How easy/Hard is this job? I plan on doing it myself and have never done any suspension work before. Would it be worth the time?

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--Steve S--
1984 Trans Am 305 LG4, 5 speed
RPO codes point to Recaro version
Daily Driver, Flowmaster 80 Series

[This message has been edited by 84TransAm (edited February 05, 2001).]

pretty easy, just make sure you spray the bolts with Wd-40. You will find the upper mounts under the carpet, right where the floor pan goes from vertical (seat backs) to horizontal (rear hatch area) at the edges. No you will not need an alignment, only when you do the front struts.

Fold down the rear seat and lift the carpet in the trunk. There is a foam piece that fits over the top nut of the shock. Remove foam piece. Loosen the top nut.
Take the nut off the lower mounting point under the car. Compress the shock and remove.
I'm going by memory here. I've read you can have the rear spring out in 15 minutes if you raise body and let the rearend drop. I don't think it is necessary to raise the body and lower rearend to remove the shocks.
Good luck,
Craig

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84 Z28 305HO, 5spd, 220,000 miles, Edelbrock intake, Hedman headers, low restriction exh(w/cat), K&N air filter. Best 1/4 so far 14.649 at 94.77mph

Stock ones are a SOB to remove atleast mine were. They were rusted really bad I ended up having to use a monkey wrench, 1/2 ratchet with a 4ft piece of pipe on the end. Although I think the hardest part was putting the foam back in correctly without removing the whole rear carpet.

To get to the spring it is pretty easy. Just take the wheel off and the shock and the thing almost pops out of there when you let the rear drop. I recommend removing the panhard rod (trackbar) because it didn't look too happy when extended that far.

You don't get rear wheels aligned. There are no adjustments, not even on cars with independant suspension..

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1984 WS6 Trans Am Hartop
Former L69 Car under restoration
1984 Trans Am T-tops
4-bolt main 350, performer intake, headers, Holley 650, T-5, hayes clutch, dual elec. fans and 3.23's.
Daily driver and restoration
13.98 @ 101

Heheheh, you better tell the guys with Corvettes, Mustangs, Ferraris, Porsches, etc. that they can't align their independent rear suspensions. I know that they can adjust for camber and toe.

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Greg Westphal
'87 IROC 305TPI/A4