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G'day Guys

My Monoflex has arrived with my EDFC but I have one major stumbling block. The installation instructions are in Japanese for the coil-overs (thankfully not so for the EDFC)so I have no idea what the recommended default height settings are. Monoflex have the adjustable spring perch and the bottom of the shock is also adjustable. Just like to get it into a safe position so I can take it for a corner weight balance. So if you can read japanese or have installed these before help would be appreciated.

I think you will find they are ready to install - straight from the box. Just make sure hey are the same at each end and they lock nuts are tight.

The spring perch locks were tightened but not the bottom of the shock body. Those are no more than finger tight. The coil-overs were assembled but I'm not sure I should just throw them in as is, they're maybe 1 turn off matched for the front's but the rears look exactly the same. I emailed tein to try and get the manual in english or atleast just the recommended settings. They still havn't got back to me yet.

The Tein kits sold in the states come with the pillow mounts and are generally ready to put straight in. The kits bought directly from Japan have the pillow mounts as an option and don't seem to come ready to setup without adjustment.

The following PDF instructions are on the Tein USA Website and are for the Flex, not sure if they are the same for the mono flex.

http://www.tein.com/ti/inst/6m40u.pdf

J

Clearance wasn't the concern at all, it's just getting the recommended settings. If I adjust via the spring perch and leave the car high then the spring force should be reduced by the increase in distance between the two pressure points on the spring. If I put it too far in I restrict travel and increase the pressure on the springs.

Conversely if I adjust by the shock tower bottom which allows height movement without affecting the spring I can't adjust that while they are fitted to the car due to the bottom being physically connected to the lower control arm and not being able to turn it.

Entire point is lapping faster on the track so I was planning on using the recommended settings and then tweaking from there. This is my first adjustable suspension setup so was looking for a solid reference point rather than winging it with how they came.

So far Tein still hasn't responded, they do seem like they were close to being pre-set. I only needed to twist the shock bottom on one of the front coils 2 turns to have both pairs matching each other. Rears already matched so whether I get the reply or not I'll probaly put them in monday.

I'm waiting for a reply regarding ring gears from Mania before I continue chasing after a diff.

I actually put them in tuesday night. Had an alignment on Wednesday with Mark at Pedders and he called me up and said the heights were fine. I'd even got the amount of extra height on the drivers side perfect to counter the driver weight. So he only did the alignment. He could've easily ripped me off and charged me the $198 for the height adjustment so he deserves some props.

I ended up undoing the sway bars on the front and the lower control arm bolts on the wheel hub including the tongue. Then I could just lever down the control arms to pop them out. The fronts were significantly harder to do than the rear. It really helps using some small spring clamps on the fronts to remove them. The Teins were about 2\" shorter than the standard springs so they went in really easy.

On the rear however you just undo the strut, push down and you can lever them out without even removing the sway bar. Hardest thing about the rear is actually the strut top-bolts as they're awkward but still quite easy overall.

I'd highly recommend having another person with you though...I tried doing the driver-side front by myself and it was a right PITA. With a friends help it only took about 4-5 hours to do all 4 corners.

Right now I've got them on the hardest settings all round and to be honest...the ride quality is about where the standard shocks were at. Except the car has no body roll at all. I was actually expecting to have crashes and bangs on rough roads but it's been very civil. Maybe I don't have high standards on suspension but the only drawback I've had is how stiff the car is. Without an LSD it's quite awful with the ease you can get it 3 wheeling on corners. Or 2 wheeling on driveways. I think the manual(it was written in Japanese though) states to leave them on the hardest settings for 500k's. So as soon as I hit that I'll put in the EDFC and see if I can tune them back a bit especially on the rear. I could really still use this as a daily driver. I think the most noticable aspect I've had is that the turn-in is very sharp now where before it had a slight delay.