Emergency Shock / Spring Install Question

[Kinesthesia]

After months of reading and debate, I ordered Eibach Pro Kit springs and KYB AGX struts for my S13. I took all the parts and my car to the local speed shop.

Upon picking my car up, the mechanic told me that my new components would take about 500 miles to settle and I could expect some creaking, rattling, etc. Okay...

I turned out onto the road and the first manhole cover I went over made me think that my whole rear end was going to fall off and my car bounced nonstop as if the dampers weren't working at all. I pulled over, and looked to make sure I wasn't missing bolts or anything and everything was tight. My car sounded like it was bouncing on and off of the springs, like the springs were rattling around loose.

I have since discovered that no adjustment has any effect. AND the rods of the dampers are coming up through the center of the top shock mount in the rear. I can bounce the *** end of my car with one hand and watch the rods go up and down about 1-3". They also have a ton of play back and forth, side to side.

I looked in my service manual at the exploded strut and I'm guessing that I'm missing probably both top and bottom bushing and who knows what else.

The whole experience was extra fun because it ended up taking one day longer and $100 more than originally quoted.

HELP !

I'll admit that I'm new to cars and I'm still learning but... I assume that in order for the shock to work, the rod has to be pushed in and out of the shock body which it won't do if the rod is pushing up into my trunk.

[91nis240]

wow!!!!!!!!!!!! take it back to shop ASAP!!!!!!!!!! there is a serious installment problem if the top of th strut is coming up through the strut tower.

[Justice]

damn... that shop sucks.

take it back and yell and scream. , tell them to put it back the way it was and give you your money back, than spend the cash you whould of spent on gas and come out here to seattle and ill do it right for you. for free

good god. incompetence.

[Exar-Kun]

I would take pictures of it before you take the car back. Take it back, tell them you want it fixed, no charge, and ask that you be compensated for your inconvienience. AT a minimum they shouldnt harge you to fix it. If they tlel you its "your parts, your problem" get a lawyer, and tell them if they dont get you a refund they'll hear from him. THeres no excuse for poor work.-chet

[Kinesthesia]

Am I correct that the only rear strut bushings I can get are Nismo ? I see to remember that OEM bushings only come with other parts. Does anyone else make bushing like this ?

The only other place I could think of was Whiteline bushing at PDM but I didn't see any strut bushings.

Hopefully, this guy still has my original bushings but I'm trying to think ahead.

Also, can someone confirm that this would be the logical problem in this situation ? Thanks for your help.

Btw, I skipped alot of the horror, in the interest of getting to the point, if you're bored and want to read the whole saga:

http://209.197.233.231/cgi-bin...;t=53

[GoofyATX240]

I would take pictures of it before you take the car back. Take it back, tell them you want it fixed, no charge, and ask that you be compensated for your inconvienience. AT a minimum they shouldnt harge you to fix it. If they tlel you its "your parts, your problem" get a lawyer, and tell them if they dont get you a refund they'll hear from him. THeres no excuse for poor work.-chet

Just do what hes saying. That shop has to be retarded to screw up the install though.

[Kinesthesia]

I will do that tomorrow, I'm just trying to figure out if I'm right about it being the bushings and where I might get new ones.

It's superfluous but it's just been a bad weekend, I realize that Q45 brakes I got at a salvage yard are missing a part that's not available separately and I got a C's shifter off of eBay that's missing the nuts that hold the thing in place.

[gr56a]

Kinesthesia, how much did it cost you to have that done?

For those who have done it themselves: I am planning on doing it myself and was wonering how much time and trouble it would take to install them. Thanks

[Kinesthesia]

I talked to the owner when he first opened today...

He was *shocked* to see the rear end bounce and then I opened the trunk and showed him the rods going up into the trunk and he said "how could *that* happen ? I put everything back in there..."

So I told him that I assumed I was missing at least one bushing. We went into his bay where my old shocks were still laying and sure enough there lay not only the bottom bushing but the plate that keeps it in place.

He seemed reluctant and didn't say a word until I said "I guess I'll have to learn to do suspension work" and he offered to put the parts back in. Of course he had to add that "this is why he doesn't install other people's parts" as if that had anything to do with it.

The most interesting development came from the local Nissan dealer who ordered new OE bushings for me. I was given the impression from Courtesy that you couldn't get OE bushings.http://courtesyparts.com/nismo....html

So hopefully, all this will be sorted out Thursday.

Originally quoted $125. Final Price: $200Learning who not to trust with my car: Priceless

[driftaholic]

that almost exact same thing happened to me!i put my s.techs/agx's in and went for a test drive and POP POP POP POP came out of the hatch areawith my friend riding in the back with seat down he could see the piston rod bouncing around!turns out i had the top plate under the bushing and that let the bushing slide over the top nut. grrr. at least i had ALL the parts in there though lol. that shop sucks!

[Dori Dori]

Damn, I wish I would have seen this earlier. I got a set of those bushings in poly for free from Ground Control. I called GC to ask about them because my friend got them when he ordered the GC Advanced Design coilovers. The guy said they don't usually include them unless you ask for it, and then he asked for my address so he can ship them to me...free! I didn't even order my coilovers at that point...I ordered them after he told me this. Anyway, hope all is well now and good luck to you. Hope those pistons didn't get damaged.

[Kinesthesia]

I realize this stretches the imagination...

I dropped my car off at 8am this morning with a bookmarked Factory Service Manual and a bookmarked Hayne's manual sitting in the front seat. I also purchased all new bushings because I feared I was missing something, and set all the parts on top of the FSM. The car was promised at noon, so I made an appointment at Nissan for a four wheel alignment.

