Replacing Struts. For Fernando.

[sarki]

Hay guys i recently had Josue and Fernando inquire about the difficulties of replacing the struts and changing the springs on the Gen 1 Solara. So i promised Fernando i would post some pics for him and maybe it will help other peeps thinking about doing the job themselves. This isnt going to be too informative, Its just basic info and an idea of what needs to be done.

Lets start with the front. I only have one pic and this is it.

^^The front struts where very easy. I didnt have any problems with the removal or install.

As far as the rears,.....ooohhh boy!!
First of all you have to remove some panels to get to the bolts that hold the rear struts. They are located underneath the rear deck lid. Heres a pic.


Notice all the trim that had to be removed.

One more pic



Heres the way it looks with the new drop springs. 1.6" all around i think.



Remember the springs will settle a little bit after a while.
Hope this helped guys.

[GreenSolara01]

Just remember to torque the rears down well it sucks to have to do it over.

[ToyoSolV6]

thanks a lot sarkis! helped me out.

[sarki]

Hay Fernando, Josue is going to be at my house at 8am. Show up whenever you want.

[ToyoSolV6]

cool dude ill give you a call

[Toy1mzfe]

thats a clean drop.. im guessin eibach.

[ToyoSolV6]

^yes sir 1.6 all around.

[sarki]

Josue's car is done. He said he will post pics. Took about 6hrs to complete all 4 springs and struts. His car looks pimp with the drop, TSW's , and lip kit. Im jealous.

[JavaJoe_2]

I'd like to shoot the a**hole engineer who thought up the placement of the rears. I had to learn this for my self last week (the hard way).
Another one I like is removing the drivers seat to unclip the rear O2 sensor.

[sarki]

I'd like to shoot the a**hole engineer who thought up the placement of the rears. I had to learn this for my self last week (the hard way).
Another one I like is removing the drivers seat to unclip the rear O2 sensor.

X2 on the "Shoot the arshole engineer" I had to figure it out myself the first time too.

[LatinUSMC]

SARKI...YOU ARE MY HERO

Finally my Solara is complete(at 130,000) it looks great and yougot the Armo Hook up which helped.. Ill deliver the Gen1 tails..so you can rock em too THANK YOU so Much ..il post pics as soon as i get my lip fixed..

[JavaJoe_2]

On rusty cars use PB Blaster on all the bolts and nuts!! I like to let the suspension hang when removing the nut on the end links. It helps put pressure on the link stud (not sure what it does to the stud). I can usually turn the nut without using a allen socket. But eventually will have to use the allen socket to get the nut off. Many times I have had to replace the end link because of a stripped allen bolt. It was so nice to buy a car from AZ and not have to worry about that anymore.

[GreenSolara01]

If your changing struts it might also be a good time to think about new rear speakers.

[GTX]

Oh maaaaan that looks like a lot of work.

[99BlackSandv6]

I just put a drop on my car today. It was a lot of work, but was well worth it. The only major issue I had, I stripped one end link on the back because the nut seized up, so a new one is on the way. Oh yeah, and all the studs snapped off of my old strut in the front when I was removing the nuts, weird.

I also dropped with Eibach, it looks great and was totally worth the work. I haven't driven it hard yet to see how it handles, but I'm sure it whoops the factory stuff.