spring fitment

[driftingphoenix]

i have just recieved my pi springs to lower my mk1 by 30mm.
is there a guide on here how to fit the springs? or shall i leave myself a bit of time and have some fun:high: :odd:

[David Sleith]

Not a hard job.

Socket set needed to remove strut from car and a ball joint splitter for track road ends and bottom ball joints.

A set of spring compressors which are not expensive and you will use again no doubt to take the tension up on the springs to allow you to get the top nut and mount off the top of the strut. Change over to new spring and back on car.

Once you have done one its just a repeat process for all four with the added bit of the driveshaft on the rears. Just take them off the hubs and tie them up out of the way.

http://www.twobrutal.co.uk/forum/images/recovered/2007/05/243.jpg
You will be an expert time you finish with major smiley on the face.

[driftingphoenix]

cool, so i need to take the whole bottom asembly of with these then, gives me a reason for painting as well i suppose :)

[firstmk1]

I just took the strut off but then it was the part I was replacing. :idea:

[adamh]

moved to suspension :thumbsup:

[Jim-SR]

unless you need to, i seriously wouldnt consider removing the whole hub assembly with it!!! its 3 times more work for a start, and when youre splitting ball joints and tackling driveshaft bolts, theres always more chance of something breaking, or being already broken but disintegrating whereas its still working at the moment

just undo the 2 bolts at the bottom of the strut, remove the anti roll bar droplink, and (i cant remember if theyre there on the mk1, but if they are...) remove the brake pipes from the clip on the strut, and then undo the topmount and drop the whole lot through

once youve got the strut off just get some spring clamps on the spring, undo the retaining nut at the top, and then the spring will come off. fit the new one, do the reverse. its not a hard job, but then again anything on the mk1 can become hard if something seizes of shears!!

a tip for removal - when you take the wheel off make sure you mark the camber adjustment cam with tip ex or nail varnish and index it to the strut ears. that way when you refit the strut you can put the camber back to where it was (assuming its set correctly at present of course)

[MartG]

Its a bit of a fiddle, but you can do the job without disconnecting the ARB droplinks and brakepipes. When removing the OEM springs, undo the damper top nuts and tie some tie wraps round the springs before you jack the car up - that way the springs will be kept compressed as you jack the car up. Undo the two bolts holding the strut to the hub ( don't bother noting the position of the camber cam as it will be way off after fitting lower springs anyway ), and carefully twist the strut around the droplink until you can get the spring off through the wheelarch. Make sure you jack up both sides of the car to get the maximum 'droop' on the suspension - the ARB will reduce the droop if you only jack up one side.

Undo the topmount at this point and remove from the car. With a 30mm drop, the new springs don't need compressing to fit back on - just locate them in their lower support, and fit the topmount onto the strut and spring and refit the damper topnut.

Twist the strut back to its vertical position, and lift into place, then refit the topmount nuts.

This is how I did mine, prompted by an inability to undo the droplinks:rofl:

[driftingphoenix]

cheers guys, my main concern is the fact the two bolts at bottom of strut looks incrediably hard to get off? i thought they were almost 'fixed' to the strut.
will atempt to do it that way then.
never thought about the use of cable ties to do the spring clamping, and just brought some clamps from work and only cost £5 so not going to cry about it, and have some if anyone local will ever need to borrow a set :)

did this method work for the rears too??

[MartG]

did this method work for the rears too??

Yup - works for both ends:thumbsup:

[Jim-SR]

cable ties to clamp springs is asking for an injury. i wouldnt reccommend it at all, but if you do go for it, bear in mind that the spring can kill you if it hits you with enough force in the head, so keep yourself out of the firing direction!!

the 2 bolts that hold the strut to the upright may LOOK tight, but they arent that hard to undo. a breaker bar and a 17mm (iirc, might be 19mm actually) impact socket with a spanner on the other side will usually do it quite easily

tbh, its more effort to do it without removing the strut completely than it is to fiddle around. unless you cant get the roll bar drop links undone, i wouldnt do it the way Mart suggested. you could end up taking MORE time by cutting corners than it would have taken just to do it properly. im a terrible person for doing this, on all sorts of jobs

[locogeoff]

I dont wish to sound like a BOF but using tie wraps for this operation is frankly suicidal IMHO, I know of people who have nearly been killed when using proper spring compessors, the advice I was given when doing this job was to use the compressors then use TIE DOWNS (the sort you tie a car to a trailer with) as a secondary safety measure.

[driftingphoenix]

thanks for safety warning guys, will make best use of the spring clamps purchased for the job :)