Naake Front Coilovers

[FordNut]

I got started on my front suspension upgrade today. I have a full set of rebuilt Naake shocks. However I have heard of some issues with coil bind on some cars and the main reason I want to upgrade is because of increased weight causing the front end to squat, so I believe the OEM springs will be better for me. As far as I know, nobody has posted a pictoral guide of the Naake setup, so here goes...


This is the full setup in the kit for one front. Bushings & spacers for the bottom eyes, locking ring and load bearing ring for bottom spring support, thrust plates and thrust needle bearing for bottom spring support, washers, bushings, nuts for top shock mount, spring, shock. The top spring perch must be removed from the OEM shock.


OEM front, yes it's a coilover.


Spring compressors.


Spring compressed, remove top nut.


Disassembled OEM coilover.


Tools removed.


OEM vs Naake. The Naake unit can be re-assembled without the spring compressors using the supplied springs. More fab work will be necessary to use the OEM springs but they may possibly be installed without the spring compressors also. I took them back to Auto Zone, free tool rental. If I need them again after I fab my special parts, I'll go get them again.

A few things I don't particularly care for and I'll address them in my custom setup. First, the specified assembly process has the bottom of the spring sitting directly on the thin thrust washer of the needle bearing. There should be a thick, heavy duty thrust washer there as the uneven end of the spring deforms the thin metal. Since I have to make a custom plate to use the OEM springs I'll take care of this in the mod. Second, the thrust bearing is not sealed, allowing corrosion to form. I'll clean and lube it, maybe I can fit an o-ring of some sort on the outside surface. Third, the specified assembly does not use the bump-stops which are on the shafts of the OEM shocks. I'll be using them, but it's a pain to install them on the Naake's. Fourth, the top bushings don't fit the mounting holes for the top spring perch very well. They are too small. I found a set that came from another set of shocks that fit a lot better.


Difference in length of springs.


Difference in length of shocks. The Naake shocks are longer when extended and shorter when compressed. They have a lot more travel than the OEM shocks. The bottom spring perch will slide up & down the OEM shock but won't come off, so something has to be cut or the shock has to be disassembled. Once it is removed it won't fit the Naake shock body, so customizing will be done.

That's all for now...

[freakstatus]

Thanks! This is awesome info.

[O's Fan Rich]

Brian, I welded the top stock "hat" up using a heavy body washer to fit the upper bushing better.

[Krytin]

Brian,
The topcap/ring on the oem shock pulls/slides off. You may have to tap it a few times w/a drift to get it started.
Paul

[liquid]

Brian,
The topcap/ring on the oem shock pulls/slides off. You may have to tap it a few times w/a drift to get it started.
Paul

I concur... I know the OEM shocks very well. We usually just used the spring seat as a drift to tap the bump cap off the shock. As long as you're tapping as close to the shock body as possible, spinning the shock as you tap, you will not damage the spring seat or the cap.

On the aftermarket shocks, the extended length should be controlled so that you don't overtravel the rest of the suspension. On these cars the shock is the ultimate rebound stop, so if you have extra rebound travel then the ball joints and bushings can be damaged if the wheel drops any farther than the OE shocks would have allowed.

[TooManyFords]

the main reason I want to upgrade is because of increased weight causing the front end to squat, so I believe the OEM springs will be better for me.

Brian, why didn't you just spin the adjustment nuts up to raise the front? Don't get me wrong, I enjoy watching people do new things, but just going on "hearsay" about coil bind without experiencing it seems, what, drastic?

Good pictures, btw. Subcribed to see how this comes out.

John

[FordNut]

Brian, why didn't you just spin the adjustment nuts up to raise the front? Don't get me wrong, I enjoy watching people do new things, but just going on "hearsay" about coil bind without experiencing it seems, what, drastic?

Good pictures, btw. Subcribed to see how this comes out.

John

Just trying to do it in one shot. I have no problem with the spring rate of the OEM springs, so why not use them?

[FordNut]

Brian,
The topcap/ring on the oem shock pulls/slides off. You may have to tap it a few times w/a drift to get it started.
Paul

I concur... I know the OEM shocks very well. We usually just used the spring seat as a drift to tap the bump cap off the shock. As long as you're tapping as close to the shock body as possible, spinning the shock as you tap, you will not damage the spring seat or the cap.

