240sx: KYB AGX shocks + Eibach Pro-Kit springs in a s13
hey Fiz, did you notice the condition of the bushings? i know mine are in need of replacement and just wondered if it would be better to do everything at once, bushigns and struts. also, did oyu need to get the camber corrected in the back? i know whiteline sells camber correction bolts, but i dont know if im going to need them. im getting Koni Yellows and Prokit.
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WongFeiHung
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- Joined: Sun Mar 16, 2003 7:25 pm
damn, i had a huge response written up for u Megaseth but my internet stopped working by the time i finished writing it. ill try to go over what i said. right now i am in the process of installing a lot of bushings, sway bars, and i already finished my whiteline springs and AGXs. i suggest u make sure u have all the tooles necessary for the job so u can get it done quickly and easily. i ended up having to get a spring compressor, torque wrench, strut boot covers, wrenches, and some other things. is it easier to do the bushings while doing the strut/springs? doesnt really matter all that much. once u get the strut assembly together its fairly easy to get them on and off if need to get other parts off. i just installed my whiteline rear camber bushings on wed night and it may not be totally need but it doesnt hurt to have them. once i had my new strut assembly on i didnt need to take it off for any of the bushings although i think u will need to take it off on the S13 because the rear upper control arm has a circle that goes right around the strut where as the S14 upper conrol arm kinda goes around the strut to one side. id say the hardest part is putting the strut assembly together just because u have to take the time to compress the spring. am also going to be replacing the TC bushings along with the rest of the rear upper and lower control arm bushing. if u need anymore help just ask
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Hijacker
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- Car: '92 240sx Convertible
'94 F-150 - Location: Fredericksburg, VA
from experience, make sure the shop lubes the bushing before trying to press it in. we forgot to do that important step and ended up warping the outer sleeve on the first bushing when it had gotten about 3/4's in.
another thing for people to remember about the rear struts (i just got to experience this fun thing) is to get the spacers off the old struts that go between the dust boot and the perch. It's not fun dissassembling your suspension multiple times.
Also, one of my rear struts had difficulty compressing from the jacking trick, so i had to push down on the wheel assembly while someone jimmied the strut over the bolt.
another thing for people to remember about the rear struts (i just got to experience this fun thing) is to get the spacers off the old struts that go between the dust boot and the perch. It's not fun dissassembling your suspension multiple times.
Also, one of my rear struts had difficulty compressing from the jacking trick, so i had to push down on the wheel assembly while someone jimmied the strut over the bolt.
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Hijacker
- Posts: 14373
- Joined: Wed Aug 13, 2003 4:57 am
- Car: '92 240sx Convertible
'94 F-150 - Location: Fredericksburg, VA
here's an adendum for all of us! I just did a strut change on my 240 vert, and droptopsilvia and i were discussing struts earlier today. I figure for the few of us vert owners or people who just like to know things, this'll be a good extra thing. I'm only gonna cover the removal of the strut from the chassis, the rest has been covered by fiznat.
The rear struts are a pain to get to because of all the bracing that's in the way. The easiest way to get to the strut towers is to remove the rear seat.
For those of us who don't know how to remove the rear seat, you need to unbolt two 10mm bolts at the bottom of the seat that I've got marked by the two screw drivers. Use a deepwell socket and a short extension to get them.
Now you need to lift to seat up to get it off of the top mounting tabs. I have them marked in the pic.
Break the bottom mount of the strut off so it's hanging by the perch mounts. Now, start with the rear bolt (it's a 12mm) by sticking your hand under the vinyl cover. It's the part that acts as the trunk seperator. I opened my trunk so I could get some light.
Next is the hard part. The bolt is situated directly under the auto-tensioner for the rear belts and it was just too tight to fit a 12mm 3/8's drive ratchet in there. What I had to do was take my 3/8's breaker bar with a 12-point socket and just slowly turn the bolt. This should be the last bolt so the perch will slowly fall down. I tried it first and the bolt raised my wrench into the auto-tensioner -_- . To make life really easy, try to find a metric ratcheting box wrench. I have a standard set and 12mm is right in between standard sizes.
the last pic has a maroon line above the breaker bar to show how little room is between the auto tensioner. It takes some monkey wrenching to get the socket on there. Do as much as you can with your fingers.
There! now you have it! Installation is reverse of removal. Duh. Just have someone prop the strut up (i felt so sorry for my best friend lol!) and start threading the front nut on. So if anyone ever asks you "how the heck do i remove my rear struts on my vert?!?!" now you know.
The rear struts are a pain to get to because of all the bracing that's in the way. The easiest way to get to the strut towers is to remove the rear seat.
For those of us who don't know how to remove the rear seat, you need to unbolt two 10mm bolts at the bottom of the seat that I've got marked by the two screw drivers. Use a deepwell socket and a short extension to get them.
Now you need to lift to seat up to get it off of the top mounting tabs. I have them marked in the pic.
Break the bottom mount of the strut off so it's hanging by the perch mounts. Now, start with the rear bolt (it's a 12mm) by sticking your hand under the vinyl cover. It's the part that acts as the trunk seperator. I opened my trunk so I could get some light.
Next is the hard part. The bolt is situated directly under the auto-tensioner for the rear belts and it was just too tight to fit a 12mm 3/8's drive ratchet in there. What I had to do was take my 3/8's breaker bar with a 12-point socket and just slowly turn the bolt. This should be the last bolt so the perch will slowly fall down. I tried it first and the bolt raised my wrench into the auto-tensioner -_- . To make life really easy, try to find a metric ratcheting box wrench. I have a standard set and 12mm is right in between standard sizes.
the last pic has a maroon line above the breaker bar to show how little room is between the auto tensioner. It takes some monkey wrenching to get the socket on there. Do as much as you can with your fingers.
