Brakes

First, you'll need the following:

13mm and 15mm flat wrenches (although a full set is preferable)
13mm and 15mm sockets (although a full set is preferable)
21mm socket (if working on a 1997 or later)
torx bits
spark plug socket
spring compressors
rubber mallet (or a hammer with a pad of some kind)
hammer
pickle Fork (optional)
bearing grease (to lube bushings)
waterproof grease (for the shock nuts in the strut tower)
coarse sand paper (for sanding new bushings, if needed)

Front:

First, remove the wheels and the original sway bar. You may have to remove the sway bar even if you aren't changing it just to get it out of the way. You will at least need to unbolt the end links. On the driver's side, the front sway bar bushing doesn't connect with 2 bolts as shown in the manual. It has 1 bolt and 1 stud. Over the stud is a little bracket which attaches to inside the wheel well and inside the front fender behind the wheel well. You have to get it off to unbolt the stud and remove the sway bar. The 10mm screw inside the wheel well is easy. The one inside the fender requires fiddling around blind with a 10mm flat wrench to get it backed out. Once off (it's not going back on), put a glob of silicone over that bolt hole to prevent rattles and only bolt the bracket down to the other 2 accessible holes.

Next unbolt the tops of the shock units under the hood. On the passenger side, there is enough clearance around the A/C pipes, but you need to be careful not to damage them. On the driver side, you must first remove the master cylinder by unbolting two 15mm nuts and carefully easing the cylinder out of the way. You don't need to open the cylinder, so no brake bleeding will be necessary. This side has the Torx head bolts. You may find it easier to remove the two small plastic clips that hold the brake-lines apart from each other.

Then unbolt the lower end of the shock units from the lower control arm. At this point, you have a choice. The manual says to remove the lower arm from the lower ball joint. But removing the upper arm from the upper ball joint is easier. To do that, remove the cotter pin and back off the castle nut several turns. Don't take it off completely or when you separate the ball joint, and the knuckle will fall off and stress the brake hose before you can catch it. Take your rubber mallet and whack the end of the ball stud several times until the joint separates and bottoms against the castle nut again. Then you can unscrew the nut all the way and separate the upper arm from the knuckle. This sounds more complex and difficult than it is. Make sure to support the lower control arm once you remove remove the castle nut on the upper ball joint so that it doesn't fall down all the way and stress the brake line. Using a regular hammer may work better so as to "shock" the balljoint. Using a pickle fork ($15 tool) makes this much easier as you can jack up the lower control arm (so as to raise the upper control as well) and then jam the pickle-fork between the ball joint and the steering knuckle. If the ball joint pops, you're fine. Otherwise, lower the jack and the spring will push the lower control arm back, which will pull the upper control arm down, which will have the effect of popping the ball joint (since the pickle fork is in the way).

Now you are ready to remove the shock unit and upper control arm. You don't actually need to remove the upper control arm, but it should come out anyway to make reassembly easier. The unit should slide right out with a bit of coaxing as it weighs 15 - 20 pounds. You should now be holding a unit of the shock body, two spring perches, and the spring. Whether you are changing the shock or spring, or both, you need to get them apart.

You now need to compress the spring. The spring is under a lot of pressure and unbolting the top without first installing spring compressors will cause injury yourself! Start by attaching the spring compressors. When selecting which coils on the spring to locate the spring compressors on, make sure you leave some room for the compressor to expand as the spring decompresses (the spring will elongate). Make sure you leave at least 2 inches of threads between the end of the compressor's threaded shaft and its finger/jaw. Crank the compressor until the spring is loose. Before unbolting the top retaining nut, take note of the upper shock mount's orientation to the lower shock mount. You'll need to have things lined up when you bolt it back together. There is a little rubber piece on the top mount which aligns nicely with the front lower mount hole. Unbolt the top and slide everything off. Now you have the spring compressed with the shock dust cover rattling inside it because it can't fit past the jaws of the compressors. So uncompress the spring and remove the compressors and the dust cover.

Assemble the new pieces in the reverse of order. Be careful when you attach the compressors to the new spring that they are located so you can fit the spring over the shock and get everything bolted back in place (including the dust cover). Be sure to line up the upper and lower shock mounts. Compress the spring, then bolt the unit back together. Uncompress the spring, and remove the compressors.

