i hate my car luck

so... suspension swap day. easy.. so i thought.
problems...
1. the bolt that connects the front shock pinch fork to the lower control arm. the nut came off, but the bolt is stuck in there. i have broke 2 tools. used heat, and 1/2 bottle of penetrating fluid. it wont come out.
2. the pich bolt on said fork. the head broke off it. broke another tool on that. used heat, and 1/2 bottle of penetrating fluid.
3. the inner body bolt on the lower control arm. it unscrewed just fine. it wont screw back in. its like it came out of a threaded hole.. and that threaded hole disappeared.
What should have been a simple swap has now taken me 5 hours. and i only have one strut out (not replaced).
every car but my nissans have had nothing but problems when i try and work on them.. i thought honda was supposed to be easy.
:hmph:

They are easy, but after so many years things become rusty. The whole front end of my car is rebuilt. I can pull anything out in less than 30 minutes.

You are going to have to cut the bolt off if you cannot get it out and get a new bushing pressed in.

I had to use a sawzall and a air chisel to get mine out.
Best of luck getting it done

this is going to get expensive quick... great. fuck.

Is it rusted? Where are you located? You shouldn't be having this much trouble unless you are dealing with rust. If thats the case your have to heat the part whack/tap it with a hammer then douse it with penitrating oil "PB Blaster" Repeat as nessasary. You should only have to use a a few squirts. Again I can't stress enough Repeat as nessasary.

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Originally Posted by nswst8

Is it rusted? Where are you located? You shouldn't be having this much trouble unless you are dealing with rust. If thats the case your have to heat the part whack/tap it with a hammer then douse it with penitrating oil "PB Blaster" Repeat as nessasary. You should only have to use a a few squirts. Again I can't stress enough Repeat as nessasary.

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i spent 5 hrs doing just that
heat... pound the hell out of it... soak in penetrating oil...
repeated till i ran out of penetrating oil
funny thing is there really isnt rust...

That pinch bolt is a pain in the *ss. You'll probably going to have to drill it out with some good titanium drill bits & lots of PB Laster, so your bits last longer. I remember that bolt messed me around too.

the pinch bolt is the least of my worries.. it broke.. ill drill it out and get a new one.. no biggie...
its the bottom damper fork bolt and the inner body LCA bolt

OK.. inner LCA bolt.. it screws into the subframe right? i took a look at the hole and if there were threads they are completely gone now. it came out so smoothly.. after i got it loose with the wrench i uncrewed it by hand. doesnt make sense that it would be so stripped and still unscrew like that... so if it is stripped (by the way the bolt showed no signs of forced entry) does that mean i need a new subframe?

i had the lower damper fork nut problem too. I used a sawzall and cut the bolt between the lca and the fork, then spent $13 to have the bushing pressed in and out. I went to the j/y yard to find a bolt (and other things) because honda said it would take 4 days for it to come in. When I picked up the Moog bushing later from the parts store it came with a new bolt. So i had wasted some time at the j/y looking for an old rusty bolt.

Sounds weird about the lca/subframe bolt. That's your biggest problem for sure.

well there was a small hole under the "stripped hole" so i pryed it apart. there is a nut back there.. the welds broke. so i pryed it enough to get a wrench in there. its all good now. this week im going to get a new LCA bushing, bolt, and a new damper fork. then next weekend.. sussy swap take 2...
i keep hearing from friends that the rear springs are a bitch to take out.. any truth to that?

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Originally Posted by skylinegts

i keep hearing from friends that the rear springs are a bitch to take out.. any truth to that?

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Hardly, just make sure the car is off the ground with a good about of movement in the rear susp, it goes out in about 5-10 mins, just make sure the Lower Strut Mount bolt is out, then the upper bolts behind the seat, then i took my floor jack and jacked up the Strut from the Rear Lower Arm, moved it a bit and it was out of the car

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Originally Posted by forrest89sei

Hardly, just make sure the car is off the ground with a good about of movement in the rear susp, it goes out in about 5-10 mins, just make sure the Lower Strut Mount bolt is out, then the upper bolts behind the seat, then i took my floor jack and jacked up the Strut from the Rear Lower Arm, moved it a bit and it was out of the car

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even less work then he thinks lol 2 bolts in the 2 one in the bottom lol could be a pita f its stripped or rusted but i did the swap form my lx to my lxi in about 2 hrs all 4 corners and ive done say 5 of these cars now lol

oh i know, with the exception of what i saw in the front..fucking bolts.. if i was just swapping out complete shocks (with springs installed) it would be like 15 min a corner. but i have new shocks and springs, and i need the upper mount of each shock. how much work is swapping that from the old to new shock/springs?

