Nath

I can, will take some tomorrow. Ride height is adjustable though, currently have it set up exactly the same as it was with the Kings Low's in it. I.e. low but not bashing my sump/bumper on speedhumps @ 30km/h. There's plenty of adjustment so if you decide you like having your headers scrape on the road that can be done too. Could be a bit of a wait (mine took like 8 weeks) though. Maybe it's different if you go through XYZ directly. If you do get them just know that the springs will definitely be softer than what you have now but as to whether that's a bad thing, and how much you can compensate for that with other areas I don't know since I haven't really tested it properly.

Still haven't flogged the piss out of it (yet!) but I'm liking it so far. How it's set up now, it definitely has more body roll than before (had almost none with the last setup) which is actually a good thing since it used to just kind of skate across if you took a sharp corner real hard. Real stiff suspension plus huge sway bars I guess. It has a good initial weight transfer but then doesn't get any worse after it gets to a certain point, just kind of leans a little enough to get the weight where it needs to go without going further. Points in really nicely. I threw it into a few corners a bit hard on purpose a couple of times and it felt really sure footed, didn't feel like it was anywhere near breaking loose at all. I think the rear end will be the limiting factor until I get my new leaf springs though. Overall I'm pretty happy with it so far. Whether or not it's better than a bilstein/koni and custom king setup I can't say since I've never driven on that setup before. But it definitely shits all over them in adjust-ability which I reckon is worth the extra coin any day of the week. Will try setting the dampening softer to see if it rides any better. Coming from King's/Monroe shocks it rides better in terms of comfort but only marginally (on standard damper as opposed to really stiff Monroe shocks) so I don't think you're sacrificing much ride comfort at all, and if you don't like it you can always adjust it. I think Ryan was probably right - the springs are maybe a bit softer than the alternatives but having said that I'm not sure that's necessarily a bad thing. It does transfer the weight but I definitely wouldn't describe it as excessive - it gets to a certain point then doesn't go further. I'm only on the medium dampening adjustment too so I could always stiffen it up (giggity) and see how much difference that makes to the body roll. Wonder how it'd go with the shelby drop mod...

So I went to adjust the height today in prep for tomorrow's cruise. The collars were in different places each side so you'd expect it to be sitting unevenly as they were pretty far off each other - got 33cm on passenger and 32 on driver (wheel arch to centre of rim). I screwed the collars down (allowing the spring to lengthen more) and made sure they were dead even on both sides. Dropped the car and it's still the exact same as before. Not sure what the go is there... Makes me wonder where the hell the height adjustment is since it's not in the usual spot either. Instructions are absolutely useless - they just say use the "bracket" for height adjustment. No idea what they mean by bracket. It's too low to leave as it - don't like taking speed humps at 10km/h and I can hardly get the jack under it.

Following on from this - backfires. Been tinkering with the bike a bit and done a few little mods - one of them was removing the air snorkel so it's just an open hole to the airbox. Sounds awesome and seems to have given it a little more kick (could also be the fact that I washed the filter out too) but it also backfires on deceleration. Just going by smell the bike's running a bit rich anyway so I doubt it's leaning it out too much. Any idea's what the go is with that? Reckon if I leave it as is, will it hurt anything?

I find turning the radio up helps.

Just your crossy telling you it loves you If you find a way to fix it let me know... mine does the same.

Both rings are adjusted by C spanner. The bottom one would have to be just a locking ring, it's not connected to anything except the thread and it's not preventing anything from moving up/down. Not that I've dealt with a lot but the coilovers I have played with have had the height adjustment separate - the bottom (where it connects to the UCA) would screw up and down for that.

Kings Lows, 30mm drop from stock I think. Pic was taken before I adjusted it properly. Top collar is the spring seat and the lower one is just a locking collar I think. That's what I thought too - normally the height adjuster is a collar where it connects to the control arm but this setup has no such thing. The install instructions for one piece coilovers said that's how they worked (and not to use the spring seat collar to do it) but the two piece ones don't have that - bottom piece doesn't move. Instructions just said use the "bracket" to adjust height. Fucked if I know what they mean by bracket - they don't elaborate or have pictures. I just assumed they meant the gold spring seat collars were height adjustment too since that's the only thing you can adjust...? Interestingly - not sure if you're supposed to do it like that but you can adjust everything while it's in the car. No need to unbolt it. Think I might try setting the dampening to the softest setting to see how much difference it makes.

The install was pretty painless. For once, bolt in actually meant bolt in. Hopefully should get to properly test them out soon.

Just finished and took it for a drive around the block. Somehow my guessimation of the required number of turns for the right height I wanted was pretty good, was about 1.5cm lower than my previous setup on each side but good enough for today. Can fine tune it later. As far as I can tell the height adjustment must be done by the spring seating collar which I always thought was not the way to do it. Took it for a quick spin. Didn't really give it too much of a flog since it wasn't really warm and I can hardly see (dusty windscreen+shitty headlights ). It drives straight which is good, shouldn't need a wheel alignment. Hates speed humps just as much as before - the whole front end goes up. Took it over a bumpy road and the new setup seems to have taken a lot of the edge off. No longer feels like the screws are rattling out of my dash but you do still feel it. Compared to the AU or one of the camry's here it still rides kinda harsh. Probably more to do with the nolathane bushes I guess. Think I might have gone too thick on the sway bars since it's initially a bit unresponsive but once you get it to a certain point it turns in nicely. Had the same issue with the Kings+Monroe's. Won't really be able to tell until I take it for a proper spin around the twisties but I'm gonna say that just cruising around you probably won't notice any difference, I think it seemed a little less under-steery but since I never really pushed it I'm going to reserve judgement until I get the chance to actually throw it into some corners properly. Gonna say that if you're just building a weekend cruiser or for a Fairlane/LTD or whatever, there's no reason to buy them over a standard setup other than the adjustability. Just driving like a normal human being I couldn't really notice too much difference.

Cheers guys. Probably mixed up left and right springs. Both sides are now in, gonna drop it soon and adjust it. As far as I can tell height adjustment must be with the spring seat collar, there's no other way I can see. Will put pics up later.

Extra bits are for brake lines which don't apply. Most coilovers I've seen you adjust the height with the collar at the very bottom where it fits to the control arm but there's no such adjustment here. The nut on top of the shock tower is spinning the entire arm of the shock too so not sure how to tension it properly - nothing to hold on to to.

You could argue that they're adjustable shock absorbers, not technically coilovers since the springs and shocks are separate pieces. Right, one side in, wasn't too painful. Dampening adjustment is piss easy, just a turn or two with the key thing and you're good to go. I set mine to standard. The instructions are shit. Really unclear, and I have a bunch of extra pieces that I have no idea what they do - couple of extra collar things and some plastic bushing looking things. I have no idea how to adjust the height either - it specifically says don't use the collars under the springs for that, says use the "bracket" which I have NFI what they mean by that.

Not sure about adr. Nothing in the box either. Just measuring stuff up now. Stock setup, passenger side is 2cm higher than driver's. What's up with that? Do I want to emulate this with the coils?

Anyone got any tips as to how to have these setup before I throw them on? I'd rather avoid having to re-fit them 3 times to get the adjustment right. Preload should be easy enough, I'm more worried about the height - the height of the current springs is perfect so I'd like to keep it the same...Other than keeping them dead even I'm not sure exactly how to go about getting it right the first time. Was thinking just measure the distance between the centre of the wheel and the wheel arch and try to match how it is now vs when the coilovers go in. Means I should only need to re-do it once. Wonder if I'll need a wheel alignment - since technically I won't be changing the height/dimensions at all will I? About to hook into it now.

Sounds like a good excuse for a disc brake conversion.

Also they look cool and now I can talk lots of shit about having coilovers in my XD in the maccas carpark at 1am. Better go find some drift stitching decals...

Fine, just for you bastards I will fit them tomorrow morning Calling it now, the first time I fit them will be a half hour job. When I realise they need adjusting so I have to take them out and re-adjust them 6 times before they're right, that's what's gonna take the time. I actually think they might be more cost effective in the long run - they're fully adjustable so once you want to change the setup once they've just paid for themselves. Not 100% sure whether my XD will stay a 6 or get a V8 so I'm covered for both suspension wise now. I was up for new shocks and spring saddle bushes anyway - I reckon for someone who has to do shocks/springs/saddles it will only work out slightly more expensive. Can't comment on whether you'll be right about the handling yet Ryan/Ando. Promise I'll do some thorough testing One thing I'm curious about - what about the coilovers with the shelby drop mod as well?

Try a heat gun mate, if a hair dryer sort of works then a heat gun will work really well.

You callin' my ecu stupid? My ecu don't like people callin' it stupid.

Maybe I should take it down to eastern creek for a couple of passes, that way I can say it's a drag car. No rule that says it has to be fast

Maybe I should try it on my 3.3 XD... Because that's basically a drag car anyway right? ... Guys?

Yeah you get dicked in NSW pretty hard (cue unfamilia). I'm still kicking myself for surrendering the original plates on my XD - they told me I couldn't keep them. Bastards wouldn't re-issue me with the same ones, said I had to buy personalised ones if I wanted the original letter/number combo. Not much point if they were about to turn the original plates into coke cans. Still wishing I'd just told them they were lost and paid to keep the original combo.

Cheers mate, I'll give that a try. It's a little too quiet at the moment with the baffle as is. Bringing the topic back to cars/Fords - So you could technically run an exhaust with no restriction at all as long as you richen it up to compensate?

The only reason I did it was for noise factor. On the off chance I take it in to get tuned for some reason I'll do it without the baffle, otherwise I'll just leave it in. One thing I was wondering - can I saw the 4 inch tube off the baffle and just run the faceplate (so the hole is the same size) so I can have my noise cake and not lose any throttle response eating it? That really seems like something that should work but I obviously don't want to cut first and find out it won't.