I installed my new TSportline lowering springs last weekend. Thought I would post a picture of the car with them installed for anyone considering getting a set. I did the installation myself. Figured out a few tricks along the way that would have saved a lot of time had I known about them first. Going to get an alignment done this morning first. I'll come back around when I have a little more time and try to write those up for everyone too. In the meantime, here's a picture...
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TSportline lowering springs installed
- Thread starter Bluemont
- Start date
jkoya
NA2 NSX
Tsportline only has one spring type. It is a 1” drop. For mid range it is .7 and I think AWD performance has it at a 1” in the front and 1.2” in the back. There are off the top of my head. I lowered my AWD and it has been great so far. Car is just as comfy as stock (it wasn’t at first and I lowered the psi to 38) and it turns much better. Overall I am quite happy. Oh and my range has improved by a good amount (I want to give it more miles before having finite numbers). What I liked about the Tsportline is that their springs don’t have the rear raking issue that others seem to have.
Ok, I'm back... Here's a quick write up about the install process. Sorry for the delay. Unfortunately, I'm not good about taking pictures during these things - sorry about that. Unplugged performance had instructions on their site that talks through how to do the swap. They were pretty good but there were a couple of hints that I would include as well that helps out that weren't in there... I'm not great at writing these, but here goes... I hope it helps someone along the way...
The installation is not too bad if you have experience doing things like this. I've done things like this on other older cars before. When you're doing this, don't forget to put the spring isolators back on with the new springs. I will say it sure is nice working on a nice, clean car for a change that doesn't have the old bolts and nuts all rusted together
. Anyway...
Front Strut Removal
Starting with the front, taking out the inner frunk trim panels is pretty easy. There's a bunch of 10mm bolts that you take out just like the instructions say. It comes right out. Once the inner frunk trim panels are removed, you follow the instructions about removing the bolts from the sway bar end link where it joins the damper. You then also remove the bolt attaching the damper to the lower control arm. When you do this part, it is helpful to use a jack to pick up on the control arm a little bit to be able to slide the bolt out. Sometimes it is under a little pressure and needs a little help. Removing the nut and bolt clamping the upper suspension arm ball joint to the hub carrier is pretty straight forward. There are also some plastic clips holding some wiring to the suspension arm that you need to disconnect. It doesn't talk about that in the instructions that I have. You can pull those out with standard interior-style tools to remove those annoying plastic clips. There is also a small bolt that holds the wire at one point as well that you have to take out. At this point is when I went back to the top to remove the bolts that attached the top of the suspension assembly to the strut tower mount in the frunk. Don't take them all out until you can get one hand in the fender to hold it by the a-arm to keep it from falling out on its own.
Once all of that is taken apart you can pull the entire assembly out. Be careful here as the entire assembly comes out with the top suspension arm as well. So it is big and it is easy to scratch up your fenders trying to get it out. I found that I had to push down on the lower control arm while simultaneously maneuvering the assembly out of the car with both hands. It is tricky at first but once you figure it out the second one goes much faster.
Removing the old spring from the strut
Once it is out of the car, it is really helpful to have a workbench to work on. The next thing you do here is to remove the upper suspension from the top of the strut. There are just a few bolts that hold that on. That is easy enough to take off. Take that off and set it aside. Here is a tip that I learned the hard way that wasn't in the instructions. At this point, have the strut sitting on the work bench on its side. Take a digital level (or something like that) and put it against two of the bolts that held the top of the suspension on the strut. Record that measurement! When you put it back together, that alignment / angle is important to get the strut to fit back in the car. I didn't see anything that was used as an alignment indicator when I put it back together, so I had to do it with trial and error.
At this point I attached spring compressors to both sides of the spring. If you're new to this, be very careful here! These springs have a lot of energy built up in them so if something pops loose, it can cause serious damage or be deadly! You want to have the compressors on tight enough that you've taken most of the load off of the top mount that holds the spring on. Once that is done, you remove the top mount and take the spring off.
I have read a couple times that people had a hard time getting the new springs on. I was able to do it. Here's my trick for it. I put the spring compressors on the new springs as close to the ends that I could. I then clamped them down far enough to get them on the strut. However, it was difficult to clamp them down all of the way. I did find that using an impact gun I was able to put the top mount back on and use the impact gun to tighten it all the way compressing the spring the last little bit. This is where the measurement of the angle I mentioned above comes in handy. Use that to line up the top mount the same way it was when you took it off. Of course do that before you tighten it down.
At this point, the assembly goes back in the car and gets attached to the car in the same way when you took it out. Again, pushing down on the lower control arm a bit seems to help. I attached the strut to the lower control arm first to help stabilize it since it would just lean up against the inner fender. Then I went to the top. With it attached to the lower control arm, I could reach under the fender with one hand and line it up with the holes in the strut tower mounts in the frunk. There are some torque specs in the instructions I downloaded. If you need them let me know and I can find them and add them to this thread. When everything is bolted up, don't forget to go back and attach that wires you took off as well...
