How To: Install Aftermarket Hatch Shocks and Remove Brackets from Factory Shocks. [DIY]

[Chromatic]

[DIY] - How to Remove your Stock OEM Rear Hatch Shocks and Cut and Remove OEM Brackets safely to Re-Use with New Aftermarket Shocks.

 

 

Install Time: 15 minutes to 45 minutes.

 

 

It's a very common problem, especially in cold weather;... You open your hatch and it slams back down. Or even worse, you open your hatch, and lean in to get something and then it decides to fall back down on your head.

 

The Stock OEM Hatch Shocks on the 350z just don't last long,.. Aftermarket shocks can be had for well under $100 for a pair that are stronger and last longer. Many of these hatch shocks require you to remove your Brackets and Bolts from the Stock Factory shocks you have to Re-Use to mount the New Shocks onto.

 

Since I could never find a guide that was detailed enough for me I decided to go ahead and make a fairly detailed one myself when replacing mine.

 

This guide will show you how to go about doing this step by step with pictures and videos.

 

Safety First! (Seriously, when cutting the metal, I advise some glasses,.. anything is better than nothing.)

 

 

Start by Propping your Hatch up with A broom, Spade, Rake, whatever you can find - Even if your hatch stays up you will need this at some point. (This also helps take strain off the upper bolts when removing them.)

 

 

You will Need a 12mm regular Wrench (Or Small Crescent Wrench to remove the Upper Shock Bolt.)

 

Start by removing Upper Shock Bolts on each side.

 

 

Remove Lower Shock Brackets with a 10mm Socket.

 

 

The Shocks will easily come off with the Factory OEM Brackets still Attached at the Bottom, and Factory Bolts Attached at the Top.

 

 

 

Old Shocks OUT, Next to NEW Aftermarket Shocks (Notice you will have to cut the old Bolts and Brackets off to Re-Use on the New Shocks.) (You can purchase them with OEM Brackets so you don't have to cut the ones you already have out,.. So, if you don't have the tool(s) to cut metal, or don't feel comfortable doing so, then by all means, purchase new shocks with new Bolts/Brackets. That said, it really isn't hard to do.)

 

 

Grab your Dremel, Tablesaw, or whatever cutting tool you have and put on your Safety Glasses.

 

Here is a short Clip of using a Dremel with Metal Bit on the Factory Shocks.

 

 

 

 

Cut Down, then across, then Back up to allow the ball to come out.

 

 

 

 

Here is a good look at how I found it easiest to Cut to remove the Shocks from the Factory Brackets/Bolts.

 

 

You want to be Careful when doing this so you don't cut INTO the Ball on the Bracket/Bolts you will need to reuse. I found it easiest to Cut ALMOST to the ball joint but not quite, then using pliers to remove the cut piece. This ensures you won't damage the OEM/Factory Brackets/Bolts you will need to reuse.

 

 

Video of me using the Pliers to remove the piece cut just as described above. (It was a bit of a struggle because I was holding the camera with one hand,.. it won't be this difficult for you. )

 

*Click Image to Watch Video*

 

http://bit.ly/1el3w2h

 

 

Remove Upper Bolt from your Old Shocks.

 

 

 

Remove Lower Bracket from your Old Shocks.

 

 

Make sure you Prop up the Hatch *high* enough to give adequate clearance when installing new Shocks.

 

 

Use a 12mm Wrench (Or long 12mm Socket) to Re-attach Upper Shock Bolts.

 

 

 

Now Re-Install the Lower Brackets with a 10mm Socket. Note the proper Placement of Lower Brackets.

 

 

 

The Upper OEM Bolts and Lower OEM Brackets Re-Installed, should Look like this.

 

 

First Install Upper End of New Aftermarket Shocks.

 

 

Second Swing Lower End of New Shocks down to Lower Bracket. (They Easily Pop into place)

 

 

All Done! -- I used Stage 2 Aftermarket Shocks for a little more Pressure, Here is how your New Shocks should operate to a greater or lesser degree.

 

Here is a Video of it operating with the New Stage 2 Shocks:

 

 

 

That's it. Very easy install that makes a world of difference! I chose to go with Stage 2 just out of preference. If you are deciding on Aftermarket shocks and have a factory spoiler, or no spoiler,.. you do not want Anything above Stage 2,.. and Stage 1 replacements are already stronger than the Factory Shocks were.

