Front Cusco Zero2E Coil over Install

What you need...

1. Get a high power impact gun, it will make it so much easier. There are electric ones from Dewalt that work good too. You can rent one and an air compressor from Home Depot or OHS if need be.
2. You need long and short, 6 point sockets for 12, 14, 17 and 19 mm, with accompanied box/open end wrenches. Don't use 12 points; you will strip the nut heads...
   
3. 3/8" Ratchet
4. 3/4" Rachet
5. 3/4" to 3/8" extension
   
6. > 100mm extension for 3/8" ratchet
   
7. A pair of jack stands
8. Wheel chalks
9. A tape measure
   
10. Another pair of hands.
11. This Document will help tremendously:)! Front Suspension general description
    
12. My Gift to the community: here are a shit load of service manual doc's I paid for download...enjoy: 08 STI service Manual Doc's

The front is real easy...

1. Hopefully you did the rears already, if not, I suggest you do those first; they are little bastards.
   
2. Jack up one side of the car and set it on a jack stand as illustrated in the owners manual
3. Jack up the other side and do the same. If you do not jack both sides up, the sway bar will make it almost impossible to remove the shocks...so jack both sides up!
   
4. Pull the wheels off and set them aside.
5. Start on the left side. There are two bolts that hold the lower shock mount and two small bolts that hold the brake line and a wire for the ABS. Remove the two small bolts.
6. Now, the upper bolt on the lower shock mount is actually a camber bolt. It has tick marks on the head and if you do not mark where it is...your camber will be off when you install the new shocks. So mark with a Sharpe the tick mark on the bolt to a mark on the upper knuckle. below you can see what I mean. You must do this before you loosen or remove the bolt!
7. Next, remove the nut on the lower bolt, but do not remove the bolt.
8. Cradle the brake assembly and remove the lower bolt. The assembly should simply fall out.
   
9. Now go back up top, open the hood and loosen the three nuts in a triangular pattern that are holding the top of the shock in place.
10. With your extra set of hands, hold the shock and remove the too three nuts... the shock should simply pull out. Real easy compared to the rear.
    
11. Repeat this for the other side.
12. Like I explained for the rear install, you should preset the ride height before you install the new coil overs. It will make your life so much simpler. If you have not done this, go do it now! Go here for explanation on how to adjust ride height Also, I found that the front of my car was 6 mm taller than the rear, so the numbers may be different for you, but just make sure you set it at 6mm lower than your stock ride height measurements. Remember, the springs will break in and drop a bit.
13. Okay now, slide up the left front coil over and with your extra set of hands snug up the the top 3 nuts.
14. Shimmy up the brake assembly so that the knuckle slides into the lower shock mount.
15. Insert the lowest lower shock mount bolts with nut.
16. Insert the camber bolt into the upper shock mount.
17. Now, simply align the tick mark on the camber bolt that you marked earlier to the spot on the knuckle and tighten her up snug.
18. Tighten the lower nut to 89 ft-lbs.
19. Torque the camber bolt to89-ft-lbs.
20. Re-install the small 14mm bolts of the ABS wire and the brake line.
21. Go up to the top of the shock and torque the three nuts to 14 ft-lbs.
22. For what's worth, don't use these pictures for reference with regards to shock length. I actually adjusted it the wrong way, so what you see in these pictures are shocks that are way too short...so I ended up adjusting the length after they were installed. The good news, was that I had measured everything in the beginning and all i had to do was back them out until at the right length.
    
23. Interestingly, I misread the torque spec sheet and tried to tighten the three nuts to 40 ft-lbs and snapped the studs...Don't do that! Luckily i drilled out the stud and replaced it with a strong bolt:)
24. Fixed!