How hard is it to do in a parking lot with basic tools, jack and stands, etc. I'm coming of knee surgery and don't want to dig to deep a hole. Also, how long is the average swap time wise. I got a price of a couple hundred for all 4 for labor. Is this reasonable? I have the shocks, HAL Qa1 in hand but the knee is a PITA. :smash:



[Modified by 92TripleBlack, 3:18 PM 4/23/2003]

 

it would be easier with an impact wrench....

but it is doable.

Spray some PB blaster on the bolts a couple of days before... that should help a ton!

 

Hmmm. Maybe its time to pick up that compressor after all. I'll read the shop manuals tonight and decide if its something me and my knee screws can handle. :skep:

 

The fronts should be done in a bout an hour for install and removal. The fronts can be done with simple hand tools.

The rears, either a impact gun or a breaker bar will be needed for the lower bolt. The top bolts can be done with hand tools as well.

 

One word, EASY, especially if you haven't driven the car in the winter months. I own an 89 which I replaced all 4 shocks on 2 years ago, say 1 to 1 1/2 hours tops, for the average guy. I spent more time putting the car up on jack stands and removing the tires than I did the shocks. Easy job, you should have no problems. Currently updating to a new fully independent suspension, 4 coil overs in all 4 corners and removing those harsh leaf springs. Good Luck, any problems, drop me a message.

FRED

 

You should have no problem changing the shocks, I did it with simple tools and it took me a little longer (the bolts on the rear took some work since i didn't have an air wrench), but I would definitely do it (as long as the knee will take it. Good luck

 

Thanks Guys. I'll give it a shot.
:cheers:

 

I found the rears to be a piece of cake, the fronts were a bit more challenging due to the allen head needed to hold the shaft on top, and the recessed nuts on the bottom. You need a thin walled socket for those. As far as installing the QA1's, I dont know, I replaced my stock Bilsteins with Bilstein Xtreme from VBP so they were direct bolt on.

Like was mentioned, jacking up the car and removing the wheels is 35% of the work. Working a parking lot.......that makes everything hard! Go to a friends garage or something.

 

My son & I just did this to his '92 Coupe. We removed (perfectly fine) Bilsteins and replaced them with the new HD versions from the factory. I don't think you will need any air tools - we didn't (and we have the same year car - ours with ~90K and never having seen a winter).

The rears were actually easier/quicker than the front - 3 bolts. The front were easy access but we ran into problems holding/removing the top nut - had to use a nut-cutter to remove both top nuts. We didn't want to damage the small holding area on top of the shock or the threads, so cutting the nut was the best route but took a little longer. The newer shocks use an allen key inside the shaft - much better idea though tough for torquing! Not familiar with your brand and what they require.

You should spray the top-nut on each front shock in advance and bring all the tools with you including a braker bar for the rear shock bottom nut and a torque wrench for installation. What also helps is a small jack to take the tension off the knuckle/housing when removing/installing the shock - we used a small sizzors jack for that. Its a sit down job after you do the jacking/wheel removal (which with your knee might be the hardest part as previously mentioned).

Get a helper and things will go quickly... proabably a couple hours at most.
That is unless (like my son) you get the wheel off and shock and decide to do some serious cleaning!! :thumbs:

 

Where you you buy those Bilstein HD stocks? Who has the best prices? Got a phone number? Thanks

 

Not a hard job at all. I did it without an impact wrench and it wasn't that hard. Go for it.

 

We purchased our four (4) shock set from http://www.eshocks.com. They had a good price, items were in stock (called to place the order - did not order by using their website) and shipping was a fair price. Shipping was very fast.
We got the #53 & #54 HD shocks.
http://www.eshocks.com/bil_veh.asp?M...&Manf=Bilstein

Phone: 1-800-303-6211 - the service tech was very helpful and verified while I was on the phone the shocks were in-stock. I had no experience with these folks but was very pleased with my transaction and would purchase from them again without hesitation.

FYI - The HD shocks offer ~15% increase in performance over factory shocks and a somewhat stiffer ride than OEM. :thumbs: