Project MX-5: How To Fit Coilovers

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In this week’s episode, Alex and Gareth fit Project MX-5 with a new set of coilovers. Will Phil FINALLY pass the MCM shoe test?
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Watch the Episodes:
Episode 1 - Introduction: www.youtube.co....
Episode 2 - Dyno Run & Drag Race: www.youtube.co....
Episode 3 - How To Fit An Exhaust: www.youtube.co....
Episode 4 - Cold Air Intake: www.youtube.co....
Episode 5 - Rust Repair: www.youtube.co....
Episode 6 - Amazing Dyno Results & Mid-Build Update: www.youtube.co....
Episode 7 - How To Fit Coilovers: www.youtube.co....
Episode 8 - How To Track Prep Your Car: www.youtube.co....
Follow Alex on Twitter: / autoalex
Follow Alex on Instagram: / autoalex
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[@EngineeringExplained]

Ride height looks nice! For the coilovers, I've seen them typically with three collars so the thread of the coilover actually shortens the entire length of the strut (it feeds into a hollow tube) rather than spring pre-load adjustment. Regardless, setup is looking good! And now I need bbq...

[@Jake-yg9it]

Me too. Nothing beats late night food.

[@thaneirwin4688]

+Engineering Explained Often times yes, but using the bottom spring perch on a linear spring is the correct way to lower once overall shock length has been set to ensure correct fitment. Ala the MCA method.

[@devonbuller]

Arent you the guy who has a restraining order against Alex?

[@Viiperx645]

I'm so glad the MCM shoe test is becoming a thing. =D

[@Luka-pr6or]

After you complete Phil race him vs the new mx-5

[@diegoramdhani2799]

like

[@shortyian1]

Agreed

[@alexkersten1964]

+luka blokar +1

[@codemy666]

+luka blokar you're forgetting the number one rule.... a project car newer gets done

[@sarahbishop7013]

like/\Gif: media2.giphy.com/media/5xgkxK9oh6u5O/200w_d.gif

[@therealinus]

3:03 just needed to take out the one bolt on the sway bar linkage and it would have dropped right out

[@LogiVeloce]

I love how that your doing it, but also explaining what and how your doing it.

[@MB-rn6gh]

i already know how to fit coilovers.. but its a carthrottle video therefor 10/10 would bang again

[@deanowaterz]

Now try doing it on a driveway with a jack and axle stands lol

[@tripwire3992]

after 5 years since your comment i have to ask, how did that go for you?

[@deanowaterz]

@@tripwire3992 how did what go for me?

[@MitchellfcNa32]

In planning on doing it soon on axle stands from Lidl wish me luck

[@matthewf8454]

@@tripwire3992 I literally just done it tonight took me 6 hrs, battered with rain and wind, and a half ass guess at what to do 10/10

[@RoxusRemo]

@@matthewf8454 Wish me luck, im starting mine today... Gonna be fun removing knackered old stock suspension..

[@WillThePlank]

Interesting how the coilovers didn't initially drop it that much! My eBay specials absolutely slammed my MX-5 onto the chassis rails! However I have raised it up a fair bit now to improve the ride and handling as I like my car to be functional rather than a stance queen.

[@MisFittedCriss]

That unsatisfied reaction when the wheels hit ground 😁

[@deanjohnson7283]

Alex: "There we have... one crappy old cat" Cat: *sad meow*

[@terhowright7762]

It'd be cool if Phil had a front lip

[@alexkersten1964]

+Terho Wright give it time!

[@ninjakat8922]

+Alex Kersten how much more? :P

[@mexicancheezburger1]

You guys made this look a lot harder then this actually is and I did it by myself with a few jack stands

[@wonderbubble3980]

Gonna be that guy: It's not, "The Answer Is Always the Answer" It's, "Miata Is Always The Answer" = M.I.A.T.A

[@sweezycheezy5608]

Oooohhhh I get it, Miata Is Always The Answer

[@forrestl5597]

thank you

[@jackg5094]

Both spring compressors are suppose to be used on one coilover at a time. Also if you remove the bottem bolt on the swaybar endlink and the upper control arm bolt theres no need for spring compressors, they will come right out.

[@triggahappi2732]

you're supposed to preload the front bushings before tightening them.. makes it lower

[@redbackspider]

MCM - MIGHTY CAR MODS shoe test :) Sweet!!!

[@MattGreenland]

Unbolt the sway bars from the wishbones and they will drop further.

[@LaterMeansBrick]

unbolt the wheels, you get few inches lower ;)

[@HollyBoni]

+Matt Greenland They did that.

[@MattGreenland]

+Boni Hollóssy no, the unbolted the mounts to the frame of the car. you can see the sway bar snagging

[@brendan2386]

You need the sway at to handle though.

