i just ordered the J&M strut mounts and they will be here next week. Ive done a good bit of searching on them and the concesnsus is that they dont come with instructions and tq specs. wat are the tq specs for the bolts? also is there anything else i need to kno about these? they are 1" taller than stock, will i have issues with my hood? im running KYB Gr2s and they have been on the car alittle over a yr (front only) and i would love to upgrade them to the KYB AGXs, tokio blues, or tokio luminas but i dont have a ton of cash right now. ive also heard that the stock strut piston covers wont fit with the J&M mounts? is this true? what will i use if they plastic covers dont fit? I also need alighnment specs for the front end? car has hand made STB, poly bushings everythere, reinforced front LCA, wonderbar, full TIG welded strut towers and it has the stock 36mm WS6 front sway bar with poly. im running SLP 17x8" rims with 245/45/r17 nitto 555s. i need alighnment specs for my setup. car is a DD and i drive it like i stole it but i dnt want crazy alignment so my tires wear fast. just a good setup. i need the specs so i can just tell the alighnment shop wat i want. thanks

torque specs on the plate bolts should be the same as stock, the other bolts for the bearing slider, just make them tight.

the plastic caps wont work, totally different design, you dont put anything over the Jm ones, they look just fine without.

no hood issues., the bearing is about 1" higher, but the strut mount is about the same height as the stock one.

no idea on alignment.

The plastic strut covers won't work. People have used colored shock boots (like the ones on 4x4's) but I don't know how they stay on, ziptie, maybe? I haven't gotten that far yet with mine I just bought.

yea i was talking about the covers that cover the piston that are inside the wheel well.

what size are the rubber shock covers? like DIA and length. these are things i need to get before. why dont the stock plastic covers work?

i would be using a zip tie to hold that bad boy on. im not sure how the top of the rubber strut cover would be attached that the strut mount side? the boot would slip over the strut and then spot tie it down. any idea on the mount side?

ok i installed the J&M strut mounts just now. i was told to tq the mounting bolts from the mounts to the strut tower to 24ftlbs. im prob really off on the strut angle lol but its going for a full alignment on sat. that will be costing me 100$ to do all 4 wheels to my specs .

so the mount bolts are 24ftlbs, and the bolts on the bearing slider are just snugged down? is the strut rod bolt really suppose to be like 50-70ftlbs!?!

also how did u guys install the bearing slider into the mount? its hard to see from the pics on the site, anyone got pics of theirs?

They fit fine with my Konis, just have to discard the additional washer the konis come with:

the plastic caps will NOT work with the J&M mounts. impossible

Do you mean the top covers or the plastic sleeves around the struts? If the latter then here's the impossible for you

Unless you have adjustable LCAs & PHB, don't pay for a 4-wheel alignment. If they let you, they are ripping you off. Even if you do, they can't do anything you can for free. Stock, there is nothing that can be adjusted on the rear of a sold axle car.

You have an IRS 3rd gen?

no twin turbo i meant the upper plastic caps on the strut mount. that cover the strut nut.
nice setup tho. i just spent 4 hrs trying to figure out why my car had no spark after putting new intake gaskets in on my HSR, found out the ACCEL control module decided to take a dump

Stephen, i have dual rod ended LCAs from UMI, i also have there rod end panhard bar, so yes the rear is adjustable. the reason for the rear alignment is bc i just fabricated and installed my ford 8.8... and i KNOW my LCA brackets are a tad off due to different cutting style for each of the sides to get them off the stock 9bolt. the angles are correct as far as mounting the brackets in relationship to pinion angle etc but i might have gotten them offset ( ones more forward than the other) this is why i have different wheel measurements when measuring the wheel in the wheel well on each side.

so my rear is adjustable due to the LCAs and panhard bar, my tq arm is the jegster tubular tunnel mount tq arm but its not adjustable. basically i want the rear wheels to be truly straight and not cocked alil (which will cause tire wear and the rear of the car to wander)

here are some pics of the install.

took about 4hrs to get the car fully aligned. got it set to
+5 degrees caster on left side
+5.5 degrees caster on right side
-0.8 degrees camber on the Left side
-0.8 degrees camber on the right side
i told the guy 3/32" toe in and on the sheet it says, -0.05 degrees toe in on left side, and +0.05 degrees toe in on right side.

on the rear end they set rear specs to
-0.1 degrees camber left side rear
-0.3 degrees camber right side rear
-0.05 degrees toe in left side rear
0.00 degrees toe in right side rear

can anyone tell me why my struts are so close to the rear of the strut pocket? also wat material is the "silver" underside bolt holder made of? zinc plated steel?

pics of the install, STB take off to be painted

the triangular bolt plate is steel, you can weld to it if that what you are asking.

the strut is that far back because thats what was needed to achieve your desired caster?

so how exactly did they adjust camber/caster on the rear solid axle?

i figured it was steel, i just didnt kno if it was coated... with zinc maybe? its really shinny is the point. i thought about painting it bc for it to rust would just PlSS ME OFF!

lol they didnt set camber on the rear. thats wat it was when it went in. camber was unchanged, i just wrote down the numbers. i told them i needed it aligned striaight. the rear LCAs that are adjustable offset rod end from UMI allowed then to get the toe pretty close to 0.

and i never said caster on the rear.

