I have a '99 360 and it has coilovers. I have HRE 19" wheels up front and 20" in the rear. Car sits kind of high (stock) for that wheel set up. I would like to drop it about 1" front and back. Is the best way to remove the coilovers and have someone compress them, and then adjust the hight, or is there a spring compressor that fits between the coils that can do the job? The few portable spring compressors I have seen don't fit in the tight (3/4") spaces between the individual coils. Any help will be much appreciated...... Thanks in advance!

 

It might be different for F-cars, but generally coilovers height can be adjusted from the shock body and spring seat.

Usually, you need to remove them to adjust the coilovers pre-load.

 

you're only adjusting preload if the coilover doesn't have a helper spring. You shouldn't have to remove them from the car if the coilovers have traditional threaded bodies that the spring perch slides up and down on. Just take off the wheel and screw down the spring perch. If you look at it, its pretty self explanitory.

 

It can be done with the shocks on the car.

You will need the spanner wrench which Hill Engineering makes to facilitate the job.

If you can release some pressure on the spring it helps but not necessary.

You'll first need to loosen the retaining nut, spray some WD40 on the threads, and then turn. It's a lot of force at first but then it eases as it goes down.

Best to elevate both rears or fronts simultaneously to release pressure on sway bars.

There is a definite # of turns to get that 1" but I'd do it easily at first. I don't remember the formular but I do have it somewhere.

 

I tried lifting the whole rear end, but there was too much pressure from the spring. I got a spring compressor, but it would not fit between the coils. Got the lower "nut all the way down. I do have the special wrench, but there is not way the top "nut" on the bottom of the coilover is turning unless I can relieve the pressure somehow. Any ideas?

 

You have to first loosen the locking nut. Then it will turn. If you have the wrench you can loosen the nut.

Don't try a sping compressor on that car. You'll blow your head off.

You'll need to remove the shock assembly to take the pressure off the spring.

Contact Cary McFarlan at Genesis Eng in Concord. 925-521-0777

 

I did just that, but no luck with the second nut. It is super tight. I got a half a turn at best, and almost stripped the little grooves in the nut. I think I will take the coilovers off and let someone else mess with it. So for every inch of adjustment, the car will drop an inch?

 

i adjust my coilovers on my racey car all the time, and although they are not the same obviously, normally you don't need to take them off the car or adjust anything with the springs. you simply unseat the lower of the two collars that is touching the bottom of the spring, spin it down a short ways, reach up and turn the actual entire assembly by hand. this threads the assembly up and down for adjustment, without taking it off the car, or messing with the spring at all, the spring turns with the assembly happily. i googled up some 360 coilovers and they all look like they would be perfectly happy being adjusted this way.

also, if you don't have the proper coilover wrenches, the coilover collars always have indentations where you grip them with the wrenches. simply place the flat head of a screw driver against that and give it a good whack with a hammer. that should pop it loose. don't hit it crazy hard because coilover collars are almost always aluminum in this price range, or stainless steel, and you will leave a dent in it, which won't affect anything. when your done tap it back in place the same way to relock it.

also, before you get started, make sure the threads of the body are clean and ready to be traveled across. if they aren't, clean them up, nothing fancy, just clean them a bit. i've never had to do more than clean mine up with a rag if they are dirty and use a bit of elbow great turning them. its easiest normally to reach up towards the top third of the coilover to start turning it, and get a good grip on it. if the spring turns freely and doesn't turn the body, get a grip on it without the spring.

all this should take the time to take a wheel off the car and around 10-20 minutes to adjust things.

an inch adjustment on your coilover should equal about the same in your ride height.



oh, extra note, i don't know about camber gain on a 360, but as you lower and raise the suspension, the camber will increase and decrease. toe will do the same. as you go down in ride height, camber goes in, and the farther you go down, the faster it goes cambers in. this is due to the geometry of the suspension. basically if your going to raise or lower you car more than a 1/4 inch or so, you need to realign it. if you change ride height lot, on most cars you might need to get adjustable control arms if the camber can't be adjusted from the camber plates.... i don't know if ferrari's have camber plates, and most of the time nothing plates in the rear to adjust from.

whew....

 

oh, and coilovers don't need to be compressed, and NEVER use a spring compressor on one. also, don't let people preload them alot.

 

Wow,

Thanks for taking the time to explain. I will lube those things up and see if I can do it your way. I will take some pics and post them for future reference as well. Hope it works.

Thanks.

 

Try this:

1) All you need to do is remove the lower shock bolt from the hub/wishbone and turn the shock body within the nut, rather than try to turn the nut itself. You still need to loosen the lock nut first of course. I use a nylon punch to loosen the lock nut, as you need a bit of "surprise" if they're a bit tight.

This negates the need to fight the rubber pad.

There is still plenty of pre-load on the spring though, and plenty of lube on the threads is the go. Also, blow all gravel and grit away from the threads first too.

VERY important to make symmetrical changes, and this ASSUMES the car was well set up in the first place.

2) Moving the spring perch up the shock to the sky lowers your car. Most Ferrari shocks are 1.5 pitch metric. That means each full turn changes the height 1.5 mm but at the angle of the shock relative to vertical. So to get the exact height change you tke the 1.5mm x the motion ratio. The motion ratio is in your WSM. So lets say you want a 1" drop and your MR is 0.70. Then 12 turns will drop you 1" (25,45/1.5=16.97 16.97x0.70=11.88). The second way is the Ferrari way where the spring is preloaded on the shock and trapped between an upper and lower spring perch an to make it worse rubber pads to prevent motion and insulate which makes your job harder. So To do this job is the same as the one above except you can't just turn the spring perch because it is locked up by the spring preload. You either need to use more force or decrease the preload on the spring.

3) lift the car and pull all four shocks (very easy, remove sway bar end-links, pull lower eye bolt and two top mounting bolts.) The reason for pulling the shock is due to the fact that with the spring pre-load, it is impossible to turn the threaded spring perch collar. You can use a bench-mounted coil-over/spring compressor. Fit the shocks into the compressor to relieve all the pressure to lower the perch. Before lowering, mark the old perch position, and measur the calculated "drop". If for instance you want the front lowered 1.25 inches and the rear 1.1 inch. The calculated the ratio of drop (0.6:1.0 in the front, and 0.5:1.0 rear), and lower the spring perch accordingly. When installed and seated, the car will drop by 1.25 and 1.1 inches front to rear EXACTLY. Finish with an alignment. You get about a half degree to one degree of excess camber that needs to be re-set. You will also get added toe-in and will need to dial that back to factory spec as well. So, in summary, if you want to lower your car one inch all the way around you need to lower the spring perch 0.6" in the front and 0.5" in the rear. If you are making more radical changes, you may want to consider another spring, but for a drop of no more than 1.25, the stock springs work great.

If this does not help nothing will!

 

Very easy to follow instructions. Thak you very much for taking the time. I will do it this afternoon and post pictures.

Should be a piece of cake.

 

That's what many guys said about marriage and then learned otherwise!!!