FYI - for anyone installing the Goodwin 36/58 White Bump Stops - I reversed the bump stops front to rear in this video, it has since been corrected on my car but don't make the same mistake that I did!
I'm in the midst of installing the FM Stage 2 Koni kit on my 19 RF. I have referred back to this video so many times for not only the order of operations, but the reference material and specs needed to do the job right. Thanks for putting this together!
Dude, I just completed this install myself in the driveway during this Illinois heatwave while making a video of the process but you beat me to it lol. I was having trouble torquing the upper shock nuts too, I figured as long as there are enough threads left to fully engage the second locking-nut on top then it should be about right. Definitely a great idea to mark everything with tape, I did the same exact thing. Did you happen to notice that the Koni perch ring and seat/cup needed sanding before fitting over the shock body? Mine were really rough and scratched the Koni's when trying to slide them on so I had to lightly sand out the inside edges. One thing I didn't do is roll the car around before torquing the bushings, hopefully that is ok. I did measure hub to fender before torquing. I'm just hoping that there is about a half-inch room for error when it comes to "clocking" the bushings. Do you know if they have to be clocked extremely precisely or should I not worry if I was off by a quarter inch on one corner vs the other?
One of the four shocks had a tight spring seat but I was able to shimmy it down with patience, twisting, and forceful coaxing. I was hesitant to sand anything off the ID because that is where all the force is being transferred through to the circlip, it did scratch up the paint on the shock body but it's all under a dust boot and exposed to road debris anyways so I wasn't concerned about the look. I got between 0" and 0.25" drop with the Konis and they may settle further over time and/or even out corner to corner, I have read that if you don't get any drop at all four corners that it is likely the bushings not being clocked (specifically, many people report no drop in the rear and this is probably why - there are 10 bushings acting against the shock). It's a relatively small geometry change on the suspension and I doubt it was that accurate from the factory to begin with (the factory alignment wasn't perfect). You only have to do this on the rear since you loosened the upper A-arm to do the install and would re-clock them anyways by torquing the bushings under suspension compression (the lower A-arm bushings get re-clocked when you get an alignment). If you torqued any of them with the suspension uncompressed I would correct that before getting any alignment, you will absolutely wear out the bushings faster if done that way. One of the reasons to re-clock the bushings with the suspension compressed is so they aren't twisted when the car is sitting static. If they aren't re-clocked, they are always twisted and this can fatigue them faster as the suspension operates.
Koni provided a tall knob for the front and a short knob for rear (one for each shock, four total), I had no issues adjusting the rears with the short knob. Make sure you check your packaging. Small, loose parts can get stuck in the packaging. I bought my set from Flyin' Miata.
I’m doing this install right now and I’m finding it impossible to adjust the dampers once everything is bolted up. Those two lock nuts at the time seem to stop the entire inner shaft from spinning - effectively making it impossible to soften or stiffen the dampers. Is this by design? Am I supposed to set the dampers before I bolt it all together?
Here is the Koni instruction: ruclips.net/video/uXEm1-4xqgY/видео.html I tried adjusting all of the dampers right out of the box and had no issues (wanted to check before doing the work and finding out I had a problem), although one of them is a bit stickier than the others. You can do it with just the bare shock out of the coil over assembly. It's important not to crank the adjuster all the way to the lock and continue turning it with force. I turn them gently to lock and back them off a quarter to half turn when doing autocross. If you crank it into the lock you risk damaging things. The rears are relatively easy to adjust with the low profile plastic knob Koni provided but the one sticky shock I had was on the front and it completely stripped out the plastic adjuster when I adjusted it to the lock and tried to turn it back. The adjuster basically seized and I had to very, very carefully turn it back with pliers (you need to be extremely careful doing this). I purchased metal adjusters from Goodwin racing and have not had issues adjusting them since: www.good-win-racing.com/Mazda-Performance-Part/61-1272.html?srsltid=AfmBOoob3QiYDJ-fGApijml8WbagZVFOy8q7eVaG1THFPFHKx3Ppcne9 I make sure never to leave them in the full lock position because I'm bad about remembering the direction I need to go to adjust and don't want to continue torquing them at full lock making it harder to back them off the other direction.
FYI - for anyone installing the Goodwin 36/58 White Bump Stops - I reversed the bump stops front to rear in this video, it has since been corrected on my car but don't make the same mistake that I did!
