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I'm trying to sell my girlfriend's 2002 Civic Ex but first it needs a bit of work... I'm a complete noob and trying to teach myself how to replace struts as I go along.

I got the right strut off and compressed the spring then started loosening the nut on the top while holding the bolt with an allen wrench... well the bolt stripped and after trying a number of other things I finally just gave up and sheered it off with an angle grinder. In the process of wrestling with the bolt I completely botched up the bearing/strut mount/spring seat piece. Little bearing ***** are all over my garage floor. I could re-use the spring seat itself but I don't think that's right since it looks like it's supposed to stay together with the bearing and spring seat. The strut mount replacement I got from autozone however does not seem to fit with the spring seat. I expected both pieces to come together like it seems like they do stock. Any ideas what this is all about? The strut mount replacements look like a different version of the same thing. The bearing from the autozone part is made of plastic and seems to be a different design.

I decided that I should probably get all of the parts from one place after asking you guys on civicforums. And I kind of resigned to the fact that I will not only have to wait and order online but I'll also have to get the strut mount AND spring seat. My goal here was to do this on the cheap but it's starting to get a little pricey.

Please see diagram and let me know if I'm missing something, if I can re-use the spring seat somehow with a replacement strut mount. Maybe autozone gave me a part for a different model civic?? Any help is greatly appreciated!

I think I need these parts:
10&11 - The right and left strut mounts $40.51 x 2
9 - Bearing $20.32 x 2
7 - Spring Seat $12.55 x 2
2 - Rubber piece that goes between spring and spring seat $16.20 x 2
8 - Bump Stop (I call it a dust boot... mine are old and torn. or maybe i
can just re-use the torn ones?) $14.81 x 2

Does it sound like I need all of these parts? Should the strut mount fit well into the spring seat? Is the design of the replacement strut mounts/spring seats going to be different than the design of the stock strut mount/spring seat? Is there somewhere I can get the parts I need cheaper than hondapartscheap.com? I've had trouble finding anyone even selling the spring seat. Please help. I'm really trying to stay cheap since I'm trying to sell it and starting to regret taking this project on myself. I'll be fine once I get the right parts.

Thank you. I'm losing my mind.

 
Rep Power: 285

Don't get to frustrated, your not doing to badly.

The mount and bearing design changed a couple times, it sounds like autozone gave the 01 design and those won't work.

When I did mine I only replaced the mounts, dust boots (mine were torn) and regreased the bearings and I haven't had any issues.

 
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Thanks for the encouragement. One other obstacle I've run into is the fact that I did no marking whatsoever (besides the fact that using all new parts means that marking would have been futile unless I misunderstand what I should have marked). So I'm thinking I'm just gonna have to wing it and guess when lining the mount up with the strut. I did notice that there's an arrow on the stock spring mount which I think should point inward and parallel to the axle but as for aligning the strut with the strut and spring mounts... I'm not so sure.

 
Rep Power: 367

you should look in the suspension section instead...
https://www.civicforums.com/forums/4...like-pics.html
https://www.civicforums.com/forums/4...info-pics.html

 
Rep Power: 285

I've never used markings when replacing my springs or struts, i just rotate it till it feels like it's seated properly and install. If during the test drive you get a bit of a creaking noise just jack up the car and remove the wheel, loosen the spring retainer bolt (the one you stripped) and you'll be able to adjust the position of the spring without removing actually removing the strut. It takes me only a couple minutes to do that and usually I'm able to get the spring positioned right on the first try.

 
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Not 100% relevant to the technical aspect of the project, but in the spirit of venting... I'm waiting for parts in the mail which were supposed to be delivered via fedex today... it's a beautiful sunny day and I had the rest of my day blocked out to work on the car. Fedex misrouted the package and it's at a hub 150 miles away. It will now be delivered tomorrow. Problem is, it's only been 24 hours since they picked up and it's coming via Ground deliver which means they're 100% on schedule still... i have no legitimate complaint but I'm certainly dismayed. So I wait.

 
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Got it. Boom... Definitely popped the axle out on one side but from reading a few threads on here I managed to pop it back in with little trouble. I put the wheels back on, dropped it off the jacks and took it for a spin around the block. I'm dumb and didn't think of the fact that after taking the car off the wheels I should probably re-tighten the mounting/piston bolts... after hearing the horrible noises on test drive 1 it was obvious that was necessary. I'm a little surprised about how much the strut piston nut is tightened down. A lot of strut piston bolt is showing... maybe I'll take a pic... possibly more than an inch.

2nd test drive and it drives like a dream again.

Only other thing I'm concerned about is that I drove the car without cotter pins in the tie rod end bolt. I'm thinking that was really dumb, but now i need to figure out how to pop the rest of the rusty remnants of the previous cotter pins out of the tie rod end bolts. I've read a couple different suggestions. Can anybody give me an idea based on personal experience? Won't heating the bolt with a torch melt the tie rod ball joint rubber dust cover?

 
Rep Power: 367

what do you mean on the cotter pin? they snapped?

 
Rep Power: 285

A torch would probably result in melting the dust boot, which is not recommended lol

+1 on sdaidoji's question..

 
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Haha... Exactly what I thought and why I hadn't tried the torch (yet).

Sorry... I didn't make this clear at all. Yes, the cotter pins wouldn't come out so I just kinda snapped them off and kept going... now I have cotter pin remnants left in the tie rod end bolts that I need to remove before inserting new pins.

One suggestion is to use a punch (I don't have one small enough but I can try to find one). One is to use a hammer and nail (not sure if it have nails that will work but I can certainly try if you think this is a good method).

 
Rep Power: 367

yup, they should work

 
Rep Power: 285

If it's really badly stuck in there for some reason you could use a small drill bit and just drill it out, the hole for the cotter pin isn't threaded so you could just slide a new pin straight in after.

 
Rep Power: 314

Getting a drill in there could be interesting .. but if you have a small drill it would work. I think you can get it out with a nail IMO. Just don't use a big nail that will get stick in there ...

 
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Thanks for the suggestions... I'm thinking of trying the drill method first... I'm wondering if I can get to the tie rod end without taking the wheels off again. Sure would be convenient if I could.