drsifu

iTrader: (6)

Just finished my install of Eibach Pro-Kit springs on my Coupe. I did it one tire at a time. Torque spec on tire lugnuts: 80ft/lb.

The following is a post copied from Gsedan35 over in FreshAlloy. He installed springs and struts from a 350Z. I only installed Eibach springs on my Coupe. It is edited to be specific to the coupe.

"I did this to help anyone wanting to do this themselves. If any moderator would like to edit this in anyway to improve it and place it in the FAQ section, to right ahead.

This is how "I" did it. You can do your own thing where it makes sense to do so.

Tools needed:
factory jack
floor jack
1/2" ratchet (3/8")
misc 1/2" extensions (3/8")
17mm socket
12mm socket
19mm socket
17mm box end wrench
power tool is VERY helpful in removing front strut from spring
torque wrench (if you are as paranoid as I am)
spring compressor

Rear suspension

Jack up car using factory jack. Remove wheel and tire. Now place floor jack below the rear lower link that the coil spring is located in and use the jack to hold the spring in place, raising it up a 1/8" or so. Refer to the picture I have provided and remove the nut and bolt to the rear lower link (blue arrow). Remove bolt from bottom of strut mount (red arrow). Picture is from above looking down.
Vinh's NOTE: There is NO need to remove the bolt depicted in red if you are only installing springs.

Picture 1

Work out bolt, it will come out without damaging the threads. Now slowly lower the rear lower link, watch the floor jack to see when this suspension part stops going down, make sure the floor jack keeps on touching it.

To get the coil spring out. Loosen the nut in the green arrow, NOT the bolt. The bolt is fixed. It does NOT need to be removed. Once it is loose, you should be able to lower the floor jack and remove the rear spring.

Picture 2

Install in reverse order. HINT #1: Use your floor jack to raise parts up to match up various bolt holes. Repeat process on other side of rear suspension. Hint #2: Compared to the OEM spring, the upper part of the new spring is not flush. Hint #3: Just ensure the spring is properly seated in the bottom of the suspension member. Hint #4: You WILL NEED to bang things around because everything fits snugly, ie. the rear lower link connection to the "wheel?" Hint #5: Here are the torque specs for the bolts involved:

1) Bolt depicted in blue: 48-59 ft/lb
2) Bolt depicted in green: 48-59 ft/lb
3) ONLY for those removing the strut, bolt in red: 74-88 ft/lb


FRONT:

Unbolt the 3 12mm upper strut mount bolts from under the hood, set them aside as to NOT misplace them.
Unbolt the 12mm bolt holding the brake line on the strut, set nut aside and pull brake line off the strut. Look at pic with red arrow for brake line location.

Picture 3

Remove the speed sensor line from the strut in the 2 places it attaches to the strut via compression fittings (just pull)(blue arrow) Remove the nut and bolt from the bottom of the strut(red arrow) It will come out, but will be difficult. Use floor jack to line things up. Remove the bolt holding the swaybar end link to the suspension arm(green arrow) NOTE: The bolt for the end link will NOT come out yet, DO NOT TRY!

Picture 4

Now you get to use the spring compressor. Your goal will be to compress enough of the spring so that you can remove the sway bar end link bolt (hard work, need to bang it out). Once your able to do that you should have enough clearance to be able to remove the whole spring/strut/spring compressor assembly. NOTE BE CAREFUL, watch out for the speed sensor line, DO NOT tear it appart. Trying to make space to remove this assembly is gonna give you a headache. Keep perservering. I've seen people put the factory jack between their fender and the upper link to create more space. I did this and slightly dented the inside of the fender (not noticeable because the fender lining covers it up.

Picture 5

If only installing springs, you'll need to remove the center bolt located on the strut/spring assembly. This is wear having a power tool helps. I didn't try removing the bold with hand tools. BE CAREFUL. This is where the spring can shoot out.
Install your new springs ensuring everything sits properly. There are grooves in the rubber upper seat that should match up with the spring. Ensure everything is lined up. Push down on the mounting insulator and install the center bolt. Tighten as much as possible. You should tighten this bolt later after the assembly is installed and the car is lowered.

