onyxxtreme

iTrader: (4)

Well, me and a couple of friends did the front prokit springs install on sunday, but we ran into a few snags
when we got the spring/strut assembly out, there was ALOT of rust up there on the stock decarbons
so after we compressed the springs we tried removing the top nut on the strut, and that thing was rusted all over, and on the threads inside the nut too....hell, half the nut was rusted completely OFF!
we wound up stripping the threads inside the nut, so it kept spinning without going anywhere

so we had to take it to a buddy of mine at a shop and have them use a wall compressor and a bunch of nice expensive tools to disassemble it, and the stock shocks are just plain junk now
Had to look all over for aftermarket shocks and none of the crap-hole shops around had them in stock, so I wound up buying factory replacements from NAPA. They were only $90 for a pair, with tax
and i gotta tell ya, they work perfect with the prokit springs, they ride more comfortably than the factory springs and struts ever did

just wanting to share my story, so if anyone else has that rust problem, i wouldnt even bother trying to reuse the factory ones, unless you wanna re-thread the bolt and use a smaller nut

<small>[ March 18, 2003, 04:42 AM: Message edited by: Stew Peddassle ]</small>

jimmyblue

iTrader: (11)

That price is nice, from what I've been told the
big difference is supposed to be the rebound
damping and how the response changes at the
lower natural position. Can you find you some
nasty pavement, speed bumps, etc. and see how
the front acts, does it bump & settle nice or
get squirrely? Sure would be great to have a
cheap option. What's the NAPA part # you got?

<small>[ March 19, 2003, 06:59 AM: Message edited by: jimmyblue ]</small>

Sears

Water tends to puddle in that area. Make sure to put a generous amount of antiseize in there.


Justin

onyxxtreme

iTrader: (4)

i drove it to work today (60 miles round trip)
rode over a few nasty bumps and so on
and it still seems to ride better than stock
its settled a bit more today, and i gotta get it aligned tomorrow

so overall, im pleased with these shocks and springs

and i dont know the part number, i junked the boxes they came in, but they are just the monroe (sp?) factory replacements for 98+ LS1's

ls1mn6

I did the strut/shock job by myself and ran into the same problem on the drivers side. The nut was spinning because the stud from the shock was all rusted out. Since I was ditching the stock shocks anyway, I just cut the shock shaft with a reciprocating saw. It took about 5 seconds to complete.

mitchntx

iTrader: (14)

It seems like I get to do this swap a lot.

I bought a "cup" type wire brush that fits in a drill motor. It allows me to wire wheel all that rust off the shock threads. I also use liberal amounts of Marvel's Mystery Oil ...