Going to attempt the "DIY Suspension Install for Dummies" this morning...
09-27-2009, 06:53 PM
#16
Seared
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OK fronts are done. I finished at about 2pm so it took me 5 hours to do the fronts. I took my time and didn't rush it as suggested above. However because I chose to take my time I am going to put the rears off at least for today.
Was going to jump into the rears, but I'm outta shape and after doing the fronts I feel like I have been beaten up. There was only one blood letting, where I scraped a 7mm allen wrench across the inside of my wrist. It doesn't hurt but looks like a good scrape.
So I have shed blood for her now...
I may have actually jumped into the rears but decided to look at the eight 13 mm shock tower bolts and sat there for a few minutes trying to figure out how I was going to get my fat arms in there.
After feeling like I got beat up and then seeing how the rear shock tower bolts are located I decided the time it would take would be better invested on another day. If I would have started at 6 am instead of 9am maybe I would have gone for it, unfortunately I have some chores to do tonight before work tomorrow.
More to come later.
Nick
Was going to jump into the rears, but I'm outta shape and after doing the fronts I feel like I have been beaten up. There was only one blood letting, where I scraped a 7mm allen wrench across the inside of my wrist. It doesn't hurt but looks like a good scrape.
So I have shed blood for her now... I may have actually jumped into the rears but decided to look at the eight 13 mm shock tower bolts and sat there for a few minutes trying to figure out how I was going to get my fat arms in there.
After feeling like I got beat up and then seeing how the rear shock tower bolts are located I decided the time it would take would be better invested on another day. If I would have started at 6 am instead of 9am maybe I would have gone for it, unfortunately I have some chores to do tonight before work tomorrow.
More to come later.
Nick
Congrats. When I replaced the suspension on mine, I took my time over the course of a weekend.
As for the top, rear strut mounting nuts (12 or 13mm), I use a stubby 3/8 articulating ratchet. Remove the blower motor for the left side and the airbox for the right. Once you see how things are oriented, shove your arm in there and do it by feel.
Andreas
09-27-2009, 07:30 PM
#17
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Nick,
Congrats. When I replaced the suspension on mine, I took my time over the course of a weekend.
As for the top, rear strut mounting nuts (12 or 13mm), I use a stubby 3/8 articulating ratchet. Remove the blower motor for the left side and the airbox for the right. Once you see how things are oriented, shove your arm in there and do it by feel.
Andreas
Congrats. When I replaced the suspension on mine, I took my time over the course of a weekend.
As for the top, rear strut mounting nuts (12 or 13mm), I use a stubby 3/8 articulating ratchet. Remove the blower motor for the left side and the airbox for the right. Once you see how things are oriented, shove your arm in there and do it by feel.
Andreas
It did mention pulling the air box on the right side. Looks like I am going to have to scrape up a motor for that blower. It's one of the last things on my PPI list. The installed motor is slightly out of balance and vibrates the whole shroud. PPI tech said it's throwing secondary motor codes. I have the code # I think written on my PPI paperwork. But he said the motor will fail soon as it is vibrating and throwing a code on the secondary. I've seen somewhere where instead of buying the whole assembly with the shroud for $400 you can pull the old and replace the motor only for about $250 less. time to look for that motor. I ain't pulling it out without fixing it.
thanks for the advice, I figured it was the answer and added to my "Do the rears later decision"
Nick
09-27-2009, 08:25 PM
#19
Three Wheelin'
OK fronts are done. I finished at about 2pm so it took me 5 hours to do the fronts. I took my time and didn't rush it as suggested above. However because I chose to take my time I am going to put the rears off at least for today.
Was going to jump into the rears, but I'm outta shape and after doing the fronts I feel like I have been beaten up. There was only one blood letting, where I scraped a 7mm allen wrench across the inside of my wrist. It doesn't hurt but looks like a good scrape. So I have shed blood for her now...
I may have actually jumped into the rears but decided to look at the eight 13 mm shock tower bolts and sat there for a few minutes trying to figure out how I was going to get my fat arms in there.
After feeling like I got beat up and then seeing how the rear shock tower bolts are located I decided the time it would take would be better invested on another day. If I would have started at 6 am instead of 9am maybe I would have gone for it, unfortunately I have some chores to do tonight before work tomorrow.
More to come later.
Nick
Was going to jump into the rears, but I'm outta shape and after doing the fronts I feel like I have been beaten up. There was only one blood letting, where I scraped a 7mm allen wrench across the inside of my wrist. It doesn't hurt but looks like a good scrape.
So I have shed blood for her now... I may have actually jumped into the rears but decided to look at the eight 13 mm shock tower bolts and sat there for a few minutes trying to figure out how I was going to get my fat arms in there.
After feeling like I got beat up and then seeing how the rear shock tower bolts are located I decided the time it would take would be better invested on another day. If I would have started at 6 am instead of 9am maybe I would have gone for it, unfortunately I have some chores to do tonight before work tomorrow.
More to come later.
Nick
My suspension installation actually took about 10 hours total of actual working on the suspension over a period of about 3 weeks. I did some clean up work while I was in there.
Oh yea, those 13 mm nuts on top of the rear shock towers look harder to remove then they really are. Once you get the ancillary equipment out of the way it's really a piece of cake
We need pics of the new goods.....please
Bob-
09-28-2009, 01:52 AM
#20
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Pulled the blower motor tonight so I could find the raw motor info and part #. It's the same Bosch motor used in the 964 (Just the raw motor not the assembly). found a dead decomposed critter in the "squirrel" cage. It was way too small to be a squirrel, probably was large mouse. to say the least the dead body in there was most likely causing my imbalance in the motor.
I am going to leave it out for now until I put the rear shocks in. took another look at the drivers side strut tower nuts with the blower assembly removed, and it appears as if there is plenty of room now to get those nuts off.
Nick
I am going to leave it out for now until I put the rear shocks in. took another look at the drivers side strut tower nuts with the blower assembly removed, and it appears as if there is plenty of room now to get those nuts off.
Nick
10-04-2009, 01:03 AM
#21
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Alright, Diving back in to attack the back end tomorrow morning some time. Any RL'ers bored in the area that want to drop by and lend a hand, PM me and I'll tell you how to find me.
Nick
Nick
10-04-2009, 03:47 PM
#22
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I just spent the last 2 1/2 hours attempting to get the car jacked up and on jack stands to no avail. I jacked with a hockey puck between the jack and the engine, jack does not go high enough to fit jack stands under the rear lift points. Put the car up on 2 x 12's, still not high enough, tried 2 2 x 12's on each side, still not high enough. Back to 1 2 x 12 on each side and a 2 x 12 under the jack. Now the jack is too high to get under the engine. jacked up by the rear lift points but even though the car is high enough now and the rear lift points are rather large the jack footprint takes up too much room to fit a jack stand under the rest of the lift point. It seems as if i just dont have the correct jack/stands to get her in the air and for safety reasons I WILL NOT work on her without jack stands underneath. For the time I've wasted so far I could justify the couple hours labor it would take to let the pro's do it with the right lifts etc..
Screw it for now. It's a beautiful sunny day, I'm taking her for a drive instead!
Nick
Screw it for now. It's a beautiful sunny day, I'm taking her for a drive instead!
Nick
12-12-2009, 09:19 PM
#24
Nick, did you get the rear shocks out ?
I got the front done but am now in the process of getting the rear shocks out and
I have hit a roadblock.
Problem: I got the top 4 13mm nuts off, and the lower 15mm drop-link off as well as the shocks lower stablizer bolt out but the shock refuses to drop out ! I thought the upper shock "hat" 18mm nut could stay on and be removed afterwards when the whole shock unit is out.
Is there a trick to getting the shock to drop ?