Why aren't your numbers the same for each side?

these were the specs that vetruck gave me when i told him wat my suspension was and how i drive, its a aggressive street setup. i assume the diff specs are bc the car naturally turns better to the left.

I remember reading one of his(vetruck's) posts on handling a while back where he suggested very similar specs. As I recall, the difference was to offset the effect of the extra weight on the left side of the car.

YOU CALLIN ME FAT!?! lol jkjk

lolz

Nope, just well-fed

j/k

Trust me, I need to work on that "driver mod" as well. If I could get back to what I weighed when I graduated high school 13 years ago, I'd pick up almost a tenth in the 1/4.

I would have thought that adjustable pieces in the rear would have enabled you to make the wheels straight? Ex: 0 toe and 0 camber?

No guarantee ANY solid axle is 100% perfectly straight. His was what? 1/2 degree off? Not bad.

When I did the alignment on my car at school, I think my 9 bolt was only 0.3* off. I'll try and find the sheet we printed off...

I JUST picked up the SPOHN single adjustable del sphere PHB and LCR from the post office this morning... My rear wheels were way off last time i did an alignment.
My rear wheels had this alignment this summer:
REAR LEFT CAMBER: -0.5
REAR LEFT TOE: 0.41
REAR RIGHT CAMBER: 0.0
REAR RIGHT TOE: -0.29

Honestly I'm not a fan of the "close enough" attitude, I'm more of a perfectionist, but I guess I'll try to get it as close as possible with the new adjustable pieces!

I'll let ya know how it goes in March/April when the car is out.
Later,
-Marc

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think you can change those rear alignment settings with adjustable suspension links. You can probably get the toe to match a little better by making one LCA slightly longer then the other, but the camber can't be changed unless you alter the axle tubes themselves. The caster changes with an adjustable TA otherwise it is the whatever was built into the rear unless you get some goofy offset TA bushing that no one makes.

Your right. Best one can hope for, is to split any misalignment equally between both sides. Any LCA change on one side. will affect the other. No other changes can be made by adjustment.

So you're saying CAMBER cannot be adjusted on the rear by suspension peices? How would you go about making the wheel have ZERO camber? New axles?

My guess is that you would need a shop to bend the axle tubes and then you should probably reweld the axle tubes to the rear end center section. Half a degree is nothing to worry about. The cost of fixing won't be worth it.

Yeah. Toe-In/Toe-Out can be adjusted by the LCAs, but whatever you do to one side, affects the other.

Adjusting caster would require bending of the axle tubes, via heating & cooling and/or new axles themselves, if your old ones are bent. But you can't really adjust the axles themselves, just replace them & adjusting the tubes would not be fun, nor would it be fun trying to find a shop willing to do that.

na im light. maybe 185lbs all muscle tho so watch out! ha

im not off by a 1/2 degree!? im off by -0.05 degrees... thats 1/2 of a 10th of a degree lol.
i doubt the axle tubes are straight. not to mention u cant really adjust toe and camber on a sold rear axle. im assuming the left was 0.05degrees off bc when i had the rear end setup the guy told me the left axle was alittle worn where the bearing was. when i have cash to burn ill upgrade to moser axles. thats where i think the 0.05 degrees is coming from.

sure the adjustable LCAs can help even things out but i cant get close to -0.05 on the left and 0.00 on the right with the toe. my camber was -0.1 left and -0.3 right.

to get thems straight they would remove the axle tubes, set new tubes in the axle and then using a jig align the tubes and weld them in. there is still gona be an offset, nothing can be perfect. but bending the tubes is not really an option. no real need to do it.

So just to clarify, the strut rod mounts a inch higher with the J and M over the stock strut mount?

Yup

I'm curious as to why they made the mounts so that the strut rod connects an inch higher? I don't see how it would affect anything?

For use on lowered cars, to put the strut back towards the middle range of its operation & not get bottomed out.

