Post by Luis on Oct 19, 2005 20:14:06 GMT -5
[glow=red,2,300][/glow]
We decided to jack each corner of the car as we worked on it instead of the entire front/rear at once. Before jacking the car, open the hood. Place your jack under the car (we're using a piece of wood to spread out the weight on the frame and prevent damage) and place a jackstand as pictured.
Remove the front wheel for access to the suspension.
Start by removing the brake caliper. There are two bolts holding the caliper in place. Use a socket on the back side and an open end wrench in the slot to prevent rotation of the nut. Here we show both the top and bottom bolts being removed.
After removing the brake caliper, tuck it up out of the way. There is a convenient place to set it right behind the strut as shown.
Next, remove the ABS harness from its retainer clip (if ABS equipped) behind the brake rotor. This will ensure the harness does not snag when lowering the suspension.
Placing the jack under the A-arm, preload the suspension by raising the jack until it just begins to raise the suspenion. This step is essential to prevent injuring yourself or damaging the car!
Now, move up under the hood. Here we will be disconnecting the strut from the strut tower. be sure to scribe the location of the factory caster/camber plate prior to loosening anything! Once the location has been marked, remove the two nuts and one bolt that secure the strut in place. If you have properly preloaded the suspension, there should be little or no movement of the suspension while you do this.
With assistance, slowly lower the jack and suspension, ensuring that the strut does not snag on the car as it comes down through the wheel well. Once the jack is all the way down, you may need to compress the strut by hand to get it all the way out of the wheel well. When finished, your setup should look like this.
With the strut out of the way, reach in and pry the lower coil of the spring from the A-arm. You may need to use a pry bar for this. There will be very little energy stored in the spring at this point, so once it pops out of its recess, it won't shoot off at you!
Transfer the isolators to the new spring. Be sure to install them just as they were on the factory unit.
The new, shorter springs fit with little difficulty. Be sure to reinstall the spring in the same position as the original. The rubber isolators will leave marks on the A-arm which will help you locate the proper coil position.
Now the tricky part. With the help of an assistant, start raising the suspension up into the wheel well. This will require compressing the strut once again and locating it in the strut tower. While raising the suspension, you will also need to ensure that the end link for the sway bar is placed into the sway bar as the suspension is raised.
You will also need to ensure that the two studs on the strut are aligned and enter the holes in the strut tower without binding. Once the studs on the strut are about 50% into the holes in the strut tower, stop raising the jack.
Install the nut and bushing on the sway bar end link and tighten it until it stops turning. We like to use German torque (goodentight) values. At this time you can reinstall the brake caliper and ABS harnessS.
Under the hood, ensure the caster/camber plate is aligned with your original scribe marks. Snug down the two nuts and one bolt on the strut. once snug, raise the jack a bit to compress the strut and retorque the strut. You can now reinstall the wheel and lower the car. Repeat this process for the other front spring.
STAY TUNE FOR PART 2 HOW TO ON THE REAR SPRINGS
[glow=red,2,300][/glow]
We decided to jack each corner of the car as we worked on it instead of the entire front/rear at once. Before jacking the car, open the hood. Place your jack under the car (we're using a piece of wood to spread out the weight on the frame and prevent damage) and place a jackstand as pictured.
Remove the front wheel for access to the suspension.
Start by removing the brake caliper. There are two bolts holding the caliper in place. Use a socket on the back side and an open end wrench in the slot to prevent rotation of the nut. Here we show both the top and bottom bolts being removed.
After removing the brake caliper, tuck it up out of the way. There is a convenient place to set it right behind the strut as shown.
Next, remove the ABS harness from its retainer clip (if ABS equipped) behind the brake rotor. This will ensure the harness does not snag when lowering the suspension.
Placing the jack under the A-arm, preload the suspension by raising the jack until it just begins to raise the suspenion. This step is essential to prevent injuring yourself or damaging the car!
Now, move up under the hood. Here we will be disconnecting the strut from the strut tower. be sure to scribe the location of the factory caster/camber plate prior to loosening anything! Once the location has been marked, remove the two nuts and one bolt that secure the strut in place. If you have properly preloaded the suspension, there should be little or no movement of the suspension while you do this.
With assistance, slowly lower the jack and suspension, ensuring that the strut does not snag on the car as it comes down through the wheel well. Once the jack is all the way down, you may need to compress the strut by hand to get it all the way out of the wheel well. When finished, your setup should look like this.
With the strut out of the way, reach in and pry the lower coil of the spring from the A-arm. You may need to use a pry bar for this. There will be very little energy stored in the spring at this point, so once it pops out of its recess, it won't shoot off at you!
Transfer the isolators to the new spring. Be sure to install them just as they were on the factory unit.
The new, shorter springs fit with little difficulty. Be sure to reinstall the spring in the same position as the original. The rubber isolators will leave marks on the A-arm which will help you locate the proper coil position.
Now the tricky part. With the help of an assistant, start raising the suspension up into the wheel well. This will require compressing the strut once again and locating it in the strut tower. While raising the suspension, you will also need to ensure that the end link for the sway bar is placed into the sway bar as the suspension is raised.
You will also need to ensure that the two studs on the strut are aligned and enter the holes in the strut tower without binding. Once the studs on the strut are about 50% into the holes in the strut tower, stop raising the jack.
Install the nut and bushing on the sway bar end link and tighten it until it stops turning. We like to use German torque (goodentight) values. At this time you can reinstall the brake caliper and ABS harnessS.
Under the hood, ensure the caster/camber plate is aligned with your original scribe marks. Snug down the two nuts and one bolt on the strut. once snug, raise the jack a bit to compress the strut and retorque the strut. You can now reinstall the wheel and lower the car. Repeat this process for the other front spring.
STAY TUNE FOR PART 2 HOW TO ON THE REAR SPRINGS
