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| 17.06.2004: Car on jack stands |
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The car is secured on jack stands.
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| 17.06.2004: Spring bracket |
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The wheel is off. The spring bracket is attached with four 16 mm bolts.
We need to remove the lower bolts and slacken (but not remove) the top
ones.
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| 17.06.2004: Lower bolt |
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The next step is to remove the lower retaining bolt (21 mm)...
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| 17.06.2004: Strut assembly |
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...and the assembly falls down. Note how incredibly rusty the top nut is.
It is a 16 mm nut when new, but with all this rust I could only fit a 17
mm socket on it.
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| 17.06.2004: Rusty nuts |
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Both shocks removed, the nuts are now soaking in WD-40. The rods have a
7 mm hex head on the end, but with this much rust it would be very hard to
remove the nuts with just regular tools.
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| 17.06.2004: Impact tool |
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An impact or air wrench would be helpful, but I don't have either. Instead,
I've got the best impact tool ever -- a hammer! The shiny wrench is thin
enough to hold the hex end of the rod through the hole in the black socket.
Insert a spare bolt into the side hole of the socket, whack it a couple of
times -- and the nut moves!
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| 17.06.2004: Spring compressor |
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The spring has to be compressed to disassemble the damper safely.
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| 17.06.2004: Victory! |
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A few more minutes of cleaning the threads with a wire brush, and the nut
comes off.
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| 17.06.2004: Old vs new |
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The Aero dampers and springs are 10 mm shorter the regular ones. The spring
appears to have the same coil thickness, but it is definitely stiffer.
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| 17.06.2004: New vs old |
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The kit comes with a complete set of washers and bushings. Note the zinc
spacer ring at the bottom -- my old shocks had it melted a long time ago.
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| 17.06.2004: Work in progress |
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The old parts are on the floor, and I'm ready to install the new ones.
For those who asked again: NO, the car DOES NOT stand on these concrete
blocks.
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| 17.06.2004: Spring closeup |
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A correctly installed spring should fit in the recess of the spacer ring.
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| 17.06.2004: Retainer nut |
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The new retainer nut is a beauty! Not too tight, just 15 ft-lbs.
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| 17.06.2004: Baloon |
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This pink birthday baloon will hopefully keep the moisture away. I would
really like to see the face of the next person to take these shocks apart ;)
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| 17.06.2004: Aligning the holes |
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After the spring bracket is fit with the top two bolts, we need to align the
hole of the lower retaining bolt.
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| 17.06.2004: Hydraulic wrench |
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140 ft-lbs of torque is not the kind of power I can boast while cramped
under the car, so I'm using the jack on my torque wrench.
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| 17.06.2004: Spring bracket |
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The four spring bracket nuts need to be tightened at 40 ft-lbs.
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| 17.06.2004: Rear view |
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A completed install.
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