SPL Coils, T/C rods, & RUCA Install!!

[Anand]

Finally…(WARNING: THIS IS A LONG WRITE-UP!)

This is how you install SPL Coilovers, SPL Tension Rods, and CUSCO RUCA’s

Tools you will need:

WD-40 or something similarTorque wrench (0 lbs ~ 150 lbs)Various sockets, ratchets, breaker bars (the ones I can remember are 10mm, 14mm, 17mm)About 4 hours of timeAnd one other friend (don’t really need but it’s better to do work with friends)

We decided to install the front coils first…then the tension rods

I sprayed all the bolts and nuts that were going to be taken off with WD-40 liberally and let it sit for about 5 minutes.

Then we went at the darn bolts with a breaker bar.Be careful when trying to take these 2 bolts off:the reason being, once the bolts are off… the whole assembly will fall down.. so don’t have your knee or anything in the way!!

Then you take the top bolts off (no pictures of that because you don’t need them)

Once you have the stock strut bolted out and out of the way, you pick up your coilover and figure out and eye ball the height you want..(this will be fun later)

Slide the 3 bolts through the top and bolt those down per specs:

If you want the FULL size picture of that click here:http://nissaninfiniticlub.net/...3.JPG



then you bolt the lower part to the brake assembly. What I did was I put a block of wood under the assembly and then used my jack to jack it up while I aligned the holes.

Bolted those 2 bolts to specs:

FULL size pic:http://nissaninfiniticlub.net/...5.JPG

Since the SPL coils do not come with the brake line holder thingy, I had to zip tie it to the strut like this:

Installing the Tension rods was really easy

You just unbolt the 2 bolts from the underside of the lower control arm and the big bolt in the front.

Then in reverse order bolt it back up. *refer to the chart above for torque specs

One note about the SPL Tension rods..the bolts that they provide with the T/C rods are made for a 18mm size Allen key!! <~ Which is NOT supplied

I had to make a quick run to Home Depot to get one and I HAD to buy a big set with one in it since they didn’t have a separate 18mm key…L

BUT! When we bolted the sucker up… we didn’t even need the Allen key to hold the bolt in place or anything….

I don’t know if everyone has the same experience or not but I didn’t like going out at that time to get a 18mm size key.. I mean, unless you have a shop, you are never going to need that size Allen key.. so just be warned…J

Finished product:

Now comes the rear Coilovers

Use the same technique on unbolting the rears as you did in the front.Watch out for the rear assembly as well.

Remove the old stuff out of the way and bolt up the top 2 bolts of the strut assembly.

Use this cart to help you bolt it back up to specs:

FULL size:http://nissaninfiniticlub.net/...4.JPGh ... t/...6.JPG

This is very simple procedure. The only hard part is to eye ball the height of the coils. That you will have to play around later.

For the inside top bolts, I had a rubber boot, people told me that they just threw it away. I said hell no! I am going to keep it and still use it so I cut a hole in it for the knob to pop through and it worked!!!

DO NOT FORGET TO TIGHTEN ALL THE COLLERS ON YOUR COILOVERS BEFORE YOU DRIVE OUT!!!!!

Now comes the RUCA’s

There are 2 bolts that you have to worry about. The front bolt and the rear bolt.The front bolt is simple and easy. (CUSCO provides a shiny new one with theirs)The back one is the ESSENTRIC bolt.note * be very very careful with this…make sure you know how it come out so you can put it back in the exact same way!

To adjust the RUCA, again, eye ball it and make it the same length as your stocker:

then bolt that sucker up with the specs that are provided previously:

Finished product:

You can always e-mail me for help if you need to!!!

Enjoy!

*Special thanks to Brian (PGBrian) and Norm (S14SRPilot) for helping me out!!

[BomexS13]

nice

[MarkEmark]

Excellent, informative writeup...but you forgot one important part:

Initial impressions!

How do you like the coilovers? How stiff do they same? Is there a drastic decrease in body roll? How do they feel? Have you played around with the dampening/height/preload, etc?

Any pics of the car from the exterior?

I'll be installing my KTS coilovers columbus day weekend and I can't wait that long so I want some info now!

[chmercer]

looks a lot like my setup finish it off, traction and toe arms!

[turtl631]

How important are all the adjustable arms if you just go with a mild drop? I'd like to do that initially and then get the arms later when I can afford them...getting it all together is a huge chunk of cash

[Dori Dori]

I'm guessing that the real advantage for most people (who won't actually go to a race team for an alignment and testing) is the elimination of the rubber bushing on the frame. Although I don't have them yet; I've heard through the grape vine that very small changes to these arms drastically alters the multi-link's geometry...maybe Alan can enlighten us a little more on the mystery that is the traction rod.

[aither]

also, I believe the length of the traction arm in the rear suspention (rear forward link sounds too weird), alters how the rear spring/shock combo is angled. Also, the length of the traction arm may influence the subframe's angle in relation to the frame/suspension. Both of these changes in geometry can determine how easily the rear suspension will "squat" allowing one to alter the way the car behaves. The shorter the arm, the less the suspension will "squat" IIRC.

[Altiman94]

very nice set up and detailed write up. Whats your final impression on this suspension package?

[turtl631]

I've read all I can find about that stuff, but I'm just not clear on how important it is if you maintain near stock ride height. Eventually I'd like to lower more and get optimum geometry, but I'm asking about this for in the meantime. And yeah, rubber bushings suck

[chmercer]

if you are staying near stock ride height you should be fine with the stock adjustments.

