[austinpike]

I know there are a lot of good spring install guides out there, but none of them seem to be 100% complete. I have had these pics around for awhile and finally have time to do something with them. I knew absolutely nothing when I did my first one, so I am trying to be thorough and give enough info for the complete n00b.

1) remove the rear seat. See guide here:

How To: complete idiot's guide to removing the rear seat - IWSTI.com: Subaru WRX STI Forums

[austinpike]

2) It is easiest to bust loose the 17mm strut top nuts while the car is on the ground. So that's what we are doing here...

Once the seat is out you can get to the rear strut dust covers. You'll want a couple of tools to get to these nuts
since the access is pretty tight. A 12mm open gear wrench (pictured) is nice. Also, standard 12mm sockets in various
depths will be helpful. Unless you have air tools that can fit on these, there is a lot of wrenching involved since you can
only get a few degress per turn on some of them.




Strut cover removed. Note the "out" inscription, and make sure it faces "out" when you put it back on.




Top of the strut showing the nut that needs to be loosened.




You should be able to get on there with a 17mm deep socket and loosen it a few turns.
Just bust it loose, do not remove it at this point!




This next part isn't critical now, but you will need the info later.

In order to make sure the strut isn't spinning in the shaft, you need to insert a 6mm hex/allen wrench
into the strut top, and hold that still while you turn the 17mm nut. This is the contraption I use.




The vise grip is clamed onto a 17mm socket - you can grind one down so it has flat sides to grip.
I ordered this part from kent-moore:



http://servicesolutions.spx.com/welcome.html - Subaru part number 927760000

direct link:
http://subaru.spx.com/detail.asp?partid=927760000 - STRUT MOUNT SOCKET

There are better tools/solutions for this (open Gear Wrench socket) - such as:


(not my pic, stolen from Rev...)


(again not my pic, forget who I stole it from...)

None of this should be necessary while the car is on the ground, but you will need a setup like this to finish taking off
the nut once strut is off the car.


Put the 12mm nuts back on the strut top a few threads so the struts don't fall off the car later...




Now to the front...

Remove the little rubber dust covers in the center of the top mounts.




Again, bust the top nut loose.




On the front passenger side there may be a bracket that holds an alarm chirper.




I just wrap a piece of painters tape around it so I don't forget to put it back.




It doesn't really matter if you take the 12mm nuts off now or later, I am just including it at this point in the process.
If you do loosen them now, again, make sure to keep them on at least a little bit so the struts don't fall off later.

[austinpike]

3) Now, get the car up in the air.

See this thread:
Complete idiot's guide to getting your car up on jackstands

You could do one end at a time, but I prefer to to all four corners so I can just move around the car with the same tools.

[austinpike]

4) prepping to remove the struts.


Some painters tape on the wheel arches will help if you get a little wild with the wrenching.
Yeah I don't know quite how it happens either but I have nicked them a couple times.




Wheels off




Rear brake line clip. Get a flathead screwdriver under it, then tap the screwdriver with a hammer from below.






Remove the bolts (12mm) for the front ABS and brake lines








Putting the bolts back in the holes once the lines are removed helps keep track of them.

[austinpike]

5) removing the lower 19mm bolts

First, note the position of the camber bolt (top bolt in the front.)




If you have never had an alignment, who knows where they are set from the factory. You can either
put them back how they were, or just set them as indicated below. You should get an alignment
at some point after doing the springs anyway.

If you look at the head of the camber bolt there is a "10" inscribed on the top, basically that should be
pointed at the strut to get max negative camber. So the center mark would be perpendicular to the strut.

This would be for the left front.



I think the shape of the bolt may be such that a position slightly off perpendicular may
actually give you a hair more camber, but this is close enough until you get it on a rack.


This is the fun part. Get a breaker bar and a 6-point 19mm impact socket and start cranking on those lower bolts.
A 12-point will probably round the bolt, and anything less than an impact socket may well break. ymmv.

I throw a wrench on the backside nut to keep the whole thing from spinning.






If you are having problems, throw a pipe over the breaker bar. Should give you plenty of leverage.
If you are thinking ahead, you can soak the bolts w/ PB Blaster the night before to help loosen them up.




Depending on how much clearance you have, you can either work the nut side or the bolt side.
Pay attention to the orientation of the bolts for when you put it all back together.
Once the nut is off you can tap the bolts with a hammer to encourage them to come out.




Put a screwdriver or punch through the bolt holes to keep the assembly from falling when you remove the strut top nuts.






Camber bolt removed. Pay attention to how you took it out, it only fits in one direction.

[austinpike]

6) removing the rear strut assemblies and springs

Go back to the strut tops and remove the 12mm nuts.
If you have your screwdriver in place in the lower holes, the struts won't fall to the floor.




Be careful maneuvering around the brake line.

Rear strut assembly removed:




Go ahead and finish taking off that 17mm top nut:
(you don't need to use spring compressors on the rear struts)




Top and dust cover removed:




If your rear struts are clunking, or if you think they will, this is a good time to lube them up.




