JWise

I just bought a nice set of used Bilstein/Eibachs from 928 Int'l (thanks Mark!). I'll be installing the rears myself, and will likely leave the fronts to my mechanic as that job is somewhat more intimidating to me.

Anyhoo, I've perused both Tony's excellent writeup as well as the factory WSM. Tony's method includes removing the rear caliper and dust shield, whereas the WSM requires removal of neither (page 42-14). However, the WSM prescribes disconnecting the stabilizer bar at the control arm.

I understand removing the caliper/shield enables punching out the pivot pin, and will likely be necessary. I'd like to try it without removing them first, though, if possible. However, I see no reason to disconnect the stabilizer bar, as stated in the WSM. Am I correct in my thinking here?

One additional question, one of the rears has two rubber washers, the other has only one. See attached second picture. Are two really necessary, or am I safe installing as is?

(The protective boot hides the washer(s) on the front coilovers from view, I can hear them sliding but can't tell if there is one or two)

Greta and I thank you for your input!

j.kenzie@sbcglobal.net

Wow! Those are very nice looking USED springs and shocks. I followed the WSM and dropped sway bar. I forgot to torque it down fully and had a nasty squeak. The hard part was getting everything lined up to put the long pin back in place. Use lots of antiseize on the pin BTW.

Panzer9

Just make sure the bottom mounts are oriented correctly- they are slightly angled, as you'll notice.-- Pretty straight forward.

Bill Ball

You are missing a plastic washer that allows air venting as the shock moves inside the dust cover or it was put on in the wrong order above the bump stop rubber. I don't know what the effect of that will be.

You don't need to unfasten the droplink. I guess if you pull the pivot rod out from the rear, you don't need to remove the caliper and backing plate. I don't do it that way. I remove both nuts with my rattle gun and push the rod out towards the front, but only enough to release the lower shock mount. This makes it much easier to get the pivot bolt back in position. Only problem is that you have to remove BOTH end nuts to do it this way as the front washer will not clear the hub carrier, so it has to be removed. This requires a rattle gun. Try it the WSM way, but, I agree, the drop-link is not an obstruction.

mark kibort

ive always done the rears myself without any issues, or having to drop the calipers or dust shields.
the fronts are a little trickier and needs the alignment after you are done.

mk

Courtshark

Slight hijack... not exactly. I did all 4 corners last night. Swapped in the eibach/bilstein set up from the 87 into the 88. Not the easiest of jobs, especially when doing this for the first time. My brother and I did the job on his lifts, using air tools. I can't imagine doing this job with hand tools. We did end up detaching the front A-arm, and we did end up disassembling the rear brakes, following Tony's guide. Thought about doing the front job the way Tony recommends but the A-arm removal method was actually not that bad. The only difficult part was breaking loose the nuts holding it on.

On the rears, that's not a bad idea to not remove the rear bolt completely, as getting that giant bolt back in there was quite a feat. Otherwise the rears were very simple. All it involves is removing the caliper (2 19 mm nuts), the rotor (two phillips screws), the dust shield (4 10 mm bolts), the 3 17mm nuts at the tops of the shock towers, and the giant bolt. And definitely use antiseize on the megabolt.

The handling benefits are incredible and worth this effort. What a difference! If you're on the fence about doing this upgrade, get off it.

AO

Huh???

I see in Jarrod's last picture, one of the springs says "928INT.RR" Does this mean it goes on the Right Rear? I don't think I paid attention to this when I did my install. Crossing my fingers I didn't mess this up!

Bill Ball

Andrew:

Relax ole buddy. RR means rear. Both rears are the same.

Bill Ball

A couple of words about the front. On OBs, you can do the fronts with the A-arms untouched. The shocks tops will just barely clear the inside of the fender with some persuasion (prybar), although some early springs are too wide to allow it. Replacement later (smaller coil diameter) springs and shocks will slip right in that way in OBs.

On later cars, the technique I have used is to remove the lower A-arm from its body mounts. I leave the lower and upper balljoints and alignment concentrics alone. The A-arm swings out of the way and the shocks "drop" out - well, sorta - it requires holding the upper A-arm up horizontal and screwing of the coilover through the upper A-arm, but they will drop out after a few turns.

When you remove the lower A-arm body mount bolts, note that the WSM provides specific torque and a brief note on the install procedure. The two front bolts are 62 ft lbs while the rear are 88 ft lbs, and the rear bolts are left loose and not torqued until the car is down on the ground with the suspension compressed. Even though the eccentrics are untouched, the positioning of the lower A-Arm on re-installation is somewhat variable, so realignment afterwards is a good idea.

AO

Bill thanks for allaying my fears. I could just see the $$$ flying out for another alignment. Whew!

And just to add to Bill's note above, while you have everything apart it's a good time to inspect and probably replace the ball joint boots. Here's my writeup of that procedure: http://andrewmolson.googlepages.com/balljointbootr&r

JWise

Aw Bill, why'd you have to let Andrew off the hook so quickly? We could have at least let him stew awhile, perhaps pull the wheels for a visual inspection, etc. Just kidding, Andrew!

Thanks everyone for your input. I think I'll try it first without removing the caliper/rotor/dustshield, and pulling the pivot pin only as far as necessary to drop the shock. However, even if I have to go Tony's route, it doesn't sound too intimidating. Keep in mind, I'm a banker, not a mechanic. Perhaps I can be the test monkey to determine the minimum threshold of mechanical ability for this particular job - i.e. "well heck, if Jarrod can do it, anyone can!"

The plan is to do the swap this weekend. I'll report back my experience. Thanks again!

Courtshark

I don't understand what the big deal is about removing the caliper, rotor and dust shield. It takes about 10 minutes to zap all that off and just another 10 to put it back. Makes the rest of the job FAR easier from what I can tell. Getting all that crap out of the way gives you double access to everything about this job, at a minimum. Can't imagine trying to install rears with that huge dust shield (with it's nice rusty & sharp metal edge) in the way.

Like you, the banker, I am not a mechanic. I'm even less trustworthy: I'm a lawyer (hence my ID) Fortunately for me, however, my brother IS a mechanic, with his own shop, lifts, and air tools galore. We took a look at those rears, thought for about 2 seconds about leaving the rotors, etc., on, and then just zapped 'em off. No beeg deal.

Bill Ball

Look this over again. Without removing the caliper, rotor and backing plate, you cannot pull the pin towards the front. If you leave them on, you will pull the pin rearward and the hub carrier and the forward Weissach arm will be hanging free. That is the WSM method. I pull the pin to the front instead (after removing the other parts) because of some frustreation I had with getting the pin back in the other way.

Maybe Mark has a trick for aligning the suspension parts so the pin slides back in easily from the rear, as it would be nice to leave all the brake parts on if the pin would cooperate on the way back in.

AO

Jarrod-
If you're doing this by yourself, on the rears, use a floor jack to lift the shock into the tunnel. Then, while standing and looking at the 3 bolts in the hatch area, slowly pump the jack with your foot to raise the jack up while guiding it into the holes. Works like a charm!

For re-aligning eveything ont he lower end, I used a 12" 3/8" sockect extension to get everything lined back up. Still had to wiggle a few things and used the same floor jack to lift here and there to get things in place. Used a 2lb dead blow to drive everything back together. I'd say it took me about 45 minutes each to do the rears.

jpitman2

Dont forget that the top rear shock mount bolt pattern is asymmetric !! My first one went right up easily, second one, couldnt figure out why one bolt wouldnt go in, until I had a hard look and found the problem....
jp 83 Euro S AT M474 50k