[BrianChevy]

Friends,

I am doing my off season upgrades and just finished calling Arlyn at Strano Parts and ordering my new Koni Yellow Shocks/Struts and my ES swaybar bushings. I thought I would ask a couple questions since I am going to start on this next monday .. (off work).

1) I expect to be able to do the Energy Suspension Kit for front and rear, i have a 34MM front Sway and 21MM rear Sway.
How difficult is this job? I want to take off the sway bars, sandblast them (18 years of rust and dirt), and paint them -- otherwise, is there anything I should worry about on this one?

2) I am likely going to tow the car over to Grand Tursimo East (here in Atlanta) and get the shocks/struts installed. That's NOT a job that I think I could HANDLE it besides, i will need a new alignment. Does anybody know what they charge, OR what the ballpark charge for a strut/shock install and alignment?

I am looking forward to the new handling characteristics of my '87 IROC and looking forward to my Evolution school here in Spring with Sam Strano so I can LEARN how to direct this new found control..

Brian LaRose
ATL SCCA
#18, ESP

[slowTA]

Pulling the sway bars can be a real chore because of the endlinks. I wound up turning them until the bolts broke right off, a breaker bar made short work of them. If the bolt wont slide all the way out of the sleeve then I recomend a sawzall. After that it shoud go fine.

As for the shocks and struts, they can be a pain but it is really straight forward. With a lift and all the right tools it shouldn't take more than 2 or 3 hours at the most. You'll laugh at how easy the rear shocks and springs come out. I only need a spring compressor on the front if I didn't get the spring index right on the install. Now that I know how to do it I was able to do struts, springs, swap the lower control arms for a set that already had fresh bushings and ball joints, sway bar bushings, brakes, and most of the steering in a full day. Figure $60 to $75 an hour?

Enjoy the new suspension.