Fit the spring onto the perch. I like to completely do one side before taking apart the other side,
so I can refer to the other one to make sure everything is oriented properly.




Make sure you have the dustcover slotted back into the tophat.
Sucks to get it all back together only to find out you forgot them.




Put the tophat back on. The bolt marked "4WD OUT" should basically align with the flange at the bottom of the strut.
Again, here I like to compare to the one from the other side (which I have not yet taken apart...)

You'll need to push down on the tophat while you thread the 17mm bolt back on.
The tophat will tend to twist as you tighten it down; a second set of hands will help here.




I am just showing a socket above to get it started; you'll need to use the pass-through socket and allen wrench here;
otherwise the strut will be spinning inside the tube and you won't get very far.




Get it as tight as you can by hand for now; you can hit it with a torque wrench once you get it back on the car.

[austinpike]

7) removing the front springs

Go ahead and remove the 12mm nuts from the front tophats.
Again, if you have your screwdriver in place in the lower holes, the struts won't fall and rip your CV boot.

Pull the strut assembly out; be careful maneuvering around the ABS and brake lines.

Go ahead and remove the top 17mm nut (see rears above) - you should really put spring compressors
on before doing this. You can rent them at Autozone for a $40 refundable deposit. It is possible to pop it off
without them, but the tophat will fly off - if you put a hole in the wall, your car, or yourself, don't blame me.

Fit the spring on the perch; it should be pretty obvious where it wants to sit.
Don't forget the rubber doughnut on top.

The center hole on the top perch should align with the flange at the bottom - sorry I don't have a pic of this.
Make a note before you take it apart, or see the threads linked in post #10 below.




You will need spring compressors to get the top nut back on - or a really strong friend who can push
them down while you thread the nut. This is the one place where I find an impact wrench to be really useful.

Cranking the spring compressors by hand is PITA. And my cheap-*** Harbor Freight impact doesn't have enough
torque to be good for anything else.






Put the 17mm top nut back on (see rears above.)

In this case I am putting PDE camber plates on. Top nuts are built-in, I forget if they are 17mm or something else.
Process is the same whatever you are using.




With the PDE plates you are supposed to remove the top washer. (not pictured.)
If you are re-using the stock tophats, or Group-Ns, make sure that makes it back on.








With the PDE plates, I found it easier to first install the main plate on the car, then insert the strut
with only the center portion from below. That way you are only aiming for the one big center hole,
instead of trying to line up the three little bolt holes.

[austinpike]

8) Fit the strut assemblies back up into the car.

You'll need to get the 12mm tophat nuts on to hold them in place. This is the part where a second set
of hands is most useful. It is hard to hold the struts in place and thread the nuts on at the same time.





The fronts can be a pain, getting around the ABS/brakes lines, and up and over the CV boots.
Pushing down on the hub may help. If you really are having trouble, disconnect the sway bar,
that will allow the hub to drop. (sorry, no pics, may update in the future but I'm sure there
are sway bar install guides out there...)


Put the 19mm bolts back in the bottom. Getting them aligned is a PITA. If you have a big punch
as pictured in post #5 that can really help get them lined up. I think the thing might actually have
been called an "alignment tool" on the packaging when I bought it.




Make sure the front camber bolt is positioned where you want it before tightening.




Don't forget the bolts for the front ABS and brake lines, and the clip in the rear.
Again, a flathead screwdriver can help position the clip, tap it in with a hammer.

[austinpike]

9) Getting everything tightened up.

Lower strut bolts - front (19mm) - 129 ft-lbs
Lower strut bolts - rear (19mm) - 145 ft-lbs

Front brake line (12mm) - 23.6 ft-lb
Front ABS line (12mm) - 24.3 ft-lb

Strut top nuts (12mm) - 14.5 ft-lb
* this isn't much; don't overdo it, they can and will snap.*


Strut top center nut (17mm) - 41 ft-lb

The strut top center nuts you can torque when the car is back on the ground. Since your
torque wrench doesn't likely have a pass-through for the Allen wrench, you can use the weight
of the car to keep the struts from spinning. In my experience, 41 ft-lbs is pretty close to just
cranking it as tight as I can get it by hand with the Allen wrench and pass-through socket.
But I'm kind of a girly-man.

So anyway you can maybe get by without the torque wrench on that one; ymmv.

Note that in the rear; if you put the metal dust covers on before you drop the car, you can't get
to the center nut to torque it. You could just put the 12mm nuts on a few threads, then drop
the car, but that could run a slight risk of messing up the threads depending how things line up.
Frankly I don't know what the purpose of those dust covers are; imho you can leave them off.

[austinpike]

10) other spring install threads to refer to:

STi pink spring installation procedure and pictures! - IWSTI.com: Subaru STI Forums

Whats involved in installing springs???? - IWSTI.com: Subaru STI Forums

How to - Install Springs! - IWSTI.com: Subaru STI Forums


I didn't detail the bump stop installation, since I had done that previously.
If you want to install the Prodrive ones or cut the stockers that is covered here:
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