Guys, I bought two replacement struts for the rear decklid on my recently acquired F355. I changed the left rear one but had an absolute ***** of a time getting access to the lower mounting bolt and nylock nut. In fact, when installing the new strut, I dropped about four of the ()%*#&%)#@ nylock nuts down into the engine compartment - sure hope they fall out with use of the car! I tried to remove the right strut and had a heck of a time accessing and loosening the lower retaining nut. I quit once it became pretty obvious that I would never be able to get the nut back on the new strut bolt. So what's the deal here guys??? Is this a case of my *$&$(^%&# hands just being too big, is there a special wrench or socket that you guys use, or am I just a moron? Or do you just try to pry the struts off of the existing round bolt head and pop the new struts on to the existing bolt heads without removing them? My fragile DIY ego was crushed after I failed miserably on what I thought would be such an easy fix. Any pointers are most welcome!!! Rob
The last time I did some unsupervised DIY on a car, I accidentally set it on fire and it was out of commission for months. You got off lightly. All the best, Andrew.
Sorry to sound rude but if you are having so much difficulty changing a strut please step away from the vehicle!!!
Rob, I see you are in socal. If you want to start learning stuff come to the next Stoogeapolluza. We meet at least annually to troubleshoot cars, change fluids, brake jobs, and do simple 1 day DIY projects. The braintrust is very deep here. Eventually, you will be showing the new guys.
Generally speaking it is not OK to drop things in the engine bay of a car with timing belts. They have a nasty habit of finding their way into the belts especially if they are dropped in the front half of the engine bay. I never allow a lost piece of hardware or tool to go unfound, no matter the time and trouble involved.
When I was 22 I drove over my own foot while leaning over the engine of my unstarted, p-braked 88 Ford T-bird 5-spd. Top that!! (Dropped a screwdriver and it somehow made contact with the starter power supply and the battery cable I was changing IIRC, car in gear of course...)
Thanks, I try. Well, "tried..." Now I just leave it up to the pros since that incident and a few other lovelies. A real man knows his limits!
When you get your 348 be sure to have someone besides you change your fuel-filler neck, no matter what. Words of wisdom right there!
Not sure about your specific case, but often those struts have little spring clips on the back of the socket that when pried up allow the socket to just pop off the ball, and the new one just snaps onto the old ball, no spring clip prying needed. Not as good as running over extremities, but back in college I "helped" a friend change out a dead battery, but I hooked it up backward and blew the alternator. I knew better, it was just pure stupidity. Of course then there's the time I changed my oil in an old Fiat and forgot to put the oil fill cap back on the cam cover. Looked like the Exxon Valdez had hit a reef in my engine compartment, but the low oil pressure warning light saved my bacon.
^^^^^This^^^^^^ Get a magnet Rob and go on a searching expedition. Get the car in the air and remove the pans. You need to find those.
Those aren't all that hard to change. Did you tie them up so that you were not fighting the expansion of the strut while trying to get it on?
Don't let these guys fool you. Access, especially on the driver's side lower mount, is a beech....and more so if you have large hands. It's fairly simple to snap the ball onto the socket, but to do it right there are tiny L-shaped pins that must be inserted. These prevent the socket from popping off the ball. To access these youmay need small visegrips and training in a special kind of yoga.
I just did this myself. Ratcheting wrench on the outer nut. Regular open wrench on the inner. Broom stick holding lid open to max height. Driver side was definitely harder then passenger side. I'm finding with this car nothing is terribly complicated but everything is a PITA to do
I need to do mine but mine are only a problem when it's cold. Perhaps the best way to do this would be to remove the bonnet, replace the struts and re-attach?
I plan to do mine this winter during the major. Although when plugged into the trickle, its nice that the lid does not stay wide open. It actually sits down on the wire gently.
I changed some hoses and dropped a clamp in the front area. I spent two days looking. Bought a snake camera, magnetic pick ups, dental mirrors. Maddening. I found it on top of the belt pulley. <gulp> It is also why I stay away from stainless hardware. To the OP: The struts have a small wire in the ends that you pull out. The struts fall right off the studs. No need to remove the mounting hardware.
Rob, As others have already mentioned here, there is no need to remove any nuts, bolts or retaining pins before installation. Yes, you do have to pull the wire pins before removing the old struts, but the new ball sockets will just snap into place without having to remove any hardware. I just helped my brother do the struts on his Dodge truck and luckily stopped him just as he was grabbing a socket wrench to take off the mounting plates on the hood. It's really a simple process that takes less than a minute a side. Now retrieving those lost parts may be another story... Best of luck, Henry
I am not touching this one with a 10 ft pole, Portland OR needs some stooge help. I can blow a car's computer changing spark plugs, I might buy the parts but will have my mech Craig do the work. So the Chevy story, by the book disconnect the battery .... But had to turn the key to put it in neutral to tilt the sideways engine to get to the plugs ... So reconnected the battery with the key on "Poof" ...... $100 an hour shop time is usually cheaper than me thinking "I can do this". 30 years ago I could actually do this.
Hey Rifledriver~ Thanks for scaring the crap out of me!!! Didn't sleep a wink after your post - which I know is good advice by the way! The good news is that it appears I can swap out the right strut without removing the mounting hardware. The bad news is that it appears I have created a much bigger problem by dropping a few nylock nuts. Story of my life - try to solve small problem, create much bigger problem. Most of my DIY has been on older 911's and I will be the first to admit my skills are a bit rusty. However, as the previous poster said, nothing seems too complicated on these cars, just never easy for whatever reason. Can anyone tell me if it is a simple task to remover the rear undertray? I know on my Carrerat GT, every single fastener seemed to be a different spec, have a different torque requirement and need to be removed and reinstalled in a specific sequence. Pleeeeeeeeeeease tell me it is simpler with a 355 undertray!!!!!
DEFINATELY worth repeating, find anything dropped in the engine compartment ...... You don't want the engine finding them for you at 8000 RPMs, take that smile right off your face .
