Front Coilover Removal
This page outlines the process of how to remove the front coilovers on an 87s4.....a mysteriously intimidating job, or so it looks! My car has the original BOGEs on it and they have seen a majority of their life on the roads of Long Island and NY...the car has 83,000 miles now and I could tell they were getting a bit "wishwashy". Time for a replacement.
First, a thanks to Jim Bailey at www.928intl.com who answered a couple of my questions on what really has to be removed to complete this job. I already had the brake calipers and rotors off my car for another project (red repaint) therefore the time to complete the removal on one wheel was appx 40min...the other side was under 30! Obviously, supporting the car, removing the wheels and brake components will add some time. I would set a side appx an hr for each side.
HERE ARE SOME FACTS:
The front coilover WILL drop/thread through the upper A-arm on this car (87S4....earlier models may not...YMMV)
The upper A-arm DOES NOT have to be removed ... again YMMV..this page is for an 87s4...pre 87 may be different!
The 2 bolts on the caster and camber adjustments(pictures to follow) and the associated bracket dont have to come off.... unless you need the room to manuever the lower control arm out of the way...this may occur if you are on a lift. My car was supported via the jack points with jack stands and as i look back at it now, i didnt need to remove the bolts.
Relative to some of the other work i have done on the car, this was actaully a VERY EASY JOB!!!!!!
HOW TO DO IT.......
support and block the car appropriatley.......
remove the wheel(s)........
remove the calipers(perhaps hang them with wire from the wheel well).....
remove the rotors (2 phillips screws..impact driver may be needed).....
then............ use the pictures below as a guide.
...the upper
bolt is what passes through the shock, bracket and achors it to
the lower arm. As seen you will counter hold at this end and turn
at the other. Removing the lower sway bar bolt may be a good idea
as it will allow you more freedom of movement when the time comes
to swing the lower control arm out of the way.
after the nut has
been removed from the long bolt and the metal shield removed,
this is what you will have. You need to knock the lower bolt
through the shock and its attatchment bracket. A few taps on the
end of a screw driver worked nicely...the only thing holding the
shock in now are the 3 bolts up in the engine
compartment...simple enough i know, but you have to get the shock
out of there first!
if you end up
removing the 2 eccentric caster camber bolts under the control
arm you may want to remove the front air defelector on the arm
itself.....2 10mm bolts that you will have to counter hold. Just
loosen them up and the rubber sheild will come free. Note the
sway bar droplink is gone.
these are the
eccentric caster and camber bolts on the lower ball joint
bracket. Depending on the room you have to work with you may have
to undo these and remove the lower control arm from the lower
ball joint bracket. Check first before you
do..and if you do, try and mark their postion so you can keep
your settings when you bolt it all back up again. I marked mine
with an EXACTO knife. Although i did remove them, i found
later i had plenty of room to swing the lower control arm out of
the way.
using a cheater
bar on the 2 bolts (see above) under the lower control arm
inorder
to swing the lower control arm out of the way, the 4 bolts
holding it have to come out....you may need a cheater bar. This
shows the aft area where 2 of them are located. (note the
greasable sway bar bushings www.928gt.com
yes, i will clean off the eccess grease : ) )
the
other 2 are up front. Now, the other trick is that the tow
bracket is part of this assembly and as you see below, it has to
be moved out of the way so the control arm can be freely removed.
remove the
AFT bolt, seen here....counter hold on the other side.
...and just
loosen the front one and it will swing down out of the way. I was
also retensioning my timing belt which is why the coolant catch
is there.
all 4
bolts from lower control arm are now removed and it will simpley
droop down!
now, if you
can do this, you dont have to undo the two caster/camber bolts
seen a few pictures UP. The way i had my car lifted and
supported, the whole arm assembly had room to drop, then swing
out of the way. It may be a good idea not to move it any farther
than you have to so as to not place any unneeded stress on the
joints. This is a great time to check the health of your various
joints...upper lower ball joints..tierods...upper A arm. There is
essentially no weight on them now and they should all move
without any binding or slop. As you can see the shock is just
sitting there waiting to drop! 2 more steps....
removing the 3 upper shock bolts...its tight and you may have to
take out a fender bolt which helps to hold a wiring harness
bracket in place.
once the 3
bolts are remove the whole assembly will drop....only to be
caught by the hole in the upper A-arm. Not to worry, it does
fit............next step
if a picture
could be worth a 1000 words, this is it! To
remove the coilover, rasie the entire upper A-arm assembly to
horizontal. At this point the coilover will drop free
or.....the spring coils may have to be threaded through the
opening slightly.....either way, YOUR DONE!!!
repeat for the other side...
.Once i get to the install, i will outline those steps as well. It should be pretty straight forward also?
A page on the rear coilover removal is in the works, its even easier!! .. both can be done in just about an hour. This whole coilover replacement procedure is a defintie DIY project!
