Who has lowered the car them selves?

[SuperSonic]

I want to see what the average time it took to lower the car was. This is taking off your stock set up and pulling off the springs and putting it all back. I bought the car last August and I think put the springs in 9 months ago or so. Thing is I bought them of a 95 nsx already mounted so i just swaped my setup for his as he said they only had 10 k miles on them and my stock car had 40K. It was fairly easy to do.....but now, almost a year later I decided the car had too much "bump" and that it was probably a result of 15 year old shocks. Let me just say OMG what a PITA. What is your guys secret to aligning the top of the shock with the bolt holes and getting the bottom to fit. This took me about 9 hours and even frustrated me enough to take a grinder to the 95 shock to cut the top off for the spring since the bolt was stuck.

So how did you guys do it? So far I found the best way was to pull out the stock set up, then put in the shock with the top on it and test fit it without the spring. Then used painters tape to roughly make a line. Next i put the spring in and only tightened the top a few turns. Then shove it into the car and adjust from there the little that needed be adjusted. That was how i figured out to do it as i only removed the top 3 bolts, the bottom one holding it and the sway bars for the front and back. Anyone else have a better way?

oh and for the rear the gf had to bounce on the disk brake just to get it to go down low enough to pop the unit into place, esp the driver. But it is done and it handles soooooo much nicer and stiffer.

 

[Thunder]

http://www.nsxprime.com/wiki/Shocks_and_Springs

 

[jorligan]

I want to see what the average time it took to lower the car was. This is taking off your stock set up and pulling off the springs and putting it all back. I bought the car last August and I think put the springs in 9 months ago or so. Thing is I bought them of a 95 nsx already mounted so i just swaped my setup for his as he said they only had 10 k miles on them and my stock car had 40K. It was fairly easy to do.....but now, almost a year later I decided the car had too much "bump" and that it was probably a result of 15 year old shocks. Let me just say OMG what a PITA. What is your guys secret to aligning the top of the shock with the bolt holes and getting the bottom to fit. This took me about 9 hours and even frustrated me enough to take a grinder to the 95 shock to cut the top off for the spring since the bolt was stuck.

So how did you guys do it? So far I found the best way was to pull out the stock set up, then put in the shock with the top on it and test fit it without the spring. Then used painters tape to roughly make a line. Next i put the spring in and only tightened the top a few turns. Then shove it into the car and adjust from there the little that needed be adjusted. That was how i figured out to do it as i only removed the top 3 bolts, the bottom one holding it and the sway bars for the front and back. Anyone else have a better way?

oh and for the rear the gf had to bounce on the disk brake just to get it to go down low enough to pop the unit into place, esp the driver. But it is done and it handles soooooo much nicer and stiffer.

I have done it on 3 separate cars, a 92,94 and 98. The 92 and 94 took about an hour each. The 98 (my car) too almost 12 hours for the rears alone, fronts took ony 30 minutes total. Same problem as you, couldn't get the rear suspension down. Took a 6 foot black pipe with my wife standing on it to get it down far enough for me to slide in the shock. Recently changed over to coilovers and let someone else do the work.

 

[LJSB]

Took a 6 foot black pipe with my wife standing on it to get it down far enough for me to slide in the shock.

PICS! :biggrin:

 

[ChopsJazz]

I have never experienced as much trouble as you did with the shock R&R. I have done this job to four different cars and three times on my own car. The most difficult part is the removal of the stock set-up, but I use a 2X4, not a pipe, as it does less damage to the surrounding bits of the car. After that perhaps the next most difficult part is the spring compression. I can do the whole job in about two-three hours for the removal, spring swap, and replacement.

 

[dawk]

2.5 Hours. Did it the first time alone. The trick is to get leverage (long 2x4) to push the arm down.

 

[HUYTURBO]

yes +1 for 2x4. The only way to push that rotor down to get the rear assembly out.

 

[Stephen@NCAutoUSA]

Did it about 2 years ago so it's fuzzy but it took me all day to figure out either the front or rear. Used a 2x4 and bent the dust shield. It's easier the second time because after I got one out it was pretty easy.

Stephen

 

[NSXclear]

Putting in stock shocks and springs is not easy on the NSX. It is 1000% easier putting in aftermarket coil overs, shocks, or springs.

It is still doable. Just use the 2x4 method. The key is to get the right size. Too short, and you won't get the necessary leverage. Too long, and you won't be able to just sit on it, to get leverage. Just make sure you have a small piece of wood also to protect the rotor brake shield/rotor.

I just sit on the 2x4 with my weight and I control the clearance I need. I've done it by myself several times. It does help to have a person at least put on the nuts on the top of the shocks once they are in.

It takes me about 20-25 minutes each corner to remove and install.

Make sure you jack up both sides of the car, not just one corner. If working on the front, make sure you jack up the front left and front right. Etc.

 

[Zishan]

There are a few tricks to get the rears out.

What I do, is loosen the (4) 14 mm bolts holding the upper A-arm into place. I do not recommend removing them, just loosening them to give you some slack. Then 2x4, should come out easy enough.

You can use a spring compressor. If you're lazy like me, you can place the car on jack stands, and with the wheel OFF, place your jack under the brake rotor area. Carefully lift the assembly to compress the spring. Attach the spring compressor and then the spring is compressed and should come out. (I've done this on other cars)

 

[SuperSonic]

The 2x4 seems like a good idea. I just had gf bouncing on it. Was there an easier way to align the top of the shock than my tape method. I see theres a write up but ramon for example has his own tricks so i wanted to see if you guys had any. And why is the back so stiff. Cause a friends 91 was cake, my 02, esp the driver side was almost impossible. It does handle much much better with the 02 shocks than the 95 ones though