Man ... waited till last minute and have a car show rollin in about 4 hours. And I decided to install the tein S tech springs now .... Man was that a mistake ... Well I took off the upper control arm bolts and the strut bar and all that and I didn't know the center bolt was supposed to keep the spring and strut together and I took it off (the one thats inside the center of the strut bar mounts). So now the thing won't budge , I can't mount the shock back in and I can't pull it out. Anyone got any ideas ?

Heres some pics of how it looks , I have no idea why it won't come out besides the fact I took out the center nut in the center of the strut bar moounts. ... Anyone got any ideas how to pull this sucker out ?

Heres da pics

http://uni.compsdoc.com/strut.jpg
Struts off and stupid of me to undo the center bolt

http://uni.compsdoc.com/control.jpg
Upper control arm bolts off
http://uni.compsdoc.com/lowercontrol.jpg
Lower control arm and shock bolt


Anyone know how to fix this quickly and remove the shock ? Please help me out , I am desperate right now.

 

First,
Forget about going to the car show. By doing things in a hurry won't do good to fix your problem.
Second,
Go to this site and go the the suspension menu (pdf file)
It will help you figure it out what went wrong.
http://www.geralds.net/rx8/
By the way, I think you got the upper spring cap clocked in the wrong way

 

Do you have a spring compressor on the spring?? You need to compres the spring to shorten it and the shock so that it will come out.

 

thanks man , so I am guessing I should take off the bolt for the lower control arm (i think thats what its called) this should give me room to take out the strut and then put it back in correctly ... But the bolt is screwed on very tightly. Any ideas on how to take it apart ?

 

And yep I got a spring compressor , only problem is fitting it on a spring/shock thats still mounted and won't come out ...

 

well this might be too late but yea you have to loosen the lower control arm this would drop the rotor and allows you to pull the shock out of the tripod (a lil muscle would help). I doubt you made it to the show on time this job took me 5 hours. Big mistake shouldn't have done this at the last minute. Also you should have read the diy forum it had a step by step instructions to teach you how to do this correctly. 1

 

Did you make the show?

 

When I installed my Racing Beat spring set I didn't have to remove any control arms or suspension components. The rear springs were quite simple to remove and, if I remember correctly, didn't require a spring compressor either. I did all four springs with hand tools in my driveway and it was not the most fun thing, but it was worth it. Perhaps p.m. me and I can walk you through the rest, if you still need help.

Charles

 

sorry i got here late
if needed aim me @ kelrx8

 

was just going tru old entries ... sorry for the lateness (like 2 months) , but my buddy came by and helped me out and I made it to the show (yay) , thanks for everyone's offers to help kel , charles , zoom , dan , and romulos.

(wow look a 2 month old thread got revived lol)