about to put in koni's

[SHOman24v]

any tips when drilling the orignal strut...anything to watch for?

 

[RStalveyARFF]

YES!!! Drill a small hole first. I use a center punch so I can accurately hit the center, then use a small drill bit. The fluid will spurt out, and it smells horrid, and stains anything it comes into contact with. I also take a old rag and keep it loosely around the bottom of the strut so when I break through I can immediately replace the drill with the rag. Make sure you have a can or something to drain the fluid into, because you don't want it sitting on the ground! Good luck!

 

[SHOman24v]

ok cool, is this a project i can do in a weekend, i have mechanical expierance, ive done two timing belts and a water pump, im also have intrax springs, any tips when using the spring compressor

 

[RStalveyARFF]

yeah, you can definitely do the project in a weekend. One thing I'd suggest is a 13mm ratcheting wrench for the rear struts. It's a PITA to get something in there to remove the nuts. Also, have lots of heat and PB blaster on hand. For the spring compressor, I'm assuming you loaned one from autozone. Just make sure you tighten evenly on both sides, or else you're going to get them jammed up. The intrax springs don't require much compression to fit into the strut mounts anyways if I remember right.

 

[89 Gary]

I always had to use a simple file and take off the "nubs" on the koni's. We also took some motor oil and wiped down the Koni's before inserting them. Also-I take out my back seat and unscrew my two speakers and also take out my shoulder belt (total time is about 1/2 hour). You will be happy you did this because all three nuts on each strut are easily accessable. (I have an 89). Liberally coat all bolts with high temp grease. Make sure you eyeball how the brakelines route around the strut as you will have to undo the tension strut again to re route it if wrong-easy to do(wrong). Get the rubber strut mounts from Ford as they are heavy dutier (at least compared to the ones I got at Napa).