Dumb question. But how do you know when the bolt on the shock is tight? I'm using pliers to hold the top of the shock. I was able to tighten it some. But now, everytime I turn the wrench, the top of the shock just rotates with me.
2nd question. See how the black plate isn't flush on the bottom? Will that be a problem? The lower bolt was a massive pita to screw in straight. But I managed to do so.

 

Something just doesn't look right with that picture. You look to have way more thread showing on the damper than you should have, plus that damper rod doesn't look to be at 90 degrees to the shock plate & bushing.

First, I would recommend you tighten the shock plate while there is no pressure on it from the damper, there should be no difficulty aligning the bolts of the shock plate to the bodywork/frame, I think you are fighting the weight of the car on the shock plate. Jack the car up until there is no weight pushing the damper against the shock plate,

I would also recommend that you hold the two flats on the top of the damper with either a small, well fitting, open-end wrench, or small crescent wrench, pliers probably won't have a good enough grip to tighten the retaining bolt fully.

The next thing I would check is the retaining ring-or circlip near the top of the damper rod that holds it on the underside of the bushing, you look to have way too much thread showing, as if the damper rod has entered into the shock plate bushing?

 

When I was placing the black plate, and tightening the 10mm bolts, the wheel was up in the air. No weight. Still was a massive pain to align the bolt holes. I was just now trying to do the passenger side. But when I start lowering the car, the shock rod doesn't come up at all. Makes no sense. So I rose the car. Took the new plate off, put the old one on. Tightened the 10mm bolts, with the wheel in the air. With the old one in place, the rod comes back up. Weird.

 

That was before I switched the driver side. Does too much thread seem to be showing there? Also, I just now noticed in the only one with two nuts instead of one. The car has red koni shocks if that matters.

 

That does seem strange, because if there is no weight on the shock plate from the damper rod, then the plate should line up easily and the 10mm bolts should easily start by hand, the only thing that often makes it hard to align the 10mm plate bolts is if the weight of the car is holding the plate away from the body/frame and causing misalignment.

It may be because you have Koni shocks that they have a longer threaded part to the upper rod, the image I showed is of OEM Bilsteins.

.

 

See post #31 and below on the thread linked. I'm experiencing that stuff as well.https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...-103540/page2/
I'll get it

 

Yes, and as per post #32, I experienced that on one of my shock plates too. It was a simple case of just running a drill of the size of the hole through to remove any "burrs".

Not sure this helps you at all now, but this was the procedure I used at the time, maybe it will help any future members.

"The shock mounts are very easy to do, do the passenger side first as it is slightly easier. You do need to jack the car up, so that you can take the pressure off the shock absorber-to-shock mount plate, but you do not have to remove the wheels, unless you are changing the shocks at the same time.

Just place a jack lightly under the normal jacking point under the "A" pillar, then, holding the shock absorber stem with a small crescent wrench, undo and remove the top nut with a wrench. Then jack the car up under the "A" pillar and watch the now-free shock absorber stem slide down out of the shock mount as the front suspension drops. Once there is no pressure from the shock absorber on the shock plate it is easy to undo the 5 bolts holding the shock plate in place.

Remove the shock plate, and replace with the new one, lowering the car a little as necessary so that the shock stem guides into the new shock plate bushing. Then insert the 5 bolts, and adjust the jack up or down a little to ensure there is zero pressure from the shock absorber on the shock plate so that the shock plate bolts line up easily. Tighten the bolts and then lower the car until you can replace the top nut on the shock absorber.

Remove the jack and go to the driver's side and repeat. The driver side is the same except the power steering pump reservoir has to be moved out of the way to access a couple of the shock plate bolts.

Should take about 1/2 hour each side".

 

Drilled the opening some on the new passenger side plate. So I was going to install it today. And this happened. Fun stuff. Yes, I made a mistake.

 

Not sure what happened, what did?

 

Looks like he bolted the old one back by mistake.

 

I did put the old one back, correct. I had to, as I didn't have any bits to open the new plate up. And I needed my car. So I had time today. You guys know that top part of the rod, that you hold so you can loosen the nut? That part broke off on me.

 

Uh oh, I see a set of Bilsteins in your future.......but that's not a bad thing.


..

 

Reasonably priced as well. My car being a Sport, do I buy the "sport" bilsteins or base suspension bilsteins? Looks like I'm going to have to use a grinder to cut under the nut on the rod. Seems like that is the only way it'll come off.

 

Yes, should be able to get front Bilsteins for around $120 each on eBay (may want to consider replacing the rears, and new donuts, at the same time?).

Whether you go with the sport dampers or comfort dampers is up to you, if you like the firmer ride stay with the sports.

(The sports are green in color, the comforts are black)

 

Not a big deal, you can just grind two sides of the rod at the top and make a new flat for a spanner. The nut does not have to be very tight and, since you have enough thread, you can put another nut for extra safety against loosening.

 

Forgot to update the thread. My dad has an 01 xjr parts car. We looked at the shocks on it. They looked to be fairly new, and have lots of resistance to them. So, we put them in my car along with new mounts. Only installed them for the two fronts. Crazy how much nicer they ride.

 

Having just replaced these myself, one thing I learned is to tighten the bottom bolts on the plates first. When I tightened the top bolts, it made the bottom of the plates difficult to align and tighten.

 

shock help thanks

 

Brandon - I thought you had an XJR-100 (?)

 

I do. But look at the date I made this post. I bought the 100 2 years ago.