shocks and struts
Supreme Member
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 13,414
Likes: 6
From: Central NJ, USA
Car: 1986 Firebird
Engine: 2.8 V6
Transmission: 700R4
The back shocks are cake.. well, okay they're not mechanically hard, just annoying. You need to pull the "cargo area" carpet back to expose the upper shock mounts. I do this by removing the rear seat-back (two 3/8" aka 10mm bolts in each corner), and then sliding the carpet out of each corner.
The front struts aren't cake.. you need to put a wrench on the upper nut, and keep another wrench on the center shaft. Otherwise, when you turn the upper nut, the shaft will turn with it. The strut-to-knuckle bolts (lowers) have a torque spec of 200 ft/lbs, so make sure you have a torque wrench. 200 ft/lbs is pretty damn tight, and unless you have a "click" from the torque wrench to go by, you'll never hit the spec.
And of course you'd need to get to an alignment shop ASAP after the front struts... you don't have to go for the rear shocks.
If you have the original units on the car, anything will be better. The original ones are probably barely working. A good test is to see if you can compress the old ones easily, just by using your hands. If you can, that means there's no more gas left inside. Summit sells some KYB's for a good price, I think $60/strut and $20/shock? I have Monroe Sensatrac struts on the front, and love 'em.. but they were $90 each. I didn't know about the KYB's back then.
------------------
-Tom P (Hot rodded 1986 Firebird 2.8l) from http://www.f-body.net/mailbag/3rd/3rd_mailbag.html message boards
The front struts aren't cake.. you need to put a wrench on the upper nut, and keep another wrench on the center shaft. Otherwise, when you turn the upper nut, the shaft will turn with it. The strut-to-knuckle bolts (lowers) have a torque spec of 200 ft/lbs, so make sure you have a torque wrench. 200 ft/lbs is pretty damn tight, and unless you have a "click" from the torque wrench to go by, you'll never hit the spec.
And of course you'd need to get to an alignment shop ASAP after the front struts... you don't have to go for the rear shocks.
If you have the original units on the car, anything will be better. The original ones are probably barely working. A good test is to see if you can compress the old ones easily, just by using your hands. If you can, that means there's no more gas left inside. Summit sells some KYB's for a good price, I think $60/strut and $20/shock? I have Monroe Sensatrac struts on the front, and love 'em.. but they were $90 each. I didn't know about the KYB's back then.
------------------
-Tom P (Hot rodded 1986 Firebird 2.8l) from http://www.f-body.net/mailbag/3rd/3rd_mailbag.html message boards
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