[Chet]

Just got done with my '82. Front was snap. much easier than I thought. Jack up, wheels off, old shock off, new shocks on. On the road. The rear ones are as said, a bit of a pain.

I jacked up the rear end. Put jack stands under drag link and left floor jack in place. Cut original shock book with knife between spring loops and grabbed shock shaft with vise grips. Remember those olds shocks will never be used again. Removed bottom lock nut and manin nut.

Access to top of shock was through enspection panels behind rear deck to trunk. I removed the top two bolts for each shock and pulled out through inside of car.

New shock is fairly easy to mount. The problem is the compression band on the shock. It can be removed, however remember as was said the shock will expand to its full length. This is not as much of a problem as I thought it would be. I removed the band, and fed the shock throug the espection panel hole down into the trunck panel hole through coil spring. Then went under car and moved shock so bottom shaft fell through drag link hole.

The shock now sticks about 3 inches above the top shock hole in the trunk. With my spare tire jack, I jacked up the rear right jack point on the body. This raised the car body the 3 inches so I could then bolt the top of the shock to the trunk panel. The same thing was done for the other side.

Lastly I tightened all bolts and nuts. Remembering to put the lock nuts on the bottom of shocks.

All total, abouat two plus hours of work.

Hope this helps.