I called about 11:30 to learn that he had just arrived (from court again ! hmmm....) and he said it would be ready at 4:30pm. I called at 4:30 and I was told it would be another 20 minutes...

I picked up my car up at 5:30pm (5 hours late making me miss my alignment) and the car was in almost the same condition with a few minor differences. The first time it was missing the plate the holds the bushings in place, the bottom bushing and the top bushing. This time there is still no plate but all the bushings are in place but in the wrong order. From top to bottom they go from top bushing to bottom bushing to rubber spring seat. Nothing above the top shock mount and without the plate, the first bump I hit pushed the bushings down the rod.

So I took it to a newly retired Nissan mechanic who opened his own shop last month. He wants $118 just to put the rear bushings in the correct order (once I get my hands on the plates). I'm trying to think of something else but I do know that the original installer will never put his hands on my car... ever...

[Exar-Kun]

Get your money back. -chet

[driftaholic]

have a friend come over and do it yourself. it's not that hard really. took me 15 minutes to redo my messed up one

[junglee240sx]

driftaholic how low did they fgo with the tein springs? I am thinkin abou the same set up...let me know.ThanxShawn[email protected]

[mickee]

damn... took me 2 hours to do my install.... took an hour on one of the front... so about 30 minutes on each side.... we had power tools... i mean how hard could it be really...

2 bolts up front adn one bolt on the rear.... 3 on top 2 on top f/r..... jsut be sure not to damage the brake lines....

and hten when you take it out make sure to transfer everythign that was on originally... and on teh same spot....

oh well too late for the DIY.....

[Nismo1182]

that almost exact same thing happened to me!i put my s.techs/agx's in and went for a test drive and POP POP POP POP came out of the hatch areawith my friend riding in the back with seat down he could see the piston rod bouncing around!turns out i had the top plate under the bushing and that let the bushing slide over the top nut. grrr. at least i had ALL the parts in there though lol. that shop sucks!

Same thing happend when I installed my kyb/tein combo this week. I just left out the the top bushing and put a crap load of washers.

[Kinesthesia]

It just won't stop... I finally got ahold of this guy today... he says he doesn't have my plates because he never got them. Strangely enough, I decided to take a digital picture of all the bushings and plates just before I put them in a freezer bag to keep them all together for comparison to the old parts later.

http://www.infinitydriven.net/...s.jpg

Anyway, it gets worse. I call Nissan to order replacements and they are discontinued parts, no longer available. I called Courtesy Nissan to confirm this. So far, I've only called one salvage yard but they want me to buy the whole spring/strut assembly for just about what paid for the new rear AGX's.

If anyone is parting out a car or has access to a decent junkyard and can get me this part, it would be greatly appreciated.

It can be found here:http://www.infinitydriven.net/...e.jpg

They can be seen in the link above in the bottom left corner.

[Nismo1182]

This is what I did, hopefully it will work for you some what. I can still hear a slight noise coming from the back but only on hard bumps.

1. In your first link of left over parts, take the metal washer type thing and slide that on to the shock rod until it slides down and hits the metal part taht wont let it slide down anymore. Its like 1" or 2" past the threads.

2. Then i went to autozone and bought some little 3/8 washers. Like a box of 50 washers for 3 bucks. I put 10 washers right after the big washer that you just put down in step 1.

3. Go to home depot and buy a 2 big 3/8 washers. The same diameter of the one that you put on first. Slide that one after the small washers. Take the big rubber bushing, the one with the chips on the edges, theyre right next to the metal washers in your picture, and slide them after the big washer you bought. Just one rubber bushing, save the other one for the other side.

4. Now put the big *** o ring type rubber bushing on the bottom of the pillow mount and slide the pillow mount on to the shock and spring. I also went out and bought 2 nuts with the same pitch of thread as the factory one on the shock. The nut that comes with the kyb has a little plastic stopper at the end so you cant screw it all the way down.

5. put the last washer on top on the pillow mount and tighten it all down.

I didnt put one of the 2 rubber bushings under the top washer on the pillow mount. Im going to tomorrow to see if it dampens the loose/metal effect it still has.

Ill try to get pics of what I did, if you dont understand the way I did it above.

[Kinesthesia]

1. In your first link of left over parts, take the metal washer type thing and slide that on to the shock rod until it slides down and hits the metal part taht wont let it slide down anymore. Its like 1" or 2" past the threads.

I appreciate your help and input but I understand how the rear suspension goes together, the whole point is "that metal washer type thing" is now gone. It wasn't installed, the guy says I didn't give it to him (which of course I did) and now I can't get one (two actually) from Nissan. So I get to search the world over for used parts.

I understand what you did...

[Nismo1182]

I appreciate your help and input but I understand how the rear suspension goes together, the whole point is "that metal washer type thing" is now gone. It wasn't installed, the guy says I didn't give it to him (which of course I did) and now I can't get one (two actually) from Nissan. So I get to search the world over for used parts.

I understand what you did...

which washer? the very top one that sits on the pillow mount? If all else fails, you can get a 3/8 washer at home depot or something.

[Kinesthesia]

The one that the big blue arrow is pointing to in the link:

http://www.infinitydriven.net/...e.jpg

And in the lower left of the photo:

http://www.infinitydriven.net/...s.jpg

Sorry for being confusing...

[Nismo1182]

oh ok, yeah you can get a big 3/8 size washer at home depot or any other hardware store, if you cant get one at Nissan that is.