I've had the rear shocks out of my car a few times now tracing down a little bit of a clunking noise since I installed the konis. I've had trouble pushing the rear arms down when installing or removing the lower bolt. I don't know if all S2000s are this way, but it took all my weight (and then some) to push the arms down enough that the bolt would line up. (Virtually impossible to do alone.) Well I thought of a pretty novel way to do it, which actually ended up working really well and took only an extra minute to set up.

The rear of the car is supported on jack stands on the rear side jacking points, and the jack is lightly pushing up on the rear center jacking point. The pictures explain the rest.

After putting some tension in the straps, the shocks came out and went in very easily.

 

Nicely done! I had no problem getting my KW's lined up, but I had a friend helping.

 

i recommend taking the rear sway bar bolt out as it made this a easy install on my own

 

ooo, good to know! thanks...I managed to get out my rear strut out once by myself, don't ask me how as it took me FOREVER...and I'm only a 130lb guy...so ya, I forget, needless to say I didn't do the other one. As I wasn't replacing the suspension but trying to get the halfshafts out rather.

Again, thanks for the tip...looks like it'll work great!

 

spa-zz, did you find the source of the clunk?

 

damn I had no trouble getting my KW's out at all. Just came out no weight applied.

 

This helps a little if you are doing only one side, as the sway bar will be an additional resistance against the arm being pushed down. I have always disconnected the sway bar when doing only one side (but still had a lot of trouble pushing the arm down enough). Here, since I did both at once, it was not necessary.

 

Well sure, if the shocks are shorter than stock length, you'll have no issues.

Are the KW's stock length?

 

Not entirely. I'm starting to think it just has something to do with the Konis. I had a set of Double Adjustable Konis in my M3, and they are known to just make some noise. Not sure about these single adjustables. I did find that my lower spring perch rubber pads were worn through so I replaced those, and I do feel an improvement from that, but I still have a little bit of a clunk. It happens over sharp bumps only, and it's hard to describe because it's not really a loud clunk but more of a thunk/thud/clunk. Sounds like something is loose. But I have emptied my trunk entirely, retorqued every single bolt I could get my wrench on to factory specs (while the suspension was loaded, wheels on ground). I found some loose subframe bolts but tightening them didn't help! Short of bad ball joints or bushings, I don't know what else it could be.

 

Have you checked the torsional springs for the trunk lid? When the trunk is opened fully, it's not easy to notice a potential clunking from the interference between the 2 springs. But when the trunk is closed, they might do just that. Check for potential interference with the trunk almost closed. I have to add some rad hose and electrical tape to prevent interference (besides the stock long rubber sleeve).

BTW, I once had my stock spring/shock out and back in the car all by myself and I'm only 120lb. Can't remember exactly what I did. Something like sitting on a pry bar wedged somewhere on the suspension. It's doable but your method seems much neater.