Ohlins, OMG!!

jassi · Postby **jassi** » Fri Jun 12, 2015 6:01 pm

^^ good question. I asked Brian Goodwin (GWR) and he said he is running his for more than 100k and still no rebuild needed.

I'm still waiting on my ohlins ordered in Melbourne, have a preorder for August shipment.

Does anyone know a good place to install ohlins in Melbourne. I asked mx5 factory who said they will do it, but I'm looking for someone with real experience installing ohlins or similar height adjustable coil overs vs just simple springs.

hks_kansei · Postby **hks_kansei** » Fri Jun 12, 2015 6:05 pm

You should be ok wherever you go.
Coilovers are actually a lot simpler to install than just springs. (since they are already assembled)
So for installation you can go to where ever

If you want to have them setup for the car after installation you're best to go to somewhere that does wheel alignments, especially for racecars.
I don't know first hand of who to recommend though.

jassi · Postby **jassi** » Fri Jun 12, 2015 7:05 pm

^^ thanks for the guidance. I was actually getting confused seeing all the ohlins install complications on the big forum and hence was wondering where others here got it done right.

Regie · Postby **Regie** » Sat Jun 13, 2015 6:23 pm

you could do it yourself, last coilers i installed took about 1.5 hrs. its pretty straight forward

Sailor · Postby **Sailor** » Sat Jun 13, 2015 11:10 pm

Anyone having trouble with an Ohlins install didn't read the instructions...seriously!

jassi · Postby **jassi** » Tue Sep 08, 2015 10:07 pm

Hi All - so my ohlins have arrived after a 4 month wait, picked them up from Steve Cramer today. He said he has a few more units if people here are interested

Now back to my confusion on getting these installed, Steve said shouldn't cost more than 300$ to install and recommended to try one of the workshops (jocaro) around the corner who said will need to assess for a quote but roughly 600$ including an alignment (w/o corner balancing). I'm thinking this is expensive, but wanted to check on the collective wisdom here to see what it should cost and if there any recommendations on someone reliable with experience doing this

jassi · Postby **jassi** » Thu Sep 10, 2015 7:05 pm

Booked in with mx5 factory for next week. Will post my experience here for future coilover buyers

OurCognitiveSurplus · Postby **OurCognitiveSurplus** » Fri Sep 11, 2015 1:10 pm

I think I was up for something more like $600 for instal, alight and weight. What did mx5 factory charge?

jassi · Postby **jassi** » Fri Sep 11, 2015 2:56 pm

OurCognitiveSurplus wrote:I think I was up for something more like $600 for instal, alight and weight. What did mx5 factory charge?

I am booked in with them for next thursday, so will know more after the job. They did say they will need the car for the whole day! I have printed off all the instructions and pictorial install guides I could scavenge from the miata/gwr forums and left with them for a read

hks_kansei · Postby **hks_kansei** » Fri Sep 11, 2015 3:01 pm

To install coilovers won't take a whole day, on an NA/NB you can do it in maybe 2 hours at home with hand tools.
NC not sure, but certainly not a whole day.

I expect most likely they'll install the coilovers in the morning, then take the car to an alignment shop to be aligned.
Most mechanic shops don't have all the alignment tools, and it's often cheaper for them to just take the car to a tyre shop they trust.

Regie · Postby **Regie** » Fri Sep 11, 2015 8:40 pm

i did a coilover change last weekend, in the rain with a few breaks to talk sh1t and it was around 20 mins a corner

KevGoat · Postby **KevGoat** » Fri Sep 11, 2015 9:35 pm

I'd say they just want it all day for scheduling rather than the amount of time it actually takes. Last couple of suspension changes I've done at home on NB's and an NA only took a couple hours ...

jassi · Postby **jassi** » Tue Sep 22, 2015 5:23 pm

so I just got done with the install today - it took mx5 factory 6 hours to do it! Total cost was ~600$.
I was there all along - taking out stock bilsteins and putting in ohlins took probably 30 mins each corner, however the bulk of time (an extra 45 mins each corner) was spent with assembling the ohlins on the bench, mostly adjusting the preload to 198mm and heights (109mm front and 19mm rear) on each coilover as per ohlins recommendation before they were put on the car. Then say another hour to put all the other stuff (boot mats, etc) back in. The mech (Adrian) was very thorough with trying to get the measurements right on the bench and I guess that takes time.

Few questions with others who have experience

The front currently sits at 368mm (14.2 inches) both sides and rear is 340mm (13.2 inches) both sides. Goodwin site mentions 13.25 inches (336.55mm) front, 13.5 inches (342.9mm) rear, but they tune to those heights after 100+ miles of driving, alignment etc! Should I drive around a bit for things settle down a bit before I start worrying about the reverse rake, or is there something else install wise that was missed? Dick@MX5factory said I can come back one more time (after I drive around a bit) for adjusting the final heights (at no extra charge), so I want to be sure I ask for the heights where I want when I go back. I want to be close to stock, but certainly no reverse rake!

Also we set the damping to 10 clicks from 0 position both front and rear. In the rear we left the adjusting nut connected but in the front we took out the adjustment nut as otherwise we would have to drill a hole in the strut bar. If I just want to leave the damping at factory recommended 10 clicks, is it ok to leave the adjustment nuts off the fronts?

Any recommendations on where I should get a precision alignment done? Is that before or after I go back for the final height adjustment?

Charlie Brown · Postby **Charlie Brown** » Tue Sep 22, 2015 9:41 pm

I think you got charged a premium price for the install. Over 2 hours more than anyone could justify.

On the ride height, unless you are going to track the car I'd be setting the height at 243 - 245 front and rear. Once you get down to 238 speed humps start to become a problem.

Next, drill the hole in the top of the strut brace. You need to be able to adjust the bump and rebound to suit Aussie roads.

jassi · Postby **jassi** » Wed Sep 23, 2015 10:19 am

Charlie Brown wrote:I think you got charged a premium price for the install. Over 2 hours more than anyone could justify.

On the ride height, unless you are going to track the car I'd be setting the height at 243 - 245 front and rear. Once you get down to 238 speed humps start to become a problem.

Next, drill the hole in the top of the strut brace. You need to be able to adjust the bump and rebound to suit Aussie roads.

Thanks CB - yes I agree and the mech who did the install agreed as well, but MX5factory charges hourly it seems not by type of job! So next time someone goes into install ohlins to mx5 factory, it will be much cheaper! However I would not go to them for new jobs that they aren't comfy with. They have a good mech who understands mx5s and they will do it but the time taken will be very high and hence cost not worth it!

I will get the hole drilled and you mean set heights to 343-345mm not 243-245