Switching Back from Coilovers to OEM Dampers

[Occhis]

Getting ready to trade my M3 and need to get back to original equipment. I am in the process of reinstalling OEM dampers using the the OEM top hats from Redwood Coilovers. Having trouble with the alignment so that the 3 top hat bolts are in the correct position that the LCA lines up also. Once the spring is uncompressed, the top hat can’t be rotated to adjust the alignment. On the coilovers the lock ring can be loosened and the shock body turns. Not so with OEM dampers.
Anyone else have experience with this?

 

[MasterC17]

I think it is easiest to attach the top hat to the FUCA mount with the spring still compressed, so that you can roughly line up the bottom strut bushing outside of the car. It needs to be close, but not perfect.

Then, install the FUCA mount bolts into the car first and the lower 21mm strut bolt last, as you can get away with some play down there.

At least, that's my recollection last I did this.

 

[Occhis]

That’s basically how I finally got it to fit after a few tries. It was off by a few degrees but I was able to twist it enough to get the LCA bolt in. Second side tomorrow. Getting too old for this. The new Y will stay on stock suspension, umm probably. I planned to keep the 3 for a few more years, which is why I put the Redwoods GTs on last year. LOVE the ride and handling, but couldn’t resist the price reduction and tax incentives. They only have 16k miles on them so I’ll clean them up and offer them up for sale.

 

[Occhis]

Along the same vane, regarding installing rear springs I’m having trouble determining if I have them upside down. The spring diameter is different on one end than the other. Looks like it fits better in the rubber mounts with the small side up(label down). Is the position of the label in the same place on every OEM spring? If so, does the label go up or down?