wrote this a letter a day 
finally complete.. not new for those diy kaki but wanna share some tips.. anyway changed my absober (bilstein sprt)+ eibach spring for front , lower arms and upper arms for my e34 last few weekn...the rear i changed bout 2-3 weeks earlier, what a b1tch job i wud say. 3 of my ball joints were broken and f@rking hard to split from the knuckle... had to use ball joint splitter i start with the rear absorber change: u need to dismantle ur rear seats,i mean strip 'emm. i took some pics and will post later in my webpage. but basically this has been cover on few diy pages.nx, loose ur rear tyres till they r finger tight n jack ur rear n secured them with good tripod stand. once ur car is supported on tripod stand, remove ur rear tyres.now u can start loosing thos 3 nuts that secured the rear abs to the car. make shure u keep those screws as i lost 1 of it during the process and need to get replacement from the bolt& nut shop. now u need to crawl underneath the car and break the 17/19mm nut&bolt the secured the lower part of the absorber. for e34 rear absorber even if u release the secured bolt, the absorber wont fall onto ur feet as there's a slotted knuckle wer that hold the absorber firmly. u need to whack ur absorber strut with a hammer while holding the strut. the strut is not that heavy..prolly bout 15kg or so ;-phow to dismantle the spring from the absorber?? u must use spring compressor wic i borrow from moots. shud compress at least 5-6 ring and set both compressor 180 degree apart ( or even better if u hv 4 spring compressors). once the load is relieve, u can remove the middle nut (19mm i think). if u dun hv airtool or pawatool, heres the tip:get urself a 6mm open end spanner, it fit nicely on the end of the absorber's strut. them use ur 19mm ring/open end to loose the nut. easy with 4 pair of hands but i managed to do it alone ;-)installation is reverse of removal. just make shure u didnt damage the strut dust cover!!!for front absober change, bit harder than the rear ones but much2 easier than the arms (upper& lower) change. i dont wanna goto details how u going to remove the front strut but once u remove it (remove brake caliper,brake disk,3 knuckle bolts,ball joints from upper arm,tierod), u must compress the spring b4 u remove the centre strut nut 19/22mm?? but b4 that u need to brake the but loose 1st. tip: i use a plumber/pipe wrench. i first wrap the absorber shaft with a rag then i secured the pipe wrench ( easier for me since my front spring is oe ;-p ), next u need to hold the pipe wrench securly while u brake the 19/22mm nut. once its loose dont remove it completely as the spring u shoot/fly and break urself. i use a cheapo spring compressor i borrow from moots and manage to compress 5-6 coil 180 degree apart (roughly). once the load of the spring is taken by the spring compressor, u can now remove the centre nut completely. make sure u remember how things come apart as this are the order it should be put back together. now the trickiest part of removing the front absorber..how do you remove the absorber from the housing ?? i dont have any 6" clamp or working bench @ my house..!! tip: remember the plumber/pipe wrench??? yeah its a life saver. secure the pipe wrench @ the collar nut and get ur self a hammer (3-6 lb hammer is good but i just use my normal nail hammer ;p) whack the wrench handle few times (2-3 should brake the collar nut free). once its loose remove it and ur absorber is free from the housing. who say the absorber change job need 2-3 person to work on it ?? ;-)installation is reverse of removal. ;-Pnext the lower arm and upper arm. the hardest job since 3 of 4 of the ball joints were damaged and took me more than 1-3 hrs to brake it loose from the knuckle. continuation from the absorber change, (with all disk brake,caliper etc removed) i break loose the nut securing the upper arm and lower arm to the car's body.i dont remove it completely, let the nut finger tight on the bolt. there are 2 methods to remove the ball joints :1/ using a 6lb hammer. u need to whack the knuckle where the ball joint is secured to. when i mean whack i mean really whack emm. they will break loose eventually if theball joint is not damaged in the 1st place.2/ using a ball joint removal tool.i bought a cheapo made from steel instead of aluminum (ori bmw tool) for rm 50 from my fav hardware shop. easy to use and shud break the ball joint free easily. but not in my case!!!! remember i told u that 3 of my ball joint were badly damaged ?? in the end i need to remove the knuckle completely and took the whole assembly together with the arms (lower and upper) out to work on it. i guess i still got a bit of luck as both my tierod end ball joint split easily from the knuckle side so i left with 2 ball joint to play with. with the ball joint removal tool, even after it insert totally in and with the bolt turn to the max, the ball joint still wont split. ive almost giveup in the end as i took more than 1 hr to remove it. moots suggested to blow the knuckle and whack it with a big hammer. as i dont have a torch and 6lb hammer, i took the whole assembly and use my wife's gas stove to burn that s@cker. after a few whack of my life, yeah the ball joint removal tool secured at the joint btw, finally the ball joint break loose. another whack @ the upper arm ball joint, it also break loose. after that i finally call it a day as it getting dark. next morning i reassemble all back and make sure the nuts at the body side ( for the upper and lower arms) are tighten when the car is on load. i use a ramp wic i make myself. also make sure that the ball joint is tighten to the max. when i 1st tighten it, the nut didnt go thru till the end and i said nvrmind just go for test drive and see what happen. u know what ?? the car felt like its still having the old arms. retighten it and this time i use a leverage bar to push the ball joint in futher and tighten the nuts. all that hardwork paid off once i took the car for a drive ( yeah for the second time ). whalla.. now my e34 drive like a new car. now my wife doesnt let me drive the e34 anymore. with the yellow bilstein + eibach and all new arms, she told me the car behave like a new car. connering is much improve.. yeah i also installed front strutbar wic i doubt contribute much on the cornering, but it make a good heat dissipator though.
