June 22nd, 2015 - The Tein Street Advance successfully installed... and I don't like it.

June 22nd, 2015 - The Tein Street Advance successfully installed...

After grinding the brake hose brackets

After trying, quite unsuccessfully, to grind the brake line bracket rings with my Dremel, I went out and purchased a set of grinding stones for my drill. I figured if nothing else, the battery on the drill is larger and would last a lot longer.

That proved to be the trick... Within about three battery charges and a Saturday's worth of stop and start grinding and test-fitting and grinding some more, I got the brackets to slide onto the struts like a glove. Figuring that the powder-coating would thicken them slightly, I ground them a little looser than I would have if I were just mounting them as-is. Turns out, it was just what the doctor ordered. When I got them back from the powder coating place a few days later and they fit nice and snug.

Brake Hose Bracket Freshly Powder Coated and Installed

Much better than zip ties

Final assembly went off without a hitch, and then I lowered the car... It was a lot lower than I'd expected... or wanted.


Now, I know in today's day and age with the kids and their hella flush, "stance nation", and dub step music, there's probably no such thing as "too low". They'd probably look at the pictures and tell me my car was fine and that I was a fool for wanting to raise it. But I'm an old fart, and I like things how I like 'em. I didn't start Project 88 and I'm not building this car because of the "JDM fad" or any other trend. I happen to love the CRX/CR-X and if money were no object and I had a garage large enough, I'd have one of every model sold worldwide. Alas, for now I'm stuck with my tail light collection. But I digress... I want my car a little higher.

My SiR on Tein Street Advance coil-overs

   

My SiR on Tein Street Advance coil-overs

The specs I'd checked out for the Street Advance were:
Recommended:  -45mm to -25mm in the front and -55mm to -35mm in the rear.
Maximum:  -67mm to +2mm in the front and -71mm to -2mm in the rear.

Tein Street Advance Specs for the EF8

And the Espelir Springs -40mm front and -45mm rear that came on my CR-X from Japan...

KYB New SR Special Struts on Espelir springs

And finally, compare this to my last set of struts/shocks on Project 88, which were Apex Suspension Systems and rated for a -40mm front/rear:

Apex Suspension Systems Springs w/OEM Struts

Apex Suspension Systems Springs w/OEM Struts

Something was clearly amiss. The instructions are only available in Japanese and so I tried the Google Translate app on my phone to see if I could get any additional information... Based on the information I've found, it currently appears like what I thought was the max height of the coil-overs when I installed them, wasn't the max height adjustment after all... Looks like it's back up on jack stands we go for an adjustment!

Remember, this blog was written in chronological order so, you will need to click OLDER POSTS to move forward in time, and click NEWER POSTS to go backwards.