As the title suggests i decided to buy large hole top mounts due to the increased adjustability.
 
I wanted an easy to adjust top mount so contacted wilkinson suspension in WA, and they said they dont make them anymore and passed their design onto suspension concepts in NSW, here is the link
 
http://suspensionconcepts.com.au/
 
And so i bought these
 

 
So who has cut their strut top holes bigger and is there anything i should look out for before i go hacking into my car?
 
The measuring part is alright as i dont mind spending half a day getting the holes in the right spots, but I am a perfectionist so the end product needs to look factory and be a perfectly circular hole otherwise it will mess with my OCD . Is a die grinder the best thing to use or is there another option?
 
Cheers
Ryan

 
Just buy the small top version and bolt them straight in.  The difference in adjustment will be bugger all.  SMCKA has them in stock

With the three or so layers the strut top is circa 3mm thick, complicated with spot welds between the panels.
getting a round hole with conventional tools will be time consuming if not impossible. A grinder wont do inside circles well, the die grinder is too small, I think 3mm steel will be too much for a jigsaw I think so you are left with a plasma cutter as the only real option but it will destroy the paint nearby.
Not really helpfull I know.
 
JP

Gdub
 
Just buy the small top version and bolt them straight in.  The difference in adjustment will be bugger all.  SMCKA has them in stock

I appreciate your advice mate, but the one listed there isnt a slide adjustment so that was the main reason i didnt buy that. I dont want to have to unbolt it and turn it round when i get to the track. Also I figured for the same price if i can get an extra 1-2deg camber and castor then why not, i dont mind cutting holes
 
Cheers jpayne, a die grinder as you said is small and would take forever but i dont really mind how long it takes. Ill take you up on that perfect circle challenge
 
Has anyone done it and can tell me approximately how long itll take? would be good to know whether to put aside one or a couple of days to do it right
 
Cheers for your responses so far
Ryan

Mate
 
It isnt as simple as turning up to the track and cranking in some camber!  Camber effects toe in/out so if you move the camber you will also need to adjust the toe.
The advantage of adjustable tops is that they give adjustment where the standard tops give none so you can get it where you want it. 
This is my polite way of saying  that you are on the wrong path

Thats fair enough Gdub i respect your opinion. And i do really appreciate you looking out for me. The plan was that when I get my wheel alignment done I can get him to sort out two setups, one for the street and one for the track. I was going to get the camber and castor set for street with toe 0, then get him to adjust the camber and take note of how many turns it takes of the tie rods to get the right toe for the track. Was going to put a thin line of paint on the tie rod and tie rod end to match it up. As far as getting camber and castor correct, I would measure where the strut top is in terms of the black base of it so I can put it in the correct place for either street or track.
 
I know im doing a lot more farting around than is neccesary but i really want to be able to have specific track and street setups
 
Thanks whooligan, i realise now how dodgey my statement 'i dont mind cutting holes' sounded. I will definitely make sure im careful and that finish is good. The car had some 'special features' like you talked about from the previous owners and i am slowly getting rid of them to a standard i am happy with. So i understand the frustration when people buy cars that have been messed with, because fixing their mistakes isnt fun at all, there continue to be things onb my car that i find and go 'Why did they do that!'. With making these holes bigger im going to make sure its planned out and completed to a high standard, one which nobody would be able to pick afterwards
 
Cheers
Ryan

i have put large hole strut tops in my MKII.  I got a K-Mac set 2nd hand and just drilled the holes to suit the larger strut tops.
 
I have since gone back to the small hole ones GDub suggested.
 
It's all in my build thread.
 
Cheers
 
Matt

Thanks Matt do you mind chucking a photo up of how it looks now? Have you filled in the larger holes you cut or are they still there?
 
I did some measurements last night and the new bolt holes will be very close to the old ones so would be good to see where exactly your bolt holes ended up in comparison with the old ones
 
Cheers,
Ryan

I enlarged small top mounts to large top mounts using an angle grinder and a thick grinding wheel with the same diameter of the large top mount on top and diameter of the small top mount on the bottom (ie. it was tapered). I took the grinding wheel and put a taper on the bottom of it to match the small top mount diameter (mark it out on the wheel using a sharpie and then run it in the grinder against other material until the taper is achieved). After the taper was put on I simply dropped the angle grinder into the small top mount and ground it out until the grinder wheel went all the way through. It was self centering and gave an OEM look to it.
 
Cheers
 
Justin

Thanks Justin thats really helpful, did the grinder bite at all when the hole was almost ground out?
 
Sounds like a good way to go about getting the hole perfect
 
Cheers,
Ryan