You coming to Phoenix/Scottsdale anytime soon Dr. Bob???

 

I fly through there regularly. But they won't let me carry tools on the plane anymore.

 

Rick--

Do you have air tools, like an impact wrench? Or an electric one as second choice? If so your shock swap can be pretty fast and easy. I spend more time fussing with cleaning and spring/shock assembly than taking them in and out. If you plan to have a shop do the spring compressor part, you can knock the job out easily in a casual workday, going slow. Two people working on it will cut the R&R time to one-third.

 

Oh yeah, I have the tools, including the compressor and impact wrench. Part of my problem is being fussy about the cleaning too. I actually helped a buddy swap out all 4 coilovers a few years ago, but his were already assembled (Koni/hypercoils from Devek, wow, maybe more than a few years ago!). I do have to take the assembly apart, which has me slightly concerned since I've never done that part.

You're welcome to come by next time you're in town! I can always use a good supervisor and extra pair of hands! Let me know...

 

Rick--

My transits usually involve running from one gate to another at Sky Harbor.

I finished mine this morning. Figured the actual work part of the morning was about an hour and a half doing the remaining front corner. I may do a play-by-play instruction for the weak at heart. I was pleasantly surprised at how easily the shocks lifted ot of the front suspension with the fender liners removed and the lower control arm just dropped some at the inner ends. Pick the car up a little, remove the three nuts on the top shock mount, and the wheel lugs. Pick it up some more and on to stands, remove the wheel and the fender liner. Use the impact gun to pull the 4 bolts that hold the inner LCA bushing caps on, then loosen the front laterla bolt and remove the rear bolt so the skid brace can rotate down. I propped that inner end of the arm with a small jackstand about four inchs lower than mounted position. Impact on the lower shock bolt, drive the bolt out, lets the arm drop to the stand. Then the shock/spring assy lifts easily out of the upper control arm, top to the rear of the car and out to the bench for spring/shock swap.

Assembly is the reverse of assembly. I used a soft-faced bar clamp to hold the shock in place after I positioned it with the three top studs through the holes in the shock tower. Put the three nuts back on loosely. Back in the wheelwell, use a small bar to twist the shock end so it aligns with the bracket OK. Push the LCA out as you rasie the jack under the inside ends, so it moves back into normal position. Bolts in the rear cap, then the front with the skid brace. Snug the bolts with the impact gun. Use a long punch or pry bar to line up the dogbone for the swaybar, the bracket and the lower shock eye. Put the bolt back in through all that, nut to the front. Splash shield goes on, then the washer and nut on the front end of that lower shock bolt. Grab the torque wrench and finish tightening your bolts per WSM specs, including the two lateral bolts on the front of the skid bracket, the two bearing caps, the lower shock through-bolt and the three nuts on top. Replace the wheelhouse liner, Put the wheel back on, lower the car when you are done with both. I pulled my front tray off for thise project too, so it went back on before the car was back on the ground

 

Well, if you ever have the time or feel the need, would love to have you stop by!

Thanks for the write up, I'll be interested to see how you like the feel of the setup too once you've had a chance for a good drive.

And... since you are the Dr., I'd be most curious how you disassembled and assembled the coilovers for the spring/shock swap once you had them away from the car and on the bench. Traditional spring compressors? How many, 2? 3? 4!!!?

 

Is there a Dwayne-esque write up on S/S4/GT/GTS replacement and upgrade?

 

The ride is fine, a little more taught for sure. But the car is too low after a few hard laps of he Glendale speed-bump circuit. 165 in front means very carefull approach to my driveway, so it will get all the available adjustment. I may get with Mark and see if the Eibach guys will wind a set that's ~1.5" longer free length. That would get the car height closer to where I need it.

I used a set of standard spring compressors. The ones I have are well north of the common pieces you find at the discount places, in that they tolerate using the impact gun to spin the rods/nuts. The cheap ones are too scary for me! Mark A offered hist compressors to me too, and Rob Edwards has a real hydraulic compressor available so plenty of backup available. I taped off the nice new powder finish on the springs to avoid damage from the compressors, something that's not required when using one of the hydraulic clamshell squeezers.

When I was a teenager, a neighbor was working at getting some Caddy springs under the front of his GTO to raise it up. His father managed a Caddy agency for a young guy named Roger Penske, so the springs made sense. Anyway, he was using some kind of spring compressor that let loose on him. The spring made a nasty dent in the fender, and ended up punching a hole in his mom's washing machine. It missed him, fortunately, but you know there were a couple serious discussions at his house that evening. A compressed spring has a whole lot of stored energy available in a fraction of a second. The few inches of compression needed for installation of the Eibach fronts is probably 2000 pounds of force, and it would be tough to figure out how much it would slow down as it passed through you on the way to more serious damage. Bottom line is that there is a serious case for making a deal with a local shop for this part of the job unless you have the right tools and skills. Think of it as cheap insurance.

 

Dr. Bob, where would I be able to find a set of these standard spring compressors that are "well north" of the common pieces? And, approx. what do they cost? Are they basically just beefier/heavy duty versions of the ones on loan from AutoZone, or is there something really different about them?

I still might be ahead of the game cost wise if I buy the better spring compressors rather than paying a shop to do it. Plus I would still have the compressors when I'm done to either lend out to others that need them... or sell them... or keep them... tools are good!

 

If there's a critical mass of AZ 928'ers, you might consider pulling off a communal purchase of one of these:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Heavy...item2ead578d0e

Looks like Cheap Chinese Crap, but it's very sturdy (must weigh 60 lbs) and is reasonably well made. Dunno how they can offer free shipping, but they do.

I used mine for the first time this past weekend, I disassembled all 4 original shocks/springs off the GTS, took the CS springs off the front of the GT, disassembled them, cleaned everything, assembled and put the factory GTS (3 brown marks, luckily) springs onto the front of the GT. All in about 6 hours, with plenty of cleaning time. It took a little time to find the right orientation of the arms to use for the bigass CS springs, but otherwise it was great.

Anyone in SoCal is free to borrow (or just come use it) for shock/spring R&R's.




The compressor also makes a nice stand to hold the shock while assembling/disassembling the components, and hammering off the threaded sleeves.

 

Rick--

I've had these for years (probably decades) and have no idea where to find a set these days.

A little fingers-do-the-shopping in tthe Google age finds that K-D compressors somewhat similar to what I have, and they are also available at Sears with the Craftsman name on them, in the $50 plus-or-minus range. That same search also shows that AutoZone stores will rent/loan you the same tool, maybe a good option to buying/storing/etc. See http://www.autozone.com/autozone/ino...gAndSuspension for the listing of pieces they have available. Look at the second tool from the bottom, called a strut spring tool, and get the idea.

For contrast, there's a set at H-F for $8 on sale. They use a pair of little hooks and washers to safety-secure the compressors to the coils. You'd need to look at them in person to see how comfortabe you'd be with a couple thousand pounds of stored energy captured in a pair of them. Maybe with a couple pairs it would be OK. Less than $20 for the two pairs with tax and everything going that route. Grease the threaded rods well before you start and you'll be happier, especially if you use your impact gun to spin the rods.