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C3 Corvette Forum › Tech/Performance/Info › Detailed Vette Projects (NEW 2006) › TRWspring, Bilstein shock, Dragvette strut install

(Moderator: 68-73) ‹ Previous Topic | Next Topic › Pages: 1 2 3 4 Send Topic Print TRWspring, Bilstein shock, Dragvette strut install (Read 27427 times) Feb 7th, 2006 at 6:12pm yellowjacket   Offline Global Moderator Tacoma, WA Gender: Posts: 19595   TRW spring, Bilstein shock, Dragvette strut installation NOTE: This whole job took me about 7 hours to do. If you follow the instructions I've laid out, it will save you about three hours of work time, providing it is your first time to attempt this. I've learned several shortcuts and things NOT to do by trial and error.  Should only take 3-4 hours now. I hope this helps someone down the road. Today I got started installing my TRW Spring, Bilstein shocks and Dragvette struts. I will add here as I go... First, I jacked up the Vette and put the Jacks a few inches behind the door frame on both sides: (Note: I don't know how much harder it is to do with the tire carriage cover and rear shocks as I don't have either one back there.) Then took off both rear tires. I place the jack under the spring bolt to relieve the tension. I then C-clamp the spring so the jack wouldn't slip while I loosened the Spring bolt. Here is what it looks like after I took the spring bolt out. Quite a drop. Next, I loosened the 4 big bolts holding the spring to the rear end. The Spring is out!  :boldpurple: It is heavy too! Okay, now it was time to remove the L-shape bolt holding both the shock and strut. After loosening that bolt, I removed the top shock bolt in order to remove the bottom L-shaped bolt holding the shock/strut. Here is what that L-shape bolt looks like that holds the shock & strut. Next I went over and removed the bolt holding the strut to the strut bracket. Yay! :boldpurple: I am now halfway as I got the spring, shocks and struts off.  Big difference between the stock strut and Dragvette strut. This took me about three hours. Tomorrow I will get started on installing the new TRW spring, Bilstein shocks & Dragvette struts. « Last Edit: Feb 10th, 2006 at 6:20pm by yellowjacket »   Back to top  IP Logged   Reply #1 - Feb 7th, 2006 at 7:55pm Maximus79   Offline Top Gun Member "If you come to a fork in the road,take it!" Skagit Co.,Washington State Gender: Posts: 15021   Finally a decent enough day to work on something,eh,Jack?  Nice work! :cheers:   Back to top  IP Logged   Reply #2 - Feb 7th, 2006 at 9:19pm 69Shark   Offline YaBB Administrator ATTITUDE is the diff between ORDEAL and ADVENTURE! 69shark Gender: Posts: 7370   Nice Jack! :cheers: Scott   Back to top  IP Logged   Reply #3 - Feb 8th, 2006 at 3:56am Old School   Ex Member   That's a lot of work to do alone in one day!  Nice going Jack. Great pictures too. Chuck   Back to top  IP Logged   Reply #4 - Feb 8th, 2006 at 8:46am 68-73   Offline YaBB Administrator NCRS Member 68,73,77 Corvettes Newark,Delaware Gender: Posts: 8736   Great job...wish I could have read this before I did mine. Make sure you put some threadlocker on those adjustable struts after you get it alligned...if they come loose you'll have a mess. Alan :cheers:   Back to top  IP Logged   Reply #5 - Feb 8th, 2006 at 11:44am Fly-n-C3   Offline Top Gun Member Wyoming Gender: Posts: 5492   Great job Jack :thumbsup:... I can't wait to see the finished project...   [center]Chris / Fly-n-C3 - 1977 Corvette L-82 / 4spd &&&&&& Back to top  IP Logged   Reply #6 - Feb 8th, 2006 at 10:10pm yellowjacket   Offline Global Moderator Tacoma, WA Gender: Posts: 19595   Thanks guys! It is gonna be nice once it is done. I posted a question on the trailing arms, (didn't know it at the time) in the Tech catagory. Now, I have another question. I read somewhere that your not suppose to tighten certain bolts down until AFTER you let the Vette down off the jack stands? Anything to this? quote by Alan Quote: Make sure you put some threadlocker on those adjustable struts after you get it alligned...if they come loose you'll have a mess. You say After the alighnment? And what do I threadlock, the bolts mounting it to the rearend and to the shock bracket? what about the two adjustable Nuts? Threadlock those too? I'm going to try to get it done Thursday afternoon... hah! ... more like Friday with my talents. :crazy:   Back to top  IP Logged   Reply #7 - Feb 9th, 2006 at 4:05am 68-73   Offline YaBB Administrator NCRS Member 68,73,77 Corvettes Newark,Delaware Gender: Posts: 8736   Just threadlock the adjustable bolts...I had mine come loose twice after each allignment. I blamed it on the techs, but it's easier to back them off one at a time and apply the threadlock & retighten. Maybe the high hp & tq put a lot of strain & twisting on them. Also