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Thread: Tophat Assembly

  1. #1
    Senior Member GOODY's Avatar
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    Default Tophat Assembly

    This is a bit of a stupid question but I need to know so I can get the car back together

    I'm in the process of making up some 86 coilovers with a hsd sleeve kit and I'm having problems getting the tophat/cambertop to fit.

    Can anyone tell me if the tophat is supposed to be drilled out so it's able to slide freely along the shock insert? Or it it supposed to sit on the "step" just after the thread.

    The reason I ask is because right now with the hole being drilled out to about 15mm I don't have enough thread poking out the top to get a nut on over the cambertops (T3).
    And there is not enough room to get a shank nut down there either..

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    Default

    I'm pretty sure you drill them out to a loose sliding fit for the shock strut.
    BUT I've never done it myself
    Launceston = Home of the surprise sodomist!!

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    Senior Member GOODY's Avatar
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    Yeh if I was to do that it would more than likely fix the problem, but I don't want to go ahead and do it then to find out that the hole shouldn't be that size.

    Can anyone confirm this for me??

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    Senior Member adam's Avatar
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    Default

    The top hat is only supposed to sit at the end of the threaded part of the shock. You'll need helper springs to keep the springs captive.

    What nut are you using to tighten the camber tops down?

    The nut you're supposed to use if it doesn't reach is one of those long ones. The threaded part is thinner and goes down inside the camber tops to reach the shock's thread. Sorry I don't have a proper name for this nut, but looks similar to the gold ones below,



    Edit: Here's another picture to give you an idea, the shock is actually below where a normal nut can reach.


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    Senior Member GOODY's Avatar
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    Default

    The kit I've got does have helper springs with it, but that nut you pictured above which I'm pretty sure is called a shank nut? I just don't think it will fit into the bearing, there just doesn't look to be enough room there..
    Right now I'm considering just using the standard ae86 top to get the car on the road, then save a bit and get some tien/cusco cambertops that use a different setup from what I've read.

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    Senior Member adam's Avatar
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    I've heard of a few people having trouble with the nut. Nut's thread not matching the shock's thread, etc. The nut you need will really depend on what shocks you're using.

    Bit odd that yours doesn't seem to even fit into the tops.

  7. #7
    Senior Member GOODY's Avatar
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    Na the thread does go into the tops, theres just not enough space there to get one of those nuts in from what I can see..

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