I turned back to the OEM shocks, but my heart had been set on the coilovers and over the next week I slowly came to the conclusion I should treat
myself to a setup - I've been dying to spend some money on the car after all... I didn't fancy the cheap-looking GMax though and I have said all along that I want to keep it as JDM as possible, so I did a bit of research and decided on an entry-level kit from Japan bad boys TEIN [http://www.tein.co.uk], who I've heard and read a lot of good things about - they are also very nicely made and look fantastic! Theyr'e pricey @ £650 [cheapest I could find off a guy called mjd128 on eBay], but you get what you pay for...Coilovers are a serious suspension upgrade, replacing the entire spring/shock assembly with a much stiffer, sturdier damper unit, which is also lighter and more compact as well as, most importantly, being completely height adjustable, with the TEIN set we went for dropping the car from 5 - 50mm! [The set comes with two special spanners and it only takes a minute to raise or lower the damper with the wheel off.]
Fitting:
I had a mechanic from work lined up to fit the OEM shocks, but when it came to the coilovers I found a nice vid on Youtube of two Australian lads fitting them to a Ver.5 STi and it didn't look too hard. Because coilovers come as a complete spring/damper unit there's no need to compress the spring off or on so I decided to have a go myself. I guess Aussie weather preserves metalwork better than in Britain, because those nuts were really on there and it turned out to not exactly be a breeze, but my dad and I did manage to get the rear two on in a couple of afternoons.
The task itself isn't hard provided you have a few spanners and are willing to get your hands dirty, but you need to be prepared to use ingenuity, especially if you live somewhere with a climate like Britain, to get the old shocks off.
PROCEDURE [Rear Shocks Only]:
REMOVAL:
1. Remove the rear seat-squab, seat-back and parcel-shelf by first removing the two screws from the front edge of the rear seat-squab (at the footwell) using a 12mm wrench. Lift the squab and pull it forward out of the way. Remove the three screws at the base of the seat-back using a 12mm wrench, lift it vertically up off the hooks holding it in place and move it clear. Gently pull one side of the parcel-shelf out from under the plastic on the C-pillar and once it is free the shelf should work its way out pretty easily.
2. Remove the two rear seatbelt pulleys by unbolting them from their frames at the base of the C-pillar using a 14mm wrench [though I recommend a socket-set with a few inches reach] and carefully move them out of the way of the suspension turrets.
3. Lift the car and remove the corresponding rear wheel.
4. Slightly loosen the three 12mm nuts holding the top-mount of the shock-absorber to the suspension turret under the rear parcel-shelf so that they can be removed without too much tension later.
5. Remove the brake-hose from the bracket on the shock by turning the collar of the hose and moving it up slightly, which should loosen it enough to pull the thin, flat metal clip out and free the hose. [Our OEM shocks had no U-shaped bracket to slide the hose out of - it was just a closed circle, the hose must have been woven through the shock - so we had to make a cut from the side of the bracket to the hole with a hacksaw and bend it open with
grips to get the hose clear without disconnecting it.]
6. Using a 17mm wrench crack off the two large bolts holding the shock-absorber to the wheel-hub. [Ours were seized on so tight with dirt and crud that we needed a very long bar over the spanner to get enough leverage.] You will then need a second 17mm wrench to hold the nuts in place while undoing the bolts and it may also be necessary to brace it against a heavy part of the axle setup to get a turn on it.
7. Remove the three 12mm nuts from the studs on the top-mount of the shock completely so that only the tension of the spring is holding the shock-absorber in place.
8. Now that that two large bolts holding the base of the shock have been removed, the brake-assembly should tilt forward a little to allow the shock room to move out. The spring will still be holding the base of the shock against its mount but, as there is no weight on it, it should work back out of the mount and down into the gap behind the axle. The top-mount studs should now clear the suspension turret and the shock and spring assembly can be lifted out of the wheel-arch.
ASSEMBLY:
If you're coilovers are fitted with top-mounts right out of the box then go straight to Refitting. If they require you use the car's standard top-mounts [like ours did] then you'll need to get them off the old shock by slowly removing the 19mm nut at the top of the damper-piston - when the nut comes free the spring won't be under enough tension to pop anything off. The piston will begin to turn with the nut, so grip it in a vice if you have space, though strong grips or better still mole-grips will do fine.
Include the top-mounts in the assembly of your coilovers, but don't tighten the nut at the top of the piston completely [the coilovers will have a notch so the piston won't turn with the nut], so that the triangular top-mount can still be rotated to find the turret.
REFITTING:
1. Reverse the lifting out procedure to get the coilover in place with the three top-mount studs mounted in the turret.
2. The coilover shouldn't be under much tension at all with no weight on it and most [including ours] have helper-springs to ease compressing them slightly, so with a little elbow grease it should move into place to get the two large 17mm bolts through to fix the
base of the damper 
to the hub. [We placed a thinner metal bar through the top hole to help get the coilover aligned, which made it easier to get the lower bolt in first.] Tighten the nuts using two spanners again until the brackets on the damper are clamped tight to the hub-mount.3. Slide the collar of the brake-hose into the U-shaped bracket on the coilover and insert the flat metal clip beneath it to hold it in place.
4. Replace the three 12mm nuts to the top-mount studs on the suspension-turret below the parcel-shelf.
5. Now the coilover is seated, tighten the large nut on the top of the damper-piston to about 40PSF with a torque-wrench. [We used a lo-tech 'bendy-bar' torque-wrench, but whatever, I'm sure just a good tighten would be fine.]
6. Replace the wheel, parcel-shelf, seat-back and squab.
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This was quite an ambitious task to undertake at home - we found ourselves baffled, frustrated and dashing out to buy new tools more than a few times!
Demon Tweeks quoted me £200 to fit all four coilovers and said it would take about 2 hours. With all our figuring-out and store trips we spent a good 10 - 12 hours over two afternoons fitting just the rear pair [although I hope this guide might help one of you to do it quicker than us] - a saving of about £100 - but either way they're on and the suspension is now MOT'able!
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