Type R Tein Coilovers

 I have been taki ng my time lately, as it takes a bit of getting used to the Northern Irish weather after spending 6 weeks working in Mexico..... even with a garage, its still too cold to be bothered ripping parts out of the car. 

Anyway, I decided that since the suspension was to be changed for some coilovers, it made sense to degrease and clean the arches as well an d inspect for rust around the strut tops. 

I used one degreaser and a paint brush and snow foam to wash the arches down, before bringing into the garage the next day. This allowed m to get the worst of any muck off the wheel wells. After that, I removed one suspicion strut at a time and again, degreased the area. I used a strong concentration and a paint brush to agitate before fresh water flushing. it actually brought the undersea up really well and literally looks brand new....for a 24 year old car!

Once the area was clean and dry I was able to remove the dirt around the strut tops which is a well known rust spot on Imprezas. I then treated it with rust converter/killer. There was no rust, but just in case I gave it an extra layer for protection for the future. 

The new Teins went in pretty smoothly, but its a tough job getting the rears in.  I used the hydraulic ramp and a combination of bad language, a mini jack and a breaker bar as leverage to keep the coilover in position until I could bolt up the strut tops from inside the car. The trouble is that you need to remove the rear seats to get access to the strut top bolts, so once the interior was removed, I could raise the shock up into position, then hold it there with a bar wedged in between the hub so that I could climb inside and attach the 3 bolts. These then kept it in position so that I could come outside and then use a pry bar to force the lower shock around the hub so that the remaining two bolts could go into place. 

The fronts were a lot easier as you have bonnet access directly above and can reach a hand over the wheel arch and secure the bolts whilst holding the strut in position. 

After ll 4 struts were in the car, the wheels went back on and I drove it onto a flat surface to measure the ride height. I deliberately kept the factory settings for now and the front is at least an inch too low. The rears look a decent height, with not much change from standard. The plan is to wait to fit the BBS wheels, then I can setup the exact height, to give the correct fitment on 17" wheels. I also will need to adjust the camber but this is easily done from the topmount on the strut, once the wheels are fitted.