Old Library

Chock the front wheels. Jack up the rear of the car.

Remove both rear wheels. (Use the wheels to block the car i.e. put one wheel under each sill, so if the car falls off the jack + the stands, it won't fall straight to the ground & squish the person underneath.)

Unscrew the top & bottom shock mounts and drop the shocks.

Note 1: Some people who have done the Whipple bar install didn't need to do this; I think they have the real early model of the bar where the bolt is backed with a nut on the hatch side, so they only need enough room to insert the bolt in from the wheel well side.)

Note 2: a 5/8" (16.25 mm) socket will fit the shock-to-torsion bar nut, if you don't have a 16 mm socket.

To help locating the holes to be drilled, make a exact template of the mount's bottom surface: Press a piece of aluminum foil onto the mount's bottom surface and then transfer the foil's indentations onto cardboard.

Alternatively, put the mount on cardboard then draw around it with a pencil or scribe around it with an awl. Remember to mark the bolt holes too.

This pic shows how the template will be used to mark the holes to be drilled.

Put some masking tape on the side of the shock tower to make marks on. Measure 6 1/2" from the far edge of the shock's top mount down the side of the shock tower.

(This actually put the top bolt a bit too close to the top, making it somewhat difficult to get a socket wrench onto it. 6 3/4" down from the top would have been better.)

(I mounted the mounts vertically. I didn't think it was a good idea to mount it horizontally given the curvature of the shock towers. I located the mounts near the top of the shock tower, for the best leverage.)

Use the template to mark the holes onto the masking tape.

Cut the carpeting w/ an utility knife. Use the template to check the holes' position, centerpunch the drilling points, and drill the holes. (I used a 9/16" bit. An 5/8" bit would be OK too I think. The bolts are good old 1/4"x20 standard thread.)

From the fender side, put one bolt + washer through the top hole. On the hatch side, use tweezers or needle nose pliers to gently grip the bolt while screwing the mount onto it. (Use blue Locktite.)

Repeat for the opposite side.

Now call somebody to help hold the mounts stationary while you screw in the second bolts from the wheel side.

Put the shocks back in place. Put the wheels back on.

The finished installation!

• What's the torque specs for the bolts?

• When the bolts are screwed in all the way, they stick up a bit from the mounts' base and interfere with the bar ends, requiring that the bar be retracted slightly before it can be removed. No biggie; just somewhat annoying.

• Change the mounts slightly so they have unthreaded holes. The mounting bolts can be inserted from the shock side and the mount secured to it on the hatch side with a nut + washer. It'd make installation a lot less fiddly. It would also make installation a true one-person job since you won't need a helping hand to hold the mount while you screw in the bolts.

  Perhaps the mount can look like this: