This is exactly the kind of review I was looking for. You're very methodical, did a fantastic job documenting every step of the job and I really appreciate the addition of the suspension view cameras and showing the before and after. I'm still on stock shocks and springs at 99K, and at 10:34, you can see on the stock suspension setup the tire wanted to leave the pavement. This is the same instability I feel in my car over bumps and dips at speed. The Koni suspension barely broke a sweat and clearly kept the tire in full contact with the pavement. I already have the FM sway bars and adjustable end-links as mine were destroyed, and that significantly reduced the stomach-turning levels of roll it had in corners, but I can tell it isn't well-matched with the rest of the suspension. I think you've sold me, as comfort and street driving is still really important to me, but I want it to feel more confident on the track. FM stage 1.5, here I come.
Thanks for that! Glad it was helpful and informed your decision. I think you'll be very happy with the Konis. I'm still surprised constantly at how well they handle bigger dips and bumps in the road, yet super confidence-inspiring in the corners (probably thanks to the pairing with the sway bars and chassis bracing).
Great teaser at the end, I don't even own a Miata and am looking forward to the next episode and seeing the wheels he chose. I was especially impressed with the sound quality when he was driving with the top down. Not even on network television do you get that kind of clarity with a soft spoken person driving at high speeds.
Just stumbled across this in preparation for installing shocks on my Miata. I'm kind of anal about preparing for projects, and I thought your videos were the easiest and most enjoyable to watch and ingest. I don't know if you'll get them, but you deserve lots of views.
Thanks for these videos man. I just did a massive overhaul touching everything except the differential and engine(that's coming soon) and your vids helped me pregame the job. Regarding the shock shafts I had the same problem. Tried grabbing the shaft with vice grips, tried doing it with the weight of the car. Ended up just blasting it with the impact and praying the nylock does its job.
Yep that's pretty much what I did. No problems so far! I plan on replacing all the bushings at some point, so that'll be a video (or multiple videos) eventually. Thanks for the comment!
@@AndrewDoesCarStuff Doing the bushings kinda sucked. 3-jaw puller with two people and a propane torch was do-able but next time I'll try a 2-jaw. If you go with SuperPro bushings the allthread method is a must. Any other way is just miserable.
Ace vid! I have Meister coilovers about to go on my NB MX5 here in London as soon as spring ( the season ) arrives, and yours is the most informative video I have seen out of many. Thanks for making this.
Thanks! I didn't like the rack at first, but now I do, I think it adds a touch of class to the car. And I've actually used it a couple times, to strap a duffel bag to for a road trip.
Soo glad you put that you had the same issue while torqueing the top hat. Im having some weird sounds like rattle coming out of mine and i thought it was because of that top hat bolt. I guess its not. Back to the drawing board. Like and subscribed because i really like how you did this video.
Than you! There's a chance that could be your rattle, but probably not if the nut is snug. I didn't put this in the video, but I even tried grabbing hold of the shock shaft with vice grips, using a chunk of rubber hose to grip & cushion it (it' very important to not scratch the shock shaft, so I didn't even want to recommend trying this) and still couldn't get it. Haven't gotten my alignment done yet but will definitely consult the pro.
Did you figure out the source of the rattle coming from the top hat? I have a rattle in mine. I called FM and they pointed to a bad bearing in the top hat. So I'm going to rebuild the shock assembly with a new bearing in the top hat and see if that fixes it. I'll post my results...
I’m surprised that the ride height didn’t change. My 97 looks quite a lot higher than yours. I’m actually hoping for a little less height when I do this upgrade.
My old shocks were completely blown, so maybe it was a little saggy to start with. If yours looks higher, then it will probably end up like looking like mine when you're done. I think the height is perfect for a street car.
Great videos on the suspension upgrade, Andrew. Production quality was top notch as well. Did you ever find out how to torque the center shaft nut? I did the exact same upgrade on my 92 Black & Tan this weekend, and could not torque 3 of the 4 center shaft nuts. I'd be interested to hear if you found a solution.
Thank you! I never was able to get the rear ones torqued, and I even tried placing a rubber hose around the shock shaft, grabbing it with vice grips and trying to hold it in place while tightneing, with the car on the ground. The shaft still wanted to spin. On the fronts, what helped me on those was to give them each a quick hit with an impact gun, just enough to start getting them snug, then I managed to get them to 37 lb-ft. I still plan on asking a pro when I go in to get the alignment done.
Hi@@AndrewDoesCarStuff. Were you able to figure this out? I'm having the same nut issues right now and can't really find a way to tighten them. Would using an impact gun over torque the nuts? I have never used one before. Your videos are great btw. It helped me a lot.
@@stevenwong4261 Hi, no update still, I've been putting off the alignment because I plan on doing all the bushings first. If you use an impact, it can help to get these upper nuts snug, you just want to use it sparingly so you don't go too tight. So do a couple short bursts, then check it by hand, etc. Even though I didn't get to the specified torque, they seem to be snug enough that there is no play in the shocks. It would rattle if they were loose.
@@DaveSimkus yeah they suggest wrapping the shaft with a rubber hose and using vice grips. The most I was able to do with that method was 22 ft lbs but haven’t had any issues so far
