bilsteins . . ., are they height adjustable ? Options

[mikeyboy_85]

Hey, just recently purchased a 914 and it sits kinda high, It has bilsteins one the rear and i was wanted to know if there is any adjustment to make the rear lower?


cheers

[degreeoff]

Should be a circlip around the lower perch for the spring. move that up or down in the grooves cut into the shock....IF you have stock springs that leave tension on the perches when jacked up it may be a bit of a challenge as you need to remove the shocks and then have the springs compressed to remove...PITA!

josh

[jk76.914]

Should be a circlip around the lower perch for the spring. move that up or down in the grooves cut into the shock....IF you have stock springs that leave tension on the perches when jacked up it may be a bit of a challenge as you need to remove the shocks and then have the springs compressed to remove...PITA!

josh

I thought so too, but when I got under there, I managed lowering the car one notch without removing the shocks.

I jacked the car up, put it on a jackstand, removed the tire. Then, I used my floor jack with a block of wood on top to raise up on the control arm. When the car just cleared the jackstand, I lowered it a bit to be sure most of the weight was on the jackstand.

There was plenty of room to put my spring compressors on the spring. Once they were snugged, I slowly let the floor jack go down. Voila! The spring was compressed, and I could get that circlip off and put it down a notch.

Caveats- I was lowering the car, and I have new 100 pound springs and Bilstein shocks. Not sure I could have raised the car a notch with this process. Oh yeah, and I was already on the 3rd notch from the bottom, lowering it to the 2nd notch. I don't think this would have worked if I started any higher than the 3rd notch. So I guess it only works sometimes, and I got lucky. Worth checking out though.

Related comment- I am AMAZED that that little runt of a circlip holds the back of the car up!!!!

[Brando]

What should be done... Tack the threaded collar to the shock housing with your welder. I will be doing this once I have a determined height just for extra 'assurance' when I go with adjustable rears.

That, or deeper grooves in the housing with thicker and wider clips. I believe one of the members had an instance where the clip came out of the groove and the shock sank down, bottoming out.

Why go so half-assed with something such as your life?

[mikeyboy_85]

so you guys recommend that i take it to a suspension place? shouldn't cost all that right ? does anyone have some pics of their cause wit the bilstiens so i can see what notch is what and how high each one is ??


cheers

[degreeoff]

There are as many variations on perches as there are sexual positions in my memory...(2-3) so picts might not help as they can all be different...the biilys on mine now have VERY tall perches...my last set were almost flat. if you jack the car up and there is alot of tension on the spring ( you cant move it up independent of the shock) then a shop is the safe way to go, I initially did it by loosening the nut on the top of the shock then clamping on some vice grips and held it to the ground and spun it....pointed away from me!! when it came loose BING! off went the cap spring and vice grips!...NOT the way to do it!!

bottom line is if you get em off go with some stiffer springs if the ones now are 100lbs or less and you will be able to adjust anytime as there will be slack in the spring when the car is jacked up.