You should have the shock assembly left over and ready for re-installation. You should cover the top nut and the threaded portion of the shock rod with some kind of water proof grease. Water tends to sit in and rust the nut and shock rod. This will make future removals easier. At this point, it helps to have an assistant to help orient the unit as you slide it back up into place. You can bolt the top mount into place then the lower mount, but it might be easier to get the bolts in the lower mount first since with the control arm all the way extended the bolt holes won't all line up right. Torque them down and install the ball joint stud, castle nut and cotter pin. Refit the master cylinder (if on the driver's side) and repeat the process on the other side.

Finally, bolt on the sway bar and fit the end-links. You might not be able tighten the end-links completely with the car on stands, so put the wheels back on and drop the car and then finish tightening the bar end-links. You may also want to use the jack to jack up one side of the car to start the nut on one end-link, then jack up the other side of the car to start the nut on the other end-link.

Rear:

Put the rear up on stands and remove the wheels. Unbolt the end-links and sway bar. If you are not changing the bar, you may not need to do this. Unbolt the large nut from the lower shock mount (on 1997 and later cars, this nut requires a 21mm socket). Use a jack to gently take the axle weight off of the shock and pull the shock free of the mount. Gently lower the jack and drop the axle until you can pull the spring out from the seat. Take note of the orientation of the spring (which directions the ends of the springs are pointing). If you put the rear springs in at a different angle, you may experience a clunk when going over bumps. Be careful of the brake hoses.

Finally, put the new spring in the seat and raise the axle up again. Stick the shock back in the mount and bolt it down. Repeat the process on the other side. If you are changing the sway bar, then bolt on the new bar. Put the wheels back on and drop the car.

Thanks to Kevin Stevens (KeS@crl.com)

and Bob Bigwood (bigwood@stimpy.phs.uiuc.edu)

and Jody Shapiro (jshapiro@bit-net.com).

SUBFRAME CONNECTOR INSTALLATION

Find yourself a professional welder who knows what their doing. This is not something you can do with a blow-torch and solder. They should follow these instructions.

Get the car up on a lift. Unbolt the fuel lines leaving them connected, and pull down on them so they hang low where the front driver's side subframe connector (SFC) mount will go. Wrap aluminum foil around the fuel lines, then wrap wet towels around the foil. Trial fit the SFC as they may not fit perfectly flush to the front subframe. If not, insert a breaker bar and try and make the SFC fit as good as possible. Make sure there will be enough room between the floorboard and the driver's side SFC to re-route the fuel lines later. If it looks tight, hammer the floorboard up a little in the critical areas before welding. Grind off any powdercoating in the places you will be welding. Spot weld them on first then start welding. Weld 1" at a time, continuously checking the carpet inside the car. Don't let it get too hot and catch on fire.

After welding and cooling, put some paint (i.e. Rustoleum) on the welds to prevent rusting. Unhook the fuel lines and re-route them above the SFC. Gas will come out, although not under pressure, so just put your thumb over it and then reconnect.

Thanks to Brian Fosco (brianf@eng.adaptec.com).

TIRE INFO DECODING

For tires using the P-metric designation (e.g., P245/50ZR16):

[Code][Width]/[Aspect][Speed][Construction][Size]

Code:

P = Passenger
LT = Light truck
T = Temporary
LTP = Light truck, personal use

Width:

Width at widest point, sidewall to sidewall, in millimeters

Aspect Ratio:

Tire height in mm, measured tread to bead, divided by width above, multiplied by one hundred

Speed ratings (max speed maintainable at maximum load rating):

Q - 100 mph
R - 106 mph
S - 112 mph
T - 118 mph
U - 124 mph
H - 130 mph
V - 149 mph
W - 168 mph
Z - more than 168 mph

Construction:

R - Radial ply
B - Bias belted
D - Diagonal bias

Size:

The diameter of the wheel the tire is designed to be mounted on in inches

Other information:

