how hard to change front struts and rear shocks on a 97 camaro

[JeffP1167]

Anyone done it and can offer pics or advice to make this go smoothly. I'm sure the rear shocks won't be to bad but I have never done a coilover strut before.

 

[mrvette]

All the struts I have ever done were easy, but you need pick up a strut style/exterior spring compressor, two long screws with hooks on them one on each side of the spring, mount to new strut cartridge and done deal, into the car, about 30 minits per side, if that....much easier then messing with coil over shocks like my '72 vette.....I bought my spring compressors from HFreight

:chinese::ghost:

 

[JeffP1167]

I hit a tailpipe that fell off of a car in front of me early this morning and it trashed my R/F & R/R tire on my camaro, so figure is what I will do since I want 17x9.5 & 17x11 rims on my 90 vette, I will just take the stock 90 vette rims with new 275/40/17 tires and put on my camaro and once struts are done take it in for an alignment and next week take the camaro down and have these tires mounted to chrome ZR1 rims and that should make the camaro look a lot better.

It basically looks like my struts have 2 bolts holding them at the bottom and one bolt at the top.

 

[Twin_Turbo]

The rears are super easy. First remove the interior stuff to get to the top bolt, impact gun quickly loosens it. Then jack up the rear, undo the lower bolt and pull them out.

The front is a different animal. You have to take out the entire strut and one tio bolt is partially obscured by the master cylinder.

Undo all 4 top ones, 2 are nuts on studs, 2 are bolts. Jack up the front of the car and undo the sway bar end links and then put a jack under the ball joint. Remove caliper and move out of the way, remove rotor too. Put some load on it, whack the spindle w 2 hammers to crack the bond between the BJ and spindle, remove but and carefully lower jack. Remove upper ball joint nut. There is some residual pressure there. When the pressure is off take the 2 bolts out of the little bar that secures the shock to the lower arm, move the shock outboard and pull the strut out with the upper a arm.

The whole unit comes out as 1 piece.

You will not have to remove the upepr arm, it pulls off the studs. Keep that rubber grommet and hope your nut/thread on the strut is not all buggered up. If you throw the strut away you can simply cut the top off. First however get some outside spring compressors and pull the spring together, do not remove the upper nut before...it will come flying apart.

When putting it all back together, make sure you remove all rust scale from the arm and the pocket where the spring sits, also from the inner fender. If there is scale rust or debris there the stuff will not seat back properly and it will make a rattling noise.

You also need the spring compressor to install the spring on the new strut.

 

[JeffP1167]

The rears are super easy. First remove the interior stuff to get to the top bolt, impact gun quickly loosens it. Then jack up the rear, undo the lower bolt and pull them out.

The front is a different animal. You have to take out the entire strut and one tio bolt is partially obscured by the master cylinder.

Undo all 4 top ones, 2 are nuts on studs, 2 are bolts. Jack up the front of the car and undo the sway bar end links and then put a jack under the ball joint. Remove caliper and move out of the way, remove rotor too. Put some load on it, whack the spindle w 2 hammers to crack the bond between the BJ and spindle, remove but and carefully lower jack. Remove upper ball joint nut. There is some residual pressure there. When the pressure is off take the 2 bolts out of the little bar that secures the shock to the lower arm, move the shock outboard and pull the strut out with the upper a arm.

The whole unit comes out as 1 piece.

You will not have to remove the upepr arm, it pulls off the studs. Keep that rubber grommet and hope your nut/thread on the strut is not all buggered up. If you throw the strut away you can simply cut the top off. First however get some outside spring compressors and pull the spring together, do not remove the upper nut before...it will come flying apart.

When putting it all back together, make sure you remove all rust scale from the arm and the pocket where the spring sits, also from the inner fender. If there is scale rust or debris there the stuff will not seat back properly and it will make a rattling noise.

You also need the spring compressor to install the spring on the new strut.

The top nut should be fine. they are the original shocks and struts on the car.

 

[Twin_Turbo]

I did 3 of them, 1 was a very low mile car. There was no rust on the arms but I had to cut the nut off an repair the threads on the decarbon struts. I could just get enough threads to put it back together. On the other 2 I just cut it all off. The nut sits inside a grubber grommet that was designed to hold water in there it seems. Let's see what yours look like when you take them off

Oh, and if you pull the spring off, don't loose the little washer for the dust cover

 

[JeffP1167]

here are the zr1's I am buying saturday for the 90 vette. They have brand new 275/40/17 & 315/35/17 sumitomo tires. Got them for a 1,000.



so will throw these 90 rims and tires on my camaro and maybe on way back from los angeles pick up a set of chrome zr1's for the camaro and have these new tires mounted on them.

