Rep Power: 290

Here's an update on my suspension upgrade. Comments/suggestions are welcome.

My friend and I decided to install my blues, s techs and ingalls camber kit today. We started after noon, and by 3, we were done with both sides of the front. We installed the struts, including cleaning and repacking the bearings in both upper strut mounts, managed to get two camber bolts installed on each side, and got the whole damned thing back together without so much as tearing a boot on a tie rod. This is rare for me. Whenever I do anything with my car, anything that can go wrong, does.

So the front's done. I'm set up for an alignment on saturday, so things should time to settle. But, it definitely needs that alignment. I would estimate 1.5 to 2 degrees of positive camber on both front wheels, along with some visible toe out on both sides. I was expecting this, tho, cause I really had no idea how the front camber kit was supposed to go in.

So, we moved on to the back. Figuring we could do it in about 2 to 2.5 hours. Within 45 minutes, we had everything apart. Trunk carpet torn up, nuts on top of the shocks loosened, stock upper arms off. We even got the shock off one side, then I took the top mount off, and mounted it on the new shock/spring. This is where we ran into problems. Neither my friend nor I could get the bottom bolt out of the drivers side shock. Now I'm 6'3", and 235lbs on a good day, so there's not a whole lot of bolts I can't loosen. Even with a 2' long 1/2" drive breaker bar with an impact socket, and a half can of PB Blaster, the damned bolt won't come out. We actually got it so you can see the end of the bolt turning where it's exposed at the other end of the mount. It doesn't seem like the threads on the lower arm are the problem, and it is instead stuck where it passes through the bottom of the shock. I was gonna buy an impact gun, and get it out that way, but it turns out autozone doesn't sell impact sockets, and advance auto parts doesn't carry the fitting required to plug a hose into my friends compressor. So, there I was, with a new shock ready to go on, my rear camber kit installed, and one damned shock that wouldn't come out. So we put all the old **** back on, and my car now looks like a 70's muscle car. Low in the front, high in the back. All i need now is some wide *** slicks for the back.

I'm taking the car in on saturday, originally just for an alignment, but now it seems for a rear shock and spring install. Unless anyone has any ideas short of an impact gun i don't feel like buying, and won't probably ever use again.

/novel

 
Rep Power: 475

come down to LI, i have an impact gun and lift and can give you and alignment

 
Rep Power: 290

i appreciate the offer, but given the strange directions my front wheels are pointed in, i don't think i'd have any tires left by the time i got there.

think an impact gun is the solution here??

 
Rep Power: 263

keeping my eye on this one because thats the same setup I have been looking too get, gave up on coilovers can't afford them right now.

 
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i had the exact same problem when i did my spring install, and it took my local shop 2.5 hours with a 3/4" impact and 2 cans of pb blaster to break it free, im 6'1" and 250 and work with cars for a living, so like u said, there arent many bolts i cant break free, but this one got me, so i drove there and they broke it free, and reinstalled it after i put my spring back on, since otherwise thye charge 60 a corner, so it only cost me 80 bucks to have it done, but i coulda bought an impact for that much, which i just had to buy anyway(new job) so coulda saved some money by just buying one..... anyway, good luck

ps. problem was that the bolt was seized in the bushing on the bottom of the stock strut on the passenger side, when u get it out(hopefully u do) be sure to use anti-seize b4 u reinstall, itll save u time and money in the future

 
Rep Power: 325

i guess a blow torch on the Honda isnt safe, imo! but wd-40 or some other bolt blaster...

