I've made a mistake and am in need of your knowledge sir. I was cleaning my engine and removed my FSTB. All was well. After I was through with the engine, I went to replace the FSTB and in the process of doing so, I sheared one of the tower bolts clear off. Now my question to you is exactly how difficult is it to fix this and how much? Thanks for the help in advance Daniel.

Anthony B

 

I am no Daniel B. Martin but I think I can tell you what needs to be done.

You have to first go you your local unfriendly nissan dealer and buy the piece that has the strut tower bolts on it. Basicaly it is black piece with 3 STB, bump stop & a boot, sorry I forgot the name of this piece. Anyhow you have remove your supension and then use a spring compressor{you can rent one} to remove the broken part and then put the new Strut tower piece in and reinstall. All in all it is about a 1-1.5 hour job for a home mechanic. Probably 45 minutes with a lift and air tools.

 

Emax95 gave good advice. The part you need is called Strut Mounting Insulator Bracket. The service procedure is the same as for replacing a spring. This procedure is covered in the Chilton repair manual (page 8-8) and the Haynes repair manual (page 10-5).

I hesitate to estimate repair costs because labor rates vary from place to place. In general, they are higher in urban areas and lower in rural areas. The time estimates made by Emax95 are in the right ball park but most repair shops will charge you the "book rate" regardless of the actual elapsed time. That may seem wrong, it may seem unfair, but it is a common industry practice.

It is recommended to tighten the strut tower bolts with a torque wrench. The factory spec is 29-40 foot pounds.

 

Emax95, Daniel, thanks alot for the help. Just one more question. How much does this part cost? An estimate would be greatly appreciated as well.

 

I believe it is about 40 dollars.