Here's what you'll find upon removal of the front wheels. As you should know by now, the wheels are held to the hubs with M12-1.50 bolts with a 14mm head on them. Although sufficient for the stock steelies, these bolts aren't quite long enough to get a good bite when upgrading to aluminum wheels, as most of them have a thicker seating surface for the bolt/nut. Upgrades are available, which I discuss here.
Note that the car is supported by jack stands. Never rely on a jack alone to support the weight of the car. Any time you have to raise the car, you should work on firm, level ground (preferably on concrete or asphalt), and have the weight supported by jack stands. If you have access to a lift, of course, that makes things not only easier, but safer as well.
The jack is touching the lover control arm, though. This helps keep the lower
control arm from dropping when the strut is unbolted from the frame and the
steering knuckle. The jack becomes useful again when reassembling, as it
helps guide the upper mount into the tower.
If you're going to reuse the upper mounts, be sure to note the position of the mount in relation to the hole. There is an alignment mark (nipple) between the inner and outer rings. If you look closely, you'll see that the marks are to the left (passenger's side) on both of the mounts in these pictures. Looking even more closely, you'll note that the mounts themselves are offset to the passenger's side. I'm not certain whether it was supposed to be like this, but that's how it was when I got the car. Changing the orientation of these mounts will affect the camber and caster of your front wheels. In other words, if you don't want to have to get your car aligned right away, don't reverse the mounts! This assumes, of course, that your car was aligned before you started.
I'm not sure why, but the aftermarket mounts I got from FMS don't have these
marks, and don't appear to be offset, either.
The lower bolts
(17mm heads) may be a little stubborn and hard to remove. If such is the case,
you may have to give them a little encouragement. If you have to use a hammer,
be sure you screw the nut part way back on the bolt to avoid damaging the
threads.
The last thing you have to remove from the strut to get it out of the car is the
clip that holds on the brake line. A flat-tip screwdriver and hammer make short
work of this piece. Just make sure you don't lose it, as the new struts won't
come with a new clip.
Here
you can see the difference between the new and old front strut/spring combo. The
stock spring is significantly longer than the coil-over one, especially
considering that the stock spring is already compressed some to install the upper
spring seat and mount.
This
wall-mount spring compressor is the safest way to remove the spring front strut
assembly. Unfortunately, they are also expensive, and not easy to find for
purchase. Since they are most often used by automotive repair shops, they are
usually only available through equipment suppliers. Unless you plan on doing a
lot of struts, I wouldn't recommend trying to get one of these.
You can also use the commonly-available spring compressors found at Auto Zone, Pep Boys, etc. which basically consists of two long screws, each with a pair of claw-like devices to clamp onto the outside of the spring. I would recommend getting one that has the positive-locking clips, so that the compressor won't slip off the spring. If the clamps slip off the compressed spring, the spring can fly off, causing serious injury, damage to surroundings, or possibly even death. With proper use of the tools and respect for the spring's stored energy, though, this isn't any more dangerous than any other aspect of the procedure.
If you don't feel comfortable removing the spring yourself, another option is to
have a shop remove the spring for you. If you plan on having them reinstall your
stock spring, you'll need to have the new strut (and mount, if you're also
replacing that) with you, so they can do it all at once. If you're going to go
with coil-overs, you will only need the old springs removed, as the upper perch
and mount can be installed on the coil-overs without compressing the springs.
Here's
what the stock spring/strut assembly (minus strut) looks like when removed. The
gasket/vibration isolator is sandwiched between the underside of the strut tower
and the top of the upper strut mount. The bushing/bearing sits atop the upper
perch, and consists of an upper "race," a bushing, and a rubber retainer. The
bearing should be cleaned and re-greased before installation. The upper spring
pad and spring itself would not be used with coil-overs. Also not pictured here
are the bump stop, which sits around the strut piston rod (chrome part), and
rides against the underside of the upper spring perch; and the dust boot, which
attaches to the bump stop.