cusco coilovers installed

[badhabitz]

alright guys i just finished the install yesterday

thanks john at bulletproof for hooking it up with the cuscos the total time for the whole install took me about 2 hours.

ok lets start with the rear cause that is the easiest i was able to have access to a lift and power tools so it made things a lot quicker.
these are the tools i used
20mm for the lug nuts
14mm for the rear strut nut
14mm for the inside rear strut nut

so the first thing i did was pop of the plastic cover in the inside of the car then loosen the 14mm thats holding the strut to the car

then i lifted up the car and the springs fell off and the strut came out also


this is wat the stock ones look like compared to the cusco

go ahead and transfer over the plastic shield for the rear strut to the cuscos so they look like this

i wasnt sure wat side the spring goes but i figured the adjusters went below but others say they go on top
transfer over the rubbers from top to bottom on the spring

stick the strut on and hand tighten the 14mm for the strut for now and put the spring onto the subframe use a jack and jack up the subframe

align everything and get the spring to line up and the strut to enter the car with no problem

tighten all the bolts and the rear is done
this is wat is should look like when its done i didnt slam the rear all the way



now to the fronts

push in the plastic clips there are 3 one right one left and one in the middle

next pull the panels out making sure nothing is caught onto it

disconnect the windshield washer fluid from the left and the rest of thepanels should come out looking like this

pop off the wiper covers and take the nuts out using a 14mm wiggle it out and they should come out

then the rest ofthe panels should come out

take the rubber boot off the top

i was lucky to have this tool an angled wrench 17 and a allen to take the front struts out with not too much of a problem because theres not a lot of room to work with and people always cut there hands.

loosen the top nut and now at the bottom take the 2 19mm nuts off holding the strut to the spindle ,take the sway bar link off using a 17mm, and take off the 14mm bolt holding the brake line on.

i used a bungy cored to hold on the to brake rotor from dangaling around but after u take out the strut it looks empty like this

some use a spring compressor to take out the spring because we are going to have to use the top mounts for they are not given. what i did was put the strut on the ground have a friend stand on it and i used my impact to take it out applying pressure and bam it comes right out dont be scared it wasnt too bad.

i didnt reused the bump stopper and the boot cause cusco already provides those.


next i put the strut in and pushed up on the strut and tightend the 17mm on top by hand till i couldnt any more.

then i reinstalled the bolt and nut for the shock and the sway bar link and the brake line.

to make things easier i used a jack to push up on this assembly to line up with the shock

tighten everything and then the top nut comes which took me like 5 minutes to tighten with not a lot of room to work with

i put all the panels back and double checked my work

lowered the car and slammed the fronts all the way

the install is finally complete here are some pics of my car hope you guys enjoyed it

[dngz]

niiice!!! but... i think ur vitz is on the wrong side ><!!

[C2AUTOSPL]

so it fits nicely then...

[SmellyTofu]

Interesting you didn't take out the whole wiper assembly to get access to the top hat nut. I didn't use a wrench to get at the top nut though.. I'll remember that when I take the gear off the car.

[riceboy]

Looks good...

[Boo]

It is stunning!!!

[RossP]

Steel wheels must die!!

Looks good otherwise dude

[Katana]

Ηave you tested it on the road?

[Chris07LB]

Love the look... Im sure your car must track awesome with all the suspension mods you have done.. has it been to the track yet?

[badhabitz]

no it hasnt been to the track yet but i will soon the car drives great i can take turns in 3rd gear going about 40mph but what i noticed is what i really need is an lsd ill wait till i need a clutch and do short gears and a lsd

[SmellyTofu]

Stick with the 15" ... they do make the car much faster off the line with less weight to turn than 16". Anyway, the tyres will be cheap in 15" so keep burning them. :) I do.. sometimes.

[BulletProofAuto]

great writeup Ken, they look great on your car...glad i could help supply these to you. car looks very nice, we'll get some wheels on soon ;)

[03Z33]

Very nice! I'm jealous

You may want to pick up the max negative camber bolts from Toyota before taking it in for alignment... The 12.4mm ones are the smallest and should get you at least -1.2 deg. if not more

[mrlam]

I am very jealous too

[BulletProofAuto]

just some information for everyone on what i feel are the most important specs to compare when suspension shopping. if you don't like to read, see the cliff notes at the end.

cusco compact s spring rates
F:7k
R:3.3k
Non adjustable dampening
~$1200

HKS S-Compact
Spring Rates
F:5k
R:8k
30 way adjustable dampening
~$1900

Tein Basic
F:4k
R:3.1k
Non adjustable dampening.
~$950.00

As you can see the spring rates are very soft for the basics, cusco and hks are much more aggresive with their rates and the valving to go with it. In terms of comparing what is the best setup to get, I believe the Tein does not offer anything outside of height adjustability since the spring rates are no stiffer then what is found from Tanabe's springs, of which there will be a GF210 coming out with ~4k rates(it's out in Japan, it'll be out here). The cusco is your best performance related upgrade since the Tein would be purely cosmetic. For those that want something more trackable, the HKS would be your solution with the ability to fine tune your dampening for different course and driving situations. Of course at this time the HKS are not readily available in the states, I don't see HKS USA bringing this product over anytime soon as stockable inventory so you'll need to wait for it. The cusco and tein products will be stocked stateside, it just may take some time for the suppliers to gauge the correct inventory levels so expect backordered product in the beginning.

Cliff Notes:
Cusco compact S is probably best value at the moment.
HKS is tops for track use.
Tein Basic is purely cosmetic.

[BulletProofAuto]

1 set will be arriving end of october, if you'd like it i recommend ordering it now.
http://www.bulletproofautomotive.com...il.php?ID=5268

[ItsMyDaily]

Wow Looks great. Sure it rides nice also, but must be stiff ride.

John I would have thought teins would be adjustable also, surprised to see they aren't. So it's a basic coilover with no shock adjustments, and low spring rates? I'm not looking to upograde my yaris in performence, so maybe just a cosmetic upgrade would be better for me.

[BulletProofAuto]

the only adjustable ones that i've seen are the hks. the cusco comp-s, zero-1, and tein basic are all non adjustable dampening.

the cusco has rather stiff rates compared to tein, i remember making a post somewhere around here regarding spring rates, i'll need to find it.