Yeah you shouldnt need to do that... ive installed / de-installed coilovers on a s2k probably 15 times... 10 all by myself. I can knock it out in like 45 min haha.

Did you finish?

 

with the suspension and preloading, dont tighten the a-arm bushings or the shock bushing until the car is on the ground, you can get to all of them easily by just turning the wheels to full lock

this way your bushings will be completely neutral at whatever ride height you decide on.

 

Removing the upper a-arms for the fronts works just fine, but IIRC you cannot easily get to the bolts for the rear upper a-arms with the coilovers installed. With everything attached at the rear, the lower a-arm will not drop down far enough to easily remove the stock coilover. (At least, that's how it is on my car.) Popping the lower rear ball joint should make it significantly easier to swap the rears. The special ball-joint popper that Honda specifies in the shop manual and is only available by special order isn't an absolute requirement - this sort of tool works just fine as well, is cheap, and readily stocked in most autoparts stores.


And finally - yeah, the two top nuts for the left rear coilover are aggravating. I dropped one of the nuts down in that cubby area and it got jammed. Spent a lot of time with fingers and magnets trying to get it out...

 

step 1. put jack on balljoint bolt
step 2. apply pressure
step 3. hit it with a big ass hammer

 

[QUOTE=Elistan,Dec 11 2009, 09:36 AM] Removing the upper a-arms for the fronts works just fine, but IIRC you cannot easily get to the bolts for the rear upper a-arms with the coilovers installed.

 

Thanks for all of the meaningful replies (I've ignored all of the "hit it with a hammer" and "I did it in 10 minutes" [well good for YOU-U-U] comments). I even got a volunteer to advise, watch, hold the light, call the paramedics, etc.

I am making a concerted effort to complete this tonight and will advise.

By the way: 12mm, fine-thread (1.25) 85mm long, Grade 8 bolts are made of un-obtainium. I thought it would be cute to replace all of the A-arm attachment bolts with new, shiny ones. It simply cannot be done. Apparently the factory burned down and the supply was used up by a secret branch of the military.

Regards,

Al

 

i thought unobtainium was an oakley product. rubbery substance that when wet would get grippier.

 

It's also, I've heard, the material being so coveted in the new movie "Avatar" coming out this Friday. @ Cameron.

 

its a suspension component that handles the load of a 2800lb car

hit it with a ****** hammer while putting leverage on it. ive done this dozens of times on all sorts of cars to loosen ball joints, you arent going to hurt it, you arent the incredible hulk.

 

Status: Front coilovers installed! [Power failure at lake house kept me in the dark until after 8:00PM, and I only worked about an hour.]

Lesson #1: Don't pay any attention to the $100 Honda Service Manual. Listen to S2Ki forum and remove the upper A-arms in the front. After that its too easy.

Note 1: Does Japan have an A&M? The guy who thought that blocking the drivers-side upper coilover bolts was acceptable should be shot. I finally got the nuts off, but dropped one into the frame. Recovery will be a task for tonight.

Tonight I will ignore the Honda instructions and pop the lower ball-joints in the rear in an attempt to remove/install the coilvoers. All the bolts are loose and one coilvoer is out. I just ran out of gas/patience. [Do I need to disconnect the sway bar as well, or is that another option? Elistan suggested the ball-joint pop and Svann mentioned the sway bar. I think I'll try the sway bar only first.]

Thanks for all your help.

Regards,

Al