front suspension swap!! HELP!!4cyl swap

well, you don't have to swap the cross member or steering rack, although the 4 cy/8cyl. power steering hose is different on a 4cyl(buy 8 cyl hose). to remove the springs. unbolt strut from spindle, the sway bar end link, the ball joint and tie rod nut, put floor jack under control arm. lower slowly, spring should fall out. if not, stand aside and push down on control arm, spring should fall out. make sure no one is standing in front of spring.

not sure, but it'll work. friend has an ex 4 cly. and the 4 cyl. p/s hose was used. its not necessary to swap, but if everything is out, might as well. up to you.

tbadair said:

thanks for your help, do you know if you have to take the springs out if i take the front end out in one piece??

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Yes you must remove the springs. The spring lower seat is on the control arm, and the upper seat is on the front chassis. The control arm is bolted to the K member. I did this by disconnecting the outer tie rod ends, removing the sway bar, and disconnecting the lower ball joint, leaving the strut and spindle connected. Wire the spindle, strut and brake caliper out of the way. The k member, control arms, etc can drop together. You can leave the rack attached, but you must disconnect it from the steering shaft at the rag joint or intermediate shaft. It is easier to reinstall the rack separately.

Then the k member drops out with 8 bolts. If you don't pull the springs, spring pressure will make this a miserable or dangerous job.

I did it because I had a straight 6 car, if you have a 4 cyl car, I would keep the k member and just change the mounts. Steering racks of all types will bolt in, but beware that there are two types of stub shaft ends on power racks with matching intermediate shaft connectors. One is round, and one has a flat on it to index it. They do not interchange. There are several varieties of ps hose fittings at the rack end. Most rebuilt racks come with a small package of adapters. Then there are t birds that have longer inner tie rods. So far, the pump end of the pressure hoses have all fit the pumps that I have used.

Best advise is to use the k member and rack that you have, if the rack is not leaking. Then you would not have to check the k member for alignment when you reinstall it, also. I would set the car up and get it running. Work out the details of the steering later. Also, last week I put 4 cyl springs in my v8, and cut 3/4 of a coil. It dropped the nose 2 inches. I was lucky and able to get the camber just back within spec to align it, but it was more drop than I wanted.

I suggest the 4 cyl springs w/o cutting.