02J4accord
Member
So after installing my Sportlines on my FACTORY struts (yes I know I will be talked down upon for this), my top hats where riding on the bump stops. So I did some reading and I found people made or bought extended top hats to correct for this. I could not find them for our car so to the backyard shop it went. There seem to be mixed reviews on whether this help or hurt but I have to say it really did alot for the way my car rides now. I now have more suspension travel. Only thing I would have done diff is I wouldnt have made them so tall. The stuts top out every once and a while but its not to bad that I think it will effect them. I have been riding on them for allmost 6 months now and that is my only complaint.
Original post:
http://www.6thgenaccord.com/forums/showthread.php?t=26654&highlight=top+hats
-Just to make this clear, this did not lower my car any more than just the springs did. It is mearly just to add a little more suspension travel.
-So first I took my tophats off of my spring/shock set-up
-Then I used a piece of pipe and cut it to the length that I wanted to extend the tophats (sorry no pic of pipe by itself). The pipe that I used was from an old pipejack that I found at the shop. It was thin walled and fit around the shock tube. It is necessary for the pipe to fit around the tube are it defeats the purpose of doing this at all.
-I used this piece of the pipe to mark out my cut on the top hat. Then I used a torch to cut the center out of the tophat
-Cleaned up the center piece that I just cut out the top hat and stuck it inside the top of the pipe.
-At this point that was welded for ease of welding.
-Then the pipe was centered on the top hat and welded in place.
-Cleaned off the nasty poopoo weld I put on the top
-Then painted with primer and black topcoat.
-Now I reassemble spring to strut.
-I then had to make the whole a little bigger in the upper mounting area. This was all primed and touched up with some black paint before reinstalling the struts.
This is how I did it. Im not saying that doing this is for everybody or even needed at all. I'm not at all a professional nor do I know a whole lot about this but I just thought I'd share. If you decide to do this, I am not going to be responsible for your suspension giving out on the interstate and wrecking.
let me know what you guys think
Have a nice day and enjoy
Original post:
http://www.6thgenaccord.com/forums/showthread.php?t=26654&highlight=top+hats
-Just to make this clear, this did not lower my car any more than just the springs did. It is mearly just to add a little more suspension travel.
-So first I took my tophats off of my spring/shock set-up
-Then I used a piece of pipe and cut it to the length that I wanted to extend the tophats (sorry no pic of pipe by itself). The pipe that I used was from an old pipejack that I found at the shop. It was thin walled and fit around the shock tube. It is necessary for the pipe to fit around the tube are it defeats the purpose of doing this at all.
-I used this piece of the pipe to mark out my cut on the top hat. Then I used a torch to cut the center out of the tophat
-Cleaned up the center piece that I just cut out the top hat and stuck it inside the top of the pipe.
-At this point that was welded for ease of welding.
-Then the pipe was centered on the top hat and welded in place.
-Cleaned off the nasty poopoo weld I put on the top
-Then painted with primer and black topcoat.
-Now I reassemble spring to strut.
-I then had to make the whole a little bigger in the upper mounting area. This was all primed and touched up with some black paint before reinstalling the struts.
This is how I did it. Im not saying that doing this is for everybody or even needed at all. I'm not at all a professional nor do I know a whole lot about this but I just thought I'd share. If you decide to do this, I am not going to be responsible for your suspension giving out on the interstate and wrecking.
let me know what you guys think
Have a nice day and enjoy
amen, no suspension issues and rides noticeably better than spring/strut combo.