 

The higher stages are stronger/stiffer and are meant for heavier Spoilers/Wings. If you put a Stage 3 or 4 Aftermarket shock on your Hatch with a Stock spoiler it will be VERY difficult to close. Most people will be very happy with the regular Stage 1.

 

I purchased my Stage 2 shocks at: http://www.350zhatchshocksandmore.com/

 

Which have Stage 1, Stage 2, Stage 3, and Stage 4 all for $115 US Shipped. (I'm sure they can arrange shipping to UK,.. and if not, I can be a proxy to ship if you want to order from this place, I can attest these are great shocks.)

 

And as an added bonus,.. The owner of this company looked over this DIY, and said he was impressed, and that for anyone who would like a discount on their shock purchase can:

 

When ordering, Put in the Notes -- "Chromatic DIY" and you will receive a discount. (I have no affiliation with this website,.. I ordered mine for full price.)

 

Hope that helps,

Edited April 12, 2014 by Chromatic

[GIXXERUK]

Excellent post

[KyleR]

Good write up. In the UK however we all buy form SGS Engineering who provide the mounts so no messing around cutting, The cost about £70 delivered for the uprated ones to hold the weight of spoilers etc.

[cs2000]

Agreed, but glad to see a guide. I like the broom tip, definitely the way to go. When I did my Celica I almost broke my shoulder trying to support the boot with it whilst attaching the struts

[Chromatic]

Yup, just trying to contribute to the community and internet at large.

 

I couldn't find a solid DIY guide worth much on this particular project,.. so I just figured it out as I went along and decided to do a proper write up.

 

Wish this forum embeded videos, really makes the guide better than the somewhat easy to miss "video links".

 

The big part of the guide is EXACTLY how to cut the OEM brackets/bolts off the factory shocks to use on new shocks,.. as many people get "scared" or unsure of how to do this part. When if you watch my videos and pictures you can see that it's really very very easy.. and fairly hard to mess up as long as you pay attention to what you are doing.

 

I think a Dremel is the perfect tool for this part as it doesn't cut so fast you can't gauge how deep you are (important).. but cuts well fast enough to get the job done fairly quickly.

 

The shocks I bought were a bit pricey because they were Stage 2 high end brand shocks.. at $115 a pair (without brackets of course).. The shocks I bought are more meant for people with crazy wings/spoilers.. but I wanted something that was going to last the rest of the cars life (or as long as I have it anyway)... And they are super strong (easily 3-5 times stronger than OEM) -- and yes, this makes the hatch more difficult to close, but since I kept it reasonable with Stage "2" and not going Stage 3 or 4.. It's nothing that's a struggle or annoying..

 

If you are shorter (I'm 6ft, (1.83m) 190-195lbs (86-89kg's) and perhaps a woman.. I could see where even these Stage 2's could be a pain in the butt.. As if you couldn't reach the top of the hatch easily .. getting the leverage to pull it down would be a bit of a challenge. Otherwise anyone I'd say 1.73m or taller would be fine.

 

But regardless,.. The guide still serves well even for replacing the shocks that come with the new hardware. For JUST replacing the shocks with hardware ,.. It should literally be about a 10 minute job or so.

[KyleR]

You can upload the videos to youtube and embed them here just fine

[GMballistic]

Great write up Chromatic. Well done.

[Chromatic]

You can upload the videos to youtube and embed them here just fine

What's the embed command? Nothing I did worked? Let me know, and I'll switch those links out to embedded videos!

 

Thanks,

[Ebized]

Having copied the embed code from clicking on the "share" option on the vid, use the chain/+ link in your post and paste the copied embed in the URL box and job done

 

(You can edit your first post BTW)

[Chromatic]

Having copied the embed code from clicking on the "share" option on the vid, use the chain/+ link in your post and paste the copied embed in the URL box and job done

 

 

(You can edit your first post BTW)

 

 

Hrmm.. I tried that, but it just showed the embed code in a blue link format. Odd.

