rosenfe

I was told this by a local Porsche shop on my 86.5. I don’t know what they mean by special

Rob Edwards

Nope, nothing special. Depending on the compressor you use, it can be a bit of a pain to grab the right number of coils and still get the spring compressed enough without getting the ends pinched in the coils. 0

GregBBRD

They mean they can't do it without a spring compressor, of some sort.

There's "simple" compressors. There's "trick" compressors. They both do the same job. "Trick" means faster/safer. If they do more than just an occasional shock/spring change, they will probably have a "trick" (fast/safe) one.

jpitman2

I did my shocks/springs with what I think is an ordinary unit - 2 long strong bolts, with 2 hooks on each, facing each other. One hook is threaded on each bolt, the other is free, up against the bolt head. German Made for the job, not as cobbled as it sounds. Have done all 4 shocks, no problems.
jp 83 Euro S AT 57k

GT6ixer

I've compressed small springs on my GT6 with the fast bolt and hook type compressors. Scary stuff knowing all that potential energy could possibly let loose from my Chinese made HF compressor set. For me personally I am going to save up and get a Branick compressor before I do that job again.

Wisconsin Joe

Who is going to pull (and install) the coilovers?

You? Or the shop?

Getting the fronts in & out is a bit of a pain. There's not enough room with both control arms installed. And if the front stays in, you have to adjust the angle as you get the coil over in (and out). The 'right' angle isn't the same as the coil over moves through it.
After getting the coil over undone, I unbolted the lower from the body and swung it out of the way. I used a jack under the spindle to adjust the angle of the upper arm as needed. Since the spindle was free to wiggle on the ball joints, it wanted to fall off the jack. Repeatedly.

Once it's out, replacing the shock is pretty straightforward. You will likely want to replace the bump stops too. Roger has them.
A good spring compressor is a lot better than the 'bolts & hooks' kind. Those scare me. It was still somewhat frightening to take them apart in a wall mount type compressor. There is a LOT of energy in that spring. If it lets go, things will get broken.

rosenfe

A shop will do

GregBBRD

Absolutely works. I did this for many years. But not very fast...and not super safe.

We charge 1 hour of labor to disassemble, remove the the adjusters, disassemble the adjusters, clean all the the pieces, go pull and replace the pieces that are bad, and re-assemble....for all 4 shocks.

Doesn't leave much time to fuss around....

z driver 88t

I used these from Advance Auto Parts or Autozone when I did the suspension on my '84 a few years ago. I've used the same on a several Nissans and BMWs over the years. The tool is free as part of their loan-a-tool program. You pay the deposit to use it and get a full refund on return. Pep Boys does the same thing.

https://www.autozone.com/loan-a-tool...ing-compressor

https://shop.advanceautoparts.com/p/...2&showTitle=no