 
Rep Power: 475

this happened to a car i helped lower and it ended up seizing and having to break it off, it was the drivers side rear

 
Rep Power: 290

i don't. we thought about getting one. but we worked on this till after 8, and my friend had someplace to be by 9. it's going to have to make it 2 miles each way to work the next 4 days, and i'll have it done professionally on saturday, if the shop is willing to do it.

i wasn't originally intending to do this install myself. i read the diy thread enough times i was pretty sure i could handle, i just figured it would be less stressful for me to pull and extra shift at work, and make the cash required to pay someone to fight with the car, rather than getting pissed off doing it myself.

one other thing i should add. when i did put the one rear shock together, blue shock, tein spring, and stock top mount, the plastic dust cover thing, that goes over the rubber thing that slides onto the shock piston seemed crooked. i tried both springs on both shocks, and still had that problem, so its not a matter of having the wrong side i don't think. any ideas on that one, in case i end up finishing this one myself??

 
Rep Power: 0

nononono dont do this because itll ruin the bushings on the stock struts, and if u have any plans on reinstalling to go back to stock to resell, ull want to keep ur stockies, and if u burn the bushings then u will not be able to reuse them, but if ur not concerned, then just burn it off....

 
Rep Power: 475

mine was crooked, and so were the other cars i did.....doesnt matter

 
Rep Power: 0

man this thread blew up fast...

 
Rep Power: 290

how do you break it off?? impact gun?? that makes the shock useless, right, and you gotta buy and new lower bolt?? did it do anything bad to the lower arm??

i'm willing to invest in an impact gun, and tackle this again on monday, but only if i'm pretty sure that will work. i'd almost prefer that route, because while i would have to go longer with an f'ed up alignment, at least i'd have some tools to show for my $100, instead of just investing it in labor at a shop.

I'm not torching this bolt. it's about 15 inches from my gas tank, which appears to be plastic. before i rode an ambulance for a living, i rode a fire truck as a hobby, and i did that long enough to know torches near gas tanks are a bad idea, especially for an amateur such as myself.

i have one issue taking it to the shop, tho. i was going to do that originally, but everyone i called, even the local mom 'n' pop shops wouldn't bolt on parts i didn't buy from them.

 
Rep Power: 290

ok, i figured it would even out once the car was sitting on the spring, and it settled. my friend was concerned about it, tho.


yep, posts appearing faster than i can respond to them.

thanks for all the help.

 
Rep Power: 475

he took it too a shop and they had to break it off but he was just using stock struts so he had to get a new strut for his car and no, nothing happen to the lca or anything

 
Rep Power: 475

wait wait wait wait, let me make sure your not a retard but im sure you knew this, the nut is welded on there so you gotta turn it from the bolt head and push from the other end as you unscrew....just hope you knew that which im sure you did

 
Rep Power: 290

yeah, i saw the welded on nut on whatever the top arm is that is replaced by a rear camber kit. was able to get the bolt out without a problem. my issue is the bottom mount for the shock. and yeah, one side is welded on, but on my car, it's not even a nut, the welded on part is just round, not flat sides to even put a socket on. we were working on the bolt head end. we were even turning it the right way. i could actually see the end of the bolt turning inside the the welded on part, too. so the part that's sticking is actually where it passes throught the bottom of the shock.

i'm really only retarded on friday and saturday nights, around 2 am, and i'm stumbling toward the bar for a final drink.

 
Rep Power: 475

so it was turning and not seized?

 
Rep Power: 290

umm, kinda both. you could turn it, if you tugged on the ratchet. but as soon as you let go, it snapped back to where it was. so like seized in the shock, but not the welded on thingy, i guess. does that make sense??

 
Rep Power: 475

how far does it turn? and is it easy to turn?

 
Rep Power: 290

not really easy. takes a solid tug on a breaker bar. turns about a quarter turn, before i run outta room to move the breaker bar. i would have used a ratchet, but he broke each of ours trying to break the thing loose, before we were able to get an 1/2" drive impact socket so we could use the breaker bar. forturnately, mine was a craftsman, so that will be getting exchanged this weekend. i've broken enough tools in my life that i now only buy **** with a lifetime warranty.

