Hood/Trunk shocks. what a pain in the a$$
 

First call over a thin friend with the long skinny arms. Second have a magnet tool and a long flathead screwdriver on standby; third take your skinny buddy out for a sandwich and beer for a job well done. What a pain in the butt.

Yes,,

I am needing to get that done as well...The heat and humidity and the "pain in the arse of a job" is holding me back...I am almost willing to pay someone to do it.....I also recently added an original RSA wing/decklid and the stock single shock is not holding it up...So I am going to have to modify the rear shock set up..I am not looking forward to that one...

To easily replace the cotter pin when doing the rear shocks, I snake a long piece of mig welding wire through the cotter pin, then twist the two ends up a few times around a screwdriver to make a T-handle. Just pull on the T-handle to remove the pin, which is the hard part of this job. The cotter pin stays attached to the wire and comes right out.
No more dropping and losing the cotter pin into never never land, and it's way easier to pull the pin out from back at the bumper than struggling with needle nosed pliers in the back of the engine compartment.

When replacing the cotter pin, still leave the long piece of wire attached until the pin is back into place. Then just unwind the wire and pull it through the cotter pin. This way you can't drop the pin down into the boonies when you do the reinstall.

Try it, you'll like it.

Funny, just had my buddy with the skinny arms come by yesterday to do mine! Also found a disconnected trunk light at the same time.

I saw my ex-mechanic do it with long nose pliers and took him less than 20 seconds each side.. Obviously he knew what he was doing and had done it many times. I just held the hood up and dropped it until he said "stop!"
He's now retired...

And they're SO much easier on the front on these cars, compared to the torsion bar era ones.