Maximum Air Pressure - maximum pressure the tire is designed to hold
Maximum Load - maximum weight the tire can support
Load Index - maximum weight the tire can carry at speed rating
Construction - number and type of plies used in the tread and sidewall
DOT Serial Number - plant, manufacturer, and date of production
Tread Wear Index - rating of the tire's resistance to wear with 100 as a reference (a 250 rating indicates 2.5 times the wear resistance of the reference tire - this number cannot be translated to mileage)
Traction Index - rating of the tire's ability to stop on wet pavement (A, B, and C, with A being the best)
Temperature Index - rating of the tire's ability to dissipate and resist heat (A, B, and C, with A being the best)

TIRE ALIGNMENT (CASTER/CAMBER/TOE)

Three factors make up the alignment of your tires:

Camber is the tilt of the top of a wheel inward toward the engine bay (negative camber) or outward away from the engine bay (positive camber). Too much negative Camber causes wear on the inside edge of the tire. Too much positive Camber causes wear on the outside edge of the tire. Proper camber, in combination with correct toe and caster, assures that the tread is as flat against the road as possible under all driving conditions.
Caster is the forward (negative) or rearward (positive) tilt of the spindle steering axis. Correct caster on a vehicle is never perfectly vertical but is always set on a slight angle. A bicycle provides a good example of caster. The front fork on which the front wheel is mounted is almost always tilted back, giving the front wheel positive caster. The basic purpose of caster is to maintain directional control, give more on- center "feel" to steering, and return the vehicle to a straight ahead position when exiting a turn. Insufficient caster causes wander, road shock, and a light feeling in the steering. Excessive positive caster can cause hard steering, shimmy, and tire wear in extreme cases. Unequal caster causes the vehicle to pull or lead toward the side having the least positive caster. When caster is out of manufacturer's specification range, tire wear may occur as a result of incorrect camber on turns. However, loose or worn steering or suspension parts that would produce an incorrect caster angle would also affect camber and toe, which would also cause tire wear.
Toe-In means that the front edge of the wheels are closer together than the rear edges. Toe-in counteracts the tendency of the front wheels (of a rear wheel drive car) to toe-out under power. When a car runs at highway speeds, toe-in disappears and the wheels roll straight. Toe-Out means that the rear edge of the wheels are closer together than the front edges. Toe-out is often used in front wheel drive cars to counteract their tendency to toe-in while turning at highway speeds. Toe-out is necessary for all cars when turning, because the inner wheel must turn at a sharper angle than the outer wheel.

Now it is possible for you to adjust your caster, camber and toe, but before you start messing with any of these settings, be aware that current technology uses computers and lasers to align all four wheels. The accuracy of this is far superior to doing it on your own. These adjustements are made in tenths of an inch and fractions of a degree (not the typical tape measure accuracy). Accuracy has direct bearing on tire life, and a bad alignment kills your tires prematurely. Also remember that you'll be loosening strut tower and A-frame bolts which can cause the suspension to shift all of the way in one direction so you will have to fight the weight of the car to move them back. So it's probably advisable to have the adjustments done by a professional shop with the proper computerized equipment. In which case you should always ask for a printout of the factory specs and where your car's alignment was set. This tends to keep the mechanic honest.

On most cars, the caster and camber front end aligment settings are altered by loosening the bolts at the lower control arm. No special tools are needed. You just need a wrench that fits the bolts, and also a crow bar to move the lower control arm once the bolts are loosened. You can maximize the negative camber by sliding the lower control arm as far outward as it will go. After you do that, however, you will need to reset the toe setting, as changing the camber setting will screw up the toe setting. Adding negative camber causes you to get too much toe-in.

The toe adjustment is easy to make, but it takes a while to check to see what the new setting is. Set the toe by measuring the distance from the middle of the tread in the front of one of the front tires to the middle of the tread in the front of the other front tire with a tape measure, and then compare that with the same measurement taken from tread in the back of the front tires. If the distance measured in the front of the front tires is greater than the distance measured in the back of the front tires, than you have toe out. If the distance in the front of the front tires is less than the distance measured in the rear of the front tires, then you have toe in.

For autocrossing, it's best to set the car with a little bit of toe out. Approximately 1/8th of an inch out. For street driving, zero toe should be the best.

