Ok, here's my DIY changing a suspension on a 1997 Civic EX (6th gen). I'm not a professional mechanic, I just read the Helms manual and talked to a mechanic friend and read up like crazy on the net. Any mechanics out there, please feel free to correct me.

I also feel like a lot of DIY tend to gloss over details that end up taking the most time... like "put this bolt back on" actually can take a long time because there's some important details being left out.

I'll be doing this in sections. First, the removal and disassembly of the front suspension.

1) Make sure the parking brake is on. Jack up the car and put them on jack stands for safety. Block off the rear tires so prevent the car from rolling.

Problem: how do you get the jack stands on the supports and jack it up? Jack up the car at the tow loops (two) located below the bumper.

(PIC TBD)

2) Remove the wheel. This is a pic of the wheel well. (Please shut up about my dirty a$$ car )



3) Loosen and remove this bolt at the bottom of the fork arm (my index finger it touching it, hard to see). This is to release it from the lower constrol arm that the axle,hub,wheel connect to. You'll need a 17mm socket wrench, and a 17mm crescent wrench to hold the nut on the other side. Once the nut is off, you may need to use a rod or another long bolt to push the bolt out. On mine, the LCA wanted to move up wards; which is what made removing the bolt difficult. Some downward force on the brake rotor made it easy to pull out.



4) The top of this fork is connected to the bottom of the strut by a pinch bolt. Use a 14mm socket wrench to remove this bolt. Since there's no tension from the lower arm, this bolt should come out pretty easily. If not, use something to push it out from the other side.



5) Pop the hood and loosen the two 14mm on either side with a deep socket 14mm. Do NOT loosen the center bolt at this time. These two side bolts are holding the suspension up. Have someone hold the suspension as you remove these bolts or reach around and hold it yourself.



6) The suspension assembly is now loose and can be removed. Slide the fork off the strut. (Once you have its bolt off, nothing but friction is holding it on, so just pull.)



7) Slip the suspension assembly out the side carefully so you don't bang anything up and especially don't rip a brake line or abs line off. This can be done WITHOUT any muscleling, so you should not have to force it out.



8) This is a picture of the assembly. The cap on the right is held only by the center top nut and the spring is under compression. To quote my mechanic friend: "this is the most dangerous thing you can change in a car"; (besides blowing yourself up by smoking near the fuel cell....)



9) Compress the spring to reduce pressure on the end cap. I used spring compressors, but I wish I had a press. Here's the compressors on the assembly. Make sure they are 180 degrees apart from each other (on exact opposite sides) and stretch about the same distance. Keep the strut inside the spring. If the compressors are not exactly opposite each other, they can slip (especially while de/compressing) and the spring can kill you. The strut will help prevent a slipped spring from shooting out somewhat. (My friend did this once and the spring shot itself across the street and lodged itself into a tree...)



10) Use an allen wrench in the top and a 14mm crescent wrench to loosen the top nut. Wrap the assembly top in an old cloth (blanket or tshirt, etc) and switch to useing a 14mm socket wrench to remove the bolt the rest of the way. Wrench it while it's wrapped in the cloth because as soon as the bolt comes off, the remaining tension in the spring will shoot the the top cap off.



11) This is the disassembled assembly, in order of how it goes on the strut. I bought new mounting parts, and still had to reuse some of the old parts.



12) You'll probably need to transfer the old bumpstop (the yellow/orange rubber thing) to the new strut. A retaining washer blocks it (I'm pointing to it). Mine was stuck and I had to take a hammer and tap it loose. It was held on by age old gunk.



13) This is a picture of the end cap. You can barely tell, but this is a rubber insert that the spring presses against. This is part of what "settles" in a new suspension.



Up next.... reassembly and the rear suspension too....