Install everything back in the reverse order. Again, putting back this assembly is also a pain in the butt. The springs may be shorter than OEM, but still a pain.

HINT #1: Be Patient. Removing and installing the spring/strut assembly is difficult. HINT #2: The gray plastic thing (bump stops?) stays on the OEM spring. The Eibachs do not need these. HINT #3: Again, use your factory jack to line up parts with bolts. HINT #4: Torque Spec for bolts:

1)3 12 mm upper strut mount bolts: 26-30 ft/lb
2)12 mm bolt for nrake line: Can't find, but probably 10 ft/lb
3)Bolt from bottom of strut (Pic 4 red arrow): 52-62 ft/lb
4)Bolt connect sway bar end link to suspension arm (Pic 4 green arrow): 59-70 ft/lb
5)Center bolt of strut/spring assembly: 40-47 ft/lb

I hope this helps someone as much as Gsedan35's original instructions helped me. His pictures are what made it easier. Sorry I couldn't take any pics other than the one Gsedan35 provided.

I worked with a friend and it took us about 7 hours to do the job. The most difficult part was getting the strut/spring assembly out. Other diffcult parts was figuring out how to remove the bolts indicated by #3 and #4. After doing the first one, you'll know what needs to be done and the second one should be easier. It took us almost 4 hours to remove the strut/spring assembly This IS NOT a project you want to take on ONLY if you want to save money. Only start this project if you get satisfaction out of working on your own car. As you can see, the time to money saved ratio is high.

Like others have reported, the ride feels stock. Appearance is dramatic. Looks amazing. I don't know if it's just me, but the springs surprisingly dropped my car lower than I was expecting. I like it better. Can't imagine what it is going to look like after it settles. Negative camber is definitely noticeable. I will get it aligned after the SoCal meet.

As far as lighting,

PIAA Extreme White Wedge 19172: Good match to HID. Some of the pics make it look blue, but it looks good to me. Well worth the $11

Sylvania 9003ST: Still looks yellow compared to HID, but less yellow compared to stock. Not worth the $43.00. But nice to be different.

PICTURES TO BE POSTED AT A LATER DATE

Wow, long post.

6MT Coupe, DG/G, Prem

350ed

iTrader: (17)

Thanks for posting.
I'll be using this soon

scott west

Do you anticipate needing the camber kit to keep tire wear to a minimum?

punish_her

iTrader: (8)

You might want to add removing the bar across the engine too (it's name escapes me right now), It hides some of the bolts for the shock assembly and its the only way you can acess them.

On the front set, there is no need for the jack to add space between the fender and the wishbone, as you said you did. You can slide a support bar in the spring to hold the assymbly up. Then you pull down on the wishbone. As the suspension travels down, there is enough clearence to remove shock assymbley. Its important that the asylembly is held up with all the bolts in there holes. As you bounce the wishbone you pull the shock out and to the front. It slides out easy.

Other than that I took my time made sure every thing was taken off correctly and torqued back to specs and averaged 45 minutes per assymbley on the front, and 20 minutes on the back. Only had 1 jack, other than the cars, and 1 jack stand. Needless to say I had to jack up each corner individualy. Oh yeah, that sucked.

Your write up was helpful, From the time I grabbed the first tool, to torquing the last lug nut was just over 5 hours alone(started at 1130am and finished just after 430pm.) I was working at a shop that didn't have all the tools right there so I kept having to walk back and forth to find the correct things. Took about 45 minutes to get all the tools I needed, they couldn't find the thin wall 13/16" for my lugs. I have Motegi Racing Touge 18 X 9 & 18 x 10; a pain in the **** to find the right thin wall socket the first time you take them off.

punish_her

iTrader: (8)

strut tower brace

pvknight

reviving this b/c i have noise after spring install -

I installed Hotchkis springs on my Z today and I have noise coming from the front assemblies. I've double checked all bolts and torque specs on the bottom and under the hood. Only possibility is the single, top strut bolt - this was tightened with an impact gun at the shop that change the front coils for me. This bolt turns with the shock shaft, how can I tighten it? Please advise, asap.