[@KR4K40]

why would you ever unbolt the sway bars

[@frankfitzpatrick5300]

the correct way to remove coilover is to unbolt anti roll bar endlink , then replace with adjustable end links .Especially when lowering car more than 1 inch or 10 m.m. Ajust steering rack good computerized alinment 0 degrees front toe alinment is critica !l , bump steer & corner weight -optional but a plus on the track

[@ninjakat8922]

I agree on what you need to do and how but an inch is 25.4 mm not 10, 10mm is 1cm

[@ShiroiYuki.]

4:35 or you could go the haggard way and use hockey pucks.

[@Angel-HC]

The first time you measure ride height after dropping the car on the ground is always the worst. You need to roll it forward and back to allow for any camber change that the suspension wants to produce so it's not fighting the tension of the tires. Then it will lower itself slightly from the tires settling and the camber change settling, that's when you should initially measure it.

[@holidayonion]

Phil is love, Phil is life.

[@MikeKiloNovember]

I'm happy to see I'm not the only one to use UNIROYAL Rainsport 3 as performance tyres. I have been using them for over 15.000km, and I'm impressed by how good they are for the money. And in the wet, they also are the best tyres money can buy, period. Great choice Alex ! *Brofist*

[@jonlaws4493]

I would have replaced all the old bushes whilst installing the coil overs, they are sure to be shot by now. Also H&R spent a lot of time matching the spring rate to the shock for decent performance. The springs used look to be rising rate for decent ride. Swapping them out may screw the ride/handling. I prefer a small amount of rake front to back to reduce understeer ( puts weight on the front ) and keep the rear springs a soft as you can for better grip, especially in the wet. Going to hard will make it tail happy, great fun but slow as anything. Get it corner weighted with the driver in to set the suspension up correctly ( with the correct tire pressure).

[@Enforcer1984]

Phils gunna look beautiful when it has a wrap and its completed :)

[@krASHExxx]

"The world's longest bolt" I feel ya

[@jjHoss]

2:05 it's a universal joint, CV means constant velocity and is part of a drive shaft.

[@mjenx86]

Alex, listen man: One big reason your car sat so high after replacing the coilovers (in addition to needing to roll the car to let the suspension settle) is because you torqued your wishbone bolts with the car in the air with the wheels hanging. You tightened the bolts that allow the suspension to pivot while they were in a higher ride height position, essentially locking in a higher ride height. It's the most common mistake people make when working on suspension, I'm guilty of it too but now I've learned better. All suspension bolts that go through a pivot bushing must be tightened with the car at ride height. This is also a major cause of ripped suspension bushings because now they have to twist further than they are capable of twisting when they are tightened while indexed at the wrong angle

[@mjenx86]

Nevertheless, I've been enjoying these Phil transformation videos! I can't wait to get a Miata soon!

[@ArtoriasTheAbyssWaIker]

waiting so long for this finally!

[@ImaBirdCaw]

Oh I love this video just because I've just finished installing coilover's onto my bmw e46 facelift wagon and boy oh boy they feel so great.

[@caseylockwood5512]

4:47 Wait a minute. Isn't that just adjusting preload?...

[@Scouter98]

+Casey Lockwood yes

[@krillep87]

+Casey Lockwood Kind of cheap coilover witch no separate high adjustment....

[@krillep87]

+krillep87 But then again. Could be the design of the coilover for this car where you can't have separate adjustment for high

[@carlosfsr]

+krillep87 No, there are NA Mx-5 coilovers with separate adjustment for ride height.

[@Scouter98]

krillep87 The market is flooded with cheap coilovers so kids can stance their civics. Its suprisingly hard to find coils with adjustable height

[@wowthtsgood]

love the mcm reference haha

[@Ward1706]

Mate, it's an important test...

[@trapbum3788]

hey, a tip about your TSI's. if they havent been painted yet, just put some clear coat and they will look great! also, change out the blinker lenses. over short time yours will turn blurred and yellow. looks very bad and cheap. i buy this office supplies holder that has a nice CLEARRR plastic tray which is just big enough to cut and trim out new lenses. with the led bulbs it really freshens up the look. cheers from Florida and my red 97 :)

[@nhilal94]

Hey Alex, will you ever do a bodykit install or any exterior modifications??

[@the-xm2qi]

+nhilal94 yes he will he said it in one video

[@dogsay1078]

Rice much

[@Anthon7y3]

Ew

[@pleasetakeasip4556]

+Obey My Nuts not rice unless he did 100% body mods then acted like his car is faster because of the body. mods lol

[@rdvz]

Bodykits doesn't mean "Rice" lmao

[@RobinKassam]

Don't be too worried about the rear being higher than the front. It can usually help improve the cars handling. It'll shift some weight onto the front wheels giving them more grip and reduce understeer. If you start to put heavy amounts of power into Phil however then you may want to lower the rear that bit extra.

