just finished up changing the front shocks/struts using the instructions here:

http://garage.projectraine.com/conte...ng/spring.html

it went really well, I have compressor and air gun with good tools, didn't hurry and did each side individually with 2 floor jacks and it took me about an hour and a half for both sides. changed the boots, cleaned the springs and the bracket too. I used a 2' section of white 2" pvc pipe to help move the suspension around

couple of notes on the instructions:

step 3: it's a 5mm hex head, not an 8

steps 6,7 & 15: the hardest part here - more of a pita vs hard - is keeping the eye of the shock clear of the bolt heads so that you can get the bracket back in place.

step 8: most important omission, juggle lower shock eye to the front of the car, if you go to the rear of the control arm then the shock will never come out, but if you put the lower eye towards the front side of the A arm then it pops out quick with a little push down on the suspension

much nicer to do it this way, you won't need the front end alignment afterwards since you have not messed with the A arms

doing the rears later this afternoon

i'd adjust the tool list too:
- floor jack
- 21mm socket for the wheel lugs
- I didn't use the 19mm wrench, opted for a ratchet instead
- nylon/rubber mallet helped tap the shock bolt in
- pipe wrench/water pump pliers to turn shock on reinstall helped line the shock eye up in the bracket to make it easy to get the bolt back thru.
- shop vac to get the grease/sand mix that dropped off the passenger side. I'd had a power steering pump leak that coated the inner suspension so there was a bit of grease/sand left on the driveway that vacuumed up nice so that I didn't leave any stains

 

^^^ ive seen those directions before and i still prefer my method. if you use this guys method then you dont have to disconnect the sway bar link from the sway bar. all you do is remove the shock mount bracket from control arm and move it out of the way. then take the shock out.

 

not sure what your method is or where its documented - link?

that was the easiest bolt to take off of them all

 

does anyone have any pics of air suspension installs?

line placement?

bracket install?

thanks

here is a pic of ummagawd's setup..

 

I know this thread is as old as the hills, but I was looking for the info and ran across this. Seems like a really good write up, but the links to the pics are dead. Too bad!

 

Thanks for the info. Keep it up.

 

How to remove stock shocks n spring off the car? The springs were so hard... I used something like this but i still couldnt get it out

 

you are not grabbing enough coils to compress the spring, you want to spread the compressor out over as many coils as possible, like this:

 

Just installed my bcr coils last night. for the front i simply removed the three nuts holding the top of the strut, and the bolt holding the bottom. then i popped off the upper ball joint and it pulled out with a little prying. the back was a breeze. only took 2 hours with 2 guys and no air tools. has anybody ever done it like that?

 

I just wanted to help anybody out that was having problems with removing the front strut assembly and DIDN'T/COULDN'T disconnect the front sway bar. I recently installed my coilovers and they were a good amount shorter than the stock assembly. So when I bolted up one side I was fighting the sway bar on the other side and couldn't get that side off.

If you're having this problem don't install the lower shock mounting bolt of your new front coilovers until you've taken both of the stock assemblies off. (Basically take off both of the stock assemblies before you go installing the new coilovers.) This will allow you to not be fighting the front sway bar the whole time you're installing the front coilovers. I know it might seem like common sense but sometimes it's easier to read an idea than think it up.

Hope this helps anybody that can't/doesn't want to disconnect the front sway bar.