I needed it to get mine off


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I use my floor jack handle. It slides right over my breaker bar. Works like a champ.

I am having trouble tighten the top strut nut....any suggestion??!!!

What kind of trouble? It just won't turn, or you can't get to it or something?

Zdayz 2014!!

Got that sob bolt off using 30" breaker bar and 48" steel tube to slip over it. Sadly I somehow lost my wheel lock key after using it yesterday...thinking I might have left it on the wheel after torquing and fell off when I went for a test drive. I ended up having to hammer a socket into it and was able to get it off that way.

The shaft just spin and the nut won't turn. I tried to use harbor freight electric impact gun on it, but no luck

That's how I tighten it.

I used vice grips to hold it in place and then tighten the nut.

How do you pull out the spring after lower perch down?
Do you need to use the spring compressor?

just pull the perch down and yank the spring out. don't need to compress anything

Got it. I was just scare to break something. :-)

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How much torque do you use to loose the 14mm nut holding the strut top on? I have a impact wrench 250lb of torque and is not loosening it ? The springs is compressed also.

Attachment 84472
I scratch the crap out of the spring while compressing it

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you have to compress the spring more and use a wrench to hold the piston, not just spin it like crazy.

does anybody know what is the part number for the 14mm lower strut mount plate bolts? I think I might of strip it a little trying to take it off :(

It was really easy to remove mine. my battery powered impact was able to get those out easily. try compressing more?

Appreciate the diy. Helped with rear swap of Nismo springs, don't have compressor though for front.

I just did my 2013 NISMO. I installed an Ebaitch Pro Kit. I did not put in cambers, because it doesn't really need it.

With the Pro Kit, it's a 1" drop in the font, and .5" drop in the rear. It took a little under 2 hours with a lift, and proper gear (impact gun). As well, there was no need to rebalance the tires, as the drop wasn't great enough to call for rebalancing. Like the original poster stated, the front was taken to a local shop where they pulled the springs out, and replaced it with the new springs. Disassemble and assembly in and out of the car is the easy part.

PS. The picture with(OUT) tints is how it looked prior to putting in the Ebaitch Pro Kit, and the picture WITH tints is how it looks after the install.

Check the wheels again in a couple of weeks, I thought I didn't need to upgrade the camber arms, but the tires were really wearing fast from the inside which was really difficult to notice if you don't throw yourself in the ground and check them.

Kab,

Thanks. I'll do that. I had a 350 NISMO, which just got flooded (water dam broke in NJ after the rain storm a few weeks back) and the rear tires use to wear on that car pretty bad.

Never the less, I'll see how the 370 holds up. Here's a pic of the 350. I miss it, but the 370 is pretty awesome, too.

Hey guys, I'm in a pickle. I was removing the 3 strut mounting plate bolts and I rounded one of them. Does anyone have the part number for this bolt? I went to 3 different dealers and no one seems to be able to find this mystery bolt. I went ace hardware and got a matching 10.9 grade bolt but I'm unsure if it's strong enough for the job. Help me 370z forums, you're my only hope!

don't use a bolt that's not meant for that.

seach Nissan USA eStore

should be easy to find anything you need

I spent last few days looking at those diagrams from various websites. Even drove 60 miles to visit more nissan dealerships. We all came to the conclusion that nissan did not put a part number on the diagram for these 3 bolts and the mounting bracket. I couldn't find the torque value for these bolts in the service manual either. It's a mystery. Dealership said I should just order the A arm, I'm not paying that much for a bolt.

If anyone can find the mystery bolt, please post up.

Word of advice for future DIY out there, don't round off your strut mountng bracket bolts.

I have to agree. I tried looking at parts diagrams as well and I can see where the part is supposed to be, but there is no part number for the plate, or the bolts. You can get the suspension out without removing those bolts, it just takes a ton of work to push the arm low enough to pop the strut out.

which ones are those? The ones for the front suspension you reach throw the engine bay? Take a picture if you can...

The lower part where the strut mounts to. one side is the arm itself, the other side is a black bracket with 3 bolts. You can see the pictures on the first page.

For those that do end up breaking these bolts, you can go to Ace hardware and get yourself a grade 10.9 M10 X1.25 bolts. It is exactly the same in almost every way, except for the fact that it's shinier.

oh this thing?

http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f3...Z/8918b279.jpg

Yes those three bolts.

Has anyone tried removing the rear bumpstops or possibly replacing them with something else to get more of a drop in the rear?

Installed!!
 

Thanks for the write up! Just installed mine! +1 Pics are Before front and rear up close and after pics are from far away

Awesome! Have it on my to do list.

For the record and future reference these three bolts, if I remember correctly, screw into the aluminum knuckle spindle. Since they don't have a specified torque value the standard applies. For specifics see pg 19 of section GI in the service manual.

