Mako 928

Something to consider is that most of our cars are 20 something years old. By now the shocks/ springs have been replaced and in some cases more than once. This usually involves separating the upper ball joint and pushing the upper control arm up as far as it can go resulting in putting a lot of stress on the bonded rubber bushings. Maybe one reason the WSM recommends removing the upper control arm.

jpmurphy99
What method did you use to remove the upper control arms? This can be a bit of a challenge in 32 V cars.

jpmurphy99

My experience may not be typical. For starters, I have the car fairly high off the ground on jackstands. Because I'm replacing the motor mounts and TB at the same time, I also had removed some of the things that might otherwise get in the way like the radiator hoses. I'd also dropped the sway bar which made it easy to access the bolt through the bottom of the shock. All that said, I removed the upper a-arm nuts from underneath the car. I used a long handled socket wrench and I found a position that allowed me attach the wrench horizontally and pull down. One of the nuts was a real bear to get out but the other three came out pretty easily. If I'd had a 21mm socket, that might have made it easier but 7/8" worked for me.

Now that I think about it, I'll probably have to one-arm bench press the nuts back on from underneath when I install the new shocks. At 100 ft/lbs?, that could be interesting.

Bill Ball

On the driver side I had to get at them from above as well as below using an assortment of tools. Not a lot of room for turning the torque wrench. If you need any assistance, let me know. I'm only 5-6 miles away.

jpmurphy99

I would love some help once I have everything to put it back together. I'm still waiting on some parts as I wasn't sure what was going to be reusable until I pulled the struts apart. As expected, some things weren't reusable. The shocks appeared to be original if you can believe that (or at least v. old). The fronts wouldn't rebound at all once they had been compressed. On the upside, I'm really looking forward to seeing how it feels with new shocks and MM. I'm currently waiting on the shock snubbers or bump stops from 928M. I also need the plastic washers that sit under them but noone seems to have them in stock. Any idea where I might find something like that locally? I did notice that there are some white plastic washers included with my new Koni shocks. They appear to be for adjustment purposes but the instructions that came with the shocks are near useless. Any chance those are for venting?

Bill Ball

Yes, those washers are for venting of the dust cover. The stock washers have radial cuts that are supposed to be oriented down. Some of the aftermarket shocks come with split washers, with the cut acting as a vent. I have bunches of them if you need any. I should have some bump stops as well.