On the aftermarket shocks, the extended length should be controlled so that you don't overtravel the rest of the suspension. On these cars the shock is the ultimate rebound stop, so if you have extra rebound travel then the ball joints and bushings can be damaged if the wheel drops any farther than the OE shocks would have allowed.

Thanks. I'll look into some extension travel limiting straps.

[FordNut]

Found that 2" pipe is the right size to slip over the threaded body of the shock. Cut the threaded ends off, about 1-3/4" for each side. Shop around, some of them are smooth on the inside and some have a ridge.



The pipe sections will thread into these floor flanges. They serve multiple purposes, one is they have a tapered section on the inside so they provide a good transition from the pipe to the bearing without interfering with the adjusting nuts and second they provide a wide load-bearing surface for the bearing. These are at the machine shop now getting cut to 3-1/4" diameter.



The bottom spring perches did in fact come off the stock shocks, but they won't fit over the threaded section of the Naake shocks.



So I did a little grinding.



More to come...

[Krytin]

You're on the right track!

[FordNut]

Here's the fabbed pieces with the flanges cut to 3-1/4" diameter. Also gotta be careful that the threads are straight on these things, some of them at the hardware store were terribly crooked:



The threaded pipe and flange were loctited together with red loctite so there won't be any adjustment other than the adjusting rings. Once the spring perch saddle was stuck on the pipe, it was loctited in place with the green stuff. Here's the bearing and plates along with the fabbed parts and the bored out perch:



I put the bump stops from the OEM shocks on these:



I greased up the threads with synthetic grease, not really necessary but I didn't want the pipe to mess up the shock body. I'll clean off the excess before installing on the car.



Here's the bump stop and the rubber bushing & washer. I got the bushings and washers from a set of shocks that came off the rear of an '89 Crown Vic. Much better sizing than the ones that came with the Naake's:



Here's the bottom perch assembly and needle bearing assembled onto the adjusting nuts, I like this a lot better than just letting the bottom of the spring ride on the thin metal thrust bearing and messing it up:



With the short Naake springs or with cut OEM springs it wouldn't be necessary but with this setup I needed spring compressors to re-assemble:



And here they are, ready to clean up a little and install:

[liquid]

I would suggest re-using the OE dust tube and cap; the dust tube for obvious reasons but the cap has many functions: 1. provides a place for the jounce bumper (yellow thingy) to go when the suspension is in full compression--otherwise all that foam rubber is just going to squish outwards and eventually rip in half or extrude over the shock body. 2. has some influence on jounce bumper rate. 3. on the OE setup, the cap provides the metal-metal stop for the entire front suspension... may be a moot point on these shocks since there is no striker cap on the shock body.

Oh and in your pics the jounce bumper is upside-down... on the OE setup the curved "nose" goes towards the shock, and the other end fits really nicely into the aforementioned dust tube cap.

[Marauderjack]

Nice work Brian!!!

I hope they work as good as they LOOK!!!

Marauderjack

PS: Are you considering becoming a "Vendor" and mass producing these.....I'd order a set NOW!!

[Krytin]

Very Nice!!
They look A LOT better than mine - must be why I could never find the time to take pictures.

Very well done and there is a market for them - I'll buy the next set you have available!

[FordNut]

I would suggest re-using the OE dust tube and cap; the dust tube for obvious reasons but the cap has many functions: 1. provides a place for the jounce bumper (yellow thingy) to go when the suspension is in full compression--otherwise all that foam rubber is just going to squish outwards and eventually rip in half or extrude over the shock body. 2. has some influence on jounce bumper rate. 3. on the OE setup, the cap provides the metal-metal stop for the entire front suspension... may be a moot point on these shocks since there is no striker cap on the shock body.

Oh and in your pics the jounce bumper is upside-down... on the OE setup the curved "nose" goes towards the shock, and the other end fits really nicely into the aforementioned dust tube cap.

The threaded shaft is too short to use the dust cap, can't get the nuts started. These shocks have a lot more travel than the OEM shocks so I doubt if it will reach the limits and make use of the jounce bumper, it was just a safety factor so the shocks wouldn't bottom out really hard if it were to happen at some point. Not sure if the dust cap will even fit on the threaded part of these shocks anyway. The inside part of the bumper that goes on the shaft fits these shocks much better upside down. Upside down is better than the metal-metal stop that it would have been otherwise.