I think you should just pull the trigger on coilovers.

You mentioned you dont care about adjustable dampers and are more concerned with getting the ride height dialed in.

Instead of messing around with different spring mounts, paying for install and alignment....just get coilovers. Sell the Swifts for a couple hundred. When it comes time years and years from now, your OE suspension can go back in and you can flip the coilovers. The suspension will be "like new" when you sell the G and you'll have enjoyed coilovers for years and been happy with the drop and poke (or in this case, lack of).

 

Rochester, what exactly is the mod you are performing to the spring spacers with the dremel? I am about to get springs installed and don't want the droopy butt either. Is modifying those spacers a must or can I just hand them to the mechanic?

 

Didn't actually use a Dremel Tool... used a 1" barrel sander bit on a fixed drill. If you don't bevel the inside edges of that spacer, then the bushing won't fit flush against the top-seat. It just won't.

Look at the picture. This is why I bought an extra top-seat, so I can d1ck around with this mod without all the guesswork of having to do it with the car on the lift and everything taken apart.

 

Since getting the Vert Cradle Braces installed, I've been trying to be more aware of how the car is handling in low-speed, sharp turn-in situations. Like from a standing start, launching hard into a turn; (making a left-hand turn from a stop-light.) The thinking is that the lower bracing would be similar to the FSTB, which is a noticeable mod under similar conditions. A minor one, sure, but noticeable nonetheless.

Anyway... I got nothing. Sorry.

There may very well be a benefit to having the cradle braces in the mix, but as my car is set up, I'm just not feeling it. Maybe I would if I didn't have aftermarket swaybars, the FSTB, lowering springs, sport-shocks and these Michelin PSS... maybe then. In OEM trim, it might be something I'd notice, but like I said... I'm just not feeling it.



If anyone was waiting for an assessment on these parts, there it is. Disappointing, I suppose, but only a little bit.

 

It's been time enough for my rear suspension to settle after dropping both springs and inserting this (customized) spacer at the top.



This afternoon, a friend and I took the car to a few different parking lots, to assess things. The driver's side gap comparison front to back looks perfect. Mission accomplished. However, the passenger side rear height... not so good. It's clearly higher than all three of the other corners, and I don't know why.

So I'm thinking of replacing the passenger side 5/8" bushings with its smaller cousin, customized to fit, with 3/8" thickness. But just the passenger side rear.

Not sure why the one side is good, and the other isn't. The polyurethane spacer is harder than the rubber top seat, so that would make fitment against the spring less evenly distributed than otherwise. I've been thinking about that ever since first seeing how it fits together in that pic above.

 

Hmmm, I think I see what you are doing. Do you know the part number of the top-seat off the top of your head? I like your idea of buying an extra one to play around with. I am going to purchase those isolators today. Also do i need to order 2 isolators or do they come 2 in a pack? Amazon has 2 in the picture, but I cannot tell.

 

That should be 55050AL500, at $23.95+shipping from OrderInfinitiParts.com:
http://orderinfinitiparts.com/parts/...iagram=3846480


Yes, the isolators come as a two-pack.

These are the 5/8" bushings:
Energy Suspension 9.6120 - Coil Spring Isolators - Style A - 96120. Energy Suspension ENE-9.6120G

And these are the 3/8" bushings:
Energy Suspension 9.6101 - Coil Spring Isolators - Style A - 96101. Energy Suspension ENE-9.6101G


Yesterday, Newt suggested my 1/2" height problem on the passenger side was likely caused by the spring and/or rear-seat bushing not being properly seated in the bucket, which has a very specific channel designed to seat the spring properly. That makes so much sense, and explains why my mechanic really had to struggle to get the passenger side hooked back up, when the drivers side went back together without a hitch.

I need to take the car back to the mechanic. Damn.

 

Hey thanks, so you ended up going with the 5/8" in the end? I am trying to decide which size to go with. I am trying to avoid the droopy butt, too much poke, etc.