Don't feel bad about the hidden rust/seized bolts. I am the second owner of my car which was in brand new condition when I purchased in 92. I have since tried to keep it in immaculate condition and still needed to bust out the sawsall to cut through some bolts on the rear lower control arms.

My suggestion is to always plan for the worst and if that seems like to much of a pain or you might not have the right tool for the job consider paying someone else to do it.:)

well i dont have all the tools i need sometimes.. but my dad does.. and ive done many car repairs up there.. off to 100 Mile I go!!

yeah...i have had good luck....cali cars dont tend to rust.

ok.. so..
yesterday was suspension swap day. we had to cut the bolt that wouldnt come out to get the fork off. even with heat it took 20 min to get the old pieces of bolt out of the fork. on to that bushing...
we pulled the LCA out and put it in my dad's bearing press to get it out.. 2000lb press.. old bearing wouldnt budge. we ended up using a chisel to get it out. what was a fun few hours... new bearing pressed in fine. passenger side took about 7 minutes from taking the wheel off to putting the wheel back on when it was done. the rear suspension though... tried penetrating fluid and head.. on both sides.. the nut on the bottom shock mount would not budge.... and since it was thanksgiving weekend and the parts stores were closed and i couldnt get a new bolt/bushing kit.. i left it.. so the front is done and lowered. back isnt.
and gor some reason... the passenger side on the front is about 1/2" higher i dont know why.. i took it all apart and put it back together.. its setup the same as the driver side... maybe it just needs to settle... :S

when you are pressing out those old bushings and joints, it helps a bunch to find a place on the arm to hit wiith a hammer. They usually need some shock along with a pressing tool to get them to move.

i used heat.. i pounded the arm in a few places to get it loose.. nothing. i had to peel it off the arm from the inside with a chisel. not kidding. and it has settled... and the front is now rubbing on the drivers side... but the passenger side isnt.. as its still 3/4" higher than the drivers side.. any suggestions?

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Originally Posted by skylinegts

i spent 5 hrs doing just that
heat... pound the hell out of it... soak in penetrating oil...
repeated till i ran out of penetrating oil
funny thing is there really isnt rust...

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Shit man, I know this BS, Me my self have snapped that many heads on susp bolts, so, now I have bout me a tread tools and special tools to get snapped bolts out. sometimes it just frustrating to the level of insanity :burn:

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Originally Posted by skylinegts

the rear suspension though... tried penetrating fluid and head.. on both sides.. the nut on the bottom shock mount would not budge....

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that might be cause the nut is welded to the shock :D

indeed

haha yep....u need to use air tools if you can for all the heavy stuff...i had no worries with mine...spray the nuts on the top of the strut assembly ahead of time if you can.they were the hardest....is it just corrosion? and yes grease that baby like youve never greased before...

lol.. i said nut.. i meant bolt... hehe whoops...
my main concern is still that the 1.8" drop it was supposed to be is about 2.25" on the drivers side (settled down to that.. now it rubs) and about 1.5" on the passenger side. ive taken it apart and double checked everything. and it looks like both sides are the same.. both springs were the same height and went on to the shocks with the same ammount of force... so i dont get it.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by skylinegts

and gor some reason... the passenger side on the front is about 1/2" higher i dont know why.. i took it all apart and put it back together.. its setup the same as the driver side... maybe it just needs to settle... :S

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You didn't just drop the car and measure clearance, right? Clearances will be all crazy if you lower the jack and measure. You want to roll it a bit so the wheels can spread out.

thats after a 400km drive home

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Originally Posted by skylinegts

thats after a 400km drive home

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Ah, well then, I'm out of suggestions.

ok.. so i took both front shocks out again today.. pulled them apart.. put them back together again.. they are together identical...everything is identical on both sides. lowered it.. and as soon as i got on the road.. it settled back to 2.25" drivers side 1.5" passenger side.. im SOOO pissed at these ST springs. my friend got some for his teg at the same time i got mine. we called ST just to double check.. and they sent him the right springs.. and he installed them right... they actually raised the car 1" over stock... was supposed to be a 1" drop. well since i dont have the stock springs.. time to search for another set and return these to lordco :(

lolol are you SURE you didn't put them on sideways aka one front and one rear in the back?

lol
haha
your funny.
the fronts are on only. back is still stock.and they are different size springs. backs wont fit in the front.