I picked up my suspension from JB this week. I asked for a cast aluminum
look, which is exactly what I got. The pieces look great. I weighed them on
the bathroom scale, with the bolts, bushings, ball joints, and the box they came in. The whole thing weighed 72lbs.
The pieces come with ball joints, and bushings/bolts, adjustable balljoint
positions, and are considerably stronger then the stock units. When I exchange my stock units I will weight them and post the comparision. I highly recoomend JB and his work.
I started with the passenger front since it was handy. First order of business was to remove the wheel, brake caliper and rotor. After that I removed the upper a-arm and lower a-arm. It is handy to use a jack to compress the suspension in order to remove the sway bar which is under tension. The tie rod end, spindle, upper and lower ball joing were all left together. I also only needed to remove the shock from it's upper mount. I used duct tape to hold the whole mess up and away so I could install the new lower a-arm. Before you undo the ball joints and a-arms you should take measurements of where your spindle sits so you can "reproduce" that setting with the new suspension. Two settings you need are the height of the spindle relative to the body or ground, and horizontal position of the spindle relative to the body.
I then measured my existing bushings width on the outboard and inboard side of each bushing. The bushings I have are poly bushings with one side wider then the other. The new suspension comes with a bushing that is narrower then the stock bushing ( about 1/8" ) and also symmetrical, having just as wide bushing on the fore and aft positions. To compensate for the narrow bushing, you are given a set of shims. This is how the new suspension system get's the ability to change itself easily. The shims can be used to place the a-arms further forward in the frame or further back. Since my car was setup properly before removing the old suspension, I measured the offset in my existing bushings and replicated that with the shims. It is important that you not only measure the new bushing width but also where those bushings are relative to the old bushings. Where the new bushings are mounted to the arm is slightly different then the stock system. I measured again and again to make sure my shim placement was reproducing my existing bushing setup.
After I was happy with the shim placement I installed the lower a-arm. I then mounted the lower ball joint and shock to the new a-arm. JB supplied new bolts and washers for the lower ball joint. It went together very easily. I then mounted the upper a-arm again matching my existing bushing offsets with the supplied shims. I then mounted the spindle to the new ball joint in the upper a-arm. The new suspension system only replaces the upper ball joint not the lower. I used the jack to compress the suspension enough to mount the shock in the lower a-arm and sway bar mount. I had to get new bolts for the sway bar mount because the old a-arm had a threaded receiver, where as the new suspension is a plain hole which required a longer bolt and nut.
At this point you need to remeasure your spindle and make sure it is where you measured with the stock system. If you need to adjust you will use the threaded bushings, or additional/different shims. Shims will move the spindle fore or aft, where as adjustments on the bushings will move it up or down. The idea is to get it as close as possible to the stock system, to minimize time and money at the alignment shop. Assuming everthing is fine, tighten up all the bolts and remount your rotor and caliper. It's a good idea to compress your suspension a couple of times with the jack to check for easy movement, and also turn the wheel lock to lock to check clearance. I had no issues with clearance. I have after market calipers and rotors on this car which are larger then the stock system.
It was a pretty easy install. Not counting the trip to the auto store, it took me about four hours to disassmble and install the new suspension. I was taking my time, it could be done faster. Kudo's to JB for a nice product, and also fielding my call on a sunday morning for tech support. I called him to ask about the ball joint boots and how they were attached to the ball joint. The boot was not "wired" or there was no keeper to hold it against the ball joint. However it doesn't need to hold any pressure, rather just hold grease so it was not an issue.