I'm in the midst of installing the FM Stage 2 Koni kit on my 19 RF. I have referred back to this video so many times for not only the order of operations, but the reference material and specs needed to do the job right. Thanks for putting this together!
Glad that you found it helpful, just make sure you check and doublecheck your work against official resources - I'm not perfect!
Dude, I just completed this install myself in the driveway during this Illinois heatwave while making a video of the process but you beat me to it lol. I was having trouble torquing the upper shock nuts too, I figured as long as there are enough threads left to fully engage the second locking-nut on top then it should be about right. Definitely a great idea to mark everything with tape, I did the same exact thing. Did you happen to notice that the Koni perch ring and seat/cup needed sanding before fitting over the shock body? Mine were really rough and scratched the Koni's when trying to slide them on so I had to lightly sand out the inside edges.
One thing I didn't do is roll the car around before torquing the bushings, hopefully that is ok. I did measure hub to fender before torquing. I'm just hoping that there is about a half-inch room for error when it comes to "clocking" the bushings. Do you know if they have to be clocked extremely precisely or should I not worry if I was off by a quarter inch on one corner vs the other?
One of the four shocks had a tight spring seat but I was able to shimmy it down with patience, twisting, and forceful coaxing. I was hesitant to sand anything off the ID because that is where all the force is being transferred through to the circlip, it did scratch up the paint on the shock body but it's all under a dust boot and exposed to road debris anyways so I wasn't concerned about the look.
I got between 0" and 0.25" drop with the Konis and they may settle further over time and/or even out corner to corner, I have read that if you don't get any drop at all four corners that it is likely the bushings not being clocked (specifically, many people report no drop in the rear and this is probably why - there are 10 bushings acting against the shock). It's a relatively small geometry change on the suspension and I doubt it was that accurate from the factory to begin with (the factory alignment wasn't perfect). You only have to do this on the rear since you loosened the upper A-arm to do the install and would re-clock them anyways by torquing the bushings under suspension compression (the lower A-arm bushings get re-clocked when you get an alignment). If you torqued any of them with the suspension uncompressed I would correct that before getting any alignment, you will absolutely wear out the bushings faster if done that way. One of the reasons to re-clock the bushings with the suspension compressed is so they aren't twisted when the car is sitting static. If they aren't re-clocked, they are always twisted and this can fatigue them faster as the suspension operates.
I just got the same shocks with flyinmiata springs, the adjustable knob is unable to fit the rear, so we will have to buy a flat knob to fit
Koni provided a tall knob for the front and a short knob for rear (one for each shock, four total), I had no issues adjusting the rears with the short knob. Make sure you check your packaging. Small, loose parts can get stuck in the packaging. I bought my set from Flyin' Miata.
I’m doing this install right now and I’m finding it impossible to adjust the dampers once everything is bolted up. Those two lock nuts at the time seem to stop the entire inner shaft from spinning - effectively making it impossible to soften or stiffen the dampers. Is this by design? Am I supposed to set the dampers before I bolt it all together?
Here is the Koni instruction: ruclips.net/video/uXEm1-4xqgY/видео.html
I tried adjusting all of the dampers right out of the box and had no issues (wanted to check before doing the work and finding out I had a problem), although one of them is a bit stickier than the others. You can do it with just the bare shock out of the coil over assembly. It's important not to crank the adjuster all the way to the lock and continue turning it with force. I turn them gently to lock and back them off a quarter to half turn when doing autocross. If you crank it into the lock you risk damaging things.
The rears are relatively easy to adjust with the low profile plastic knob Koni provided but the one sticky shock I had was on the front and it completely stripped out the plastic adjuster when I adjusted it to the lock and tried to turn it back. The adjuster basically seized and I had to very, very carefully turn it back with pliers (you need to be extremely careful doing this). I purchased metal adjusters from Goodwin racing and have not had issues adjusting them since: www.good-win-racing.com/Mazda-Performance-Part/61-1272.html?srsltid=AfmBOoob3QiYDJ-fGApijml8WbagZVFOy8q7eVaG1THFPFHKx3Ppcne9
I make sure never to leave them in the full lock position because I'm bad about remembering the direction I need to go to adjust and don't want to continue torquing them at full lock making it harder to back them off the other direction.
Got it, thank you for the info.