Hi all,

Just finished my first major car-modding experience - put Eibach lowering springs and anti-sway bars onto the car. I followed two DIY's on this forum:
springs: https://www.myg37.com/forums/d-i-y-i...g-install.html
anti-sway bars: https://www.myg37.com/forums/d-i-y-i...r-install.html

As good as those DIY's were, I felt that the spring DIY was a bit general and did not cover some important details (where the devil's at). I'm documenting some of the things I learned here.

1. How not to round bolts (noob's mistake) - never use adjustable wrench on nut anything near a car - sockets are preferred, followed by box wrenches, and lastly open wrenches. If you do round a bolt, there r some bolt-off products that r great at saving one's *** e.g. Craftsman
   
2. Spring compressor - Once u have the front struts out u have a few options open to u to swap the springs out:
   -DIY w/ a compressor
   -take to shop
   -use car's weight
   
   My original plan was to take it to a shop, but I have no idea how ppl on this forum say they found shops that swapped out the springs for only $20 or $40. I talked to at least 10 shops (small independent to large chains in Atlanta) and they all tried to gouge me for $80+. I tried using the car's own weight to compress the spring, but it was difficult to get the uncompressed assembly into the suspension. Plus it's not as safe as using compressors.
   
   The major problem that many ppl talked about was finding compressors that fit the tightly wound upper part of the progressive Eibachs. I also went to many shops like autozone, pepboys, advanced auto parts, oreillys looking for 'the right' compressors. However, these $10 compressors from Harbor Freight did the job: MacPherson Strut Coil Spring Compressor Set
   The important thing here is to grease up the threads! If you don't (like me), then it becomes a one-use item. The nut seized while I was doing the second spring, and had to take it to a shop to cut it off (they were going to charge me $90 to cut it out, and then mount the spring on the strut. Fortunately the Eibachs couldn't fit in their compressor, so they cut it out for free
   
   
   The trick here is to mount the compressors like so:
   
   Where the single hook is on top of the spring. The spring compressor is really not that scary (I don't really know why so many ppl warn against this). When compressed, there is so much friction that it would be v difficult for the compressor to come off.
   
   When u put the top plate on, the single hook will be sandwiched between the spring and the rubber seat. This may look impossible to extract but it's actually not that hard - just a bit of leveraging and twisting will get it out, since rubber is easily deformable.
   
   
3. Getting the front struts lined up correctly:
   for some reason (I made marks all the way down the strut), when I put the second spring on the strut, it didn't line up with the holes in the chasis.
   
   
   Luckily, the error wasn't that great - u can fix this by bolting the three nuts on the top plate to the chassis, leaving the bottom end of the strut free. Then, stick a pipe in the hole at the bottom of the strut for torque and give it a yank to twist it into place:
   
   
4. Torquing to spec:
   When you are done with everything, torque the fasteners back to spec. You can find the specs in the service manual. You should also try to do as many fasteners under "unladen conditions with tires on level ground" (or ramp). This is possible to do under the hood with the three nuts holding the top of the strut to the chasis, as well as the main nut holding the top plate to the strut. However, even with a universal joint, it's v difficult to torque the four bolts at the bottom of the strut with the wheels on (so I gave up):
   
   It's probably easiest to torque it with the wheels off. The three bolts in red circles in the picture above are Grade 9T M10 x 1.25 hexagonal flange bolts. It's grade 9 because it's written on the head (it looks confusingly like a "b"). The torque specs for these bolts are not shown in the suspension diagrams in the service manual. However, there is a table of standard bolts tightening torques in the general information section. These bolts should be torqued to 59 ft-lb.
   
   (Grade 9 bolt is upside down.)
   
   
5. Lastly, I wasn't sure whether one should use some kind of threadlocker (red/blue) or loctite product on the nut holding up the brake line:
   
   I saw an episode of MotorzTV where Duke said to use threadlocker red on all fasteners to prevent rattling/loosening. This is especially the case in a suspension-related fastener. But I'm not really sure about this one - there were no blue or red residue on any of the fasteners I removed, so I chose not to use any product. If anyone knows what the rule of thumb is for using these products, that would be great.

Hope that helps ppl after me who are interested in doing their own springs.

 

nice write up!

 

pix of the drop:

 

Please don't anyone buy or use that POS spring compressor from Harbor Freight. You can get seriously hurt or worse. Lubricating it isn't the issue. It is junk. Look at the picture after one use. It is worse than junk, it can get you seriously maimed by breaking while in use. I have personal experience with it. The second the rod began to bend (as soon as it started to compress) I stopped and took it back. Don't use it please. It's made of tin foil. Spend $40 or so and get a serviceable tool. This is a case when saving a few bucks truly isn't worth it.

 

but which spring compressor model would u buy and where to get one? i looked in sears, northern tools, advanced auto parts, autozone, pepboys, oreilly's

none had compressors that can fit...

 

Try one of these:

Amazon.com: strut spring compressor: Automotive

Anything but that tool-O-death.

 

Nice write up and your G looks awesome BTW.
That compressor does look pretty scary, both those threaded stock are starting to bend. Glad you got it done without incident and BB makes a good point about spending a bit more and possibly avoiding something tragic.

 

thanks for the write up!

 

Autozone and o riellys rent spring compressers that fit..... I have used them on my 350 and sentra

 

u mean these?
http://www.autozone.com/autozone/acc...er=555557_0_0_
u sure they fit the Eibachs?

 

those sure fits, i used that spring compressor to install my teins with my buddy.. rental fee was free, just a $50 deposit.