 

[MYBAD79]

nothing to add to what Marck said.... but I have a few photos that might help
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i did the poly bushings on the lower arms, turned out nice, fit well, handling improvement ??? hmmmm, maybe.... given that all poly on my Vette is in rough shape I wouldn't recommend poly anymore.....
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I have more pics, just have to upload them....

 

[MYBAD79]

are you buying Bilstein shocks ? You can find them for $300 a set and they're great. Huge improvement over stock.... not harsh though ....

on the nut on top of the strut: with the spring compressed just cut it.... reassembled with paint and grease, that's what I did and it was a piece of cake swapping springs (which I did a few times in the seven years that I had my Z28).....

 

[JeffP1167]

I just went with monroe package deal. don't really want performance shocks since this camaro is already rough riding as it is. Kinda always been a harsh riding car since it was new especially after switching from 55 series tires to 50 series, probably be even worse with 40 series tires hahaha.

Are the lugnut thread sizes the same from my 90 vette to the 97 camaro? Or can I just use the 97 lugnuts with the 90 vette rims?

 

[MYBAD79]

lug nuts should be the same, conical seat...

Monroe package ? what package ??? I've always used lowering springs so I dunno about harsh ride with stock springs ... but if you want it soft and comfy go to a junkyard and pull some V6 springs, they're softer than the V8 springs, at least on the 99 and up models....

the low profile tires won't help much LOL ...

 

[Twin_Turbo]

he already has the v6 springs as his car came equipped with those

 

[mrvette]

IMO, you sure as shit don't want any Monroe shocks if you looking for a softer ride/feel over rough roads.....they will stiffen it up way too much, never had a set that didn't....tell you what worked well on my '72 vette here was those Bilsteins....took lots of the rough/bouncy ride out of it, BIG improvement....

that stupid motor home rides like a truck, had Monroes on all 4 corners when I got it,...:crutches:

 

[MYBAD79]

he already has the v6 springs as his car came equipped with those

is the suspension different on the 93-97 different than on the 98+ models ? Thought it was all the same, the V6 rides a lot softer/smoother than the V8 - different springs and sway bars... I think the shocks are the same on V6and V8 ... the SS is another animal, those came with the SLP package if I remember correctly...

I have Monroe shocks in my Mustang, ride is quiet harsh but it's lowered too....

 

[Twin_Turbo]

he has a v6 car

 

[JeffP1167]

Well I got the 90 vette tires swapped onto my camaro. I will do shocks/struts/brakes and alignment in the following two weekends. I checked those nuts you mentioned and they look brand new. Little to nothing has been ever changed on this car.

It actually even has all it's original radiator hoses hahahaha ... I believe it has around 138k miles right now.

Here is the end result of why I really had to change tires. I hit a section of exhaust that fell off another car at about 80mph.

This is where it punctured the tire in the tread, tired self destructed before I even got below 40mph.



the destroyed sidewall



how it looks with the 90 vette rims and tires, these are 275/40/zr17, not going to post pics of the vette with 3 camaro 16's and a idiot spare on it hahaha

 

[JeffP1167]

he already has the v6 springs as his car came equipped with those

is the suspension different on the 93-97 different than on the 98+ models ? Thought it was all the same, the V6 rides a lot softer/smoother than the V8 - different springs and sway bars... I think the shocks are the same on V6and V8 ... the SS is another animal, those came with the SLP package if I remember correctly...

I have Monroe shocks in my Mustang, ride is quiet harsh but it's lowered too....

When I bought this car it was only marginally smoother riding then a Z28 I test drove before I decided to buy this one. It handles very much like a Z28, it was ordered with the 3800 performance package so I think that is what got it 4wdb/3.42 gears/quicker rack .. but not sure if the springs are different then a base camaro. But trust me it definitely isn't a blvd suspension, it is very rough riding and you feel every bump in the road.

 

[Twin_Turbo]

How can you check the nuts with the suspension all together, the nut sits in a pocket in the upper arm assembly with a rubber grommet around it... onside the strut mount. This is the partial rubber piece with the studs and the 2 threaded holes. The a arm assy sandwiches between it and the sheet metal. You can see it in karstens pic, it's the black thing..the rubber above the spring. The nut in question is inside that.

 

[MYBAD79]

The nut at the end of the shock's stem holds the spring pocket (upper) and the spring.... since you have new shocks don't waste time and effort on getting this nut off , just cut it if it tries to resist...LOL

here's another pic, the nut is inside the upper spring pocket....



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[JeffP1167]

I'm not overly worried about a rust issue. This car has probably only been in rain 15 times in its entire life.

Man these 17" tires make this camaro brutal riding. I feel every possible crack in the road now :gurney: