Fitting new Tein Flex Z

Scott560 · Post by **Scott560** » Sun Aug 12, 2018 9:46 pm

Car is currently running lowering springs only on OE shocks, and the ride quality is just terrible, and the car sits a touch too low.

The instruction booklet for the Teins gives a 'standard' setting for the spring collars to set the spring rate - does anyone remember what this feels like? I won't have much time to fiddle with them before the track day. Ultimately i want to end up with something closer to OE setup rather than closer to race car.

Unless anyone has anything to offer, i'll set it to the manuals suggested settings and install them and hope for the best (i doubt it can be any worse than it is at the moment).

I'm not expecting any big head aches fitting these. I've got a couple of cans of plus gas at the ready.

I have a full set of strongflex yellow bushes arriving also, and i bought a small press - i suspect this is a much harder job so any advice there also appreciated. Depending how i get on, the only bush with known play is currently the front radius rods , which look to be one of the easiest sets to replace.

Also wondering if yellow was the right choice (yellows are the harder, reds are the softer).

Cheers

Scott

Post by **Vtecmec** » Sun Aug 12, 2018 10:41 pm

The hardest part of fitting the bushes is getting the old ones out. You'll do well to use the press, the most reliable way is to burn the old bush to bits and remove the remaining shell with a hack saw. Except the rear trailing arms which need the shell left in place. The poly bushes can be pushed in by hand.

uberNoobZA · Post by **uberNoobZA** » Mon Aug 13, 2018 9:30 am

Having just done a full polybush on my 4G Track Prelude, I'd have to agree with vtecmec. As above, all of the bushes, as well as interior metal shell need to be removed, EXCEPT for rear trailing arms (as far as I can remember, the fitting instructions that come with the bushes will tell you when top leave things in place). Yellow ones ARE the hardest, and in my opinion would be better for track use, as opposed to comfort.

With my polybushing, I used the press to get the old rubber bush out (if you have the right 'punches', you might be able to push the interior metal shell at the same time, but then the punch needs to be the exact right size.) and then I used a mechanical hacksaw to cut through the interior shell, being careful not to cut into the actual suspension item in question (cutting into this would leave a sharp edge which would damage the new polybush). Getting these shells out is by far the hardest bit to do (now that you have a press), but just take it slow and as soon as you get a clean cut through one side of the shell, you should be able to push it out with a hammer and punch. Good luck

Post by **tom023** » Mon Aug 13, 2018 9:58 am

A quick trick when trying to push out the old bushes with a press is to keep a set of sockets on hand aswell. These can sometimes be useful as punches due to them having a large variety of sizes.

Burning them out works well although it can be messier and take longer. As others have said you have to cut the metal shell out also (if you have the right punch you can do it all in one go).

Regarding the coilover setup. As far as I am aware, adjusting the preload collars on the spring seats will adjust preload, not the spring rates. Meaning that the springs will withstand a certain amount of preload before being overcome and compressing, acting with its own natural rate of resistance once the preload has been overcome. From what I have seen you should only adjust preload settings when corner weighting the car.
I am not sure on this, hopefully someone with more knowledge can drop by and confirm/correct this.

Scott560 · Post by **Scott560** » Mon Aug 13, 2018 11:12 am

Cheers for the advice so far - I've got an old spare halfords pro socket set so expect that all of those sockets can be used as drifts of varying diameters to push out the old bushes and pins. Don't fancy torching them all - horrible mess i expect.

most of the new bushes are 'split' in half so as mentioned are installed by hand almost - a couple have lips on both ends so will need pressing in.

I've got all saturday and sunday to do it - not sure ill get all the bushes done, but hopefully the coilovers and the easy bushes can be done.

bushes have arrived, and they feel almost rock hard - i suspect a lot more road noise with these, but hopefully sharper handling. Any loss in comfort hopefully will be made up by not having rock hard springs and too low a ride height afterwards. If they are too bad, i might order an entire set in red - the price is quite reasonable from strongflex (just over 300 for the yellow, about 270 i think for the reds).

Ubernoobz - if you get bored you can pop over to didcot and give us a hand!

89 UKDM BA4 4WS (resto job!) · Post by **wurlycorner** » Mon Aug 13, 2018 11:41 am

But surprised by the comments about the oem shocks and lowering springs combo giving such bad ride - that set up doesn't normally give problems.
How much has it been lowered by and do you know what springs they were?

Scott560 · Post by **Scott560** » Mon Aug 13, 2018 11:57 am

I don't i'm afraid - the box that came with the car got chucked out , they are yellow. perhaps they are for a lighter prelude or similar.

The car is pretty low (about 125mm clearance to the jacking point on the sill, cant get my halford hydraulic jack under it) and the ride is best described as crashy. I can feel it hitting bumpstops in pot holes for example. Hopefully refreshing all the components is going to make things better! I cant imagine anything on the car is working correctly at this age / mileage (nearly 120k miles / 18 years old). perhaps its the shocks more than the springs.

Still, on wards and upwards - planning a few more longevity mods and improvements, decided to keep the girl going another couple of years...

Post by **Vtecmec** » Mon Aug 13, 2018 2:45 pm

I must admit that I find the ride quality on 30mm lowered springs and stock shocks pretty awful on potholes. I've obtained some tein super streets to lift and soften it a little.

89 UKDM BA4 4WS (resto job!) · Post by **wurlycorner** » Mon Aug 13, 2018 3:06 pm

Ah hitting the bump stops is not good...

Guess it depends how low you go.

There are some cheap yellow lowering springs out there as well as more established makes (Apex).

Post by **Vtecmec** » Mon Aug 13, 2018 4:10 pm

I've realised its not the bump stops that cause the front end crash, but the upper arms where the ball joint sits actually hitting the chassis inner wing area. Can't be good for them.