brick_lover
New member
- Joined
- Apr 3, 2006
- Location
- Ontario
NOTE**
u can read the text of how i suffered through the installation, or scroll down and see the before/after pics.
well, finally got all the parts assembled for my "suspension" part of the car, only thing that has to go on now are the IPD sways but they arent here yet.
anyways, the front of the car was a PITA. first, the tie rod end kept spinning, i tried what the brits suggested and put weight on it, didnt help. thank god i have air tools so i just kept at it with my air gun and it finally let go. i didnt even bother trying to remove the ABS sensor, i went ahead and pulled the plug in the engine bay and took the whole thing off
got the whole strut assembly out, removed the springs and came time to remove the shock retainer, u know, the one that holds the shock in its place....whoa what a pain in the ass, it took me a good hour to get it removed, tried a screw driver and hammer, nothing i just kept cutting into the retainer, so i took out my trusty air hammer and went at it, still nothing....so pulled out a torch and heated the sucker as much as it will go, took a hammer and banged the crap out of it, THEN the air hammer worked....lets just say that the retainer barely ressembled what it started off as. oh and the shock was garbage after that.
installed my EST springs, BUT i chopped half a coil off for some extra lowering. driver side = done. went ahead and installed the adapters and rims
passenger side, oooh now THIS was fun. the tie rod nut came off fine, but than the tie rod didnt want to come out....after some heavy duty banging and swearing it finally came off.
strut tower to lower control arm? same....didn wanna budge...some banging and jumping on my breaker bar finally had it come out.
spring came out fine then it came time to the retainer again....will it co-operate? yeah right.
i broke 2, thats right TWO air hammer chissel pieces trying to take this side off, after another hour it finally came off. Bilsteins slid in and the reinstallation went ahead like a charm.
once again, adapter/rims installed.
rear of the car, stock shocks were left where they were, i'll get to them later.
chopped 1.5 coils of the EST spring....well the top spring nut..didnt come off, it unscrewed itself from the body so all i did was pull on top of the spring and it slid out of its lower perch. gee that was easy, reinstallation was a breeze as well.
ditto for the other side.
okay, RESULTS:
whoa, what a difference, i cant wait for IPD sways to come as these arent even turbo sways but smaller and the car still sways back and forth a lot....but the response is a lot faster, car feels nimbler, the ride isnt that harsh.
now, the car didnt lower as much as i wanted it to....i'm hoping that the springs will settle some more.
the front tires are 225/45/17's on 7.5x 17 rim, adapters are 1.3" thick and the offset on the rims is i believe 40mm
front looks amazing, could go lower but well see
rear tires are 255/45/17 on 7.5x17 rim. the drivers side, no problems, no rubbing nothing, but i still rolled the lip. passenger side though....wow, lowering the car really threw the rear end out towards this side. i was jumping on the bumper while my brother was watching for rubbing, yup, definivitely, but like an idiot i didnt roll this lip, so thats the next thing to do.
i definiively need an adjustable panhard rod to center that rear end again.
so anyways, pictures:
before:
note, thats how i got the car, it rose another inch front and back when i ripped out the interior/dash/AC etc etc.
and this is now:
so yea, there it is
sorry for the bad quality, phone camera, and it was late with bad lighting....
anyways, ENJOY!!
P.S. i started at about 2pm after an hour and half of searching for damn spring compressors, i finished about 8:30 with an hour break for lunch.
i love my air tools....couldnt have done this without em. basically, it made removal/installation of rims & bolts much faster, and made the removal of the shock retainer happen. best 150 bucks i spent (8 gallon tank, grinder/air hammer/air gun, accessories)
u can read the text of how i suffered through the installation, or scroll down and see the before/after pics.
well, finally got all the parts assembled for my "suspension" part of the car, only thing that has to go on now are the IPD sways but they arent here yet.
anyways, the front of the car was a PITA. first, the tie rod end kept spinning, i tried what the brits suggested and put weight on it, didnt help. thank god i have air tools so i just kept at it with my air gun and it finally let go. i didnt even bother trying to remove the ABS sensor, i went ahead and pulled the plug in the engine bay and took the whole thing off
got the whole strut assembly out, removed the springs and came time to remove the shock retainer, u know, the one that holds the shock in its place....whoa what a pain in the ass, it took me a good hour to get it removed, tried a screw driver and hammer, nothing i just kept cutting into the retainer, so i took out my trusty air hammer and went at it, still nothing....so pulled out a torch and heated the sucker as much as it will go, took a hammer and banged the crap out of it, THEN the air hammer worked....lets just say that the retainer barely ressembled what it started off as. oh and the shock was garbage after that.
installed my EST springs, BUT i chopped half a coil off for some extra lowering. driver side = done. went ahead and installed the adapters and rims
passenger side, oooh now THIS was fun. the tie rod nut came off fine, but than the tie rod didnt want to come out....after some heavy duty banging and swearing it finally came off.
strut tower to lower control arm? same....didn wanna budge...some banging and jumping on my breaker bar finally had it come out.
spring came out fine then it came time to the retainer again....will it co-operate? yeah right.
i broke 2, thats right TWO air hammer chissel pieces trying to take this side off, after another hour it finally came off. Bilsteins slid in and the reinstallation went ahead like a charm.
once again, adapter/rims installed.
rear of the car, stock shocks were left where they were, i'll get to them later.
chopped 1.5 coils of the EST spring....well the top spring nut..didnt come off, it unscrewed itself from the body so all i did was pull on top of the spring and it slid out of its lower perch. gee that was easy, reinstallation was a breeze as well.
ditto for the other side.
okay, RESULTS:
whoa, what a difference, i cant wait for IPD sways to come as these arent even turbo sways but smaller and the car still sways back and forth a lot....but the response is a lot faster, car feels nimbler, the ride isnt that harsh.
now, the car didnt lower as much as i wanted it to....i'm hoping that the springs will settle some more.
the front tires are 225/45/17's on 7.5x 17 rim, adapters are 1.3" thick and the offset on the rims is i believe 40mm
front looks amazing, could go lower but well see
rear tires are 255/45/17 on 7.5x17 rim. the drivers side, no problems, no rubbing nothing, but i still rolled the lip. passenger side though....wow, lowering the car really threw the rear end out towards this side. i was jumping on the bumper while my brother was watching for rubbing, yup, definivitely, but like an idiot i didnt roll this lip, so thats the next thing to do.
i definiively need an adjustable panhard rod to center that rear end again.
so anyways, pictures:
before:
note, thats how i got the car, it rose another inch front and back when i ripped out the interior/dash/AC etc etc.
and this is now:
so yea, there it is
sorry for the bad quality, phone camera, and it was late with bad lighting....
anyways, ENJOY!!
P.S. i started at about 2pm after an hour and half of searching for damn spring compressors, i finished about 8:30 with an hour break for lunch.
i love my air tools....couldnt have done this without em. basically, it made removal/installation of rims & bolts much faster, and made the removal of the shock retainer happen. best 150 bucks i spent (8 gallon tank, grinder/air hammer/air gun, accessories)