[@joshrazo2355]

Awesome video, keep it up guys this is one of the best automotive channels on KZbin.

[@imSchwaggy]

usually takes about 500-1000miles to settle coils. so it can be fully settled within 3-7 days.

[@KalvinMalli]

Nice to see phil sitting lower!

[@GarageMob]

I'm following you on insta!

[@matthewmartinez1176]

I SEE YOU EVERYWHERE

[@stefanocofresi3225]

OMG i love all of your mx-5 videos keep up the good work!👍🏽

[@willegard2]

MCM Represent!

[@krampus_]

Spoiler: He lifts his MX-5!

[@krampus_]

+krampus_ The MX-5 (He painted it white aswell): s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/1f/39/f8/1f39f8ad1f14c6f6e1056de39829bf1d.jpg

[@dfw_motorrad1329]

lol'd

[@senditwithsimon600]

+krampus_ American headlight height restrictions in a nutshell

[@undercoverwookiee6686]

Ugh i hate that they have that here. Although there are a lot of legally registered "monster trucks around where i live, and some 3-inch-from-the-ground tuners.

[@TheJamistar]

my son has just done his coilovers on his 1992 mx5 and rolled his arches to get the credit card ride height now it looks great..

[@SchwarzBMW]

Looks like if you guys had disconnected the rear sway bar links, the coils would've slid right in. Love the Miata build, keep the vids coming!

[@markevens]

3 Shoes!!!! Good lord mate, I'm glad you got that sorted!

[@metasamsara]

I love this series! Cant wait to see you on the Nurburgring!

[@petej222]

Universal joint not a CV joint.

[@chrisg4rr377]

noticed that aswell. all the gear, no idea

[@ak47gat1]

it's actually called a Cardan Joint. xxx

[@pigeon853]

the bolt where the coilovers go into the control arm. you're supposed to wait till the car is on the ground to tighten it. otherwise it torques and keeps a higher ride height. try loosening those bolts and tightening them with the car on the ground :)

[@TheFuxxoWorksGarage]

its awesome that you say "you should be able" :-D because its never like remove screw and done. there is always at least one bolt which is pain in the ass with older cars.. :-) (as we saw in the end of the video anyway..) nice job ;-)

[@havox612]

MCM REFERENCE WOO!

[@tomhutchinson117]

Finally! However you should have fitted coilovers like hsd/Meister/bc as you can have full adjustability but retain the desired preload as it's the bottom mount which screws into the shock, these are never going to go low and changing the springs will remove all of the suspension travel and make it handle like aids

[@aeroaa2]

Garrus ? GARRUS ! STOP CALIBRATING RIGHT NOW !

[@xmanguy94]

You know you were supposed to torque the lower shock bolts with weight on the coilovers, right? That's why you aren't as low as you want.

[@mantzini]

Spring preload is not ride height adjustment. The particular coilover you show does not have height adjustment. Also you need to have the car on its wheels(weight) when tightening the coilover lower bolt to the control arm.

[@rowanlewis2066]

I work out - i don't constantly flex. Learnt it.

[@cameronnn6582]

Can you make some more skits in the car? they're the best xD

[@anonimushbosh]

Recessed hooks on the garage floor, a rope and a jack would make for very quick easy peasy removal and attaching of those springy things - with no risk of damaging the new springy things. Just saying! ;)

[@hazza123live]

1# it's a uj or universal joint not a cv which I'm guessing you mean Constant velocity joint same as a modern driveshaft joint 2# instead of removing the Upper wishbone on the front suspension remove both sides of the lower suspension bracket use a ratchet strap and anchor it to the floor and pull the lower and upper wishbone down this will stop the anti-rollbar from not allowing space to remove the old suspension unit Not in no way criticising just sharing knowledge and love the videos keep up the great work

[@romancarp6427]

alex's maths is on point

[@lsswappedyoutubechannel8778]

Forgot to mention it's quite a lot easier with a hydraulic lift than it is with some jack stands.

[@NismoRacer00]

+The Stig Hey there Stig

[@TheMoonScaresMe]

I love this little red Miata named Phil so much I went and bought my own little white Miata named Steve :)

[@alexkersten1964]

+thomas dammers Awesome! Put a pic up on Car Throttle :)

[@amlanbeherabulabuli]

MCM shoe test! I like it!

[@VeerDesign.]

Perfect Timing ! :D just went i wanted CT video, thank you

[@sellecoby6353]

The moment he said DAMN im like DAMN DANIEL

[@ze_rubenator]

Footpounds? Jesus, just stick to metric guys.

[@Zaid394]

uk fam

[@pokedon92]

+Zaid Jamal UK has been metric since the 60's

[@lluixi97]

+Olivier Wakefield (Big O) Definetely not

[@SyphilisStrike]

+Ze Rubenator The unit of horsepower is derived numerically from the lb-ft, not Nm

[@SloppySalad]

There is so much fucking stupidity here.

