I figured as much. Ok, this is going on the back burner for now then...again. I talked to a couple people about possibly helping out when most of the buddies are back from college or around. We'll try again another time. I was just hoping to get the springs in to be able to roll the car outside without worrying about the trans hitting the lip at the opening of the garage. Maybe I'll take the bellhousing off if that would make a difference in clearance but I doubt it will help.

No sense in risking it if the compressor might fail. If I get my hands on a 350 or 383 bottom end maybe then I will consider trying again. No doubt they will go in with the weight of the motor in the bay.

 

I'm doing springs on my car right now to. Figured out tonight that I needed the spacer to even be able to attempt to get the springs out of the car.

Does the size of the spacer vary? Just putting the compressor in and putting the pieces where I think they should go it seems like I'd need like a 6 inch spacer. But in this thread people are talking about 4 to 5 inch spacers.

Also a question, if I do get the spring compressed enough to get it out of the car, how do I uncompress it? I'll be compressing it from an already compressed state.... so how would I be able to unscrew the compressor without the spring uncoiling and flying off who knows where?

I really don't like messing with these springs lol, but can't afford to pay a mechanic to do these for me right now.

 

What spacer are you talking about?

Removing the spring is very easy. Remove the strut knuckle from the spindle or separate the spindle from the ball joint with a jack under the ball joint. Chain up the spring in case it manages to fly out early. Slowly lower the jack. The lower the jack goes, the more the A-arm droops, the less potential energy is stored in the spring. As the spring gets to where it's about to pop out there's very little energy stored in it anymore. I just shove the infamous crowbar in it and pop it out. Sometimes they come out on their own but I generally have to give em a good yank. They may make a bunch of noise but at that point it's not a dangerous amount of stored energy being released - just keep your fingers clear.

 

I'm talking about the spacer everyone talks about in this thread and shows in pictures. Maybe they only use it when reinstalling a spring, I'm not sure. Have never changed springs myself. I didn't have a chain with me last night when working on the car or I would've tried chaining it and lowering the jack slowly. without the compressor.

 

The oft named spacer is just a piece of pipe, its being called a spacer because it performs the job of one. I think pipe size would depend on the compressor, I found 4 inches to be too long for the Autozone style one. The screw wouldn't reach the hooks at 4 inches. However if you're trying to get them out, I'd just use the method infernalvortex described with the crow bar and jack. Springs are already fairly heavy so when they fall down it will be noisy. But it won't go ricocheting around the room. My issue was I was trying to do it without a motor up front. Without the weight up front its impossible to do without risking a compressor failure. I probably couldn't crank it far enough with just hand tools anyway. I really tried, but common sense says to stop and get some weight up front in my case. That said, you should not have the problems I've been having.

On another note....here is how the fox body guys do it, I'm not sure how deep the upper perch is compared to ours but the basic design is similar enough that it could work. Although it is similar to InfernalVortex's method in principle.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=stNSS...e_gdata_player

That could work on our cars as well I think. I can't say for sure though. Though how long did it take him to do it, I bet without the explanation it would have taken him a minute a spring. However, I think K member differences allow them an easier time at it.

 

I dont see any reason why that would NOT work. I will say that our springs hang down below that lip (hence they need to be compressed, though not far) and I think that's just because our A-arms will not droop to completely vertical. You would still have to use some sort of lever to hook the bottom coil over the lip of the little tool, but a little tool like that gives you a much more stable place to hook your lever to get it over that lip. It's the exact same principle as the crowbar, but it's bolted in place and cannot come apart. It's very clever. If you made the pad on that tool extend out another 3 feet and put a hinge on it, it would be the same (well, actually much better) as the crowbar method (Which is definitely not MY method, it's just the one I use, mw66nova showed it to me).

 

What I am thinking is this. Get the tool and put it on there, If you compress the spring and get it over that hook no need for levers or anything else. Jack up the arm by the ball joint and you're home free. Naturally, this can't be done with a stripped front end, as I've found out. I'd say worth the 15 bucks for the ease of it.

 

You wont get the spring over the hook because the lowest coil is below the hook. The factory a-arm pocket will function just like the hook, I just think a little tab like that would make it much easier to hold a crowbar in place to compress the spring.

 

The spring compessorI bought was OTC model number OTC7045B. I ordered online and it was about $200 shipped. Pricy? Yes, but after spending 2 days trying to get the spring back into the car with the half assed crap from Autozone and the like, it was well worth it to me. Good tools are an investment and aren't cheap. Took less than 45 minutes to compress the springs and put them in. All using a wrench, no air tools and very little effort.

 

Thanks for that info. I will see if I do indeed just get it. I just have a list of other things to get that I need more than a spring compressor. The 200 bucks there, gets me new rear calipers for example. You see where I'm going with this. And for all I know this might be the only car that I do the springs on that is a real pain in the ***. But who knows. I might end up indeed springing the money for that. I'll keep an eye out for one though.