Removing the rear springs
The rear springs are much easier. There is a plastic cover under the rear control arm. I think it was a single bolt I removed, then it came right off. After that, you remove the bolt and nut attaching the control arm to the hub. Again, use a jack here to take the pressure off of the bolt so you can remove it easily. You then also take the bolt and nut out that holds the bottom of the shock to the control arm. The instructions say to remove the bolts in the top of the shock and take it out too. I didn't need to do that. Once the control arm was unbolted from the shock and the hub, I was able to push the control arm down and pull the spring out by just pushing the shock over to the side. You then just put the new springs in and bolt it all back up. You'll need a jack to jack up the control arm and attach it to the hub and shock again.
At that point you're done! You should be able to put the car back on the ground and see it sitting about an inch lower.
Here's a better picture than the first one I uploaded...
The installation is not too bad if you have experience doing things like this. I've done things like this on other older cars before. When you're doing this, don't forget to put the spring isolators back on with the new springs. I will say it sure is nice working on a nice, clean car for a change that doesn't have the old bolts and nuts all rusted together
. Anyway...Front Strut Removal
Starting with the front, taking out the inner frunk trim panels is pretty easy. There's a bunch of 10mm bolts that you take out just like the instructions say. It comes right out. Once the inner frunk trim panels are removed, you follow the instructions about removing the bolts from the sway bar end link where it joins the damper. You then also remove the bolt attaching the damper to the lower control arm. When you do this part, it is helpful to use a jack to pick up on the control arm a little bit to be able to slide the bolt out. Sometimes it is under a little pressure and needs a little help. Removing the nut and bolt clamping the upper suspension arm ball joint to the hub carrier is pretty straight forward. There are also some plastic clips holding some wiring to the suspension arm that you need to disconnect. It doesn't talk about that in the instructions that I have. You can pull those out with standard interior-style tools to remove those annoying plastic clips. There is also a small bolt that holds the wire at one point as well that you have to take out. At this point is when I went back to the top to remove the bolts that attached the top of the suspension assembly to the strut tower mount in the frunk. Don't take them all out until you can get one hand in the fender to hold it by the a-arm to keep it from falling out on its own.
Once all of that is taken apart you can pull the entire assembly out. Be careful here as the entire assembly comes out with the top suspension arm as well. So it is big and it is easy to scratch up your fenders trying to get it out. I found that I had to push down on the lower control arm while simultaneously maneuvering the assembly out of the car with both hands. It is tricky at first but once you figure it out the second one goes much faster.
Removing the old spring from the strut
Once it is out of the car, it is really helpful to have a workbench to work on. The next thing you do here is to remove the upper suspension from the top of the strut. There are just a few bolts that hold that on. That is easy enough to take off. Take that off and set it aside. Here is a tip that I learned the hard way that wasn't in the instructions. At this point, have the strut sitting on the work bench on its side. Take a digital level (or something like that) and put it against two of the bolts that held the top of the suspension on the strut. Record that measurement! When you put it back together, that alignment / angle is important to get the strut to fit back in the car. I didn't see anything that was used as an alignment indicator when I put it back together, so I had to do it with trial and error.
At this point I attached spring compressors to both sides of the spring. If you're new to this, be very careful here! These springs have a lot of energy built up in them so if something pops loose, it can cause serious damage or be deadly! You want to have the compressors on tight enough that you've taken most of the load off of the top mount that holds the spring on. Once that is done, you remove the top mount and take the spring off.
I have read a couple times that people had a hard time getting the new springs on. I was able to do it. Here's my trick for it. I put the spring compressors on the new springs as close to the ends that I could. I then clamped them down far enough to get them on the strut. However, it was difficult to clamp them down all of the way. I did find that using an impact gun I was able to put the top mount back on and use the impact gun to tighten it all the way compressing the spring the last little bit. This is where the measurement of the angle I mentioned above comes in handy. Use that to line up the top mount the same way it was when you took it off. Of course do that before you tighten it down.
At this point, the assembly goes back in the car and gets attached to the car in the same way when you took it out. Again, pushing down on the lower control arm a bit seems to help. I attached the strut to the lower control arm first to help stabilize it since it would just lean up against the inner fender. Then I went to the top. With it attached to the lower control arm, I could reach under the fender with one hand and line it up with the holes in the strut tower mounts in the frunk. There are some torque specs in the instructions I downloaded. If you need them let me know and I can find them and add them to this thread. When everything is bolted up, don't forget to go back and attach that wires you took off as well...
Removing the rear springs
The rear springs are much easier. There is a plastic cover under the rear control arm. I think it was a single bolt I removed, then it came right off. After that, you remove the bolt and nut attaching the control arm to the hub. Again, use a jack here to take the pressure off of the bolt so you can remove it easily. You then also take the bolt and nut out that holds the bottom of the shock to the control arm. The instructions say to remove the bolts in the top of the shock and take it out too. I didn't need to do that. Once the control arm was unbolted from the shock and the hub, I was able to push the control arm down and pull the spring out by just pushing the shock over to the side. You then just put the new springs in and bolt it all back up. You'll need a jack to jack up the control arm and attach it to the hub and shock again.
At that point you're done! You should be able to put the car back on the ground and see it sitting about an inch lower.
Here's a better picture than the first one I uploaded...
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