HELP ASAP: Spring installation on LoveLee's coupe: Attempt #1 = failure

Today was such a wonderful day!

Started off by going to AutoZone to rent a spring compressor on the way to LeeAnn's house. The only compressor they had available was the kind that is supposed to go in between the spring, latch onto the coils, and compress. I know it's the wrong king, but since we don't have access to a wall-mounted external spring compressor like I've seen in the how-tos, I figured we could make it work like we did for the front springs on Brittney's Fit.

So we're using the how-to article on www.filtsai.com for the spring install, and we had pattywak's coupe spring install open as well.

I lowered the rear seats, took off the gray plastic trim, unscrewed the speaker grilles, and loosened the bolts on the rear shock tower.

Then we went to jack the car up, and her dad's jack was broken. I drive back to my house to pick up my 3.5 ton jack, lug it into my trunk, get to her house... and realize it's leaking hydraulic fluid and isn't holding the car up. We ended up working with the craptastic OEM jack that's found in the trunk... get the car on a jackstand and remove the wheel.

Now according to the filtsai article, the rear is supposed to be easy because it's only one bolt that needs to be removed, and the whole strut/spring assembly should slide out. We got the bolt completely out, knocked it loose, and removed the bolts from the strut tower to let it slide down - it wouldn't budge.

Turns out the endlink for the rear swaybar was right in the way of where the strut needed to come out. So I figure that's an easy fix, just unbolt the endlink, but it had two bolts and I could only get one out (the top one)... the lower one just spun around and didn't seem to loosen up. So the strut assembly was stuck there and at this point I want to kick something. I didn't have anyone to help me, and due to frustration we put everything back together, tightened it all up, and left the car how it was before...

So WTF, I need someone who's installed lowering springs on a coupe before to help me out as much as possible.

A. How the hell do you get the rear strut assembly past the swaybar endlink and out of the car?
B. Is there anything in the filtsai how-to that is missing from the front installation? We didn't even bother trying to do the front, as the rear is usually EASIER than the front... didn't seem like the case here.
C. Any extra tips/tricks will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance! I've done the suspensions on my Mustang, Brittneys Fit, and my MR2, and I have access to whatever tools and whatnot I need.... this Accord just seems way more complicated than any other car I've worked on.

you have to get the endlink out, i dont think theres another way :/

too much to explain! ill give u a lil write up

the front:

1. pop the hood and take off 4 of the 5 bolts that holds the strut/spring.. loosen the 5th one (don't take off)
2. jack up the car, blah blah blah
3. take off the two bolts in the pic... i think the bottom bolt needs to be held onto with another wrench or w/e on the other side.
4. shake or somehow get the fork off that's holding the strut.
5. take off the 5th bolt on top but make sure someone's holding the strut so it wont fall hard lol
6. all u gotta do is angle it out.. twist it turn it w/e lol AND! have someone step on the rotor or maybe bounce on it (like choi when we swapped our suspension)


the rear: ,
1. you know what to do.. make sure to leave one bolt on top, loose to hold the strut from dropping hard....
2. unbolt the 17mm bolt until its out of the nut on the other side... (nut should be welded onto the bracket) u can use a screw driver + hammer to hammer the rest out (and watch it fly) or have someone step on the rotor just enough to align the holes and pull the bolt out (the bolt is lonngg)
3. unbolt the 14mm and take it out (short bolt lol)
4. push the bracket aside
5. unbolt the bolt that's holding the strut on top (inside the car) make sure someone's holding the strut so it wont drop hard lol
6. now have someone step on the rotor and twist and turn and angle the strut to take it out.. (get it to be under the endlinks and step on the rotor or bounch to get the top part of the strut out)
7. there u have it...

hope it helped... putting the stuff back on is pretty much the same...

I loff youuuuuuuu

That should cover the front. So for the rear I guess I need to figure out how to get that endlink out of the way? Agh this should be fun doing over again. LOL

why the fudge do you take all that out?


all i did to mine was :
1. remove 2 nuts on top
2. remove one bolt goes through shock
3. push down the drum/rotor
4. angle/slide out the assembly....

rear is like piece of cake......




i showed you how to remove the rear one when we were working on your omni the other day henry

oh i forgot...you're still a noob....

your way's a bit hard, jae

choi and i did what i typed out and it took us around 2-3 hours, just the two of us.. with the whole swap

btw, the rear diy is up

for the rear just remove the bolt holding the swaybar to the frame of the car....push the swaybar endlink and there should be enough space for the suspension to slide out. did the suspension 2x alone.

kk I see the the rear write-up there, I guess you added it to your post after I read it LOL, thanks a bunch man... I didn't even think to unbolt that 14mm one, that should be able to get it out... guess I'll have another go at this one of these days. Needs to get done this week though.

Did you guys do the fronts first or the rears on your cars? Just curious.

front lol.. doesnt really matter