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I was hearing a knocking sound from the rear suspension so I decided to raise the car to see what I could find. As soon as the driver side rear tire was off the ground, I heard a sound like something leaking.

This is what I found on the driver side rear suspension. The noise I heard when lifting the rear of the car was oil squirting out of the top of the shock. When I was removing the shock, I found the bushings were essentially gone, just a crumbling gooey mess (see pic). The shock on the driver’s side was broken.

I removed the shock on the passenger side to replace the bushings but found this shock bent.

As a note the rear springs are 350#. I know others have said they have experienced broken shocks on their Callaway coilover suspensions. Is the bent and/or broken shock an inherent issue in the Callaway coilover set up or is the result of bushings that disintegrated?
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You can buy bushings in sets - front and rear, from our parts department. Give Wayne a call @ 860 434 9002

Also, he can talk to you about rebuilding the broken shock. It's not common, but has happened, and the replacement tube must be re-grooved for the coil over system.

Chris, Thank you for your suggestion. I called call Wayne and he was awesome!

I already purchased the early Bilstein replacement shocks but did not get them grooved yet. I asked Wayne if he knew what shock valving was installed on the car but he said they don't have records to that level of detail from back then. However he did mentioned that the ZR-1's that were converted in the mid 90's and later probably had late model shocks. Sure enough when I checked the shocks I removed from my car they are the late model version. When I ordered the shocks I thought since it was a 1990 car I should order the early version shocks. I'm glad I didn't get them grooved yet.

Special thanks to Wayne for his help!!!

Awesome to hear, and I shared your feedback with Wayne, and the principals at Callaway, along with Wayne's manager. Much appreciated, and glad we were able to support you on this.

Do you have pictures of the new bushings going in?

Also, any tips or tricks while doing this job? I do recall you did this recently, and thought you had a write-up. Thanks

The only thing I put together was a short video on the shock assembly.

https://youtu.be/TM_ofmKV6CU

Good clip, thanks for posting.