I'm wanting to put a set of Eibach Sportline Series Springs on my 1991 Z28. The back shouldn't be that hard.....but.....for people that have changed the front springs....how hard is it?? It dosen't look like to much fun.....on a scale to 1-10....10 being the hardest.....how would you rate changing the front springs? Any info would be great. Thanks Guys!

 

it really isn't hard at all. i would rate it about a 4. just take your time and take it to get an alignment when your done

 

I scared the $hit out of myself when the spring compressor decided to slide and releasing the spring. Its a fairly easy job, but a scary one for myself at least. Backs are a cake.

 

yeah id say the spring popping off would scare my too!!

 

84customZ28, im new to the site and was looking at past post. I have been looking for a hood like the one you have. Where did you get it and how much did cost. Thanks

 

heard many horror stories about springs flying out of cars and people loosing fingers... Dont want to do that job myself for the first time. Was also told to stay away from Harbor Frieght spring compressors... dangerous tool.

 

I've done a bunch of cars without a spring compressor, including my 83. It's not hard really, but the parts are big and the hardware is tight, and it's always funky and hard to work in that area generally. On the 1-10 scale I'd give it about a 6 or 7. But, patience and not getting in a hurry and not trying to take shortcuts and.... oh, did I mention patience?... is the main thing you need to do it.

 

go here and look at how i did it.

http://www.fl-thirdgen.org/frontspringswap.html

 

I would rate it a 10 because it can kill you if not done correctly with the adequete tools. Many people have died from this. Don'[t want to scare you, just keep you limbs and body out of harms way when you lower out the a-arm to remove the spring, they've been know to jump out at you if you lower it too fast and the compression tool is not set properly.

 

Welcome to the boards.....well...I got my SS hood from www.hawksthirdgenparts.com I got a really good deal on it....i got it shipped to my door for $499.00. But.....i still have to paint it....!! can't wait though! Thanks everybody for posting stuff about changing the front springs. I might just have to end up having someone put them in......I'm more an autobody guy....but..then again...I might go ahead and try it...but thanks everybody!!

 

I realize this is off the topic but that hood you have sure looks good, is it functional?

 

I'd rate it at a 5. Not sure how you guys are doing it, but i managed to do it without a spring compressor. I unbolted the shock from the upper mount and lowered the suspension arm slowly using a jack. I had the spring chained to the arm so it wouldn't shoot out. I've done it a few different ways, and this seems to be the easiest way for me.

 

Yep, it's all functional......I just have to make an air box..there isn't much run between the opening the the front of the plenum......which might be kind of tricky to make.....

 

84 Custom, How did you make that hood functional? I know it comes from hawks non-finctional! Did you cut it out? If so, what did you use as a vent to prevent rain getting into the engine compartment? Any help would be awesome! That's the same hood I'm going to order after Christmas! At the same time I'm getting my car repainted. I'm keeping it teal, but after looking at your car I want to change mine to black soooooo badly! It looks great! Is that a new paint job? Thanx again......:hail:

 

Well.....I asked hawks what made the hood "non-functional" before I ordered it..... because I didn't want to cut it out. They said "it is a functional ram air hood, is pre-cut out and comes with a black grill insert." They said they had to put non-functional on it because it doesn't include a ram air box......which really didn't matter to me. I just thought the hood looked great and I had to have it! As far as rain coming in....that's the hard part....I polished my plenum and rain hits the plenum head on.....the whole engine compartment isn't soaked or anything....just the top part of the plenum....I might end up cutting a piece of clear plexi-glass to put behide the opening. (I barely drive it in the rain though) The paint job on the car is all factory original....really really good paint...(I did have to repaint the front ground effects though when I 1st got the car)......and I'm going paint the SS hood next spring.....here is my website if you wanna check it all out...http://hometown.aol.com/hoppinss/

 

Hey NastyBird.....did you have to pop out the ball-joints by any chance?

 

You could also take your coils to a spring shop and have them bound.Thats where they'll compress as much as you need and use metal straps to secure them.After you get em in just use some tin snip to cut the binding and you're set, it's one of the safer ways I've found.

 

Nope. The ball joint stayed in tact. The spindle, brakes, a arm, and shock came down as one unit.

 

I've changed lowering springs on my car twice, went from Jamex to Eibach. I used the info from the tech article on here and I'd rate it at 2 or 3. It's only 2 bolts and one small bolt on the brake line. Put a jack under the a-arm and then just lower the a-arm as low as it can go. I put a metal bar up into the center of the stock spring from the bottom to keep the spring from going anywhere when you pop it out.
When you install the lowering springs, you'll have to jack up the a-arm a little to keep the new spring from falling out.
The most time spent on doing the back springs is setting the back end of the car on jackstands. After that, you just put a jack under the rear so you can keep the rear up while you undo the shocks, then just lower the rear, pull out the stock springs and install the new springs, jack the rear up, install the shock bolts and you are good to go.

Oh, you'll have to remove the wheels off the front, the rears come off too if you are doing this off of a lift, on a lift, you can probably keep the rear wheels on.