 
Rep Power: 475

well it might be cross threaded, hopefully the welded on nut isnt stripped or anything cause that would be a huge pain in the ***...but yea an impact gun or more leverage is needed obviously....oh and if you do get an impact gun, dont get a craftsman professional one, i had one of like 2 months and it just seized up on me even with oiling it. Get an ingersol rand one, works like a charm and has 1000 ft pounds of torque...thing is a beast but cost $260, well worth the money

 
Rep Power: 0

look its not crossthreaded, like i said, its seized inside the strut bushing, i had this exact thing happen to me, i mean exact thing, to a very large T, just get an impact, and keep hitting on it, it will heat up, and as it heats up it will start to loosen inside the bushing, without using a torch, just keep at it and dont give up, and do urself a favor, get a swivel socket with it...

 
Rep Power: 475

alright dumbass im just trying to help him and give him some opinions of what it possibly can be

 
Rep Power: 0

whoa dude, didnt mean to come off like that, i apologize, no need for the insults, ive just had the same problem, it sucked, and cost me a lot of money trying several things before trying an impact, so im just trying to help others so they dont spend a lot of time and money that are unneccessary, again sorry man, didnt mean to say ur wrong and rub it in ur face, nothing wrong with conjecture

 
Rep Power: 475

oh alright my bad, well we both said try an impact gun so yea, do that

 
Rep Power: 290

ehh, being that it seems to bounce back to where it was, it seems like the whole bottom bushing of the strut is seized around the nut, and has just enough give to let me turn it a quarter turn. I don't see how the welded on thingy could be stripped. I bought the car completely stock, with 25k on it, with a completely stock suspension, and no evidence that anything has ever been worked on with the suspension. If someone did work on it, and ****ed it up, they definitely didn't **** up the other 3 corners. It's gotta be seized in the shock itself, if that's possible. At this point, it's not an issue of leverage, as long as i'm using the breaker bar, but it goes back to where it was once i let go, so i can't reposition the socket, and keep turning it. A ratchet wouldn't even allow me to do that.

If i do buy an impact gun, it'll probably be the cheapest one i can find. I'm not one to buy shitty tools, but i can't justify a $250+ investment on a tool i probably won't use again till 2-3 years from now when i put the stock **** back on and part out and sell the car. Besides, i don't even own an air compressor. I was gonna have to borrow another friend's. The plan was actually to buy a cheap impact gun, use it once, and then maybe sell it to him. Then i could borrow it when i need again, and don't end up losing a ton of money. And that's if i don't just give up and pay someone else to do it, assuming i can find a shop willing to install this, which i haven't been able to do yet.

 
Rep Power: 290

alright, everyone play nice. i thank both of you for helping my dumb *** out with this.

greeen01civic4d, if you say you had the exact same issue, and an impact solved it for you, i think i may try that. Beats having to walk into a shop, and say "hi, i've been pwned by my car." I just wasn't gonna spend more money on tools, unless i was pretty sure that would work. I probably should get a new bolt for the bottom of the shock, just in case something goes wrong, before i **** with it again, right??

 
Rep Power: 0

good luck man, its a tough spot, when it happened to me, it was my last corner, so i had to ride 2 miles down the road with 3 dropped corners and 1 stock, it was weird and scary but no damage done, an impact will work, but it may take time, either way itll cost u, so good luck man

 
Rep Power: 475

well go to honda and see how much it is and if its farely cheap than i guess it wont hurt

 
Rep Power: 290

and as someone who has zero experience with pneumatic tools, i need a little help. i want to get outta this as cheap as possible, and so far it looks like a minimum of 50 for the gun, 25 for sockets, 20 for hose, and 5 for fittings for said hose. I'm really not concerned with longevity of the impact gun, because i will either sell it immediately, or use it once a year. However, do we think a cheap *** impact gun will have enough power/torque/*** to do what i need in this case?? If i'm gonna spend more than 100 to 150 on this, without even buying a compressor, i'm just gonna pay a shop the 80-100 it'll cost to have them install it.