[@jeffruebens8355]

Masking tape to not scratch the new springs. Lots of Fluid Film spray for surface rust, then smear on vaseline (petroleum jelly) to help prevent rust- add more every fall. Do not get it on the brake pads.

[@THEMrPykelet]

Haha yes!! MCM shoe test!

[@triathlonSDhsp]

unbolting the sway bars should let the suspension drop enough to pull the struts out without a spring compressor on there. nice coilovers with stock sway bars?

[@elliot438bcfcVTEC]

I used £170 coilovers on my old civic, the chasis was on the floor at the front before the coils were even maxed out

[@Barrenchats]

feel your pain... did full struts out on 2002 forester parts car :P easy then reinstall only with a half inch ratchet then something newer became avail next morning so removed parts car struts and reinstalled factory ones drove to salvage yard and took apart forester drove home and reinstall new struts .... que beers!

[@departedgardens9262]

glad to see more work with phil!!!! :3 been looking forward to this even if phil did int get that low yet still lookin sexy

[@Daniel-dj7fh]

i think the hight looks good after the 4 weeks. the back is on point, the front could go as low as the back (or a little lower)

[@dinvergod007]

MX5 PROTIP!!! here's an American Miata trick pull up on the back of the panel of the headlight while the hood is open the part facing the windshield and it will sit flush with the hood !!!!!!!!

[@monkeychief68]

nice work mate !

[@bobknob9481]

Great music, great build great video!

[@maxers6499]

Eh, set it where you want it. I picked up some fully adjustable coilovers for my Celica instead of drop springs. Took me a couple months to get the height and stiffness dialed in.

[@MrRandomcommentguy]

So the car was equipped with coil overs all along but to be clear, they were *non-adjustable* coil overs. Coil-over does not mean adjustable, it means the spring fits *over* the shock rather than alongside it or above it.

[@AlphaKingsMachinima]

Did you tighten the suspension bolts with load on the suspension? That would cause high ride height.

[@redletterracing3465]

you guys like to do it the hard way that's for sure.

[@weeevilswine]

I would absoloutley love to see this car with a fastback hard top kit

[@JEJLACH]

Watches car throttle, gets a Prius ad

[@mr2nsane]

I've done suspension changes in mx5's and never needed to use spring compressor to drop the struts out

[@billthecat2410]

Why didn't you remove the swaybar endlink nut instead of fighting it in with coil compressors? Might have been a lot easier. I know removing the sway bars from the control arms give them a lot more movement and it's a really easy job.

[@omarhenaui4314]

Guess who's back. Back again, Phil is back. Tell a petrolhead

[@mrdragancelan]

Aren't those long through bolts for the upper wishbone supposed to be torqued with the suspension loaded? It'll prematurely wear the bushings.

[@anthonyvenkersammy9385]

Your A arm bushings are probably twisted. make sure to tighten the A arm bolts when the car is fully on the floor.

[@b.sh.1941]

Are Marty and Moog following Car Throttle? I mean, Marty is probably enjoying this. Or would, if he is actually watching. You get what I mean.

[@bullyborg943]

About damn time lol looks sick!

[@fregisz]

Alex and Gareth you fail tightening suspension bolts. these suspension bolts can tightened when car is drive position, otherwise you damages rubber bushes. also now shock absorber on stress now besause rubber tense

[@lolcopter6]

Never noticed how ripped Alex was until now...

[@CarSick]

Ride height aside, how do you like the new handling? Is it everything you'd hoped they'd be? Can you adjust the damping on these?

[@jouma0014]

Sweet Motherland...he's a South African... Spreading that SA Love buddy

[@ak47gat1]

yup! I am from SA, pity about the rugby score today...

[@jouma0014]

+ak47gat1 damn straight... we did give them a run for their money though... I call bad ref! hehe

[@jeremywilder8267]

Well you think you would have to get the anti roll bars off, because they are attached to the suspension.

[@johnnytenjobs]

Strictly speaking you are replacing coil over shock units with adjustable platform alternatives. All "Coil Overs".

[@greasybikerben]

you are aware you should tighten and suspension bolts when the full weight of the vehicle is on it?

[@uzaiir1]

GreasybikerBen they did but i dont know why they didnt show it

[@TheCowToenail]

They made taking the springs and shocks out look hard...

[@Chasing_Cars_]

EXCELLENT VIDEO !!

[@ak47gat1]

good call !

[@peterisvimbsons4839]

nicely done

[@gorangytn8963]

Higher than before - did you guys check how much lowering tolerances this kit have before you buy it?

[@sebastianhinchliffe3954]

a pry bar would have helped alot with getting then out and in

[@GT6SuzukaTimeTrials]

I remember modding my first MX-5 :)

[@ProsperousVD]

Ethan reminds me of Lewis from the yogscast :3