Front Coil-over Shocks

Just as I expected, the front shocks were awful.  Time to replace them with some shocks that will be able to handle the extra load. (200 lbs of batteries)

 Out with the old and in with the new. Hey, that's just like the New Year!
So, what can go wrong when changing your shocks?  First there's the chance that the upper control arm can be completely rusted beyond control.  Not in this case.
Second, the bushing can get rusted to the permanently attached bolt.  BINGO!!  And that happened on ech side.  More than likely due to the age of the car and the shocks.

OK, you have to tilt your head to see it but the metal sleeve of the bushing is frozen to the lower control arm bolt.  Only penetrating oil and time can really fix this.  Worse case scenario, I break out the torch and see if heat will work.  Last resort, cut the darn thing off with my angle grinder and go from there.

When you go to take off the top bolt the entire upper part of the shock will turn with it.  A pair of vice grips comes in handy to hold the shaft in place while you turn a wrench, of some type, on the top nut.

OK, time and penetrating oil DID NOT work.  Some advice I got was 1. use heat ( a minute with a torch didn't do anything) 2. find the pin that holds the bolt in the lower torsion arm ( I found the pin and guess what?  It's not moving b/c it's rusted too.) 3. Grind away - and that was the solution.  Grind the sleeve down until you see you've made it all the way down to the bolt. 

Then I used my favorite gripper tool with a 3lb sledge hammer and turned it.  Once I saw rust, I applied penetrating oil and twisted a full rotation or two more.  Then I used  a large screwdriver to pry it open, twisted some more, then cut the end that I couldn't reach earlier with the grinder and voila, it come off. 

The new shocks look very nice.