JoshMcMadMac

I tried searching, but could not find any help. I have lowering springs and new shocks for all four corners of a 96 Camaro. I ordered new mounts, and they were shipped in to the store I bought them from yesterday. I had the front shocks/springs pulled out. Come to find out, the mounts were boxed incorrectly, so I got two left-hand side mounts. So, I went back to the store, and they cannot get my parts until tomorrow now. So, I had to put the car back together.

In reassembling the car, I found it quite difficult to get the mounts to go properly into the holes in the fender. Is this typical, or is there a trick I do not know? When removing them, I did the following: I removed the 2 nuts and 2 bolts under the hood for the mount. I jacked the car and removed the wheel. I removed the two lower shock bolts/nuts. I disconnected the sway bar. And then the entire shock assembly came right out. But putting the assembly back in was damn near impossible. Any help?

Also, I went ahead and ordered the new mounts, and sure enough the old nuts are rusted to no end, and will not release the old mount. However, I now realize that I can not get the spring mounts out of the assembly now. Is there a particular name for this part, so I can order new ones? Are they expensive? Or is there a simple way to get these parts out of there that I cannot think of? I really am in no mood to fight with these for hours, just to get a few old parts out that may be cheap to replace. Any and all advice and suggestions are welcome.

Injuneer

When you pull the old assembly out, you need to mark a white stripe down the entire length of the assembly, so you get the bottom shock mount properly aligned to the top spring seat when you reassemble it. That's the only way to get the studs/bolts in the top mount to properly align to the holes.

This is a quote from my online spring/shock install guide:
Or is it some other problem with alignment?

"the old nuts are rusted to no end, "

What nuts?

Are you saying the top nut on the shock shaft is rusted to the top mount" If so, you can "cut" the old shock shafts off with a Sawz-All to recover the upper mounting pieces. Or are you saying the nuts on the top of the shock tower are rusted (never saw that happen before)?

JoshMcMadMac

The top nut on the shock shaft is rusted to the top mount. I guess I will try a hack saw. I will compress the coil first, but how much do I need to compress it so I don't hurt myself?

And the alignment is fine, as far as I know.

Hyperspeed97z28

When my friend and I did my shock/spring install...

The fronts...

While compressed in the wall mounted compressor...

We use a air drill or something like that with a flat tip and sheared the head of the bolt off, took about 10 mins for each side, but I was able to save all my stock hardware and use that stuff..

Cost of shocks/springs to my door $133.66

Cost of install = FREE

Me =

Combine this with the above info and you'll be good to go !

cbr02ridr

I just replaced mine a couple weeks ago and encountered the same problem, that top nut on the shock was frozen solid. There is also that spacer piece just below the nut, also seized on the shaft. I cut it all off with a sawz-all and bought new upper mounts. In my experience, I had a hell of a lot tougher time un-installing the stock stuff than putting everything back together. If you have ordered the new mounts it should go in fairly well.

revtime

Thats what I had to do as well, I had new springs and shocks so I just pitched the entire stock assembly once it was out and took the new parts to a shop and had them assemble them and then I reinstalled em.
Those upper spring perches are expensive

OBE1 95Z28

I'd suggest you cover the new nut with anti-sieze grease when you're done so the new setup doesn't rust.