sml

Thanks for all the tips guys! I have finished the first corner tonight!

Although to be honest, I am not really sure what I did differently tonight but it just seemed to slip out easily!? I still only used one jack on the corner and the plan was to jack-up the other corner when ready .. but in the end there was no need. Maybe the corner was jacked just slightly lower tonight hence reducing pressure from the sway bar. Not exactly sure!?

After dropping the car, the ride height was still high so I now need to start tinkering the ride height.

Unkle

Ok glad you got it sorted, take great care with what you do, and take you time. Don't worry about Pestering JIC about the coilovers to make sure you are completely happy with what you are doing, and how the adjustment works on the set supplied.


The rear lower damper bolts will be fun, mine were soaking for 1 week in dismantling fluid and still need a 5 foot bar and jack on the bar to get them undone.

Post pics when its all sorted

sml

Thanks for the support!

What do you think of my progress ... about 9 hours to change the first corner? And still ride height tweaking to be completed!

Unkle

Don't try to become a F1 mechanic. lol


BUT its far better to take you time and get it right

sml

Ahhh .. now I am stuck on the other side! The strut is jammed again against the steering rod and I cannot slide it out either at the top or bottom

I tried raising the other side but that didn't help.

Next ideas ...

a) spring compressor & then compress the shock by hand - hopefully?

b) remove sway bar link and see if the wheel disc/hub thing drops outwards further?

sml

The front coilovers are not installed on both sides with the exception of ...
a) trimming shock adjustment **** length
b) perfecting ride height (waiting until rear coilovers are installed)
c) alignment (I think I will skip the corner balance)

Total time - about 9 hrs for one side and 7 hrs for the other side.

Tips ...

a) strut was jammed between top & bottom .. solution -> spring clamps to compress the springs to allow more clearance to remove the old strut. the new JIC coilover was about 3" shorter so it was easy to drop in.

b) the JIC coilover had a plate for the brake line to slide through. the angle was not correct so I had to bend the metal plate by about 5mm.

c) the black plastic clip holding the ABS cable broke when I tried to lever off with a screwdriver. a plastic zip tie seemed like an easy solution to replace.

d) unless you have someone helping, having the second jack made it much easier to slot the two allen bolts back into the base of the strut

e) cutting the slot in the old strut to remove the brake line was difficult with the tight clearances and you wouldn't want to slice into the thin metal brake line! protect the brake lines with a thin bent piece of metal. i used a thin cutting stone disc about 2mm thick on a dremel. suggest you cut a thin crack to the centre, and then use pliers just to bend open the bracket to provide the clearance to slide out the brake line. trying to cut a perfect gap in that tight space would take a while.

c didy

" cutting the slot in the old strut to remove the brake line was difficult with the tight clearances and you wouldn't want to slice into the thin metal brake line! protect the brake lines with a thin bent piece of metal. i used a thin cutting stone disc about 2mm thick on a dremel. suggest you cut a thin crack to the centre, and then use pliers just to bend open the bracket to provide the clearance to slide out the brake line. trying to cut a perfect gap in that tight space would take a while. "


Sounds like this is a good idea. Does anyone have a photo to show their cut/bend before, during, after, or whatever.

sml

it is not too technical ... unless you want to pull apart the brake-lines, then you need to cut the thin plate so you slide out the brake-lines.

have a look at the photo above the works "Remove Brake Sensor Line from Strut clip"

http://www.northamericanmotoring.com...d-install.html

c didy

Yes, that is about what I expected and I will modify the bilsteins on the bench. thanks.