BE spring change - time to do? any tips?

[Markus]

Hello -

Since my Miata is fairly disassembled right now, my daily driver '03 Leggy GT might be pushed into backup track duty next weekend.

I have a set of Syms lowering springs sitting in my garage and I'm wondering - how long does it take to swap out springs on the Leggy? And any tips for doing so?

I have the Haynes manual at home but haven't had a chance to look at it yet, I do have experience changing the coilover springs on my Miata, and I'll be doing the work in my buddy's well-equipped garage (air compressor, good tools, etc).

Thanks for any input...

- Mark

[Huffer]

You'll need to remove the rear seats, and the fronts are a doddle to do.

FRONTS:
Once you've broken the lower bolts holding the strut to the hub, it's pretty easy to take them apart. Just watch out for the topnut as you back it off the stock strut.

You might want to get a set of spring compressors to keep the springs under control during removal - installing the lowering springs should be easy because they're shorter. Just pop them on over the existing strut.

Do one side at a time so you have a model to follow when reassembling.

REARS:
Don't know - but I imagine its the same as the setup looks fairly simple based on these pics:
http://www.5mileimports.com/BE-1.jpg

[Markus]

You'll need to remove the rear seats, and the fronts are a doddle to do...

Geez I start to respect this Huffer guy after seeing his posts on there, then he tries to tell me I have to take the seats out of the car to change the springs? Come on what kind of idiot do you think I am?!?

- Mark

:lol:

[battman]

Yeah, but driving around without a backseat gives you +40hp. I took mine out to put my coilovers on, makes things a whole lot easier.

[Huffer]

:lol:

I figure you're going to autox, might as well ditch the interior so you can put your 16s in there. Cos after today you'll be rolling on dubs!

[rougeben83]

Just did this. No you don't need to remove the seats. I suggest getting a ratchet with the pass-thru in the middle for a long allen wrench. I bought a set from Lowes and returned it the next day (ghetto I know). Even with the full weight of the car on it, it was impossible to tighten the center nut on the rear struts (that secures the tophat). The front can be tightened down with the weight of the car on it.

I found it hard to tigthen the center nuts with the struts outside of the car, even with an impact gun. After a certain point, they just spin freely, or in my case the threaded portion gets sheered off :mad:

Also, the biggest pain is the rear bottom bolts. Very hard to break loose...you can do what some others did and put a breaker bar on the bolt. and slowly lower the car, letting the weight of it break the bolt for you. The guy I was helping had to get a 2foot breaker and his full weight on the thing, but this was on a lift.

And last but not least, Camber bolts only go in one way...

Oh yeah, you don't need spring compressors to put in those SYMS springs.

[Markus]

Thanks for the tips Ben!

Just curious - barring any "issues", do you think this is a 2 hour job? 4 hour?

And Huffer - going down to MidOhio baby! 2 miles 13 turns or whatever.

- Mark

[rougeben83]

Thanks for the tips Ben!

Just curious - barring any "issues", do you think this is a 2 hour job? 4 hour?

And Huffer - going down to MidOhio baby! 2 miles 13 turns or whatever.

- Mark

If you have the right tools, probably 30min/spring. I did the assembly of the struts myself since the bilsteins were a 2nd set of struts. Switching out the assemblies on the car took the mechanic and me about 1 hour...that's with him fiddling around with the camber plates because we didn't know how to orient them first :lol:

EDIT: forgot to add, and this is probably the most important part...make sure to support the rear shock (jackstand, jack, something good and strong) before you try to take out the bottom bolt - the whole thing is compressed even with the wheels at full extension. Consequently, you'll need a jack to compress rear shock to line it up with the bottom bolt hole upon reinstall. Don't be afraid to use a pry bar to line up the bolt eyes.