Thread: A new car!
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Unread 04-25-2015, 03:02 PM   #119
GlenL
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Who knows how to have a good time? I do!

What you see here is "a good time." The Zombie had been in a moderate rear-end collision. The sheetmetal look to have a few waves in the sides and the floor of the trunk as well. It's probably why the hatch doesn't sit quite right, either. The really noticable part was that on bumper shock had collapsed so the rear wasn't straight and one bumperette was set in a bit further. So what to do?

I've got some spares of all types and figured that if I got the shock out I could slip the Euro-style or RoW (pictured) mount in. This calls for sawzall, doesn't it?

The initial plan of attack was to unbolt the shock from the body and the aluminum reinforcement beam, pull the shock out and slice it off behind the flange. That went fairly well...to a point. I could get the bolts out easily enough and brace the bumper beam out from the body. Then I could grab push the shock out, grab it with a vicegrips and saw it through.

The plan went reasonably well but the metal casing is tough. Took a while to get half was through and then....nothing. I'm doing this with the car lifted about a foot and a half so it's close and awkward under the car. Makes the time go slowly.

So what could be the problem? I tried a new saw blade but still not cutting through the middle. Let me turn it over and cut from the other side. Sure. Hard enough through the case but stops in the middle. Next step: cut all the way around and get the end off. This is hard as the mount can't really turn to all positions and be extended to get at the back of the flange. Turn, cut, turn, cut, get a new blade, cut...can't get it off.

To help with the access, I removed the beam from the other mount, and the bumperettes, so the beam could be pushed left-right for access. Then, I cut off the "ears" of the beam mount. That let it be turned more easily and get all the way around. I could finally get the outermost housing cut through to free up the mounting flange. And then get through the secondary housing. Pushing those apart I could see the inner piston sleeve which has some perforations. and inside, barely, I can see, maybe, another rod.

After three hours of this, I called it a night.

Got back to it on a fresh, crisp Spring morning and got where it needed to go. After cutting on it a bit more...and why not...it dawned on me that I might be able to sneak it over the beam and pull it out. That worked! Along that exercise the well-separated end came away from the rest of the body. Now I could see my nemesis: a rod holding the piston. Not sure what it's made of but there were a few slight cuts. Maybe a carbide or diamond blade would have made short work of the problem.

I got the end off and then pulled out the rest of the shock. The shock sticks back into a box section of frame and is not accessible except from the read end.

This meant it was now free-and-easy time...or could be. Putting in the RoW mount went OK. It just was hard to get the main mount-to-beam bolts it with the rear deformed a bit. It's all together now.

One thing I noticed is that the fluid in the shock evaporates fairly quickly. It doesn't smell like a solvent but the catch can was dry after two days.
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