mac62989

iTrader: (1)

Well since I decided to save a few bucks in May Ill now be waiting until September to get my Koni shocks I have BMR springs sitting in my basement and am ordering a Founders on-car adjustable panhard bar with poly bushings shortly. Since I have a few months before I see some shocks I plan on getting some Strano sway bars. My question is, is there anything I should buy that will make the install easier? New hardware ect..

Thanks in advance.

-Matt

nascarnate326

iTrader: (1)

has your car been exposed to rain/ snow?

if so, the passenger side will be rusty..you may end up cutting your current shock.

mac62989

iTrader: (1)

No snow. Im sure it saw rain early in its life but not since Ive owned it.

djfury05

iTrader: (30)

Depending on how old your strut mounts are, I'd consider getting new "dogbones" for those. They are only like $20 for the pair. If you don't know what I'm talking about you'll see when you get them apart.

Also, do not **** with the nut on top of the shock to get the strut mount off. Take it to a shop and let them deal with it.

SparkyJJO

iTrader: (11)

You can get the moog ones on rock auto for like 5 bucks each. Moog mounts are about 50 bucks. So $110 + Shipping for mounts + isolators, not bad.

I did mine myself, but had to chop the nut off of mine because they were all rusted together. Chopped it off after compressing the spring fully, of course.

mac62989

iTrader: (1)

Are the strut mounts themself needed? DJ, not sure what the dogbones are lol

SparkyJJO

iTrader: (11)

I highly recommend replacing them whenever you put new shocks on (unless they only have like 10k miles on them or something). Moog K6516 and K6517 for the mounts.

The "dogbone" isolators are a wedge-shaped piece that fit down inside the mount. They distribute the load across the mount so it doesn't tear out. Moog K6573. Looks like this:

z28bryan

iTrader: (7)

If you still have stock swaybar endlinks, those will most likely all break when you need to remove the swaybar enlinks. I'd make sure I had another set ready to go.

kevinkr

Here is a list of the parts I picked up before replacing the springs/shocks:

MOOG K6516 Strut Mount Driver Side (1)
MOOG K6517 Strut Mount Passenger Side (1)
MOOG K80927 Coil Spring Seat (2)
MOOG K6573 Coil Spring Insulator (2)

More info in my post here... https://ls1tech.com/forums/16490664-post15.html

mac62989

iTrader: (1)

^Thanks. Best place to buy MOOG suspension stuff?

SparkyJJO

iTrader: (11)

Rock Auto usually. Maybe Amazon for price comparison, but last I checked overall the parts were a tad cheaper from Rock Auto. If it is only a couple bucks difference I'd prefer to support Rock Auto over Amazon as they are a much smaller company.

mac62989

iTrader: (1)

Cool, Ill start looking into it even though I dont think Ill be seeing the shocks I ordered until the fall.

mac62989

iTrader: (1)

Bringing this up from the dead.. I have all of this in my cart at Rock Auto, anything Im missing before I put in the order? Didnt end up getting new sway bars yet so the install will be just Konis and springs..

djfury05

iTrader: (30)

Looks good to me bro.. If it were me maybe some new stainless high grade hardware if it doesn't come with the kit.

Element

iTrader: (5)

You may want to get some good marine-grade grease. Once you get everything assembled and ready to go on the car, take the grease and glop as much as you can into the cavity at the top of the spring/shock assembly - you'll see what I mean when it's all apart, where the "dogbone" bit sits. It'll help keep water and dirt out of that pocket, so if you decide to change shocks or springs in the future, there's much less chance of the shock rod and nut being rusted up.

VinR1

iTrader: (17)

I dont know why everyone is talking about rusty stock components - he has new springs, shocks, and upper mounts. Just have them assembled (or rent a compressor and do it yourself) and once theyre ready, its ~30min per side to swap out. Both rear springs and shocks can be done in about 30min as well. Putting the front assemblies together takes the most time

Element

iTrader: (5)

The marine grease is to prevent the new stuff from rusting once it's installed. When I swapped front shocks and springs, the old shocks were so rusted I had to cut the shock rod in order to get everything diassembled; a bit of a waste of time since I wound up throwing all of the old stock stuff away, but I'd prefer not to have to take a grinder to my new shocks if I decide to change things in 5 years.

mac62989

iTrader: (1)

Alright good to know. Ive read about using grease in the past, its something I recently overlooked. It will be done in my garage and have the compressor.

brigade24

i had the rust issue...soaked them in PB for a couple of days...ended up breaking the bolts...the isolators were still in good shape shockingly so i couldn't take extreme measure...

i used a dremel to cut the bolt off at the lowest point possible then gradually drilled the bolt out by small holes and then expanding using bigger bits...a few bits, 4 hours, and several sessions of recycled frustration, the job was done...

new best friend=copper anti-seize <---apply it if you would like to maintain your mental health.