spring install (please help)

[bermankahns]

i was just wondering if anyone here has done their own spring install. i need to know what i need to have for it and how hard will it be. i'll be running tein s-techs on stock shocks. i might just take it to a shop, but i'd rather do stuff myself if i can. any info would be great. thanks

 

[Nomad]

go to the local auto parts store and rent a spring compressor.
You'll need a ratchet or two with metric sockets up to 19 or 21, might as well get a deep and a shallow socket set and metric wrenches up to about 19 or 21. Some Allen wrenches in metric too.
Buy a good set of each of those and you'll be well on your way to all you need for working on the P5. and you'll have them long term so think of them as an investment.

Other than that, there is a how to here somewhere so check it out and go have fun. Get a jack and two jackstands while you're out too.

 

[livetoride]

Here's a great how to, this will be my guidline this weekend!

http://www.mazdas247.com/forum/showthread.php?t=123660197&highlight=spring

 

[bermankahns]

thanks guys, i'll be installing them in a few weeks as well as new wheels. i'll post some pics up for it all.

 

[sam1]

i'd suggest you start soaking those endlinks in wd40 now, cause most likely they'll be quite rusty. I had to destroy mine to get them off. if you're keeping the stock struts you only have to get one end of it loose, so dont rip them up trying to remove them completely.

 

[FunkRider]

I bet every bolt and nut will come undone as if the car was a day old. He lives in FL.

 

[StealthWyvern]

I bet every bolt and nut will come undone as if the car was a day old. He lives in FL.

I bent a 3 foot pipe on the end of my socket wrech whiel removign my motor mounts!!!

Edit: Crap rust like crazy here compared to northern texas where it snows every year. They close down entire towns for icign over night. (Amarillo, Tx)

 

[NCZ13]

i dunno, my p5 has always been a cali car, and in combination with the endlink nuts being somewhat soft metal, my passenger side one wont come off my strut.

so im running on 3 tokicos, and 1 stock strut right now. and yes... i can feel the difference when i go over speed bumps. i need new endlinks =(

 

[StealthWyvern]

i dunno, my p5 has always been a cali car, and in combination with the endlink nuts being somewhat soft metal, my passenger side one wont come off my strut.

so im running on 3 tokicos, and 1 stock strut right now. and yes... i can feel the difference when i go over speed bumps. i need new endlinks =(

lol I bet your car feels funny as hell going down the road and on hard turns.

 

[NCZ13]

yeah its certainly much stiffer, and handles better than before

for about 5 months i was rolling around on only the fronts lowered, and the rears stock because on the day we worked on my car it took longer than usual, and i just couldnt find the time to work on my car until about 2 months ago i guess...

 

[jeg0024]

Sweet, people still use my write up? I'm doing the job again tomorrow. Im installing Tokico blues and some secret springs I can tell anyone about yet lol. I anyone needs to get in on a spring install stop by tomorrow... I'll be more than happy to help, and I already have the compressors rented and tools sitting out waiting on that box FedEx has for me in the morning.

 

[jeg0024]

I bent a 3 foot pipe on the end of my socket wrech whiel removign my motor mounts!!!

Edit: Crap rust like crazy here compared to northern texas where it snows every year. They close down entire towns for icign over night. (Amarillo, Tx)

Thats because you live by the ocean... I don't, and I've removed everything down there before, I'm not planning on running into anything stuck. First time was a b**** though, but when I did my rear sway bar 3 months later they came off like butter.

 

[Tom03es]

I had to take my front brake calipers off to get the lower strut bolts out. When I reinstalled everything, I put the bolts in from the opposite direction.

 

[bermankahns]

I bet every bolt and nut will come undone as if the car was a day old. He lives in FL.

so far no bolt on this car has come off easy... i don't think it's always been a FL car. and besides i'm somewhat close to the ocean, and i work down the st from the beach, so it's getting that wonderful salty air almost every day. but i've been spraying the bolts almost everyday and i have an air compressor, so i'll be renting the tools to go with it when the time comes.

thanks for all the help

 

[jeg0024]

Air tools killed my end link nut today, only nut that gave me problems. I got pissed and took it out to the vice and had at it, heres what I ended up with lol...

 

[Tom03es]

JB Weld?

 

[StealthWyvern]

duct tape? Zip ties?

 

[FunkRider]

Pfft you southern guys are rookies at rusty fasteners. You just have to know the tricks to getting rusty things apart. When all else fails I torch or cut it off.

 

[livetoride]

lol! thats what my endlinks looked like too.............after i took a saw to them...the end result is great though! Before and after.....yeah i know....need side skirts

 

[jeg0024]

^Nice work! What springs/struts?