Putting on my Strano springs, Bilstein re-valves and sway bars (Thanks again, Sam!). Any tips for someone who's never done anything like this before? Ive heard the cotter pin on the upper A-arm in front can be tough...but Im just getting my info from LS1HowTo.com or whatever...thanks for anything!

 

Thats a good write up! I used it when I did my shocks A couple weekends ago. From there its only a couple more bolts to do the sways. Also just as a warning my front shocks were COMPLETELY rusted on the top where the nut is tightened and I couldn't bust them loose. I mean I could not even see the threads on the shock anymore! I ended up taking the front assemblies to a shop and had them mount the new shocks in the springs for like $30-$40.

 

I have only about 39000 on the car so, hopefully they arent too bad heh...

 

So here's the update for the day. I tried doing this all myself, and quickly realized, this would have been MUCH easier with another person with me . Oh well...so, I basically finished the fronts. I think my only questions are, do I need to make sure to coat the shock shafts with lithium grease, and also the bushings for the swaybar? I know it wasn't even tight yet and it was creaking pretty good when I moved it around...

Any other tips for things I make sure to do that others might forget per chance?

In other news, heres a few pictures...

Old Swaybar versus Strano Swaybar.



Old 'n busted



New Hotness

 

i like the MIB reference.

<3 Strano also.

 

It wouldn't hurt to grease them. These cars are just known to trap water up on the shock and rust like mine did. How were yours by the way? Anyway like I said go ahead and grease away, it couldn't hurt! Unless your bushings are poly in which case you would need a marine based or synthetic grease.

 

Nah, they aren't poly.

My passenger side (the one I started on) was a nightmare. I literally wasted 3 hours trying to get the damned shaft nut off, it was rusted to ALL hell. I finally resorted to drilling 4 holes in it, and smacking it good with a chisel. Snapped in half, and off it came. I'm tempted to keep it as a keepsake.

The driver side nut wasn't a problem at all, shaft didn't spin, came right off. However, go figure, the new Bilstein shaft DID spin while tightening it down haha (the passenger side didn't). But it still went together in probably 1/4th the time the passenger side did - I literally took about 7 hours just to do the front 2 because of that stupid nut. Oh yeah, and the shop I work in (Military auto hobby shop) was the busiest Ive EVER seen it. 4 people were doing their suspensions at the same time, and they only had one portable spring compressor (the 2 mini-compressors weren't cutting it, so I pulled the big boy out for the fronts - worked like a champ). That thing, I'm told, sits for MONTHS without anyone touching it, and of course, the day I decide to do my shocks/springs, is the day that 3 others need it haha. Oh well...its going well, Im having fun and learning quite a bit.

 

Yea, the Hobby shop was pretty busy. Let me know if you need a hand and if I not busy Ill help. I'm not a mechanic buy no means but I could lend an extra set of hands.

 

If you have never done this before "YOU WILL CATCH HELL" COMPRESSING FRONT COIL SPRINGS AND REMOVING PASSENGER SIDE SHOCK NUT. A small diegrinder and a cutoff wheel is best for removing rusted shock nuts. The Autozone type spring compressor will work at compressing the coil springs but it is VERY tricky. An air compressor and impact wrench will really speed up the process.

Do not use a pickle fork to seperate upper ball joint, you will damage rubber boot. I used Autozone's Tie Rod End & Pitman Arm puller part # 25297 $10.00. It is very simple to use.

My 2002 Camaro has pre cut out areas in the carpet to get to top mounting bolts of rear shocks. Simply let down rear seat and you can easily see what I am talking about. Ealier year Camaros may not have this luxery.

Autozone rents out tools for free. Simply return them for a 100% refund

 

Nice typo on the springs. Preformance? I thought it was Performance! I took my shocks/springs to NAPA and had them swap over the top plate to the new shocks/springs. Well worth the $26 it cost me!

 

Hah, I totally didnt even notice that until now...i'll have to check the other springs to see if they are the same.

 

PIckle fork to sperate the top ball joint???

I just smacked the wide of the joint like once or twice and seperated on its own.

When I did mine one side the top nut was perfect, the other side looked like the nut had been sitting on the bottom of the ocean for 20 years and this was the factory stuff.

Make sure those new nuts are tight as you can possibly get them or else you will have a nice thumping noise when hitting bumps in the road. Dont ask me how i know this and found out that it sucks to remove the strut to tightent them after they are installed.

 

Hmm, I finished the rear tonight (yeah, this late...). The right side is sitting about 3/4ths of an inch or so lower than the left - could this be because of the spring perch or something at the top of the springs? I noticed it wasnt perfectly flat...could one of them be turned the other way or something so the higher end is on the opposite side?

Should also note that I haven't moved it yet, also.

 

probabaly need to re clock the spring on the isolator..

 

The isolator meaning, the rubber perch that sits on the top of the spring right? And I assume by reclock, you mean turn the spring so that the end of the spring locks agains the notch so it cant spin?

 

yes...

 

Gotcha. I plan on messing with it tonight and turning them a bit, see if I had them seated wrong.

 

Good Job! I followed the same instructions, and it was a piece of cake. Just time consuming.

The most difficult parts were the passenger top nut (rusted to hell!) and compressing the spring compressors. Wish I had a air gun! I used a cordless impact, 1 battery was good for 1 spring, lol.

You DO need to grease sway bar bushings if they are poly, BEFORE you install them...

 

Thanks, it was done last week but no worries. That passenger side nut was a bitch and a half. Damned shaft kept spinning, and no vice grip was holding it for ****.

Luckly the base hobby shop has a nice, big, portable spring compressor to put a strut inside of. The little POS's you put on yourself suck :-/.

And I did grease the bushings luckily, wasn't really in any instructions, but I did anyway.

 

Here's what both looked like after 5 years and 65k miles.

There's a small hole to let water in but as you can see a nice basin to keep it from draining away.