Brian

pvknight

problem solved (i.e. strut bolt tightened) thanks to Status Design of Hermosa Beach, CA - thanks guys!

VO...

iTrader: (25)

awesome thread. I wasted many hours last night trying to get the strut off of the Z. Ultimately gave up. I'm glad I found this thread this morning.

nexstage350

iTrader: (3)

nice write up!! thanks so much for the thread

scott west

What exactly did your shop do to eliminate the noise. I've got the same noise and I had a shop remove and replace the springs on my struts after I took them off the car.

pvknight

the noise was caused by the center upper strut bolt/nut not being tight enough. the guy who swapped my springs onto the struts didn't tigthen it enough, a couple more zips on the impact wrench did the trick.

2003wrx64

I have not actually done the install but it looks like it might be easier to disconnect the front swaybar endlinks before jacking up the car. Jeff

Peking

iTrader: (2)

Jeff how would you disconnect the front sway bar end-links without raising the car so you can get to them?

blaukal

iTrader: (12)

here's another DIY that supplements this one:

http://g35driver.com/forums/showthre...ghlight=cotter

despite what this says, imo spring compressor is a must. parts stores should let you rent for just a refundable deposit.

Duqx

iTrader: (2)

I just did this last night. I found that it was a lot easier to detach the sway bar with the whole front end jacked up. When only one side is up in the air the bar has a load on it from the opposite tire being on the ground.

Also on the stut bar I had a hard time finding any torque specs. The only ones I could find were 20 ft/lbs for the 2 nuts and 24 ft/lbs for the bolts

ZTUPID

iTrader: (2)

Well, after completing that, I feel the weight of the world lifted off my shoulders. I have been reading this post over and over for a few weeks, contemplating how bad I want to tackle this installation myself. If it was not for the advise of these guys, I would have been out about $400 paying some greasball to half-*** install it at a shop.
So... my two cents:
-There is nothing like having the right tool, for the right job.
-when working on the front, it made it so easy to put the floor jack in the middle of the car and lift both wheels. All the bolts came out without a struggle.
-The spring compressors were scary, but made fast work of taking apart those struts.
-The squirt of liquid wrench on all the nuts and bolts, before I started, helped out big time. The brake-line nut was the hardest surprisingly, as the bracket wanted to bend.
-the factory jack between the upper link and the fender was a big help. just BE CAREFULL!!!
So, that all I have to say. It took me about 5 1/2 hours, out on the driveway, and it was close to 100 degrees out, but other than mild dehydration, and a few busted knuckles, it was not as hard as I anticipated.
If I were to do it again, I could knock it out in about 3 hours, start to finish, no problem. So thanks guys. The Z looks much better, and the feeling of accomplishment is nice too.

*on another note, I used my factory jack to lift up the back one more time, because my floor jack no longer fits under the side, the the jack completely bent, buckled and fell over. Thank GOD my wheel was installed! Has this happened to anyone before? I was just standing there, not even turning a wrench, and the thing just crapped out on me. DONT EVER GET UNDER THE CAR, WITHOUT USING PROPER JACK STANDS, OR RAMPS! that cheap factory crap almost cost me a bumber, exhaust and my brakes.

zzz350

I can't get picture two to show in the tutorial by the OP, can anyone help me?

Myfirst06350Z

iTrader: (72)

Does it really take this long to do. My P5 looked harder and it used to take me about an hour and a half for everything. I guess I will know this weekend when I install my Tokico D-specs.

stu8319

So I just did my Z, I used air tools which were awesome, and never needed the spring compressors.

NIZZMO

iTrader: (24)

No compressor ?? Sounds dangerous.