[Nismo_Freak]

also, I believe the length of the traction arm in the rear suspention (rear forward link sounds too weird), alters how the rear spring/shock combo is angled. Also, the length of the traction arm may influence the subframe's angle in relation to the frame/suspension. Both of these changes in geometry can determine how easily the rear suspension will "squat" allowing one to alter the way the car behaves. The shorter the arm, the less the suspension will "squat" IIRC.

Not really ... the arm acts like a rear tension rod maintaining what you could call rear caster. If you shorten the arm you should see a gain in the amount of toe in the car recieves when the suspension bumps, and visa versa.

Couple notes Anand... the tension rod bolts that go to the control arms. Those need to have about 50-60 lb. ft. of torque since they have locking nuts, not the OEM 70-75 lbs.

On the tension rods you need to spread out the middle collar so that there is an equal number of threads showing between the collar / rod end and collar / shaft. We've had people adjust them in the method you have shown so far that they engaged only 2-3 threads of the aluminum and it caused a failure of the arm. That info is on our website in the installation portion.

MAKE SURE YOU RE-TORQUE ALL BOLTS, THEY WILL COME LOOSE AS THE SUSPENSION SETTLES.

[LiU]

yea.. i tihnk this pretty much convinces me to go w/ SPL coils.. nice write up... I second motion for initial thoughts on these coil!

[BuudWeizErr]

anabalama... did you get an alignment? what settings did you go with?

fyi, theres a buy on zilvia... buddy club p1's... 17x9 with a decent offset (+22-27 iirc) for like 1000 shipped. 4 lug too... then you can get some decent wheels with 215/45/17 stretched. <3 ST115.

[Nismo_Freak]

anabalama... did you get an alignment? what settings did you go with?

fyi, theres a buy on zilvia... buddy club p1's... 17x9 with a decent offset (+22-27 iirc) for like 1000 shipped. 4 lug too... then you can get some decent wheels with 215/45/17 stretched. <3 ST115.

[BuudWeizErr]

don't you have some mortgages to close or something grandpa? go hop in your porsche and leave us to our own devices.

[Ceptos]

wtf?

[BuudWeizErr]

it's a joke homeboy, calm down.

alan drives a porsche... hes having a midlife crisis. his kids are about to leave for college and his wife is bored with him and his humping the poolboy. hes also starting to lose his hair, so if he tried to leave his cheating wife, he wouldn't be able to find another woman. he'd die alone and this is why hes having a crisis and driving a porsche.

[SmithSR]

Where's the fork that holds the brake lines? Zipties are inadequate in this respect

[gabossie]

A good number of the top end coilovers don't have a brake line fork. I don't see it as a problem, why would it be? Not like the brakes will function any differently based on how it's held there.

[Nismo_Freak]

it's a joke homeboy, calm down.

alan drives a porsche... hes having a midlife crisis. his kids are about to leave for college and his wife is bored with him and his humping the poolboy. hes also starting to lose his hair, so if he tried to leave his cheating wife, he wouldn't be able to find another woman. he'd die alone and this is why hes having a crisis and driving a porsche.

Incorrect in all regards.

Ryan is just a repressed Socal homosexual that tries to get his friends to sleep with him. Since he is most certainly denied, he takes his voyeuristic mindset to the internet where he is further enraged that his bastard child like looks can't secure him a proper male "life-mate". He then takes his emotional cluster**** of a life onto NICO and proclaims to be knowledgable in the ways of the Nismo_Freak, when in fact like everything else he's tried in life... he is a failure, complete and utter, failure.

In fact, it is my opinion that Ryan should douse himself in gasoline, set himself aflame, and hit himself in the testicles with a cinder block until he passes out in a shock induced coma. It is also my opinion that Ryan wishes he had a real 240SX... you know, the S14, but who am I kidding! He couldn't have pop-up headlights like his favorite dream car... the Miata, a homosexual cult classic!

[Nismo_Freak]

don't you have some mortgages to close or something grandpa? go hop in your porsche and leave us to our own devices.

Whats that I smell? ... oh yeah, jealousy

[BuudWeizErr]

bahahahahaha.

[Nismo_Freak]

bahahahahaha.

C'mere pool boy!

[SmithSR]

A good number of the top end coilovers don't have a brake line fork. I don't see it as a problem, why would it be? Not like the brakes will function any differently based on how it's held there.

name three

[LiU]

NismoFreak what about the longevity of these coils? In the pics they don't come with dust boots so would that be a problem?

[SmithSR]

No brake line forks, no dust boots, do we get front camber plates? What's the cost on these coils?

[BuudWeizErr]

name three

buddy clubs for one.i want to say zeal and kei office don't either, but I'm not even close to 100% sure on that.

edit: anand... drive up to my house, we need to get you lowered. those fronts are like 4x4 style. and we'll relocate your harness and such, do a 'close enough' alignment as well. buy some huge bolt on spacers too!

[aither]

why is the brake line bracket even important? I'm fine with using Zipties, as I have ever since I started using S/S lines.

[Nismo_Freak]

No brake line forks, no dust boots, do we get front camber plates? What's the cost on these coils?

Dust boots don't really do much, they are more for peice of mind. They might keep dirt out for a week but once it works it's way into the boot it then has no way of getting out. Boots also can wear or bind in the coils, and that can cause issues as well.

Yes it comes with camber plates, front, and pillo-ball plates rear.

What your main focus should be within a coilover is the shock. The rest of the coilover can be copied to some degree of workmanship by anyone (*cough*D2*cough*), it's the SHOCK that makes them different. If you take a look on our website we are one of the very very few that supply shock dynos with our coilovers, so you can see what you are getting before you buy it.

[Dano]

lmao, i have spl tension rods/ subframe collars, and cusco RUCAs sitting here begging to be installed, great writeup, now i need some SPL coilovers too...

-Dan