After setting the toe in, you have to drive the car to make sure that the steering wheel is pointed in the right direction (namely straight ahead when you are driving straight ahead). If not, you have to add toe to one side and decrease it on the other side until the wheel is lined up correctly. If the car pulls once way or the other, this is usually due to one side having more caster than the other side. You reduce the amount of caster on the side to which the car is pulling in order to cure the problem. The caster setting is adjustable similar to the camber setting, except you shove the lower control arm forward or backward, instead of inward or outward.

DISC BRAKE PAD REPLACEMENT

First you'll need a new set of pads (front and/or back). GM pads are just about the best ones as they have the longest life. If you're cost conscious then Raybestos are probably your best bet. For increased stopping power, try a set of Performance Friction carbon metallic pads. They cost more, but you get a lifetime warranty and you'll really be able to stop on a dime.

As for tools, you need a 3/8" disc brake caliper (allen) socket (sold at most auto stores), a 3/8" drive socket/ratchet, a 6" C-clamp, a can of brake cleaner, a small bottle of DOT3 brake fluid, a jack, jack stands (optional), high temperature anti-squeal brake grease (usually comes with the pads), a torque wrench (optional), and a metal hanger (or piece of wire).

First, open the brake fluid resevoir and place some rags around it to catch any fluid which might come out as you're changing the pads. Then loosen the lug nuts, jack up the car, and pull the wheels (jack stands should be used as a precaution). For the front brakes, loosen the two 3/8" allen bolts on the back of the caliper with your disc brake caliper socket. It's not necessary to remove the bolts all the way, just loosen them enough to pull the caliper assembly off the rotor. You should be able to pull the caliper off just by pulling up on it, otherwise try tapping upwards on the edge with a hammer to get it loose. Note that the brake line will still be attached, so use your hanger (piece of wire) to hang the caliper off the spring/shock assembly. This will prevent the weight of the caliper from pulling on the brake line. For the rear brakes, you only need to remove the top caliper bolt with your 3/8" drive socket/ratchet (although you may need a 3/8" open end wrench to hold the nut the bolt goes into). Then pull on the caliper and it will pivot down on the bottom bolt and out of the way. Try not to touch the rotors while doing the brake job as grease and dirt on them can reduce your stopping power. Even the natural oils from your finger tips will have an effect.

Next, remove the old outside brake pad from the caliper. On the front, you may need to gently pry the clips on the pad with a flat screwdriver. The rears simply "snap" into and out of place. Take note of the orientation of the wear indicator as the new pads must be installed the same way.

For the front inside pad, position the C-clamp such that it is compressing (pinching) the back of the caliper and the inside (worn) side of the pad. Tighten the C-clamp so it compresses the piston as far as it will go. Watch the brake fluid level reservoir as you go along to make sure your rags catch any overflowing fluid. You might want to use a turkey baster to pull some fluid out if the level nears the top so it doesn't overflow. Once the piston is completely compressed, remove the front inside pad (also held in with clips) by pulling on it. The rears inside pad "snaps" in and out.

Once all pads are removed, spray down the caliper and rotor with the brake cleaner to clean off all the dirt and brake dust. It should dry quickly. Then take your new pads and apply the anti-squeal grease liberally on the metal backing of each pad, especially the inside ones which will press against the caliper piston. This prevents the high pitched metal squeal that is commonly heard from the metal-to-metal contact of the brake parts.

Carefully install the new pads in the same way the old one came out. Make sure the alignment clips on the front outside pad engage the holes on the caliper and the clips on the front inside pads fully "snap" into the piston cavity for the inboard pads. The rear pads simply "slide" or "snap" into place, but make sure the retaining spring is seated into the caliper slot. Also make sure that the wear indicators are in their original positions. If you touched the rotor and see finger prints, spray some brake cleaner on a clean rag and wipe off the rotor.

Slide the front caliper assembly back onto the rotor and tighten the allen bolts pretty tightly (25-30 ft-lbs if you have a torque wrench). On the rear, rotate the caliper back up into place and tighten up the top bolt.

Once completed for all pads and calipers, put the wheels back on, lower car, and tighten up the lugs. Then start the car and pump brake pedal. It will go all the way to the floor on the first few pumps until pressure builds up to push the pistons back out of the calipers to engage the rotors. Finally, use new brake fluid to replace any old fluid which you removed (or which flowed out) from the resevior, and cap it up.

Thanks to Cash Mullen (cm@iosens.com).