Thread: shocks shortening

So i wanna get my shocks shorten and was wondering if anyone here does it or has hook ups ? lol

I know autolign does it but im just thinking if theres a cheaper place

cheers

Factory Nissan

autolign is only $50 + gst each shock

Autolign ftw... just a cautionary note, if they are s13/14/15 shocks, if the springs are cut / short enough to need shortened shocks you are going to be god damn close to bottoming the shock out, you can get on stops while being captive.

Originally Posted by KPDRFT

probably the reason he wants them shortened is so he can have it that low WITHOUT bottoming out the shocks. Every time I have had shocks shortened in the past has been for this reason not just to make springs captive

I think you would be limited to only shortening the shaft of a factory shock. Shortening the shaft wont give you any extra travel, need to shorten the body for that

if i was you i would just go talk to the people that actually do it for a job/living... would you go ask a mechanic how much to build a house?

Originally Posted by KPDRFT

I know it wouldnt give any extra travel or stop it from hitting the bumpstops, BUT it would stop the shocks from bottoming out tho

wrong. any shock will bottom out, you only shorten the shaft to captivate the spring. the bump stops are there to stop it bottoming out, makes no difference if your springs are uncaptive or captive


but hey what would i know? i am only the tein/bilstein technician at autolign...

^all above points taken

so i guess only autlign at mt welly do it? .. manukau ones dont do it

and thanks lotusboy i completely forgot about the shocks bottoming out ... and im only gonna get the rear ones done which IMO should be fine

if you shorten the shaft the shock will not bottom out - bottoming out is where the shaft hits the bottom of the shock housing - ive had this done and it worked well and didnt bottom out - the trick is to measure exactly how much you need to keep them captive and then take off another 5 mm - works great just dont take off 50mm if you only need 15 to keep them captive

Originally Posted by KPDRFT

Wrong! It is physically impossible for a shock to bottom out if the shaft is shorter than the body!
If you fail to understand the simple concept of that then obviously autoligns staff arent of the same caliber as I remember them being when I worked for shockshop many years ago When I used to order new shocks from autolign that they would shorten before sending out for use in applications where different springs, bumpstops etc were used.
And it was only ever the shaft they shortened not the body as well.

sorry i worded it wrong, yes it will stop the shaft smashing the base valve but that's what bump stops are for. if you have and adequate bump stop you don't need to worry about the shaft smashing the base valve

90% of shocks the shaft is never longer than the shock body so if you have an adequate bump stop the shaft will never smash the base valve. If you are running it with only 10mm travel left at ride height you have bigger problems in which case you need a shock with a shorted body.

you only need to shorten the shock shaft to captivate the spring, 10mm pre-load is sufficient for most coils that haven't been cut/modified etc providing you have bump stops

if you want to have your car handle like shit and blow shocks out left right and centre from not using bump stops then yes shorten the shaft to stop it smashing the base valve but be careful that the shaft doesnt go inside the shock before the coil binds up otherwise you will piss the oil and gas out(in a twin tube design, just oil in mono tube design)

you cannot shorten the body of most replacement shocks as they are a sealed unit, you would need to cut it open shorten housing then weld on a threaded top to run a shorter insert providing you have enough length to shorten the housing e.g s13/14's you cannot do

^ so youz wont shorten the shocks about 60mm?

Get some Bilstiens. Then they can be shortened correctly (body and shaft). Why cheap out on your suspension, its a massive safety and performance factor??

I only say this because I've recently been working on a S13 with a mate, trying to get it decently low without adjustables... With factory gear your limited to this low - this is almost sitting on the stops in the rear with dobi super lows. Front will be hard on the stops before the spring is uncaptive.


In the end we went with a bilstien shock to give more TRAVEL, so the car isn't on bump stops, thus can go lower

^ the guy bought DET TB off me

Originally Posted by CRZYSi

^ so you guys wont shorten the shocks about 60mm?

i corrected your spelling/grammar for you


yes we will shorten them 60mm to captivate the spring but there is no warranty of any kind, its done at your risk

Originally Posted by lotusboy

Get some Bilstiens. Then they can be shortened correctly (body and shaft). Why cheap out on your suspension, its a massive safety and performance factor??

I only say this because I've recently been working on a S13 with a mate, trying to get it decently low without adjustables... With factory gear your limited to this low - this is almost sitting on the stops in the rear with dobi super lows. Front will be hard on the stops before the spring is uncaptive.

In the end we went with a bilstien shock to give more TRAVEL, so the car isn't on bump stops, thus can go lower

'

the bilsteins for the front are inserts for factory housings, and the housing length is already so short you can get any more travel out of it.
so the only way is to go coil over if you want to really slam it and not ride on bump stops.

i have a rear pair of rear Bilsteins out of a '87 vr4 that when combined with a factory spring it will slam the car 70mm and still retain travel in the rear. i ran them in my s14 along with mr2 low coil in the front but it rode on bump stops all the time

Originally Posted by vti

i corrected your spelling/grammar for you

Seriously dude ? Thanks for the English lesson

Thanks for all your help thou and all of above