and pull it out. Without lifting it the bolt is held in there because the arm is holding it down so by taking some pressure off it you can remove it ez. Next thing that has to come off is the top bolts of the strut. Since my car is a coupe i'll explain it for coupe cars. I dunno how different it is for sedans. Fold the rear seat down and you will see 2 plastic covers on each side and another stretching across the top where the lock is to fold down the seat. Remove the piece that goes across. Image DSCF0929.JPG (It is held on there by clips). Now, there are 2 plastic clips on each cover. Image DSCF0928.JPG Here you can only see one but toward the bottom left there is another. Pop these out wit a phillips and some strength or I found after just pull on the cover on the right where it overlaps the fabric from the trunk and they should pull out. Now pull the cover to the right and they will come out of the clips that are held unto the interior panel. You will now see the top of the strut. Pull the fabric interior in the trunk to reveal the 2nd bolt of the strut. Image DSCF0930.JPG Here you can see one there is another one on the opposite side. Remove both of these and you should be able to pull down the rear strut. Have someone pull down on the hub to give some clearance and work the strut out of the there its kinda annoying but just keep at it. Now the rear strut is removed.

Install of the Coilover:

Remember about "preloading" the spring? It's a lil bit harder to do in the rear. Put the coilover in place and get the top of it thru the fender and bolt down the 2 bolts. Go thru the trunk and pull back the fabric to see the top of the strut and put ur 19mm wrench in place and then place an allen key in the top of the strut. Image Dscf0922b.jpg shows this. Begin to turn to loosen the nut. The allen key will turn sometimes too until it hits the metal and it should hold while you are loosening the top nut. Once the nut it flush wit the bolt you can get out and go back to the actual coilover. Now you have to get the spring to the top of the fender and using the tool they give you lock it into place. Now you can extend the bottom piece of the coilover to the height you think is best. Now place the jack under the arm and lift the arm until you can stick the screw thru the coilover and the arm.

Heres what we found out. The stock strut has the nut welded onto it so the when that bolt goes thru it can just screw in place so you have to pop that nut off but placing the strut on the floor putting a rachet on there and then have one foot on the strut the other on the rachet and stomp on the rachet as hard as possible to pop off the nut.

Once you get this off you can use that nut and place it on one side of the coilover and screw it into place. Now release the jack and tighten the screw as much as possible. Once this is done you can go back in the trunk and tighten the 19mm nut as tight as possible wit the allen key still in place. Now you're down wit one side and you can do the other.

[strikeachord]

Here are pics that have to be removed in the front.

Dscf0929b.jpg shows one side of the fork and the bolt that runs thru the arm
Dscf0927b.jpg shows the other side of the fork
Dscf0926b.jpg shows the bolt that is tightened to hold the strut to the fork. This has to be removed after fork is removed as well as the nuts in the engine bay so you can remove the strut from the fork.