I am in the process of removing king lows from one magna and installing them into my 99'TH sports...
I have removed the front two kings from the scrap car and have found that it is going to be difficult to put them into mine because it looks as if I am going to need to compress the spring a little in order to align the bolt holes on the spring with the holes on the brakes/cv.....how do i go about doing this or is there a simple way that you can line everything up without having to compress the spring??? I have not done this before so any help would be greatly appreciated.....

secondly, when i am undoing the stock springs on my TH, is there going to be alot more pressure on the stock spring than on the king because of its longer length???
cheers

If you are doing most suspension work you will need to compress the springs, you can get a spring compressor tool from ebay for $50-$100.

cheers..

also any decent auto shop should have them from 20-50 as well i got mine from SCA and as long as i put a bit of spray lube on them they work well.

EDIT: whatever you do do not undo the top strut nut until you have compressed the spring off the top of the strut otherwise it will turn it into a projectile lol

good quality 12 inch long spring compression tools

if you havent done this work dont do it yourself

it is dangerous work

dont forget a new bump stop

WARNING DO NOT undo the second nut without fitting the springs with the spring compresser tool ... the spring under high compression

the springs need to be compressed to 9 inches before they can be fitted back onto the strut
this is dangerous work if the compressor tools fail
at the wrong time and never work with your hands inside the compressed springs

under no circumstances cut corners and use wire and twist it up to compress the springs.

Using a rattle gun on the spring compressors will cut the job from a few hours if you are slow, to about 10 minutes all up. See if a friend/relative has one. Trust me, they are no fun at all to use a spanner.

cheers for the posts, I only need to compress the springs to put the whole tower into my TH. the shocks and springs are all together, just have to fit the damn things in there to bolt onto the car. will give it a go with some spring compressors tomoz when it's not raining...If it looks as if the spring is gana shoot out, il aim it at my neighbours house.....:badgrin:

cheers for the posts, I only need to compress the springs to put the whole tower into my TH. the shocks and springs are all together, just have to fit the damn things in there to bolt onto the car. will give it a go with some spring compressors tomoz when it's not raining...If it looks as if the spring is gana shoot out, il aim it at my neighbours house.....:badgrin:

well heres hoping you dont damage the strut tops because they aint cheap to replace

how would i know if they're damaged??apart from the obvious visuals...

cheers for the posts, I only need to compress the springs to put the whole tower into my TH. the shocks and springs are all together, just have to fit the damn things in there to bolt onto the car. will give it a go with some spring compressors tomoz when it's not raining...If it looks as if the spring is gana shoot out, il aim it at my neighbours house.....:badgrin:

hey man, so are you taking the shocks from the wrecked car with the springs already on them? if its already on the shock that will be going into ur car then you wont have to compress anything, you'l be able to just put them straight in. take ur wheel off and make sure the hub is straight (ie steering wheel isnt turned) and it should line up fine

Using a rattle gun on the spring compressors will cut the job from a few hours if you are slow, to about 10 minutes all up. See if a friend/relative has one. Trust me, they are no fun at all to use a spanner.

Aim strut top at neighbours house/car.. then hit it fast with a rattle gun. :D

Aim strut top at neighbours house/car.. then hit it fast with a rattle gun. :D

also he forgot to add aim at window for maximum effect, and it they do go a long way ive had a r31 top go 50-60m before when we took it off without compressing the spring

also he forgot to add aim at window for maximum effect, and it they do go a long way ive had a r31 top go 50-60m before when we took it off without compressing the spring

Lmao yeah... airbags are also fun! :badgrin:

i had a mate almost take his head off by just undoing the nut on top of the strut.....

Use ratchet wrench if no airguns available. Ensure u place the stut correctly, have a look at that tiny dot on top of the strut top plate which way it points (needs to point out). Cover CV boots with towel to prevent breakage is strut falls off your fingers.

Using a rattle gun on the spring compressors will cut the job from a few hours if you are slow, to about 10 minutes all up. See if a friend/relative has one. Trust me, they are no fun at all to use a spanner.

Yikes Dude!!
Go as slow as you can with a ratchet or spanner...at the start.
Don't spin the compressor's bolts at speed as they can move around a little at the start. might skew them on an angle which can get really ugly when you start putting real tension on them.
When they start getting hard to run down then get the rattle gun out......but still go slow.
mate had one of the bolt heads fail on an old set of compressors.... damn thing chunked two bricks out of his garage wall.....real scary real fast....

cheers for the tips, will post photos when it's all done and sitting a few inches lower...hopefully by the end of tomorrow.....