L series rear struts

oscars_Lseries · Post by **oscars_Lseries** » Mon Dec 10, 2012 6:28 am

Hi
im looking into replacing the rear strut in my wagon
Ive got the kingsprings but im not sure on what shocks
at the moment the spring are loose in the struts not much just a little bit;-)
ill get KYB but which ones 2wd or 4wd?

ive tryed the 180sx mod it did work but i busted the bottom spring retaining plate

thanks to anyone that can help

steptoe · Post by **steptoe** » Mon Dec 10, 2012 7:45 am

safest would be like for like replacement. Aftermarket has three sizes for L Series rear and that measure is from the spring seat to centre of bottom mount hole. Measure yours and use for your reference. 84,85 L Series had three spot adjustable, then 86 to mid?87 had one measure, late 87 on had another in the 4WD wagons

What was the 180SX mod ??

AlpineRaven · Post by **AlpineRaven** » Mon Dec 10, 2012 10:24 am

oscars_Lseries wrote: ive tryed the 180sx mod it did work but i busted the bottom spring retaining plate

News to me here - where was that info from?
Cheers
AP

YouTube · Post by **El_Freddo** » Mon Dec 10, 2012 3:36 pm

oscars_Lseries wrote:ive tryed the 180sx mod

I too am keen to hear about this mod. I know of the honda springs as I've got them in the back of my L series.

Ring up your local parts joint and tell them the make model and year of vehicle and they *should* find the correct part without an issue.

I know now that genuine are oil filled and aftermarket are gas filled. Dunno if that matters to you or not.

Cheers

Bennie

oscars_Lseries · Post by **oscars_Lseries** » Mon Dec 10, 2012 11:07 pm

i was tolled about the mod not how to set it up.

so i give it a go i used a second on set of 180 sx rear struts $20:-)
an old set of l series rear struts that where stuffed
1 removed springs from struts
2 remove spring bases from l series struts and die grinded them out to just fit over the 180 struts
3 placed l series springs on and top mounts on (and it was hard to get springs on) eg maybe i should of cut spring
4 used the old l series bottom bush centres(sleves) in the bottom of the 180 strut
5 fitted to my wagon (with out the 2" lift bracket) and give me 3" suspension lift
6 did Drive ok but maybe needs to some adjustment

guyph_01 · Post by **guyph_01** » Tue Dec 11, 2012 7:32 am

Proud to say this is the mod a came up with:) still going strong after about 8 offroad trips...

guyph_01 wrote:Little update.

So at the moment my car sits at a slight bit of a angle due mainly to the really high front raised outback springs but also due to the added weight of the rear bar, sub, roof basket.

So before i finish the bar and fit the spare wheel and jerry can i really needed to sort out the rear suspension height. I didn't really want the same mistake of getting rock hard springs, over tensioned on the back...
Also didn't want to fit something that would fail like the last time i went 4wding. For this i think like Paul pointed out, The reason the spring base fail was because there was no bump stops. I'm not talking about the little bump stops on the shocks, im talking about the big round bump stops that are bolted to the car. I should have lowered it too since i now have about 2-3inch lift. So this time i'll get this done to prevent the arm to slam up in the wheel arch pass the shock compression point leading to the springs base failing. LOL lucky i got a warranty on it and got a new replacement for free. never mention the car was lifted:p

Ok so back to the rear shocks. This is what i'm going with. They are rear after market shocks for the Silvia.

Ok so this has a much bigger/wider spring that won't fit as it would touch the body of the car. Good thing the spring base isn't welded and can be easily removed.
Unfortunately the spring base for the L series has a slightly smaller diameter than these koni ones. So i went to see my mate at the exhaust shop and we widen the base a little to suit with his pipe bender machine.

The other thing is that the shaft is about 15mm shorter and my civic springs look to be a bit longer. I didn't really want to do the same i did with the front springs and i'm luckily getting them swapped with Wagonman's Lowered civic springs. From what we remember they are about 15-20mm shorter. We will hopefully swap the springs over this weekend.

But this is a test to see how it would look like.

Now before you say thats too long etc etc, remember. I've got a 3 inch lift bracket on my std rear L shocks at the moment so i can still play with a 2 or 1inch bracket or even none to find the best hight option:D
Of cause i'll start with the highest first:plol

NOTE:p:I'm using these ones because they have barely been used and they were only $100pr. I'm pretty sure the normal civic springs would work with the screw adjustable ones as the adjustment range is huge. Only thing is they are about $300 for a decent second hand pair...

steptoe · Post by **steptoe** » Tue Dec 11, 2012 7:49 am

anyone ever extend the bump stops on lifts ?

YouTube · Post by **El_Freddo** » Wed Dec 12, 2012 9:06 pm

steptoe wrote:anyone ever extend the bump stops on lifts ?

I know I should... It's on my to do list...

Cheers

Bennie

Yarran · Post by **Yarran** » Thu Aug 29, 2013 4:11 pm

IS there some simmilar mods you can do for the front Strut?

and without any body lift would doing the 180sx mod be a bad idea?

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L series rear struts

L series rear struts

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