Just FYI: I'd like to hear from mrFroge about those Gabriels, but my recollection is that his car is not lowered. He's running in a stock autocross class like me, which doesn't allow lowering.

Also, the required air capacity and pressure to air-up the Monroes is very small. You won't need much of a compressor or pump. I have a 5-gallon air tank that I fill up at gas stations. It barely moves the needle on the tank when I add air to the shocks. But with the car loaded down, I have noticed that the limited pressure in the tank doesn't raise the car as dramatically as when the car is unloaded.

 

I love the pump idea! I was browsing Harbor Freight (Harbor Freight Tools - Quality Tools at the Lowest Prices) web site to see what they have pump wise (electric as well as manual). This store is cheap and locations are popping like mushrooms after the rain. Stuff might not be of best quality, but at such a cheap prices .......... . I am contemplating an electric pump, electronic air valve and, within drivers position reach, electronic PSI gauge and two buttons (one for activating electric pump and the other for electronic bleeder valve).
I am interested in installing Monroe air dampers on my Civic EX as well as my Fit. Civic in US comes with such a soft damping spring rates that having just one rear passenger at under 160lbs lowers the car enough to alter the camber and starts cupping rear tires! We went to Los Angeles and back with 5 of us in it and rear tires are shot!
I am factoring a baby and all her gear (car seat, stroller, bags) and another person rinding on the back seat. There is no point buying new rear tires before I get those Monroe's in!
Ivan

 

Skimmer-
I thought that mrFroge was probably running stock springs, but he seems to know the Gabriel shocks well enough to advise on the user's ability to alter the stroke length. He used the Gabirel shocks instead of Monroe because of the Gabriel's rebuild ability.

 

Yep- you are going to need the air shocks with all of the new uses that your Fit-and-EX will be put to with the growing family. But keep in mind that air shocks are not recommended by their manufacturers to increase ride height, only to maintain stock height when overloaded. Some members may be intending to achieve a tail-high stance for balance or looks, and the air shocks will do that for a while, but over-extending them will cause the air bags to fail prematurely.

 

Monroe air shocks arrived today, 2 days early. Will install tomorrow and will post photos of install. I'm still an off-road "truck guy" at heart. These are "car shocks" and look a little small, but so do the stock shocks. I'm hoping for better rebound damping- will let you know how it feels on rough mountain roads.

 

Got my Monroe air shocks today.
I'll put them on over the weekend and hit some local canyon roads for a quick test drive and review.
I noticed the Monroe shocks are painted black now and not white like in the pictures? Anyone else received their MA811's in black?

.

 

The shocks that I received yesterday are white.

 

But where would you mount them? They need something solid to bump against.

 

Wish my Monroes were black. The white kinda sticks out. I may hit them with a spray can to make them invisible.

 

Same here- the blacks will stay black, but the white ones won't. All shocks get ugly from road grime, but the white ones start out ugly.

 

I called Monroe about the color difference and they mentioned some MA811's were painted black like mine. Same airshocks model.

Maybe they ran out of white paint for a while. Good thing they didn't paint them hot pink.


.

 

Evotech8 & Skimmer-
Warning--- don't try to use the rubber bushings & washers that come with the Monroe shocks for the installation. Another member did that and wound up with a lot of noise. You need to take the stock shocks apart and re-use the tubular metal bushing that is on the top stud, and re-use all of the rubber pads and stock washers. The bushings for the Cavalliers that this Monroe model is made for are much to small for the Fit.

I hope that you guys have the necessary tools to do the following: take the allen wrench that you used to loosen the top mounting nut on the stock shocks, and chuck it vertically in a vise. Then put the shock on the allen wrench upside down with the stud on the allen, and use a Vise Grips or other brand of locking pliers to turn the tubular metal bushing counter-clockwise to unscrew it from the shock stud. This is difficult to do because the bushing has been crimped my the manufacturer to prevent it from turning.

The stock plastic "dust boot" will now just fall off. Use a screwdriver to pop the big washer off the top of the plastic boot, and put the washers over the studs of the Monroes. Then screw on the metal bushings, and push the bottom big stock rubber pads over the metal bushings. You'll need another person to help inside the car as you push the air shocks up through the holes. Your helper needs to push the top stock rubber pads onto the studs, install the top large stock washers, and screw the Monroe nuts onto the studs a couple of turns.

Once the tops are loosely fastened, then you have to pull the shocks, HARD, downward to stretch the air sleeves open and stretch the shocks down enough to line up the lower "eye" with the bolt hole in the axle. You can use the two Monroe mounting washers that are supplied for the top rubber bushings as the needed spacers for the bottom mounts. The Monroe washers are just thick enough to fill the gap in the lower shock brackets (the width of the Monroe lower mounts is narrower than the stock shocks- about .355" narrower).

I took a lot of photos, but I just don't have time now to put them up. I still have to connect the air lines to the shocks, and have been working for the last 5 hours just to mount the shocks.

Adapting hardware that was made for a different car to fit properly on the Fit poses a few problems, but they are solvable if you have patience and the right tools. Good luck!

