This winter seems to have finished off my one of my front airbags.
Leaving the office, I found my car in the parking garage, slammed. I started up the car and waited for it to pump back up. The fenders raised about a centimeter above the tires. 'Hmmm' I thought. I cut the engine, intending to start it again and let it pump some more. I turn the key, and not a damn thing happens. No click, no nothing. I immediately realized, the starter fried.
:soapbox:
I had to coast the thing to the bottom floor of the garage to meet the wrecker. Hitting the speed bumps on the way down with no air in my front bags made me cringe. Not having power steering didn't make it any more enjoyable.
It's been several weeks since then. I've since installed another starter.
About few days after that, my coil conversion kit arrived. I ordered the kit from Strutmasters. It goes for $475 plus shipping as of this date.
With my gold membership, I was charged $359.25 + $50 for shipping.
BTW, this is for the 1.5" lowered kit.
I started installing the kit Thursday night, and finished earlier today. It can be done faster but I have no garage at home, and it's been cold outside.
I was expecting Gabriel brand shocks, but this is fine with me. :biggrin:
Time to get to work.
This is the driver's side.
Unbolting the the air strut.
...needed to give it a twist to align the strut bolts with the bolt holes.
Everything was going smoothly until it was time to re-install the swaybar end-links. I apparently damaged the threads while pushing it through the hole on the spindle because the nut would not thread back on. This really slowed me down. Trying to turn the nut on the link only made the whole balljoint rotate.
Murphy's Law in full effect...
I got past this part by wearing down flat spots on the end-link, using my Dremel and a flapwheel attachment.
I was glad to be past this cr@p.
I was then able to use a wrench to hold the balljoint still, while I repeatedly twisted on and removed the nut to get all the threads to realign. When it became relatively easy to put the nut back on, I torqued it down, put everything back together and called it a night.
I did the passenger side the following evening. The strut on that side was definitely the leaky one.
Leaving the office, I found my car in the parking garage, slammed. I started up the car and waited for it to pump back up. The fenders raised about a centimeter above the tires. 'Hmmm' I thought. I cut the engine, intending to start it again and let it pump some more. I turn the key, and not a damn thing happens. No click, no nothing. I immediately realized, the starter fried.
:soapbox:
I had to coast the thing to the bottom floor of the garage to meet the wrecker. Hitting the speed bumps on the way down with no air in my front bags made me cringe. Not having power steering didn't make it any more enjoyable.
It's been several weeks since then. I've since installed another starter.
About few days after that, my coil conversion kit arrived. I ordered the kit from Strutmasters. It goes for $475 plus shipping as of this date.
With my gold membership, I was charged $359.25 + $50 for shipping.
BTW, this is for the 1.5" lowered kit.
I started installing the kit Thursday night, and finished earlier today. It can be done faster but I have no garage at home, and it's been cold outside.
I was expecting Gabriel brand shocks, but this is fine with me. :biggrin:
Time to get to work.
This is the driver's side.
Unbolting the the air strut.
...needed to give it a twist to align the strut bolts with the bolt holes.
Everything was going smoothly until it was time to re-install the swaybar end-links. I apparently damaged the threads while pushing it through the hole on the spindle because the nut would not thread back on. This really slowed me down. Trying to turn the nut on the link only made the whole balljoint rotate.
Murphy's Law in full effect...
I got past this part by wearing down flat spots on the end-link, using my Dremel and a flapwheel attachment.
I was glad to be past this cr@p.
I was then able to use a wrench to hold the balljoint still, while I repeatedly twisted on and removed the nut to get all the threads to realign. When it became relatively easy to put the nut back on, I torqued it down, put everything back together and called it a night.
I did the passenger side the following evening. The strut on that side was definitely the leaky one.
