Case Studies – Installing TEIN Stech Springs in a Evolution X

First, get the car into the air and secure the car safely using your jack stands. Next pop open your hood and locate the 3 14mm nuts that secure the shocks into your car.

Now crack those 14mm nuts loose, but do not remove them. Next take off your wheels and let’s get the shocks disconnected from your front spindles.

First undo the 12mm that holds your brake lines to the back of your shock assembly and pull away on the brake line.

Now undo the 2 main bolts holding your front shock assembly to the spindle and then use your needle nose to pull the bracket holding the brake lines to the mounting tab on the back of your shock.

After removing the nuts, use your jack to secure your spindle so that it wont fall.

Take care not to use the brake shield as a jack point, with the spindle and brakes secured, undo the nuts and pull the bolts out of your shock.

Now revisit the 14mm bolts in the engine bay and remove them, but make sure to hold your shock assembly so that it doesn’t fall.

With the shock now removed, you must now mark the orientation of the top hat and mounting hardware. You will be best served to remember the layout of the top hat and the orientation of the shock itself. If you have a spring compressor, now is the time to tighten it down on the front spring coil as to prevent harm when it uncoils.

If you don’t own a spring compressor, u can place the bottom of the shock against your rim and tire and gun the top nut off. If you are not comfortable doing this and don’t own a spring compressor, maybe this job isn’t for you.

Remove the top hat and set to the side, you should now be able to remove the rest of the bushings and mounts to get to your stock springs.

Now, with the top strut mount removed, locate your bump stop as it will require modification.

Using a marker, mark where you wish to remove the excess material in your bumpstop so that the Evo’s new stance will not create any problems.

Now reassemble your front shocks with your TEIN Stech lowering springs, make sure that you are aligning the marks on your top mount, and make sure the spring is seated flush against the shock body as shown here.

With the front shocks buttoned back up, you can now reinstall the entire assembly into the car. If you are working on a lift, you can now move on to the rears. Open your trunk and locate the push pins that hold the rear panel in place in the trunk.

Carefully push in the pin and pull out the tabs to allow you to remove the back panel.

You may elect to remove the factory trays that cover the spare tire and wheelwells. We elected to do this step, as the car was still pretty new and we didn’t want to damage anything. To remove these panels, simply push in the tabs as you did with the rear trunk panel.

Now, remove the long bolt that secures your rear shocks to the lower control arm and spindle.

Push the rear shock in and away from the lower assembly, and then go back up top and remove the 2 14mm nuts holding the shock in place. As you did with the front shocks, make sure you have secured the shock to prevent it from falling.

You’re almost there! Now undo the top bolt to the rear shocks, for those who skipped ahead or with some sort of attention disorder, use a spring compressor if you are not comfortable unloading the tension in the coil.

Seat the spring into the rear shock housing, making sure to line up the spring as your oe coil sat.

Don’t forget to modify the bumpstop!

Now tighten up the rear shock assembly and re-install into the back of your Evolution.

Now you are ready to rock and roll! Happy boosting!