Re: 90 shocks/self-locking nuts!!

[Andrei Kogan <abk@phy.duke.edu>]

Actually, getting the shocks out of the car turned out to be simple. You
undo two bolts that attach the strut to the bearing housing, the tierod and
the top nut, and it comes out . Be careful not to pull the shaft out of the
inner cvjoint. I found that it moves sideways a lot and I hope I didn't do
it myself, we'll see.

My biggest problems right now are:

1. This really sucks. Guys, WHERE do you buy self-locking nuts??? I cannot
find them anywhere in the area. The Bentley says, the should always be
replaced, and I tend to believe it , but I cannot find them, neither  parts
chains nor hardware stores seem to carry them. Can I use blue locktite
instead, for example on the tierod end?  

1. The shock (bilstein HD ) is too THIN! There is a huge gap between the
shock and the strut inner surface, compared to stock. The claim is that
it's OK as long as you make sure the shock hits the pit in the bottom of
the strut -- indeed, there is a little pit down there, and then tighten the
ring nut (the stock one goes, the new fancy one with a seal comes with the
shock.)

2. the opening at the bottom of the blue dust cover is way too big. Trtying
to clamp it to the strut wrinkles it badly. I will try to put some teflon
underneath it to releive some of the stress on the blue thing.

If anyone has any coments regarding the nuts, ple-e-ease let me know.

please e-mail abk@phy.duke.edu, i am now in the digest-on-weekends-only mode.
andrei




At 10:12 AM 2/22/99 EST, you wrote:
>Thanks for keeping me in mind, I am not looking forward to this suspension
>job....but it sure needs it!
>
>  /\        _I        Christian J. Long (& Breeze Parker Long)
>/    \ I_I I_I I      Orlando, Florida, USA
>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>'98 Audi A4 1.8tsm    Neuspeed .8 bar, K&N, 17" Ronal R28s
>'96 BMW 318ti         For sale!
>'90 Audi 90              
>Past Audis: '84 CGT, '85CGT, '87.5 CGT, '90 CQ
>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>
>