How-To: Replace Stock Springs with Aftermarket

Written by Dusthead and Joncav

asking.

but if no one answers this question in time - i'll be going at it with what i've heard from people and hopefully help at the hobby shop.

UPDATE:
ok, i've done the front ones - a big difference when you lower it back down and look at it...you're like...thats a mean stance. i didn't have time to do the rear because the shop was closing. in another post i mentioned i don't have my camara so...sry about that. anyways, here we go:

Materials Needed: socket wrench set, open/box ended wrench set (24mm is the largest you'll need, remember foreign means metric), torque wrench up to greater than 225 ft-lbs, impact gun, spring compressors (2)

Front Spring Replacement

1. open and hook your hood up.

2. lift your car up.

3. remove your wheels

4. spray PB on the stabilizer link nut and bolt, the break line securing bolt, and the 2 strut bolts and nuts. wait 2 minutes.

5. disconnect the stabilizer link near the middle of the shock using a short breaker bar to loosen it, then use a 3/16 allen wrench to hold the bolt while you use an open/box ended wrench to take the bolt off. pull the link out and put the nut back on to not lose it (i did for about 5 minutes).

6. disconnect the break line securing bracket with a wrench/socket wrench, and put the bolt back in to not lose it.

7. using a wrench/socket wrench unbolt the 3 nuts under the hood that hold the strut assembly in place.

8. using an impact gun and open ended wrench, put the gun on the nut side and wrench on the bolt and unscrew the bolt for both STRUT SCREWS. don't worry, your axel WILL drift down and tilt either back or forward - thats fine, it's not held in place right now.

9. i used a vice, but you can do what works, i placed the strut into the vice and clamped it where the top strut bolt was standing up. place one clamp on each side, grabbing as many coils as you can - usually 3 on one side and 2 on the other. and tighten away...you'll see on top the rubber and coil starting to come down out of the top saucer...once you get some play in that saucer - take the impact gun and (i think) a 17mm socket for it and unscrew the bolt in the middle of the strut on top. NOTE where the saucers were facing to save some figuring out later...there will be a dot of colored goo to help you. remove the saucers - the bolt may stay in there, turn it upside down and grab it.

10. NOTE the shape of the stock spring - where it sits, and the block on the rubber that was on the top saucer, that block sits right up next to the end of the spring. remove the stock spring, replace with new spring, turn into previous springs' spot...(if you're using SPRINT springs, they will be a thinner coil than the stock, and you don't need to compress them).

11. compress the springs using the spring compressor.

12. place the saucer back on, place the rubber block up against the spring's end. make sure the writing on top that says "out" with an arrow is pointed towards the opening of the bracket that you use the strut bolts with....you'll know what i mean when you put the strut back on...i'm pretty sure you can just turn it - but try to do all this aligning now.

13. using the impact gun - tighten the struts top bolt down. check spring alignment.

14. replace the strut assembly back into the wheel well, the "out" words and arrow pointed to the side of the car. replace those 3 bolts and torque to 36 ft-lbs. then torque the strut screw to 48 ft-lbs.

15. lift and tilt the axel back up straight and shimmy (yes shimmy...lol) it back into the struts bracket and place a bolt in the top first, then line up the bottom and put that bolt in.

16. using impact gun and open/box ended wrench, hold the bolt end with the wrench and screw the nut on with the gun...let it work to get that nut on for a sec. then torque the nut to 225 ft-lbs. (or in my case - as much ft-lbs as you have available!!)

17. bolt the brake line securing bracket back on.

18. replace the stabilizer link back into the strut, using a 3/16 allen and open/box ended wrench screw the nut back on, then tighten with a socket as much as you can. then torque to 36 ft-lbs.

19. check spring alignment! put your wheels back on...torque to 80 ft-lbs.

20. now let your balls drop while you lower your car, close your hood, and KNOW that there will be many sounds as you bump around the roads while the new springs find their place in the world.


Rear Spring Replacement: - by Jon

Remove Rear Seats.
Take out the bottom seat first. Their are two clips that you need to lift up in order to release. Get a good grip and and lift one side at a time until it releases. Do this to both sides and then slide out towards the front of the car. Now there are three bolts for the top seats. They are on the chasis of the car right below the seats. One for each seat. Driver, Passenger, and Middle. Remove the bolts and now lift the seats upward to unhook them. Now you can pull the seats out.

Their are three bolts to release the strut connected to the chasis. Two in the trunk and one after you take out the seats. Crack and losen all three bolts, *leave the bolts on so the strut doesnt fall out when taking out the bottom bolt*

Now go under the car and find the last bolt connected to the strut. Its pretty straight foward when you look at it. So now take the bolt off and hit the strut so it pushes off the arm. Now you can take out the three bolts and the strut will release.

Now for the rear springs you really do not have to compress them but just to be safe you can compress the stock spring when releasing the upper bolt for the strut.

After doing this take the impact gun (saves so much time) and unscrew the top bolt. Remember where everyhting goes becasue there are about 4-5 pieces that come off. Now you can take the spring off. Put the new spring on and make sure its on matching how the old spring was and in the grooves. Replace all the pieces and put the bolt back on and use the impact gun to screw it back down till it starts to click. Make sire the upper part is aligned with the X- the X is showing which part should be facing the rear of the car. If not aligned after tightening you can twist it with alil elbow grease without releasing.

Replace the strut from the bottom up and the way i did it was having one person put the upper part back in the holes and put the bolts on them and then i used the jack that came with the car and carefully jacked the strut back into the slot and then pushed it in and tighted the bottom bolt and then retightened the top three bolts

Repeat for the other side and you just dropped your rear

Follow the steps backwards in order to put the seats back in. mind you that their are clips for the top and lower to slide into!

glad someone kept some of these write-ups.

how about some photos please?

How much would it cost to drop the front end on a 9G? The back wheel well is a little smaller than the front and sits lower too so there would be no need for the back to drop but just to even out the front to give it that good look. Links or suggestions appreciated :)