finally complete.. not new for those diy kaki but wanna share some tips.. anyway changed my absober (bilstein sprt)+ eibach spring for front , lower arms and upper arms for my e34 last few weekn...the rear i changed bout 2-3 weeks earlier, what a b1tch job i wud say. 3 of my ball joints were broken and f@rking hard to split from the knuckle... had to use ball joint splitter i start with the rear absorber change: u need to dismantle ur rear seats,i mean strip 'emm. i took some pics and will post later in my webpage. but basically this has been cover on few diy pages.nx, loose ur rear tyres till they r finger tight n jack ur rear n secured them with good tripod stand. once ur car is supported on tripod stand, remove ur rear tyres.now u can start loosing thos 3 nuts that secured the rear abs to the car. make shure u keep those screws as i lost 1 of it during the process and need to get replacement from the bolt& nut shop. now u need to crawl underneath the car and break the 17/19mm nut&bolt the secured the lower part of the absorber. for e34 rear absorber even if u release the secured bolt, the absorber wont fall onto ur feet as there's a slotted knuckle wer that hold the absorber firmly. u need to whack ur absorber strut with a hammer while holding the strut. the strut is not that heavy..prolly bout 15kg or so ;-phow to dismantle the spring from the absorber?? u must use spring compressor wic i borrow from moots. shud compress at least 5-6 ring and set both compressor 180 degree apart ( or even better if u hv 4 spring compressors). once the load is relieve, u can remove the middle nut (19mm i think). if u dun hv airtool or pawatool, heres the tip:get urself a 6mm open end spanner, it fit nicely on the end of the absorber's strut. them use ur 19mm ring/open end to loose the nut. easy with 4 pair of hands but i managed to do it alone ;-)installation is reverse of removal. just make shure u didnt damage the strut dust cover!!!for front absober change, bit harder than the rear ones but much2 easier than the arms (upper& lower) change. i dont wanna goto details how u going to remove the front strut but once u remove it (remove brake caliper,brake disk,3 knuckle bolts,ball joints from upper arm,tierod), u must compress the spring b4 u remove the centre strut nut 19/22mm?? but b4 that u need to brake the but loose 1st. tip: i use a plumber/pipe wrench. i first wrap the absorber shaft with a rag then i secured the pipe wrench ( easier for me since my front spring is oe ;-p ), next u need to hold the pipe wrench securly while u brake the 19/22mm nut. once its loose dont remove it completely as the spring u shoot/fly and break urself. i use a cheapo spring compressor i borrow from moots and manage to compress 5-6 coil 180 degree apart (roughly). once the load of the spring is taken by the spring compressor, u can now remove the centre nut completely. make sure u remember how things come apart as this are the order it should be put back together. now the trickiest part of removing the front absorber..how do you remove the absorber from the housing ?? i dont have any 6" clamp or working bench @ my house..!! tip: remember the plumber/pipe wrench??? yeah its a life saver. secure the pipe wrench @ the collar nut and get ur self a hammer (3-6 lb hammer is good but i just use my normal nail hammer ;p) whack the wrench handle few times (2-3 should brake the collar nut free). once its loose remove it and ur absorber is free from the housing. who say the absorber change job need 2-3 person to work on it ?? ;-)installation is reverse of removal. ;-Pnext the lower arm and upper arm. the hardest job since 3 of 4 of the ball joints were damaged and took me more than 1-3 hrs to brake it loose from the knuckle. continuation from the absorber change, (with all disk brake,caliper etc removed) i break loose the nut securing the upper arm and lower arm to the car's body.i dont remove it completely, let the nut finger tight on the bolt. there are 2 methods to remove the ball joints :1/ using a 6lb hammer. u need to whack the knuckle where the ball joint is secured to. when i mean whack i mean really whack emm. they will break loose eventually if theball joint is not damaged in the 1st place.2/ using a ball joint removal tool.i bought a cheapo made from steel instead of aluminum (ori bmw tool) for rm 50 from my fav hardware shop. easy to use and shud break the ball joint free easily. but not in my case!!!! remember i told u that 3 of my ball joint were badly damaged ?? in the end i need to remove the knuckle completely and took the whole assembly together with the arms (lower and upper) out to work on it. i guess i still got a bit of luck as both my tierod end ball joint split easily from the knuckle side so i left with 2 ball joint to play with. with the ball joint removal tool, even after it insert totally in and with the bolt turn to the max, the ball joint still wont split. ive almost giveup in the end as i took more than 1 hr to remove it. moots suggested to blow the knuckle and whack it with a big hammer. as i dont have a torch and 6lb hammer, i took the whole assembly and use my wife's gas stove to burn that s@cker. after a few whack of my life, yeah the ball joint removal tool secured at the joint btw, finally the ball joint break loose. another whack @ the upper arm ball joint, it also break loose. after that i finally call it a day as it getting dark. next morning i reassemble all back and make sure the nuts at the body side ( for the upper and lower arms) are tighten when the car is on load. i use a ramp wic i make myself. also make sure that the ball joint is tighten to the max. when i 1st tighten it, the nut didnt go thru till the end and i said nvrmind just go for test drive and see what happen. u know what ?? the car felt like its still having the old arms. retighten it and this time i use a leverage bar to push the ball joint in futher and tighten the nuts. all that hardwork paid off once i took the car for a drive ( yeah for the second time ). whalla.. now my e34 drive like a new car. now my wife doesnt let me drive the e34 anymore. with the yellow bilstein + eibach and all new arms, she told me the car behave like a new car. connering is much improve.. yeah i also installed front strutbar wic i doubt contribute much on the cornering, but it make a good heat dissipator though.
