ROW M030 install tips?

Just received my ROW M030 kit last night and found a DIY tutorial on Renntech. Seems like a fairly straight forward install, think I may attempt it this weekend. Anyone have any tips for the install? Seems like the only difficult part they had was needing a few guys to get some components to line up on the rear. I notice the DIY doesn't address the sway bars, are they pretty straightforward? Thanks, Chris

If you have more than 50K miles on your car, I would replace the strut mounts and bearings also.

C2 or C4?

It's a 2002 Targa with 83k miles on it.

Like Doug said.....C2 or C4?

C2, didn't think the 996 Targa came in a C4 model...

It is a little tougher doing a C4 that was the base for the question. With a C2 the rears are easy just pull the carpet strip behind the rear seats for access to the shock towers. Unbolt those, the rear drop links that connects the shock to the sway bar and then unbolt the sway bar. The front is similar except in order to get to the sway bar you need to remove an underbody panel....loosen the alum perch that holds the front shock in place and rotate the strut out. I would put a towel on top of the 3 studs (on top of the shock) when rotating it out in order to not scratch your fender. All in all its a nice Saturday job.

Thanks Pete. I think I have the torque values for all of the suspension components from the Rennlist DIY, but does anyone happen to know the torque values for the aluminum perch I have to loosen to get the front sway bar out? Any reason to keep my old suspension components? Gunna get started this morning, will keep everyone updated. Thanks, Chris

I think I said some wrong info.....the perch only has to be removed from the existing front strut if the new strut doesn't have one. Like this http://www.carnewal.com/cpx/p96063.jpg My bad... Looking at your pic the new strut has the perch formed into the strut.

Nevermind, found all the torques on the renntech DIY. Got the rear sway bar in, it was really easy. Already hit a snag with the rear struts, undid the three top bolts but can't seem to get the strut to drop. Tried some spring compressors but they scare me... Is there a trick to getting the strut to drop? I thought it would just come out when I undid those three bolts. Thanks, Chris

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Dumb question but......did you remove the bolt at the bottom of the shock? If yes than I would rap it with some steel persuasion to break the seal from the car body and shock top..that's a beer btw......its Friday and I'm thirsty.

Not a dumb question, I haven't removed the bottom bolt yet, I thought I was supposed to drop the top out first?

Just noting that I loooove threads like this where people help. This one and the oil change thread are what make this place great.

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Take that bolt out and it will drop like a sack of tators.......

That bolt was tough to get out, but it worked! I can't imagine how hard it's going to be to put it back in...

8 hours later, only got one rear shock in... Hoping it'll go better tomorrow since I (sort of) know what I'm doing now...

Some pics from today...

Looking at your second pic at first I thought "Whoa, how is he using a camera tripod to support the rear?!" :-) Is the first pic "before" and a stock US suspension? It seems lower that mine but could be the angle - I guess i need to pull the car out and take a look at mine again...

You don't need to compress the spring for removal from the car. That looks bulky.

Yup, first pic is of my stock suspension, might be the angle of the alley that's throwing you off. What I'm hoping to fix is that the rear is lower than the front. I also didn't think I needed to compress springs to get the shock out, but boy that lower bolt connecting to the wheeler carrier was a bitch!

To help you get the shocks out loosen the control arms and on the rear the diagonal arms to the chassis. These are torqued with the car on its wheels so the suspension bushes are pre loaded and won't let the suspension fully drop. Put a jack under the hub and then remove the top mounts for the shock. The hub will lower much easier and the shock will be out in 10 minutes. Just remember to re tighten these bolts when the car is on it's wheels not before. To make life easier I placed a jack under my hub to simulate the car weighted on it wheels (with stands still in place should it slip off). Then you have the suspension weighted and have enough space with the wheel off to tighten everything up.

The tutorial mentioned something like that for the front suspension, so I thought that might have helped for the rear too. Would you happen to know the torque on that bolt?

Looks like I may have put in the new rear shock incorrectly, I thought I was keeping track of the position of the top three bolts but it looks like it's turned differently than the other side with the original shock... Guess I'll have to take it back off...

Fixed! So much easier the second time around...

Good deal...looks like the top of the spring sits better. You are gaining steam......

SITREP: Got both rears in, didn't have to loosen the control arms once I learned how to lever down on the wheel housing with a 2x4, used a screw driver to lever the holes into alignment and the bottom bolt went right in on each side. Got it down to about an hour to remove and replace a rear shock. Now onto the fronts I guess...

ROW M030 sway bars appear to be the same diameter, anyone know if they're actually different from stock?

Pretty sure the US and RoW are the same. Maybe your car had the US version to begin with. Can you see the part # on the old sway?

Looks like the front sway is quite a bit tougher to get out, may let my mechanic do it when he does the alignment.

It may look tougher but is still just 2 brackets and 2 drop links. You might have to loosen somethings to fish the bar out and back in again. Have you pulled off the underbody tray to see everything?

Luckily I looked at the new front struts before I took the old ones out, one of them has a bent flange on it, probably from shipping I guess. I'll have to see if I can get a new one, or else maybe my mechanic can bend it back. Metal looks cracked so may need a bit of welding.

Here's a pic with the new rear shocks, original front struts. Looks like it might have lowered the rear a smidge...

Here's a quick video of me working yesterday. Sorry it doesn't show the actual changing of the shock, got frustrated on the first one and gave up on the video. http://youtu.be/SHZvlR-6QWo

So Suncoast is sending me a brand new front shock, many thanks to Shawn at Suncoast and their excellent customer service.

Got the fronts in, here's a before and after shot. Hard to tell from the photos but brought the front down nicely. Car feels much tighter now and steering feels better too.

Way to go!

Nice job! Did you have to purchase new compensation plates for the install or just reuse what was already on the car? I just got my ROW M030 kit from Suncoast and the springs have a blue tolerance dot. I have searched all over the forums to find out what the blue dot means in terms on compensation plates required. I could only find one post so far that seems to answer the question of the blue dot. https://rennlist.com/forums/996-foru...0-springs.html The new springs have a blue dot and it looks like the springs currently on the car have an orange dot. I'm trying to understand what others have done with compensation for this install.

I'm not sure what compensation plates are, but I didn't replace anything besides what was included in the ROW kit.

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There are several variations of the ROW kit that will have dots of different color for at, cab, etc. for the springs. As for the compensation plates, if you bought the ROW as a kit, it should have everything you need for the install.

Double post

Looking good already! I must say the stock suspension is a JOKE. The whole driving experience is ruined by IT. The RoW 030 (or maybe even the now discontinued x74) should have come with the car!

Thanks all. I got going on the install yesterday. Things are going well. The rear shocks are in as are both stabilizers. I had to order new shock mounts for the front so I'll get them in Monday. All in all it has been much easier than I expected. The most challenging part was lining up the rear lower shock bolt. Can't wait to see how it drives.