Lowering spring install

[tbotjones]

I have an 04 ep3 and I'm planning on putting these skunk2 springs in this weekend. I've never done it before so if anyone knows of an in depth DIY video it would be greatly appreciated. I got the springs for free so I'm just kinda doin it for the hell of it until I have enough for some coil overs

[05EPz3]

A couple things to remember when doing this:

1.) The axle will pop out of socket if you don't have some type of rope or bungy cord that will hold the axle, hub, caliper and so on when you unbolt the two bolts and start to pull the spring and strut out.

1.5) You do NOT need to break loose the lower ball joint.

2.) Of course you will need to break the tie rod loose and I just hammered on the tie rod mount(the arm that sticks out from the strut) and it just popped right out. However you may need a tie rod fork/remover.

2.5) This is basically a two person job lol I done it by myself and it was a pain in the ass...

3.) You don't really need a spring compressor, however there will be a little bit of pressure when you take off the nut on top of the strut so keep one hand on the tophat. It really helps if you have a set of those socket hex sets in millimeters to put into the strut and then use a wrench to break loose the bolt on the strut.

4.) This is were I messed up. Just because you put the new spring back in just like the old one, it may not be right, so get yourself the manual (helms I believe) that is floating around online and there is a section on how to properly clock your spring, strut and top hat. I used a bunch of hi-temp grease when putting the spring topper and top hat together because it spins where those come together when you turn. There is a marking on the spring topper and on the top hat. It is crucial that those two arrows are pointing to each other and they are lined up with the front of the strut were the bolts go through (so facing to the outside of the car on each side). On the back of the spring topper there is a small rectangle that has to be facing the engine bay and it will face the engine bay whenever you have the front two arrows pointing each other and lined up with the front on the strut were the bolts go through to the hub.

Once you do all of this it should line up properly up top and slide right in. The top of the new spring may not sit exactly like how the old one sit in the topper, however that is not a problem, just make sure you pop the topper down onto the spring first. The main key is to have everything lined up when you go to tighten the top strut nut down to hold everything into place.

Just message me if you don't have a copy of that manual and make sure you put your email address and I will try to forward it to you. I believe it is in the DIY or How-to section though.


Good Luck, I hope these tips help you out because I had never worked on a macpherson strut setup before and it's total different than my Integra!

[tbotjones]

awesome man! thanks for the help

[tbotjones]

Ok so I did the front last night and I'll be doing the rear springs here in a couple hours. I ran in to issues with the tierod though. When I was putting the tierod end and strut together, I could only get the nut on the tierod end to go up so far and it was like it was stripped in place. You could spin the nut either direction but it stayed in the same exact spot. I thought I fucked it up until I did the other side and the same thing happened. Is that normal? Also the helms manual specs say the top nut on the strut should be tourqed down to 33 ft lbs of tourqe. To be quite honest I have no idea how to get it there haha. Is there some kind of special wrench I need? Or is it not a big deal? Also any advice for the rear would be cool to.

[Pronto]

To tighten to a specific lb you would need a torque wrench, 33 lbs is not that much and you can just use a regular wrench just make them tight. But obviously, if you have a torque wrench, it would be best.
The tie rod nut spinning is normal, you can try using some pliers and holding the bottom while tightening the nut, just be careful not to strip the bolt/bottom. Try putting some electrical tape on the area where you're going to use pliers.

[ep3k20]

impacts are your best friend for suspension fyi. and good luck with the rears. the strut assembly is a PIA to get to as it is extremely tight to get a wrench on unless you have the correct pivot sockets, so do yourself a favor and go buy a set lol. And i know it goes without saying, but get your car aligned ASAP. There's no faster way to destroy tires than to let that go.

[tbotjones]

impacts are your best friend for suspension fyi. and good luck with the rears. the strut assembly is a PIA to get to as it is extremely tight to get a wrench on unless you have the correct pivot sockets, so do yourself a favor and go buy a set lol. And i know it goes without saying, but get your car aligned ASAP. There's no faster way to destroy tires than to let that go.

ha ya i honestly couldnt do the rear. i had my allignment scheduled today so i called a little early and asked if they would put them in before the allignment. my problem was the bolt that holds the bottom of the strut to the lower control arm. i tried everything from a breaker bar to an impact wrench.... and got no where lol so i had to give up. but for future refference does any one have any ideas how to break that bolt loose? and no a torch did not help my situation

[ep3k20]

cheater bar+ shit ton of pb blaster always does it.... or i dye grind that bitch off if it starts lippin off