ok i odnt have much time at all but i cant get my springs out in the front. a arm is all the way down and i was told the spring would just pop out. there isnt enough room to get the compressor in there either. help please someone im freggin stuck badly!

 

Lift the car up higher.

 

Slide a pry bar through the spring at an angle, so as to get a bite on 2 coils and hold that sumbitch tight. Then, with another prybar, pry the botrtom coil out of the pocket in the control arm and be ready for a loud pop and that coil spring to try come out of there with the wrath of g o d. That is what the first prybar will stop, if you don't hold the other bar, the coil spring can come oput of there with enough force to literally kill you. And just so you know, getting that f#*ker out is the easy/safe part. Putting it back in is more dangerous and much, much harder. When I did mine the coil spring compressor slipped and the spring crushed my hand between the control arm and my prybar. I had a deep muscle bruise and couldn't hold a glass of water with that hand for over a month. Be careful....

 

I recomend a chain around the whole mess too! But when I did mine a few weeks ago I know I didn't have the car up high enough either. Watch when lowering it too since the arm may hit the ground and try to push the car to one side. Another jack to hold up the crossmember while still on jackstands will add some more clearance too.

 

sweet ill try the pry bar method. anyother suggestions/tips/hints? do i have to use the spring compressor to get the new springs back in?

 

I didn't use a compressor, but it gets very hard to do without the car up high enough to allow the control arm to drop down a lot. I was able to get them in by popping them over the lower spring perch while the top was off center. Then I rotated them as close as possible to line up between those 2 little drain holes. I didn't get them in correctly, about an inch or so off. I guess I should try a compressor in there now to rotate them to the correct spot... maybe.

 

man i cant get these FUC*#($ out! apparently im just not strong enough to compress them enough to pop them out. i was thinknig about cutting the springs so i could just pull them out then worry about how to get them in? good idea?....what should i cut them with? i jacked the car up higher and it didnt let the aarm down anymore. is there a way to get the aarm down more?

 

Why not? Is the control arm hitting the ground? It should be able to swing down enough so that the arm is perpendicular to the ground. Cutting wont solve any problems when you put the new springs back in.


I saw your edit.... I can't help but think that you may have left the sway bar endlink connected! If so, do NOT cut/remove it unless you have a jack under the control arm.

 

o ****. uh oh do i need to remove the endlink? i thought thaht might be why it wont move down anymnore but no one ever told me i had to remove it.......if so this shouldnt be a problem then!!! :lala:

 

Be careful; that spring could fly outta there as soon as that a-arm swivels all the way down to the ground. I used an internal spring compressor and -still- looped a chain around the spring for extra safety!!

And remember when you put the springs back in to make sure they seat in the "upper" spring pocket. Use tape to hold the upper insulator to the spring- I used 3M "Nascar" duct tape

 

o YEA got one spring out but ive got two major problems i need addressed.......one, i cant get the nut off the stem of my struts, that FUC*** is on there tight and rusted will a cutting torch work? and no. 2 the second bolt on the pass side that holds my strut to the brakes wont come loose for anything....ive broken two sockets and am out of options any help here?

 

This suggestion is probably a bit late, but soaking nuts and bolts with penetrant for a couple of days in advance will certainly make your life easier. I removed everything with handtools: struts, a-arms, etc. By the way, a compressor, using a five-inch pipe nipple to take up slack (suggested by EBMiller), was the ticket for me. The compessor is especially useful in reassembly.

JamesC

 

That's because you're removing the springs the hard and time consuming way. The better way of removing them is to unbolt the sway bar end link and the A-arm from the K member - that's it. Much, much easier and quicker. A spring compressor isn't needed.

 

well i finally got everythig off and my new stuff put back in. i had to break my endlinks and put new ones on and after buying impact sockets i got the last bolt to finally break loose. thanks goodness......the most diffucul,t part was breaking the nuts off of the stems of my upper strut mounts. i had to get many cut off disks and cut the stem flat with the nut the drill it ou tthe bea tthe nut off, but about 1am last night i got everything perfect. now i just need an alignment which it seems no one can do because of my aftermarket wheels but once that is done i will be content...for now!

 

Whats so special about the rims?

 

OH man, that sound so much easier, its a crime not to tell anyone about it. I never even thought of that. I will have to remember it when I do my springs.

 

the tire ahve a "rim saver" where the tire hangs over the lip of the rim just a little bit to prevent curbbage on the rim and no one has the "new" tools ot aligin cars equipped with these tires....until another project

 

If I ever have to remove the front coils on a thirdgen again, I'm installing lowering springs while it's apart. When I did my GTA, My spring compressors didn't work worth a crap, and got in the way of things when I tried getting the spring in. I wound up pulling the LCA, putting the spring into place, then fighting tooth and nail to get the LCA back into place.

With my IROC, I got the old springs out, and just put the new ones in. With the lowering springs, they practically slipped right into place.

 

you got that right. my lowering springs were a full 2 inches shorter than my stock springs but didnt lower the car much at all because of the sagging. the new springs slipped right into place with no probelms at all....i could only imagine what putting NEW stock springs in would be like, can anyone say PITA!!!!

 

PITA?!?!? That may just be the understatement of the year. Even with a spring compressor, I still fought with those bastards for a while. Of course, I went with the super heavy duty springs which were 2mm thicker wire than my WS6 springs. At least you are done (and I am too), and won't have to mess with it again for a while.

I tried to do the springs the way that Marc 85Z28 said, and when I had a lift and an air jack, that was the ticket. When I tried in my garage at home without a lift, I must've been too fu@kin stupid to get it, but I couldn't get the arm back in there.

 

you want a scary spring job, try doing struts on a late 80's to mid 90's GM sedan. Man they used the softest longest springs on those cars and compressed the **** out of them!! I just removed and replaced my eibachs this weekend in an hour for the 2 fronts. What a breeze compared to stock style springs!