There! now you have it! Installation is reverse of removal. Duh. Just have someone prop the strut up (i felt so sorry for my best friend lol!) and start threading the front nut on. So if anyone ever asks you "how the heck do i remove my rear struts on my vert?!?!" now you know.
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WongFeiHung
- Posts: 341
- Joined: Sun Mar 16, 2003 7:25 pm
Hello,
I recently replaced my front lower control arms and it doesn't require that you remove the spring/shock assembly. It is a very simple operation. Unbolt the T/C rod bolts, and the stabilizer bolt then pop off the ball joint with a pickle fork. A word to the wise, use a three or five pound mini-sledge to do this as you need that swinging mass to force the pickle fork in there.
Be sure you leave the bolt in that holds the control arm to the suspension sub-frame; this way when you knock that ball joint loose the arm can just swing down without being damaged. I'm currently at school so I don't have the torque specs but I know that you don't need much to re-attach the ball joint.
Hope that helps.
I recently replaced my front lower control arms and it doesn't require that you remove the spring/shock assembly. It is a very simple operation. Unbolt the T/C rod bolts, and the stabilizer bolt then pop off the ball joint with a pickle fork. A word to the wise, use a three or five pound mini-sledge to do this as you need that swinging mass to force the pickle fork in there.
Be sure you leave the bolt in that holds the control arm to the suspension sub-frame; this way when you knock that ball joint loose the arm can just swing down without being damaged. I'm currently at school so I don't have the torque specs but I know that you don't need much to re-attach the ball joint.
Hope that helps.
if you buy whiteline bushings all of their sets come with a package of grease to use. i just took my front lower control arms and TC rods off last night and they are getting bushings pressed in right now. as jeans guy said, you dont need to remove the strut assemble to take this off, it just may take a few hard hits with a hammer to get it to pop out. as for torque specs:TC rod bushing bolt: 80-94 lb/ftTC rod control arm bolts: 69-83 lb/ftfront lower control arm inner bushing bolt: 80-94 lb/ftfront control arm ball joint bolt: 72-88 lb/ft
and after going through this i just now noticed that ive been using the Nm torque specs as lb/ft. no wonder ive stripped a few bolts. damn!
and after going through this i just now noticed that ive been using the Nm torque specs as lb/ft. no wonder ive stripped a few bolts. damn!
check this out: http://www.pdm-racing.com/prod....htmlif ur going to get the ball joint replaced u might as well buy a whole new control arm with the whiteline bushings already pressed in from pdm racing. it will save alot of time and you dont have to pay to get them pressed in.
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WongFeiHung
- Posts: 341
- Joined: Sun Mar 16, 2003 7:25 pm
jeansguy wrote:Hello,
I recently replaced my front lower control arms and it doesn't require that you remove the spring/shock assembly. It is a very simple operation. Unbolt the T/C rod bolts, and the stabilizer bolt then pop off the ball joint with a pickle fork. A word to the wise, use a three or five pound mini-sledge to do this as you need that swinging mass to force the pickle fork in there.
Be sure you leave the bolt in that holds the control arm to the suspension sub-frame; this way when you knock that ball joint loose the arm can just swing down without being damaged. I'm currently at school so I don't have the torque specs but I know that you don't need much to re-attach the ball joint.
Hope that helps.
So to pry the new ball joint into place you just torque it down and pull it in?
WongFei,
Yes, just torque the bolt to spec and be sure to use a new cotter pin. The torque number is something ridiculously low and I couldn't believe that it would pull the joint into place but the FSM clearly states not to overtorque that nut and since I haven't had the front wheels fall off, I guess they know what they're talking about!
Yes, just torque the bolt to spec and be sure to use a new cotter pin. The torque number is something ridiculously low and I couldn't believe that it would pull the joint into place but the FSM clearly states not to overtorque that nut and since I haven't had the front wheels fall off, I guess they know what they're talking about!
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WongFeiHung
- Posts: 341
- Joined: Sun Mar 16, 2003 7:25 pm
it may be the section of the spring that is wound closer together. sometime springs make kind of a squeeking/rubbing noise due to the coils flexing and touching eachother. if thats the problem id get some of these:http://www.pdm-racing.com/products/suspension.htmlhalf way down the page they have "Suspension Techniques Coils Silencers" or some good old electrical or duct tape should work 
that scratching....same thing happened to me....twice......:rolleyes
First it happened when reinstalling the strut bearings, they were bad, and it prevented that top "spring hat" from rotating resulting in the crunching sound.
I fixed that with new strut bearings.
Then it came back, but not nearly as bad. I finally figured out that I had installed that top "spring hat" 90 degrees off!!! It is off-center of the strut, so the incorrect install made it butt up against the body! I reinstalled the hat correctly, and everything is fine now.....
To clarify the installation, consult the FSM. It shows how the top "hat" should have an off-center hole through it. This hole when installed should be towards the back of the car. There is also a notch on the side of the "hat", point it towards the center of the car. If you've done that. i dunno
Too bad i had to borrow spring compressors 3 times.
First it happened when reinstalling the strut bearings, they were bad, and it prevented that top "spring hat" from rotating resulting in the crunching sound.
I fixed that with new strut bearings.
Then it came back, but not nearly as bad. I finally figured out that I had installed that top "spring hat" 90 degrees off!!! It is off-center of the strut, so the incorrect install made it butt up against the body! I reinstalled the hat correctly, and everything is fine now.....
To clarify the installation, consult the FSM. It shows how the top "hat" should have an off-center hole through it. This hole when installed should be towards the back of the car. There is also a notch on the side of the "hat", point it towards the center of the car. If you've done that. i dunno
Too bad i had to borrow spring compressors 3 times.