Guide: Front suspension/spring/coilover change

[ginge191]

This guide is going to explain how to change the springs OR fit new front suspension OR fit new coilovers.
Made this purely because over a whole weekend, i required new tools/pieces and frustrated me to hell!


Tools required

WD40
Socket Wrench 16mm socket and 13mm Socket
Hammer


Optionals

Spring compressors
Replacement springs/coilovers
Mole grips
New suspension top mounts
New drop links (recommended)
New Track Rod Ends

Few tools needed and all in all a very simple job

to begin with jack the car up, doesn't need to be too high, Wheel about an inch above the groung is suffice.

Firstly, WD40 all the bolts which are going to be removed

These are:

- A drop link bolt (i suggest the top drop link connecting to the strut to be removed, this keeps the drop link attached to the car). I took this to my advantage and replaced the drop links at the same time - a common feature of the drop links is to !)$("£$"*! spin, easiest way to overcome this either grab mole grips behind and grab as hard as possible - and get a socket on the other side, OR cut it off and replace them <-- recommend

- Steering rod

- Suspension/hub bolt (behind where the blue circle is)




Remove all these bolts, keep in a secure place and remember which bolt went onto the track rod end as it has a slightly different thread - a 'crown' shape on it (confused me for ages....)

Next, get a hammer! (fun part)

Gently tap down (piece of wood ontop will prevent the thread from being damaged) knock the track rod end downwards, and it should simply pop out.

Next, there is another bolt behind the strut, it tightens the bottom of the shaft of the strut into the hub, loosen this off, doesn't need to be removed... this loosens the shaft from the hub.

You now want to smash the hub downwards, this part you need to be careful only because you dont want to knock the driveshaft out (which i done, had a little wee, nothing much).





The hub will take a beating before the suspension comes out, but you can see it gradually leaving its 'hole'...

Once its out, its an idea to remove the brake hose 'clips', gives ease of access when removing everything. One 13mm bolt.

As you can see circled, bolt to remove and suspension out.



Now open the bonnet, remove 3 bolts holding in the top mount, and last thing holding the suspension in place.

Here i've removed 2 already, a friend to help is useful, or as i did, put a jack under the hub so when the suspension fell, it wouldn;t pull the driveshaft out.



gradually ease the suspension out and you should be left with this:



At this point, you can either:

fit new coilovers/standard suspension straight away with new top mounts requiring NO spring compressing

Compress the springs to use the old top mounts because your a cheap ass like me and dont want to spend an extra £50

So, compress your springs, remove the top bolt (which is a cack, requires an odd torx size, anyone know it?) OR use my technique, get a pair of mole grips on the damper rod? to prevent it all spinning at once.



Once thats done, pop the suspension mount on your new coilover/suspension and fit in reverse order...



Guage your ride height and set as required - i set to maximum drop to see how it sat..



but was a bit TOO low for the local roads, will hopefully be this low for next meet


Desired height set, wheels tightened and chuck it in a corner!



Questions, comments and editing welcomed