G'day All, You may or may not know, I'm looking to purchase a set of new springs off a guy off this forum. The only thing is, I'm not too sure how to fit them. I'm assuming I'm going to need my wheels to be realigned, but aside from that is removing the old set and putting a new set on a hard job? That is, can some pleb like me do it? and then some how roll it to the local tyre joint and get it aligned. On a side note, what is required for the insurance side of things? The springs are supposed to lower the car, do I need some engineers certificate to prove it's roadworthy etc. Please advise, thanks to all who reply

Hi NA Calais, I have recently done this on my VLT, so will offer my experiences. Do you have spring compressors or a rattlegun/compressor? A trolley jack? Metric and imperial sockets? If not beg or borrow all the above if you want to do it yourself. Fronts Coils. Two or three hours (with a mate). I replaced both strut tops (~$150) and the swaybar pins and rubbers ($16 kit) with new GM gear, all will be fairly sad. Open bonnet whilst car is on ground and flip off the white plastic plugs on top of the strut mounts. Undo the 7/8� A.F. nuts with the rattle gun about two or three threads ONLY. Mine were very tight. Don�t undo them fully or struts will pop apart when you jack up the car. Also loosen (but don�t remove) the 6 13 mm A.F. nuts securing the struts to the tower while your in there. Jack the car and sit it on stands under the front rails. Remove the wheels, remove the brake calipers. Flick the brake hoses out of the mounting clips welded to the strut casing by rotating them approx 90 degrees and sliding them out of the clip. I removed the disks now, although you don�t really need to. (I found the strut much easier to manhandle off the car with the disks removed and now was a good time to repack and adjust the wheel bearings.) Remove the swaybar mount to the control arm on both sides of the car and lever it out the way. Remove the steering rack tie rod by removing the nut and preloading it with a tyre lever whilst cracking the side of the knuckle with a substantial hammer. Remove the ball joint securing nut and replace it upside down so the castleations (the slices for the split pins) are pointing down and flush with top of the thread of the ball joint. I got a mate to position a 6 foot crowbar between the chassis rail and the top of the front control arm and stand on it so as to preload the ball joint. Rotate the strut so you can clear access with your largest hammer and give it all your got! I am still shaking my head over how tight they were on my car � definitely a two-person job! If your ball joint and nut is still in good nick when you get it all apart your laughing � if not down to GM for new a new ball joint. (BTW: do not fit chinese aftermarket balljoints � they are **** and difficult to fit.) Note which stud comes from which hole in the tower and undo the three nuts (loosened previously) and whilst your levering the lower control arms down drop the strut out. If you have the compressor / rattlegun and no spring compressors drop an old bit of carpet over the strut whilst lying on the ground and stand on it while you rattlegun the 7/8� nut off. Stand clear, but it won�t have much preload when it comes apart, just don�t point it at your dog. If you have spring compressors load up the spring with them and finish undoing the big nut. You have to stop the strut insert spinning at this stage so I ground two flats for a shifter on an old 7/8� socket so I could hold the insert with another shifter & squarebladed screwdriver in the slot they provide. Another set of hands is a bighelp! Remove the strut top, the washer, the spring plate, etc and the spring. BTW, now is the time to slide in new strut inserts if yours are knackered. Fit the new spring taking care to fit the longer one to the drivers side strut. (their may not be any difference in length � mine differed by ~4mm) lowered springs will go straight on without the compressors being needed as they generally have far higher preload than the factory springs BTW. Line up the spring plate with the coil in the correct position, (the spring retainer plate has a cutout that roughly lines up with a hole in the lower sping mount on the strut - from memory) fit up the strut top, etc and do up the nut as tight as you can. Refit the the struts to the car, taking care to line up the three studs to the same holes they came out of AND taking care to line up the splitpin hole in the balljoint with the axis of the car before you do up the castle nut, as it is a prick to refit the splitpin if you don�t. BTW, you may need to put your trolley jack under the ball joint to load it up before the nut will tighten as the ball joint stud may spin. Refit and the swaybar pins and rubbers, the disks, caliper hoses & calipers and the tierod ends, and drop it on the ground. Apply rattlegun to that damn 7/8� nut and makesure its tight! and check the 6 13mm nuts are tight also. Before you do to many miles, book your car in for an alignment at a reputable aligner. I am not talking about your cornerstore tyre shop here - pay the money and get it done right by somebody who will line up the rack properly by adjusting both tie rod ends (not just checking the toe-in and by removing the steering wheel and rotating it to align it). The strut tops will definitely need to be indexed to dial in correct caster & camber if you have lowered your car. You may need to go the trouble and expense of adjustable strut tops if you are lowering your car drastically, BTW. Rear Coils. Should take 1 hour max. Jack up the car and fit stands to the chassis rails forward of the diff. Whilst your trolley jack is still supporting some of the weight of the diff, remove wheels. Remove the bottom shocker mounts (3/4� A.F. nut and dished washer and lever the shocker from the weldstud) undo the lower control arm nuts and bolts, leaving the front bolts installed. (Check the condition of all the control arm bushes, if you can see torn rubber their NFG, go and get new ones pressed in.) Remove the rear bolts from the car. A long square-bladed screwdriver used as a lever and jerking the diff around whilst on the trolley jack is what I found did the trick. They can be a prick to get out � be prepared for some skin loss � swearing helps also. Flick the handbrake cable out of the tabs entrapping them to the control arm, and lower the control arms down. With a little guidance your coils should pretty much just fall out. Refit the new coils taking care to line up the insulator rubbers with the spring ends as you raise the control arms back up. Refit the rear control arm bolts and shock absorbers, only doing them up loosely. Lower the diff down on the jack so the shockers are fully extended and check the coils are secure on their mounts at full travel. Your car is unroadworthy if the can be bounce the coils up and down at this stage, and you need new shockers with a shorter reach. Refit the handbrake cables into their keeper on the control arm, checking that on maximum suspension load they are not pulled taught. You may need to open it up to allow more cable movement if it is. (When finished, put the trolley jack under one side of the diff and jack till the car comes off the ground to check this clearance properly) Jack up the rear from the centre of the diff again, so as to just take the weight of the car of the stands. Tighten the 4 lower control arm bolts up, and the shockers so the rubber bushings are not preloaded in the incorrect position (tearing them apart within days) drop it off the stands and the jack and you should be finished. Note, strictly speaking you need to fit an adjustable panhard rod and have it aligned with the front if lowering the car more than an inch or so, especially if you have big rubber - otherwise you will find the RHS will scrub when the car is loaded up. Good luck. Quote: Originally Posted by NA Calais On a side note, what is required for the insurance side of things? The springs are supposed to lower the car, do I need some engineers certificate to prove it's roadworthy etc. Please advise, thanks to all who reply Insurance? well they practically want to know what youv'e eaten if you fart in your car these days so if you have issues with them forget about lowering your car! Good Luck! p.s. sorry if its a bit verbose - but you said "pleb"

does that mean NO ****ING GOOD ??? just wondering ? Some original photos have not been recovered yet.

Quote: Originally Posted by exchaser does that mean NO f**king GOOD ??? just wondering ? correct.

thats pertty worn out :P