 

Trying it again here to see if maybe it will pop up after it's submitted instead of just checking in preview mode:

 

http://<iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/Xno-IGBrViQ" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

 

Trying old embed code:

 

<object width="560" height="315"><param name="movie" value="//www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xno-IGBrViQ?hl=en_US&version=3"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="//www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xno-IGBrViQ?hl=en_US&version=3" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="560" height="315" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object>

 

Hrmmm.. no go with pasting either embed format from youtube "share" option using the Chain "Link" option of the editor here.

Edited April 9, 2014 by M13KYF

[M13KYF]

post above sorted. you were using the wrong url. If you take the url from Share and paste that into link here, you get the correct result as shown above

[Chromatic]

post above sorted. you were using the wrong url. If you take the url from Share and paste that into link here, you get the correct result as shown above

 

Perhaps you could sort the original guide? And make the youtube vids show up instead of being links?

[Almeida1234]

Good write up dude

[Chromatic]

post above sorted. you were using the wrong url. If you take the url from Share and paste that into link here, you get the correct result as shown above

post above sorted. you were using the wrong url. If you take the url from Share and paste that into link here, you get the correct result as shown above

 

Perhaps you could sort the original guide? And make the youtube vids show up instead of being links?

Good write up dude

 

Thanks for the sort.. I went ahead and re did the guide to work with the limitations of this forums settings.. All videos should be clickable now proper.

 

Thanks Almeida1234!

 

Also... it would be super awesome if you could post more than 2 Youtube videos in a post. Would really help on guides, etc.. It's using offsite bandwidth so I don't see it being a huge issue?

 

Maybe remove the limit in the forum settings, or increase it to 10?

 

Take care,

[Gl51]

My tailgate was out of line at roof so I looked at bracket and it was upside down . Nice easy job to sort until bolt snapped on bottom bracket. So after a time I managed to undo rest and remove strut so was able to close tailgate and drive to see if I could buy a stud extrackter but got stuck in traffic for about 20 mins then my clutch pedal went floppy about half way down . So it looks like I need a new slave cylinder as well . Why oh why did I take the day off work .

[GMballistic]

My tailgate was out of line at roof so I looked at bracket and it was upside down . Nice easy job to sort until bolt snapped on bottom bracket. So after a time I managed to undo rest and remove strut so was able to close tailgate and drive to see if I could buy a stud extrackter but got stuck in traffic for about 20 mins then my clutch pedal went floppy about half way down . So it looks like I need a new slave cylinder as well . Why oh why did I take the day off work .

That's pretty unlucky.

 

Good luck though & fingers crossed the weekend is better for you.

[Gl51]

My tailgate was out of line at roof so I looked at bracket and it was upside down . Nice easy job to sort until bolt snapped on bottom bracket. So after a time I managed to undo rest and remove strut so was able to close tailgate and drive to see if I could buy a stud extrackter but got stuck in traffic for about 20 mins then my clutch pedal went floppy about half way down . So it looks like I need a new slave cylinder as well . Why oh why did I take the day off work .

That's pretty unlucky.

 

Good luck though & fingers crossed the weekend is better for you.

Cheers I hope so!!!

I've drilled most of it out and had to bodge a small coach bolt in for now. ( not good ) now to sort a slave cylinder kit out ????

[GMballistic]

Cheers I hope so!!!

I've drilled most of it out and had to bodge a small coach bolt in for now. ( not good ) now to sort a slave cylinder kit out ????

Have a chat with some of the traders on here as they're bound to be able to sort this out for you at a good price.

 

The Cougar Store, Clark Motorsport or similar for parts like this. Take a look around here; http://www.350z-uk.com/forum/93-professional-traders/

Clark Motorsport for example; http://www.clarkmotorsport.co.uk/parts/Clutch-Slave-Cylinder/30620-CD00B

[Gl51]

Cheers I hope so!!!

I've drilled most of it out and had to bodge a small coach bolt in for now. ( not good ) now to sort a slave cylinder kit out ????

Have a chat with some of the traders on here as they're bound to be able to sort this out for you at a good price.

 

The Cougar Store, Clark Motorsport or similar for parts like this. Take a look around here; http://www.350z-uk.com/forum/93-professional-traders/

Clark Motorsport for example; http://www.clarkmotorsport.co.uk/parts/Clutch-Slave-Cylinder/30620-CD00B

 

 

 

Thanks.....

Clarkmotorsport do a slave kit £119.95 just need to order it . Think I'll get someone else to fit . The way my lucks going..