Always blaming Aidan for your problems, clit doc. Time to stop posting and start reading, mister elite member.

To be fair, aides started out very similarly lulz

:bowrofl: :likecat:

(I hope folks realize that the 'listen assholes' bit was in jest. I think this is hilarious.)

Potential content update warning!

Did a thing over the long weekend. Stefanst had graciously offered to supervise the DIY bilstein suspension build and help with the install. I took a study break to go do so.
https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...1512c109dc.jpgStarted out by sanding the rust off the shocks and getting ready to paint them
https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...3ec7b48cdc.jpgTaking over my mom's back yard. It's been nice to be home with a dog and a nice back yard.
https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...61d0260728.jpgI bought metallic silver paint. It came out like glitter. Stefanst offered to get me rainbow stickers for them. Sadly, he was kidding.

I did forget to tape up the rods, but managed to get all the paint splatter off with brake cleaner and a rag.
https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...b86f9e7b0d.jpgAssembly line. We ended up not using the newly cut grooves for the spacers since I wanted to stay around stock ride height.
https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...f22506919c.jpgAlmost done!
https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...115af81caf.jpgAnddd in!
https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...b486aaa902.jpg

Thanks again to Stefanst for all the help and guidance and hangouts when I've been sick of the books while I'm home. Also huge thanks to bahurd and the DIY thread folks for all the help getting the things I needed together. One of Stefanst's friends has an awesome machine shop and cut the grooves in my shocks when we were all hanging out there. And the he let us work in the shop area after he was done for the day so we didn't have to be out in the rain.

So... I forgot to measure what my ride height was pre-install. Does anyone know what the stock ride height is for a base NB1? My driveway back in MA is stupid and there's no way I'm getting my car up there if it's lowered by more than half an inch or so. I was thinking of using keith's ride height from the targa miata, which was 14F/14.5R as a starting point. I think that's probably just about stock, no? Either that or starting with 13.5F/14R and evaluating based on how ridiculous it is to pull into the garage back home.

Pretty stoked to get an alignment give this thing a bit of a break in. Steering wheel is basically cross eyed right now haha.

I'm honestly really happy with the car right now. I know I'm not even close to taking advantage of the power capacity of the stock engine, let alone Todd's turbo setup, but I'll install EBC and get around to tuning that when I get time. The spring Todd had in the EWG maxes out at around 7 PSI, so I'd like to end up with a 7-12 PSI range for the EBC. Should end up in the 220-230 range max. The 160-170 it's at right now is pretty awesome for a DD. I'll have to do a bunch of things to get underhood heat controlled before running it at 12 for any appreciable time. Probably starting with some shielding for the turbo and manifold. It's a bit hard to put together because of the EWG so I'll have to get some metal, reflective shielding, and get creative with a dremel to cut something out in a decent shape to stop everything in there from melting. I know the singular hood vents help force air through the radiator, but I'll have to do some digging to figure out if there's ways to do things so the heat from the back gets sucked out a bit more. Guessing the additional ventilation from the singular vents probably help push the hot air around the manifold and turbo back through the opening for the exhaust.

https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...de28430ea1.jpgAs an aside, there's this picture. I've confirmed that the joins for the feed aren't leaking oil. Where could this be coming from? I thought oil leaking from the turbo seals would show up in the exhaust?

if it's coming from the housing then it's the seal

So one the front shocks you used the stock groove and on the rears you used the new "lower" groove? Why?

So need less oil pressure into the turbo, right?

Would a larger drain line help even if the fitting size into the pan isn't changed? I know that's garretts first rec. Or do I just need to get a smaller OD fitting for the oil feed where it meets the turbo?

I'm guessing #datstancelyfeyo

I'm curious about the..what looks like glue??...between spring seats and tophats?

On hats that aren't Two Six or custom units like mine, there's nothing for the ES spring isolators to "seat" on. So you either glue/RTV them to the hat, or glue/RTV them to the spring, or do neither and just accept whatever happens. (Usually fine.)

I'm more concerned about the lack of helper/tender spring sliders, myself. That's a really bad idea.

umm, that seems really sketchy, but what do I know

The glue/RTV? Or the lack of slider?

One is, one isn't.

the slider mostly, but if the glue holds the seat to the hat and the spring droops and then doesn't re-seat, isn't that really sketchy too?
and if the spring is always preloaded, hten I don't see the need to glue the seat

Couplers/sliders are a good idea as is something for the spring to seat on the collar if not using bearings.

I found the RTV doesn't hold up anyway as the spring moves the locator around.

The isolators fit snugly enough in the springs that un-seating isn't something i'd worry about.

The spring won't droop off in this scenario because he has helper springs, just didn't do them properly.

Interesting...

What's the risk of not running the sliders? Binding?

I have delrin washers beneath the helpers. Have 4 more spares I could have run between the spring and PU isolators but didn't think that was necessary.

About the rears being on the new grooves for the circlips... It's possible I goldfished, but I think the height adjustment worked fine so we left it.

what part of stacking a spring onto another spring sounds ok to you?
lulz

Yeah you need sliders/couplers. It's not optional.

You can either buy Eibachs at about $20-25/ea, or send me $40 and i'll drop a 1 season used set of Wide Open Designs in the mail for you. You will need to reverse your spring stack if you use them.

These suckers?

http://www.wideopendesign.com/Product/56/2.5-Tender-coil-Slider.aspx

Yessir. I swapped them out because i like having the tenders on the bottom, and those sliders do not fit over the sleeves.