Check the bolt markings to determine the grade and the appropriate torque value per the chart. Remember - the aluminum threads in the knuckle will strip out before the bolt will. If you're uncertain I suggest finding a middle/lower value and using a thread locker.

Thanks for your write up. Just installed my Swifts, SPC camber/toe kit, and H&R 15mm spacers. Here are a few thoughts:

-The front lower strut bolt has a 19mm nut, not 17mm. The other side (front of the car) can be held with a 21mm wrench to stop it from spinning.

-I didn't have to remove the lower strut mount plate bolts to get the front strut out. Removing the upper steering knuckle bolt was enough for everything to drop down and out of the way for easy strut removal. The upper link even springs up out of the way when this bolt is removed.

-I couldn't figure out how to undo the bolt on the end of the front strut while holding the piston rod tip stationary since the only place to hold it stationary is right on the end where you need to put a wrench. I ended up taking them up to a shop for a quick spring swap.

-The upper rubber part on the back springs can be spun in place. I spun it to align with the edge of the new Swift spring. I think this will reduce settle time. I seem to already have the drop specified by Swift.

-I'm a bit of a newb, but nobody mentioned this in the write ups I've seen. Make sure you transfer over the rubber pieces on the front springs over to the new ones. They slide on around the bottom of the spring to help stop squeaking against the metal of the strut since there isn't a big rubber piece on that side.

Thanks for the write up as well, made the job a breeze. I have been lurking on this forum for about two years now, decided to finally post.

This past week while I was getting my stock rays powder coated and I was already up on jack stands I decided to go ahead with the Swift swap.

Some words of advice fwiw:
-Borrow someones compressor (as large as possible) and impact wrench. I have a 30gal tank and 800ft lb impact and it still took about four tanks of air each to compress and de-compress each spring. I cant imagine doing this job without air tools. The passenger side lower strut bolt would have been almost impossible to remove with just hand tools. Possible, but not fun.
-If you don't know anyone with air tools just go buy them from a big box store, use them, then return them...Unethical, but an option.

I did the entire job over two days, maybe 1.5 hours the first day to get the struts and back springs off the car. Then 5 hours the second day to compress and swap the springs and then install back on the car. The second day would have probably gone faster had I not been waiting on air pressure for so long.

I threw in a pic of pre-20mm spacers and springs for reference.

Thanks again for the DIY! This is one of the most informative forums I've ever read.

So a couple days ago I saw a small puddle of oil under the driver' side of my car. I cleaned it up and waited another day. The next day there was only a tiny spot of oil. I've narrowed it down to the left strut as there's oil residue on the strut and transverse link. The seal must be broken.

Since I removed & installed the strut myself and took them to Nissan to have the springs swapped, I'm assuming Nissan is going to say I messed with it and it's not their fault. Really pissed right now. Especially since I only took it to them because I wanted it done right.

Update #1: Well, I managed to get them to warranty the shock. So, it looks like I'll get this corrected for free, which I did not expect. I'm consistently impressed with how well this dealership treats me.

Update #2: Nissan replaced my driver's side strut. I told them when I took it in that they should inspect the other side. Sure enough, it was leaking as well. So they're fixing that now for free. I just really hope this is the end of it.

Im going to install the Stillen Lowering Springs, 1.5" Front and 1" Rear approx. Wondering now if I wanted to install 20" rims do you think I will have enough clearance in the wheel wells or will I have to stick to 19"?

Thanks for the howto. Certainly helped. A made a couple notes along the way for others if interested.

Loosening the top nut off the "hat" for the front strut. I didn't like the idea of using vice grips on the strut shaft. I used a "crow foot" type open end socket, the kind that reaches around like a pipe wrench. That allowed the top to stay accessible for an 8mm open end wrench to hold the shaft, and a small fat bar wedged between the top 3 bolts on the strut top plate to keep it from twisting. Once the springs were compressed enough to freely move, it wasn't that difficult to break the nut free without gouging the surface of the strut shaft.

Also, when holding the strut in the vice, i would use the vice on the very bottom of the strut where the weld is, you don't want to crush the strut tube where the piston pushes through.

I have air tools, the nut for the bottom of the front strut still wouldn't budge, no issues using a 6 point socket and the breaker bar off my floor jack though.

I used a hand spring compressor, the cheap kind that bolts on and you have to crank down the nuts with an open end wrench. this made the front take about 3 hours per side. The back I did both sides in just over an hour.

Swift springs and Kics spacers (20mm, 25mm) from Kamispeed. Turned out great and was really surprised how good the ride is, not harsh at all, but definitely more planted and a huge improvement in handling..

pic was before a test ride, I'm sure it will settle a bit more..

http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r...pscivpwf4w.jpg

All your pics have some photobucket messages, couldn't even see anything...

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I am experiencing this exact problem