 

I customized the 5/8" bushings back in January, and had them installed 13 days ago. After settling, I knew something was wrong, but couldn't put my finger on it (no pun). Coming to the conclusion that the passenger rear spring isn't seated properly in the bucket.

However, the driver's side looks great. If I can get the passenger side back *down* a half-inch, then mission accomplished.

In the meantime, I have a pair of the 3/8" bushings arriving today or tomorrow... although I don't think I'll be using them, assuming the passenger side can get fixed.

 

Question: how safe is it to have this mount installed on the rear suspension? I'm lowered on Tein-S springs and my G has a droopy butt too and am interested in raising it a bit but I'm a bit weary of the safety aspects of the raise. How is the handling and is it possible that the springs could slip off or anything?

Also I keep reading you guys talk about "poke" but cannot figure out what everyone is referring to. If someone could explain I would greatly appreciate it.

And Rochester, beautiful car bro. I especially love the engine detail!!!

 

"Poke" means that the top of the wheel & tire extends outward from the top of the fender perpendicular to the floor. "Tuck" means the exact opposite of that.

To your concerns about using a poly spacer between the rear springs and the top seats: I don't believe at all that there's a safety issue. There's a whole lot of weight and compression pressure keeping the springs in place, as well as three large tabs of sheet metal in the middle/underside of the top-seat, keeping that in place. On the underside, the spring is in a notched bushing that itself is in a notched bucket. It's not going anywhere... but I'm no engineer, so there's lots more I don't know than otherwise.

However, what I have discovered in the last 3 weeks is that the rubber material of the top seats actually absorb the spring somewhat, whereas the polyurethane bushings are harder and don't. That fitment against the top seats is part of what people refer to when they talk about springs "settling in".

Unfortunately, this lack of material give on the poly means that this 5/8" bushing is actually raising the car a full inch or more. So right now my car is too high in the back. I've gone too far in the other direction, LOL. Almost can't believe that happened, but it did.

Here, check out this chart of measurements and averages I did last week. On average, my rear is now 0.6" higher than the front.



So here's the plan: I'm trying all over again, but this time with the 3/8" bushing. That corrects things 1/4" back down, and hopefully another 1/4" because there's more give to the thinner material. (That's a guess.)

And instead of shaving the inner edge of the bushing by 45* to match the angle of the top-seat cone, this time I'm notching the top seat cone 90" to match the angle of the bushing. Like so:

 

Hmm Subscribed!!
I could use another 3/8 on the rears. Swifts have dropped more than expected over the years.

BTW, I can't speak for any noticeable change with just the front vert braces, but when I installed the batwing along with the front braces, that was a very noticeable change in body flex.

 

Hey.

I just yesterday ordered a second top-seat. So until that arrives, and I spin up the grinding stone for fitment... it's going to be a couple weeks still before I can get in with my mechanic, and go Round #2 on this bushing idea. When that happens, I will absolutely be taking pictures, because I'd like to be done with it then.

Remember my cautionary statement on the poly bushings: because the material is harder, the spring won't settle into it much, and the effective lift will add between 1/4" to 3/8" more height than the thickness of the bushing itself.


Link to where you're discussing the batwing, please.

 

Why not consider grinding a ridge into the spacer to follow the spring contour. Similar to the releif in the lower arm seating area.

I can't remember where I discussed that, Im old!!
It started with MODME"s bracing post.
I installed the front vert braces, then the batwing, but not the rear bracing part, as the G doesn't have the structure built into the rear.

 

Yes. I've been thinking exactly that... an increasing depth groove that runs level to 3/8" deep, 270* around the flat. Doing that might make more sense with the 5/8" bushing, because there's just more material. If I did that on the 3/8", I'd risk ripping through the poly (again, not an engineer; just a guess.)

However, if I were to try that with the 5/8" bushing, it's a double-effort because they're already on the car. And either way, that kind of fine-tuned customization to the bushing would require a Dremel Tool (or similar device), which I don't have.

So I could purchase another pair of 5/8" bushings, and I could purchase a Dremel Tool, and I could experiment with this idea...

...or I could move forward with the 3/8" bushings.