 

Manxman: Great advice about getting the stock bushings off. I did, unfortunately, install the Monroe bushings between the shock and the body. And I do, indeed, get some unpleasant noise in the car. It's not terrible -- only over certain kinds of bumps -- and there's doesn't seem to be any performance drawback. But I don't expect those Monroe bushings will last long in this application. So the noise will probably get worse and I may have to pull them and follow your suggestions.

One question: Does wrenching the metal sleeve off the stock shock like that totally thrash the threads on the shock? Will the shock be reusable or not?

 

Skimmer,
The tubular bushing on the stock shock is so light in weight that it must be either aluminum or a zinc alloy, and therefor soft. It smears all over the threads on the steel shock studs as you screw them off the studs. I was trying to keep from damaging the stock shocks, just in case the air shocks don't work properly. If I need to use them again, I will just chase the stud threads with a die to clean them up.

The fitment of the stock shocks is downright weird compared to every other shock absorber that I have worked on in 40 years. The stock studs are actually the same size as the studs on the Monroes. Whoever made the stock shocks just kept adding bushings and strange rubber pads the size of dough-nuts just to make them fit the huge holes in the Fit body. I am adding this to my list of gripes about some of the "oddities" in the overall design of the Fit.

Whoever the other member is who complained about noise, and talked about using Teflon tape around the air shock studs to make them fit, if you go back and use the metal bushings and mounting rubber pads from the stock shocks, your problems will be gone. Your comments about these things really puzzled me until I saw the difference between the stock shocks and the after-market air shocks. I will post photos later to show future buyers of air shocks what they should know about the installation. Also, will show what the "bump stops" are hidden inside the stock shock absorbers.

With air shocks, you don't need plastic "bump" stops built into the shock absorbers to limit compression to avoid breaking your springs on hard compressions. With air shocks, your "bump stops" are the rubber sleeves full of air that extend the length of the shocks when pressurized to compensate for heavy loads. If you keep the air shocks with the minimum recommended pressure of 20 psi, that air pressure keeps your rear suspension from bottoming out.

 

Looking forward to your pics. My shocks that I received are black.

 

Skimmer, chances are, if you do not use caution or have Dave's experience, that damage may occur. To be on the safe side drill the pinch point on the sleeve.
These are the steps I took to take rear damper apart to shorten bump stops:
Trick is in the amount of pressure you need to apply with lock jaws to elongate drilled sleeve so that drilled/pinched, point clears the treads.
If you squeeze too much other edges of the sleeve will make contact with threads, but if you do not squeeze enough drilled/pinch point will.
It actually isn't that hard if you first upon drilling, grab that sleeve loosely with lock jaws over the drilled point and turn it few times 360*. Once you "loosen" it up, switch the grip point to expose drilling point in between lock jaws and then lift it over threads and off the shaft.

I hope all this makes sense to you because I do not know how else to explain it.


Dave, I am looking forward your evaluation post in a few days.

Ivan

 

Yo radar-
I am giving up for the night. Have you installed your shocks? Your job makes your problem solving ability in the range of "high", so I am sure that without my photos and advice that you could figure this stuff out by yourself. If you have not installed them, wait. I will make it easier than you just going in blind. I just don't have the patience tonight for the time required to upload photos to the photo site, and then transfer them to this site with comments.

BTW- mahout- thanks for leading me into another frustrating maze. I will work it out, but would have appreciated knowing in advance what to expect. You are now on my "watch this guy" list.

 

Ivan,
I never even thought of drilling out the "pinch points". I just used the Vise Grips to lock onto the bushing a little distance higher than the "pinch point".

My stud threads are now filled with a smear of the softer metal of the bushings. The bushings are only there as a "space filler" for the very strange large i.d. hole in the body. Before attempting removal of the bushing, I tapped it with a hammer. The dull "clunk" suggested a soft metal. If I had drilled the bushings, I would have messed up the stud threads with the drill bit contact, and would still have to re-thread them with a die. My bet is that even with the threads smeared, I could still screw the bushings back onto the studs without re-threading with a die. If all goes well with the rest of the installation, I won't have to re-use the stock shocks. Based on other reviews, I am confident that I can just throw the weird stock shocks away.

Anyway, your advice is always welcome.

 

richard612,
You cannot add bump stops to the after-market air shocks, so the bump stop in the air shocks is the rubber sleeve that contains the air that elongates the shock absorber to adjust ride height when heavy loads are being carried. I would have answered you earlier, but I wanted to get a close look at the new air shocks and at my stock shocks after I disassembled them.

 

I think you are right Dave! Thinking about it now, I went through that sucker in no time with a drill bit! It had to be soft. I just did not bother to test it. Instead, I followed Eibach instructions for drilling.

This will bring relief to many messing with it.

Ivan

p.s. for pictures try Picasa (Picasa: Organize photos, instant albums, labels, stars, advanced picture search).
I am loosing my patience with Imageshack and likes.
With Picasa you can do basic picture editing and posting to web with 3 clicks!