Makes sense. So would there be any problems with putting them on a car that isn't lowered? I'm thinking about putting them on mine, but I don't intend to lower it at all.

no problem at all.

agreed. should be fine with stock height. depending if u replace your springs ur prob already lower than stock. but even if u replace them back to stock new moogs there shouldnt be a problem.

the J&M mounts are strong but i managed to bend the J&M mount off the strut tower about 1/2", cant believe that 1/4" plate would bow that much. i guess sliding into a curb at 40mph sidways will do that

i managed to work them back to close there original form and rework the strut tower steel. struts fine, but i shattered my front rim and new new 17x10.5 rear rims, i bent one of my new UMI double rod end LCAs and i snapped my rear axle like a twig, as well as bent the axle tube and ruined a rear caliper. so my rear is junk and im down 2 rims, a new LCA, caliper! man that was one hell of a weekend.

Damn that's terrible man... I think i'll be more careful when doing crazy things near curbs lol...

Speaking of strut towers, I heard of people welding around them to make them stronger, does that help at all?

yea def watch out, curbs are unforgiving lol

yes, u can increase the strength of the sturt tower. its basically a reinforcement cap on top of it which adds thickness to the strut tower increasing its strength. this "cap" is what you see in the engine bay. its spot welded every couple of inches. welding it around will help but at the cost of if u had to replace it would be a much bigger pain in the A$$! those spotwelds could pull out if theres a big enough impact. Thankfully i did this to mine when doing the engine swap and if i hadnt im sure mine would have been in alot worse shape.

heres pics of the thread i did, i TIG welded them all the way around.
http://www.thirdgen.org/techboard/su...rut-tower.html (TIG welded strut tower caps)

Sorry about your misfortune--you're taking the accident better than I would. One question (a thought from another of your threads), was the STB you were/are fabbing in place at the time of the accident?

JamesC

i guess i would have been worse if i was the fault of the accident. but SHlT happens...

yes the STB was in place. the convertered 2pt which is now a 3pt. the STB def stiffenend up the front o the strut tower. i will post pics but basically the STB mounts on the front side of the strut mount. (towards the front of the car, the strut mout sits behind it) the back end is the ONLY side that bowed up on the strut mount. the side of the mount that was bolted near the STB is completely fine. that goes to show u have strong this STB is that i made. The STB is not bent either.

You make no mention of windshield damage or damage to the cowl where the 3-pt attaches, so apparently all's well there. Given the severity of the "whack" your car took, the above apparently bodes well, I'd think, for the design in the general.

JamesC

Give us a call tomorrow or PM me. They have a lifetime warranty even in accidents. You must have hit really hard because the plates are actually 5/16" and very stout.

haha not so much, the windsheild has 2 large cracks in it. they arent at the point of where the STB mounts to the firewall but it did cause the cracks to worsen, to the tune of about 8" in one day, about a 15min drive.

besides the strut tower and strut mount damage, there seems to be no more damage to the windsheild etc. its probably bc my STB mount isnt how i want it yet. it attaches like the edelbrock/BMR ones. just to the windshield "LIP". i want to fabricate a bracket with a peice that molds to the firewall area below the plastic netting at the back of the hood. the steel is curved and should increase rigidy of the 3rd point substantially. but i already have issues getting the cap off my distributer!

i also think the "wack" was in a different force than what the car would see on the road. not causing the windshield frame to compress but to go in the opposite direction and lift the car. but as the driver wheel came down and hit the ground it would see this "compression" force.

still, driving the car with the 3pt STB vs the 2pt STB caused the windsheild crack to spread over 8" in the one day i drove it. so gona go with the windsheild frame is not as strong as others think.

does anyone else have this issue to get the distributer cap off the engine with the HSR? i mean it takes me 25min to get it out, it doesnt fit not matter how i do it. its harder than chinese algebra!

hotpart... PM sent

if you dont get back to me tnite ill call you guys tmrw.

Below, my bad.

JamesC

The spread could have well been caused by the accident itself. At any rate, since the cracks had already formed, the point is moot.

JamesC

no, your not following me lol. i said i was driving the car and it spread over 8" in one day. I know this bc i watched it happen lol. a small bump and i look over and the crack is now an inch wider. it literally cracked 8" from a 15min drive, and most of the cracking was done within the first 5min of driving.

after the accident the crack has not spread... which im surprised about.

exactly. since there was already 2 cracks it doesnt matter since they will spread no matter what, i just found it interesting that the cracks didnt spread for 3-5weeks when i was driving the car with only the 2pt but the day i drove the car with the 3pt it had cracked 8". honestly i just want the crack to stop, they both originated on the pass side bottom corner. one moved up to the pass side apillar, the second is moving across the windsheild. is there anyway to tell a crack where to crack? lol. like score a line in the glass for it to follow or something. its low enough now (below the ram air II cowl) but if it turns up its gona reallyyyyyy bother me!

Once the windshield is replaced, let us know the results. Good luck with the car.

JamesC