Johnm400

The Bilsteins lower the front by about 10mm and the rears lift the rear by about 10mm. You end up with a horrible stance.

Did you use the oem springs though or swap to lowering springs? You can clearly see from my pic of the fronts below that the distance from spring seat to bolt eye is shorter on the Bilsteins which is why the front then sits lower. Weirdly, on the rears the spring seat to bolt eye distance is longer on the Bilsteins making the ride height higher at the back. I did manage to find this thread with exactly the same problem http://www.mkivsupra.net/vbb/showthread.php?345288-Bilstein-B6-shock-install-to-J-spec&highlight=bilstein and i contacted machman and he too never got to the bottom of the problem.

Latest update, the shocks have been sent back to Bilstein for the circlip grooves to be recut at my specified height. These shocks have caused me a nightmare tbh and I wouldn't recommend anybody go down this route of Bilsteins and OEM springs in future unless you want a car thats low at the front and high at the rear.

Im always treating her, i just treated her to some 500+ quid Bilsteins and now all the ride height is messed up!

Ive cracked this! The fuel cap has a spring loaded one way vent in it to allow air into the tank as fuel is pumped out. The vent seemed to be stuck open on mine for some reason. I pushed it back with a screwdriver and fitted the cap and the smell of petrol is now gone.

Yes i had it raised doing the shock absorbers and they are fine on mine, bit of light surface rust but nothing like your pic but the underside is generally in extraordinary condition. The previous owner of 17 years hardly used it and never in wet weather, some years only doing about 50 miles. Im guessing that cover maybe holds water sprayed up from the road which is what corrodes the pipes. Might be an idea to cover the pipes in an anti corrosion wax and drill some small holes in the cover for water to drain away easier? My fuel smell is deffo from the cap area, i can smell it really strong if i put my nose next to the fuel flap.

After checking the car all around the fuel tank area i could find no evidence of leaks. I did notice there is no smell of petrol under the rear of car or inside the boot. The smell is solely from the fuel flap area which leads me to think it can only be the fuel cap not sealing.

Well what a nightmare ive created for myself. I went and bought the rear Bilsteins so they are all matching. Problem is that the rears RAISE the ride height, only very slightly but with the drop at the front, the rear is now in the air. The car looks stupid and im really not happy. Bilstein customer service is awful, they just stopped replying to me about the fronts and i had to ask Larkspeed to get involved. I asked could i send the front shocks back but Bilstein refused because they had been fitted but how was i supposed to know that they would mess the ride height up without fitting them? Bilsteins own website says you can use the oem springs to keep the standard ride height. Thinking Andy could make me some collars to lift the height, i went and bought the rears and now have double the problem! I believe Toyota fitted a different spring when they fitted Bilsteins from the factory. Im wondering was the rear spring shorter and the front longer? Im now looking for some oem springs that were fitted to the Toyota Bilsteins. Does anybody have pics of their car with Bilsteins on Eibach springs? Im curious as to how the car sits? The front must be really low.

Wanted oem springs off Bilstein shocks. These must be the springs that Toyota fitted to the Bilsteins as they were different than the normal springs.

Thats exactly the problem right there. The difference is 15mm. I can only conclude that Supras turned out from the factory with Bilsteins must also have been 15mm lower than those that turned out with the basic KYB shocks.

Knowing my luck it would then be too high!

So the update on this is that the Bilsteins will lower the car by 15mm if you were using the original Toyota KYB shock absorbers. They only keep the standard ride height if you are swapping from factory Toyota Bilstein shocks. Supras with Bilsteins from the factory must of been 15mm lower than Supras with the KYB shocks unless the springs that came with the factory Bilsteins were different/longer? Bilstein say making a 15mm collar to sit under the spring seat wont work (ive no idea why not as surely any rise in the spring seat will also lift the car) and the only option is for me to return the shocks and have them machine a new groove into the shock body 15mm higher up and then fit another circlip for the spring seat to sit on. This has now become a PITA! Im sick of taking them off and putting them back on and now ive got refit the old shocks to send the Bilsteins back and await them altering them then refit them all over again. I also have the exact same problem facing me when i buy the rear shocks. I looked into just selling the Bilsteins at a loss to get some money back and then buying some coilovers but HSD say their coilovers will lower the car by 20mm on the highest setting so im assuming no coilovers will give standard ride height but ive also emailed BC Racing to see if their kit is the same. The only other option is air suspension so i can lift the car as i drive into the garage but i really do not want to go down that route.

Thanks for the pic. Im thinking maybe that pipe along the top which i assume is a breather

Ill check that but as i said i dont suspect a leak like that as there is no sign of anything under the car. Im thinking more of something around the filler neck as thats where the smell is real strong.

I only put 20 quid a time in because its not my daily driver.

Ill have a look but i dont suspect a leak as theres never any damp spots on the floor. Im thinking more that its fumes escaping somewhere around the fuel filler neck area

Im getting a petrol smell near the rear drivers side but no sign of any leaks and the fuel cap seal looks good. It seems worse after just putting fuel in. Is there any problem areas around the filler that i should look for?

Just to also add, the strangest thing happened when i jacked the car up. The spring was now tight with the weight off. It seems the rod does not extend as far straight after there has been weight on the car but when left overnight the spring became slack again so im not too concerned with the spring being slack anymore, its the lowering effect thats now bothering me.

That shock in the pic is the rear mate. The part numbers are correct as ive checked with Bilstein. They sent me a diagram of the shock with measurements and all those are correct too. I can only assume that the Bilsteins do in fact lower the car a little and are designed to do so but adding lowering springs with them must give a fairly large drop as you get the lowering effect of the spring and the shock combined. This is all well and good but the reason i bought the Bilsteins was because i was under the impression they keep the standard ride height when using standard springs. Im also now in a catch 22 situation with the rears. I was going to buy the rears so they are all matching but the last thing i want to do is lower it at the rear too. I really could do with a 15mm sleeve that sits between the circlip and spring seat to lift it back to standard height.

Yes, that holds the bump stop to the top of the rod. Ive had it all apart and checked 3 times and the Bilstein dampers definitely lower to car by about 15mm when using the original springs so with lowering springs, the drop must be about 35mm

Ah i see, ill give Bilstein until next week to come back to me, if not ill contact him and see what he suggests. Thanks for the help!

Yes, that holds the bump stop to the top of the rod. Ive had it all apart and checked 3 times and the Bilstein dampers definitely lower to car by about 15mm when using the original springs so with lowering springs, the drop must be about 35mm