after your allignment unless you're allowed to be right there...check all bolts & make sure they're tight. Nobody cares about your car like you do... Alan   Back to top  IP Logged   Reply #8 - Feb 9th, 2006 at 10:30am 77GA-RED   Ex Member   Very cool Jack. The pictures and the discriptive work sounds simple and to the point. I'm really glad this section was added a couple months back because this is invaluable stuff. Mike :cheers:   Back to top  IP Logged   Reply #9 - Feb 9th, 2006 at 6:50pm yellowjacket   Offline Global Moderator Tacoma, WA Gender: Posts: 19595   Okay, today I got the Shocks and Struts in and ran out of time to put the Spring in. I installed the Bilstein Shocks at the top first, then at the bottom. As you can see by the pix, I installed the bottom Shock first before putting the L shape bolt through the strut bracket. MISTAKE! It took me well over an hour to do that. On the other side, I installed the strut bolt in first, then put the shock on, barely. This only took an half hour. Next I installed the dragvette spacer that goes between the strut bracket and differential, ( RED arrows ). The cam bolt is suppose to be set at 6 o'clock. The left is correct, but I have to set the drivers tomorrow as I ran out of time... Here is what it looks like so far... with TRW spring on the gound waiting to be put in. « Last Edit: Feb 9th, 2006 at 7:11pm by yellowjacket »   Back to top  IP Logged   Reply #10 - Feb 10th, 2006 at 7:07am 69Shark   Offline YaBB Administrator ATTITUDE is the diff between ORDEAL and ADVENTURE! 69shark Gender: Posts: 7370   Looking good Jack! I bet you can't wait to take her for a spin! Today is going to be very nice! Scott   Back to top  IP Logged   Reply #11 - Feb 10th, 2006 at 8:48am 68-73   Offline YaBB Administrator NCRS Member 68,73,77 Corvettes Newark,Delaware Gender: Posts: 8736   Jack Just remember your car needs to settle for awhile & if you can't get the back end down you'll have to go to longer bolts. I ended up using  10" grade 8  bolts. Looks like you're doing a great job & this should answer many question & help lots of people. Looks like I'm in for a snow storm tomorrow...I'd rather have rain. Alan   Back to top  IP Logged   Reply #12 - Feb 10th, 2006 at 9:19am yellowjacket   Offline Global Moderator Tacoma, WA Gender: Posts: 19595   Quote: Jack Just remember your car needs to settle for awhile & if you can't get the back end down you'll have to go to longer bolts. I ended up using  10" grade 8  bolts. Looks like I'm in for a snow storm tomorrow...I'd rather have rain. Alan The TRW spring came with a longer than stock bolts @ 9" while Dragvette came with the 10" ones. Boy was I wrong. When I measured the two bolts, the stock one was 7", TRW was 7-1/2" and Dragvette was 8". No good.... I'm still at least 2" too high (4.5" from fender-lip to top-tire). I'm going down to get a 10" bolt and I have to do it all over again. I will drive it around a bit and see if it settles some first. « Last Edit: Feb 10th, 2006 at 5:08pm by yellowjacket »   Back to top  IP Logged   Reply #13 - Feb 10th, 2006 at 5:11pm yellowjacket   Offline Global Moderator Tacoma, WA Gender: Posts: 19595   Okay, wrapup time... (with exception of having to get two 10" spring bolts to replace the 8" ones). Today I put in the TRW spring. Unless your VERY strong, it helps to use a jack to hold the spring center in place to start the 4 bolts. There is a heatsheild and cover plate that is bolted with that. Next was to install the spring bolts. These were tricky and I can save you about an hour of time with the shortcut I learned. Only run the 4 bolts in the center (last pix above) about halfway in so you can jiggle the outer spring a tad in order to get the long spring bolt in the top AND the spring (two red arrows). I tried it with the 4 center bolts all the way in and an hour later still couldn't get that bolt in. Did the other side this way and it only took 10 minutes! You also have to use a jack to move the spring up in order to get the bolt through (bottom red arrow). Be sure NOT to slip the jack off the metal tip or else you'll ruin the spring! The struts are very easy to adjust. Just use a level on the wheels and turn the two outer nuts on the strut bar (red arrow) and twist the knurled part of bar (yellow arrow) until you get the correct wheel/tire level: BEFORE: and AFTER. Not bad, not bad at all! « Last Edit: Feb 10th, 2006 at 9:40pm by yellowjacket »   Back to top  IP Logged   Reply #14 - Feb 10th, 2006 at 9:38pm Maximus79   Offline Top Gun Member "If you come to a fork in the road,take it!" Skagit Co.,Washington State Gender: Posts: 15021   Looks a bit neater & cleaned up under there! :cheers:   Back to top  IP Logged   Pages: 1 2 3 4 Send Topic Print ‹ Previous Topic | Next Topic ›

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