Installing Megans--what bushings should I buy?

[spf_lexus]

Freezing is a good idea and might just do the trick. If the center slug is very hard to slide in (common w/ poly bushings) then grab a hacksaw blade and add a few sipes to the ID of the bushing (horizontal slits about 1mm deep to hold grease and alows excess grease to seep out. Also, see iff you can hold then tightly together with a vice and then let then sit there for a while to let the bushings fully eat into the arm.

 

[JohnnyStaff]

well i finally got it...freezing didn't work, squishing it with the vice didn't work, I didn't want to take it all off againg to try making some groves. What I ended up doing was hitting all the exess with sandpaper and got it all the way down to where it fit back on the car. I was gonna take pictures but when i saw it fit I bolted it right away and forgot to take the pictures. I think those bushings had to be pressed in with an actual press not just squezzed in however it could be done.

job I would not want to do again, it does feel a lot smoother though. Good luck Kev and thanks for all the help spf too

 

[Calikev]

Megans and bushings are on and looking good! I just can't seem to figure out why the car hits really hard on the driver side front---if I take a dip in the road it sounds like the coilover is gonna come thru the fender. I cut the plastic pieces in the fenders and rolled and flared the fenders too---the car is on 20x8.5 offset 40 on all 4 wheels tires are 245/35---nothing touches in the rear at all---I can turn hard with no rub at all just when I take a bump or dip it hits---Megans were measured out 3/4" from factory strut and installed and preloaded there---setting is 12 on stiffness knob on front---Any suggestions----I will post a pic when I get it all dialed in right---Thanks again to everyone for helping with this!

Kev

 

[spf_lexus]

Since you pulled the fender liners, check to see that the driver side does not have a large wire loom directly above the tire. The SC has a 1" wire loom thats commonly hit/worn from the tire bottoming out. Its fairly common on cars with big rims. I mentioned the loom because you stated the sound is coming from only 1 corner.

I had a similar issue when I installed Megans on my SC. Pop the hood and double check that the strut nut is tight. Its the center nut in the middle of the coilover hat. (3 bolts around it). Mine had maybe 2mm of loose slack that sounded like you said, "about to bust through the fender". I was baffled when all balljoints checked out and erverything was tight. I laughed out loud when I realized the top nut was maybe 3 turns loose. Most coilovers use a bushing up top and when tightened, will generally hold its tension. Because the Megans use a pillowball, its much easier for that top nut to vibrate loose from the road if not originally tightened correctly.

 

[Calikev]

When I turn the center nut the bolt that is holding it turns too----I let the stiffness setting out a little to 14 and the back is at 10---it feels a little better ---I will find out more tomorrow on my commute----Thanks spf_lexus!

 

[Calikev]

It rode alot better after raising the setting on the fronts to 14---the alignment shop said it had negative camber and was maxed out---there seems to be no camber kit available for LS400's---my measurements are:

R front --camber= -1.9 caster= 9.6 toe= 1/16 SAI= 10.7 incl angle= 8.8
L front --camber= -1.3 caster= 10.2 toe= 1/16 SAI= 10.1 incl angle= 8.8
cross camber front= .6 cross caster= .6 cross SAI= -.7 total toe= 3/32

R rear -- camber= -2.3 toe= -3/16
L rear -- camber= -1.8 toe= -3/16
cross camber rear= .5 total toe= -11/32 thrust angle= 0.00



Not sure why this car won't align properly...any suggestions!!!

 

[spf_lexus]

I am not a Daizen fan due to the vendor monopoly but they sell camber kits for the LS400, specifically the 1990 on up.

Another option is that you can have the alignment shop bore out the alignment "slots" a buit wider to correct the camber. In all honesty the LS has a LOT of room for camber. My LS is slammed 2" in the front and 2.25" in the rear and I still have zero camber in the front. Sometimes te tech doing the alignment can cause problems too.

Camber isnt a bad thing. Toe is the variable that causes tire wear. A degree or two of negative camber will really sharpen the cars turn-in and handling charactaristics. You can dismount the front tires and have them rotated side-to-side to evenly wear the tires.

 

[Calikev]

Here she is...Thanks for all the help!.

 

[spf_lexus]

very clean Kev, got the drop juuuust right! the LS looks great on 20's... they really fill out the fender wells w/o losing too much of the suspension travel.

how is the ride after all the bushings were replaced?

 

[Calikev]

Thanks Sean I never drove one of these in 93 when they were new, but it couldn't have been much better than it is now. I think I have the Megans dialed in just right. I don't get any real hard hits or anything I can't stand at all. It's actually just a little firmer than when it had the factory suspension. It had different 20's when I bought it so I never felt the 16" factory wheels on factory suspenion---It looks just like I wanted and handles a hell of a lot better!

 

[Calikev]

UPDATE: new set of 20's

Here are some recent pics of my car. I tried to keep it toned down, but had to get a little more bling. These are 20's with 10 width in rear and 9 up front. No scraps, or rubbing and the Megans are still doing really well. I had a little shake at 65 mph in the steering wheel and changed the PS pump valve and added new PS hoses after flushing the system and adding new clean fluid and the shake is gone. Weird...I thought it was a bend in my new wheels until I did this.

 

[spf_lexus]

Nice drop, perfect height... much cleaner than stock. I just went back to my roots and bought another 92 LS a few days ago. Hey if your still looking to mod, you might want to look into JDM Celsior headlights. They are 1 piece instead of seperate 2 piece headlights and fog lights. Ebay has them for sale all the time.