Hi guys, I got some inexpensive lower springs for Christmas from a friend, they are Tien S springs. I plan to do coilovers, but decided, "What the hell?" I had some issues getting the shock out. ******* spring compressors are hard to use. What has been done: I got things sort of back together now, lower shock bolt in with nut and washer, spring on, dust boot knackered, the plate between the spring and engine bay in and bolted in. My problem: The top of the shock rod won't go back into the engine bay enough to be threaded with its nut. What I have tried: 1.) Jacking the control arm up to hold it in place and prying the shock up. Of course ends in the shock simply being compressed. 2.) Yelling and cursing. 3.) Hammer. What do you guys think it could be? My thought is the shock is stuck somewhere...not allowing full extension. Photos:

 

what kind of retard doesn't assemble the shock before trying to install it into the car?

also your photos don't work. so double fail

 

 

This retard.

 

Photos fixed I believe.

 

yank it out and assemble it properly

you coulda "lowered" your car the same amount simply by installing nb tophats, and retaining the limited suspension travel you have, which would have been win/win vs this setup, which will not improve anything and in fact take away from your already limited shock travel. oh well

 

This is going to ride like holy ****. At least get some NB top hats and $80 shipped Sensen NB shocks.

Above statement can only happen if OP figures out how to do this correctly. Please tell me you took the eccentric bolt out too

 

Harbor Freight $12 spring compressors work just fine for Miata springs, pickup truck springs probably not.

 

I didn't choose to buy these pos springs. I would've never thought about them. Since I had them though, I wanted to try them out.

And to be honest, I don't know what an eccentric bolt is. I thinks it's used for alignment...

I followed the miata.net garage info for instructions.

 

dont touch the eccentric bolts or you will need an alignment.

You should be able to jack the lower control arm up until the spring/shock compresses enough to thread the top nut

 

Doing this compresses the shock instead of pushing it through the hole.

I'm just going to take it apart again and see if I put it together wrong.

 

Nobody tells you shocks go in only one way.

If this doesn't prove how much I know about suspension...

 

Then it sounds like something is snagged or blocking it.

I can't tell for sure from those pics, but it almost looks like there is a nut already on there. Is that what's blocking it from coming up through the hole?

 

Thanks for the help.

It was actually my stupidity that was blocking it...not exactly, but close.

I learned the hard way that shocks only go through the top hats one way. I had the shock turned 180*, causing it to not go through the top hat properly.

 

What the . . how did you... **sigh** nm

 

Remember when you didn't know how to put a shock back into a top hat?

No..? Never? Just me? Okay.

 

I think those springs might be ok if you had fresh shocks and better top hats. Your getting flamed because of your shocks.

 

That's what I plan to do. NB top hats and some shocks that'll work well with these springs.

 

The instructions on miata.net recommend not assembling the shocks before installation?

Btw autozone rents out spring compressors for free...

 

Wouldn't surprise me. The car itself makes a reasonably good spring compressor, though for a lot of shorter-than-stock springs, you can assemble the unit on the ground without tools.