Changing Shocks in a R33

[Burns]

I have a stuffed shock in my R33 and have a second hand replacement to put it.

I looks like a relatively easy job so I think I would prefer to do it rather than paying to have some one else do it.

From what I can tell it is held in by only 3 bolts. One bolt on the bottom and two holding it into the strut tower.

Can any one tell me how much torque should be put on the bolts and what the best way to get to them is? The two on the tower look a bit tricky and that the seat and parcel shelf may need to be pulled out to get to them.

Any tips welcome

Thanks

[jlnewton]

You definately need to take out the rear seat and parcel shelf. When I did mine a little while ago thats as far as I got, chickened out and got my mechanic to do it. At least he couldn't charge me for labour on taking the seat/shelf in and out!

Let me know how it goes cause I hate paying people to do those sorts of things also. I was concerned with the springs. I don't have coil overs and was concerned with whether the springs are under load in the standard spring/shock setup. I was worried that if they were I wouldn't be able to re-compress the spring to put it back together. Want to do the fronts soon so any info would be great.

Would rather spent labour costs on getting better shocks!

[Jay95R33]

I'll be changing mine in a few months.

It should be pretty easy. Easier than my old TX5 that we changed the suspension on.

About the tension on the spring. You can take the whole shockand spring out together as one assembly, so you won't loose the tension on the spring.

But to get the spring off of the shock once they are out of the car you've got to use spring compressors to squeeze the spring down while you undo the top nut on the shock. Otherwise you'll shoot the nut through the roof/your eye/the closest window and you'll probabaly take your fingers off, as well as never find the nut again

From experiance the two bolts that hold the strut to the car will be stupidly tight, so you'll have to use good qual tools, some WD40, and maybe a long (4 foot) extension bar to give you enough leverage.

All fun

J

[Burns]

So how tight should every thinkbe done back up ?

[Jay95R33]

Ummm, two bolts down the bottom - damn tight.

Two bolts up the top - pretty tight..

I'm not sure on torque setting etc, but because they are a major part of the car and that use high tensile bolts, you can get them pretty damn tight without worring about stripping a thread.

J

[JimX]

Putting in a set of new Bilstein shocks and Whiteline lowered springs was one of the first things I did when I got my R33. It takes a fairly long time if you haven't done it before, so set aside a couple of hours on a sunny morning on the weekend.

First thing to do is remove the back seat and parcel shelf. Then put the rear of the car onto axle stands and take off the rear wheels. Go back in the car and take off the top 2 nuts. These will not be tight at all. Take the lower bolt out of each shock from under the car. Warning: This will be VERY tight. If it's not, then it's worked loose so make sure you do up it up VERY TIGHTLY when putting it back in.

Next gently knock the shocks sideways and off the lower mounting. Be prepared for the heavy shock to fall out. Maybe don't take the top nuts off completely but loosen them a lot so that it will stay in place when the bottom bolt is off. Be very careful you don't bend/break something though, the top studs are very weak.

The whole spring and coil will just drop down and you can pull it out. There is a slight amount of tension on the spring but nothing you can't push against with your hands so you won't need a spring compressor. Be careful though.

Installation is the reverse. Grease up the lower mounts a bit before installing, it will make it easier to slip them on and probably help prevent future squeaking. I find it easier to get someone to do up the top 2 nuts loosely to hold the shock in place while I hold it from below, and then align it up on the lower mounting.

Do up the bottom bolt TIGHT and the top ones not very much at all. Like, putting a fair bit of pressure on the spanner, but holding the spanner near the centre. Even then you can still bust the studs, as I did. I put a little too much pressure on mine and snapped one of the studs. The fix was to drill the broken bit out then put a small bolt in its place with the same thread. You don't wanna hafta do this!

The fronts are similar, though I think you can get away with not removing the wheels. I can't remember exactly, it was last year I did all this

Depending on the springs, you might need to put some muscle behind the shocks when you're installing them to get them onto the lower studs. But it's only a couple of centimetres and shouldn't be a problem for anyone unless you're a complete wimp

Edit: I think that the top front shock nuts/studs can handle a bit more tension than the rear. But don't do them up too tightly! The bottom ones are the ones that need all the tension.

[MrR33]

damn - just changed a set on a mates 32 laqst weekend - only had to remove the boot trim - i was kinda hoping it would be the same for my 33 (cant see atm-im picking it up tomoz from the panel shop and then putting some teins in).

so, removal of the parcel shelf and rear seats is definitely the only way to go?

[jlnewton]

Fraid so MrR33. The tops of the struts are just under the parcel shelf. Thats why rear strut braces on 33 look different. There is know other way to get to the tops.

[MrR33]

Sh!T. i was afraid that was it - well, im gettin the car back in bout an hour, so... should be a fun arvo..

[jlnewton]

JimX

Thanks for the info! A question, What do you think on the Whiteline Spring/Bilstein shock combination. I notice Whiteline has been using that combination on there R33 test car. Just thinking about going for a few whiteline bits and pieces and want to know what its like!

[JimX]

Jlnewton, sorry for the delay in replying, but the Skyline forums seem to be not emailing me on every thread that I'm subscribed to

Anyway, I really like the Bilsteins shocks and Whiteline springs. Handling is muchly improved over stock, the setup being not too soft or hard for road use. I still get a bit of body roll on the stock swaybars, but it's only about as much as my Commodore did after I put some really bigass swaybars on it. I'm guessing it'll handle like it's on rails once I can afford new swaybars.

Some people prefer the adjustable Konis to the Bilsteins, in fact I was looking for Konis in preference. But at the time Whiteline couldn't get them for an R33 so I went with the Bilsteins and I don't regret it.

[jlnewton]

Sweet, I have just put Bilsteins on the back of mine as the originals were flogged. Will be doing the front soon, might give the whiteline springs ago. Unless you buy coil overs its hard to find a matched pair spring/shock combination. Thanks for your input JimX.

The guys at Whiteline were telling me that the biggest single improvement will come from the adj. swaybars. MMMM need more $$$$.

[DSKYLINE2C]

well i just changed my rear suspension the other day and all i had to take out was the rear seat. There is one bolt on eachside. Then i removed a, kinda bracket which was positioned just ontop of the two bolts for the suspension. I then took the wheel off, removed the two bolts from the top, removed the big bolt down the bottom and slipped it off. Done!