Need quick spring/strut help

[nb240le]

I am in the middle of installing tokicos and H&R springs on my s14. I have had them on and off 3 times and now I am frustrated beyond belief. I keep getting a popping noise from one side. Obiviously they cant be seated properly. So I have a few questions. When the top three nuts are installed with the car in the air, should you be able to turn the unit from side to side? Is there a direction that the lock clip thing should be pointed? Should you be able to the move the spring when everything is bolted up with the car in the air? What am I doing wrong?Any help would be appreciated

[Hijacker]

welcome to owning a 240sx. A lot of times it's the top hats. They had bearings located in them to allow them to rotate around. Once junk gets in there, they'll pop and creak. As for alignment, I don't believe that they HAVE to go back in a proper way. If you were able to keep track of which way to put them in, that's good, but I wouldn't sweat over not doing that.

Solution: New top hat or upgrade to camber plates.

[amolao]

Yes the top hat needs to be aligned properly when you installed the struts in the car. The top portion (plate that holds the spring) has a little notch mark(kind of little bend on the plate edge) that needs to face the engine, both plates need to face the engine. Is on the FSM so I guess is critical.

:thinker

[DAEDALUS]

Front or rear? Are you certain it's the struts popping, not a bushing? Have you loosened any control arms bolts? Any bolts through rubber bushings need to be tightened with the suspension fully loaded.

[Hijacker]

deadalus. that poses a question for me. how does one tighten the TC bolt when the car is on the ground. it's a rubber bushing, but can only be tightened when the load is off the suspension

[DAEDALUS]

The way I do it is to start with the front on stands. Then I *VERY CAREFULLY* use a hydraulic jack to raise the wheel hub until the corner just barely leaves the jackstand. The other method, probably safer, is to have the car on ramps, or parked with one side of the car on the curb or over a ditch.

[Hijacker]

no way a lowered 240 can get on ramps. what i think would be a good alteration to the idea is to leave the tire on, and with the car on stands jack the tire up to where it would normally sit as if the car were on the ground. That way you don't have to jack as much, and if you have a good enough eye, you won't bring the car off the jack stands

[nb240le]

Well I finally got them done. So far so good. Everything is lined properly,I think. The back was alot easier, even though I had to take them off again too. My buddy forgot to put the bottom "perch" thingy on. Anyway I am very pleased with the tokico and H&R combo. I will take some pics once it settles.

And tenkawa.your right there is no way it would go up on ramps:)

[cory2081]

I have that same set up. Not too low and the ride is very nice. Yeah, just make sure that those notches are facing the inside of the wheel well and that the springs are seated properly on the struts. I had to remove mine the other day to change the strut mounts and noticed the previous owner had installed the springs upside down. What a moron!!

[Pickalini 240]

my suspension is stock and i always scrape up the front spoiler when i go in and out of my driveway... gotta park out front, then theres my problem with curb-checkin