Patrick
1996 c4S
I got the front done but am now in the process of getting the rear shocks out and
I have hit a roadblock.
Problem: I got the top 4 13mm nuts off, and the lower 15mm drop-link off as well as the shocks lower stablizer bolt out but the shock refuses to drop out ! I thought the upper shock "hat" 18mm nut could stay on and be removed afterwards when the whole shock unit is out.
Is there a trick to getting the shock to drop ?
Patrick
1996 c4S
12-12-2009, 11:25 PM
#25
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Nick, did you get the rear shocks out ?
I got the front done but am now in the process of getting the rear shocks out and
I have hit a roadblock.
Problem: I got the top 4 13mm nuts off, and the lower 15mm drop-link off as well as the shocks lower stablizer bolt out but the shock refuses to drop out ! I thought the upper shock "hat" 18mm nut could stay on and be removed afterwards when the whole shock unit is out.
Is there a trick to getting the shock to drop ?
Patrick
1996 c4S
I got the front done but am now in the process of getting the rear shocks out and
I have hit a roadblock.
Problem: I got the top 4 13mm nuts off, and the lower 15mm drop-link off as well as the shocks lower stablizer bolt out but the shock refuses to drop out ! I thought the upper shock "hat" 18mm nut could stay on and be removed afterwards when the whole shock unit is out.
Is there a trick to getting the shock to drop ?
Patrick
1996 c4S
Is the lower completely freed up?
Sometimes the rubber sticks to the chassis at the top a bit. Grab the bottom and wiggle it a bit.
12-12-2009, 11:36 PM
#26
Yes, the top 4 13mm are off and the shock is free below as well, tomorrow I'll try rocking it and hopefully that will break it lose from above, how big a hole up top do I have for the shock tophat to fall through ??
Thanks, Patrick
1996 C4S
Thanks, Patrick
1996 C4S
12-13-2009, 01:04 AM
#27
Make sure to becareful not to over torgue the shock tower 4 screws. They are very easy to break. I would just only hand tight them. I broke mine and have to order from the Pelican which delay my work for a week, but the actual working time that took me to finish the installation is about 2 days.
Good luck!! and take your time.
Good luck!! and take your time.
12-13-2009, 01:50 AM
#28
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Since I didn't have the right gear to get the rear in the air and safely on jack stands I took it in to have the rears done. Still need to get a jack that goes high enough to work with my jack stands but is low enough to get under the car. I really wanted to do the rears myself, but also wanted it done asap. I guess I am happy enough that I got to do the fronts by myself.
Sounds like you're there. Just have to break em loose.
Nick
Sounds like you're there. Just have to break em loose.
Nick
12-13-2009, 05:59 AM
#29
Pro
Warpig,
You could have gotten a floor jack from Harbor Freight or Auto Zone etc. for 69.- I got 2 of them at home, one for each side. If I understand this right, you tried it with the scissor jack that comes with the car tools?
It's little money well spent.
I did the whole suspension thing on my car 2 years ago. The only time you need 2 people is when the rears are going back up. You can't hold one side up under the fender and tighten it at the same time inside the engine compartment. Everything else is easy. If you have coil over, you don't even need a spring compressor anymore.
Good luck with the alignment then. Kinematic toe tool?
Ed
You could have gotten a floor jack from Harbor Freight or Auto Zone etc. for 69.- I got 2 of them at home, one for each side. If I understand this right, you tried it with the scissor jack that comes with the car tools?
It's little money well spent.
I did the whole suspension thing on my car 2 years ago. The only time you need 2 people is when the rears are going back up. You can't hold one side up under the fender and tighten it at the same time inside the engine compartment. Everything else is easy. If you have coil over, you don't even need a spring compressor anymore.
Good luck with the alignment then. Kinematic toe tool?
Ed
12-13-2009, 10:13 AM
#30
Rennlist Member
If the top nuts are off and the bottom is completely free of the suspension (incl sway bar drop link) you are good to go!