yes the bottom part just bolts right up

 

Cool.

I did get some GT500 strut mounts for the front.

 

Got the rears on (Steeda Comp's & Koni STR.T's).

Not a bad job. Took a while because

1) had to decide those nuts and bolts that look like they are stripped are supposed to be that way

2) had to get an answer on re-using the stock upper rear shock bushings...thanks folks

3) Trying to figure something that fit on top of the upper shock bolt - holds the stock still while the top nut is tightened down. Finally went with a crescent wrench. There's probably a real tool for this. Also had a REAL tight space to work in here with a custom subwoofer box on the passenger side.


Now to attempt the front. All I have for a spring compressor is this type of tool



I will try this out on the koni springs sitting in my garage before pulling all the stock stuff off and attempting the install.

Tool looks kinda gimpy. Don't know yet how hard it is to compress that spring. I had to compress the rear spring just a little to fit it on top of the rear axle. Did it with my own brute strength. Grrrr...


EDIT: The above tool works well enough. Not hard to compress the spring. Just inconvenient with all the back & forth wrenching

 

PS - the rear is definitely lower. Looks lower. Looks good. And I can no longer just slide under the back to access the mufflers. LOL

 

ya i used the same tool but you dont really need it since you got new struts and springs and strut mounts i didnt good luck

 

Crap. Need an 18mm deep well to remove the front sway bar linkage. Don't know why they didn't use a 15mm like they did on the rear.

Now putting the car back together so I can run to the store, come back, and start over on the front. Hate it when that happens.

 

Yup, the top hardware gets re-used. No big deal. I installed STR.Ts a few months ago. Nice parts.

 

One more question - the stock front struts have a white soft rubber bushing like thing underneath that dust boot. Whatever it is, is a couple inches toall. Looks more like a bump stop of some kind, although its pretty soft for bump stop.

Re-use this too? Already put it on the driver side.

Will check back here before I put it on the passenger side.

 

yes resuse those as well

 

Thanks. Got 'er done. Everything is in and torqued up.

145 ft-lbs on the 2 lower strut bolts. Wow.

And I gotta call BS on the service manual claiming 85 ft lbs does on the upper sway bar linkage bolt (front sway bar). This the one where you have to hold the bolt still with an 8mm wrench while you torque down an 18mm nut. No way in hell to hold an 8mm bolt still while 85 ft lbs applied to that nut.

Moreso - there was nowhere near 85 ft lbs on there from the factory. It broke loose with no herculean effort.

Here's Taco bill working on the passenger side bolt and nut in question.