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Well, since you shouldn't be driving your lude with the rear suspension in the condition it's in, pull that shock/spring combo out the car and take pics of the top of it (remove the 10mm nuts and the mounting piece and shock/spring combo should come out. You'll have to remove the lower fork bolt too of course). I have a feeling that you'll need another top shock mount. One from a junkyard should do as long as it's in decent condition.

I think that the washer that Mario is talking about is part of the upper shock mount. I had the same thing happen to my 85 Grand Am I used to have. When I hit a bump, it'd knock the top of the shock into the trunk and make this aweful noise! It was like 13 for a new one from the dealer...

 

[Daily Interlude]

That's because you busted the top part of the shock's dust cover where the washer is. It's hard to explain but you need to get a washer and put it on the top of the shock. When we dropped a buddies car, we had to cut/pry the washer off of the top of the upper shock dust cover, otherwise the shock would do what yours is doing.

It's all clearer to me know but trying to communicate it to you is difficult. Best thing for you to do is to take off both sides and compare the shocks on both. THen you'll see the difference and what you have to fix.

Man I wish I had some pics...

 

[Daily Interlude]

on the diagram #2 isnt even applicable to our car. i went to the dealership today and told them i needed them and thats what they told me.

Your dealer is on crack then....here's a link showing an 88 Si rear suspension (same as above)...

http://www.slhondaparts.com/browse....01|REAR+SHOCK+ABSORBER&Doors=2&Emissions=KA&PartCatalogId=13SF10&ViewParts=true

Now, some may not have the washer (#1) as it might be attached to the top of the dust cover (#13). That's what I was talking about though before...that the washer might be attached (or never reattached when previously worked on).

Now the issue of how/why yours broke comes up. Did your #11 break or was the washer left out and the top of the dust cover (#13) break? You don't need the dust cover, but you will have to have something to replace the washer if it's missing.

As for a writeup, it's pretty simple.

1. Jack up car and remove tire.
2. Remove bolts that hold brake lines to shock - 10mm.
3. Remove the lower fork bolt (#15 goes through bottom of 7/8 ) - 17mm.
4. Remove bolt #17 (2 of them each side) - 10 or 12 mm.
5. Remove shock assembly from suspension/car (may need to unbolt upper control arm to provide more clearance- 17mm).

The assembly is together putting parts together from left to right (put bushing on shock, dust cover next, spring next....). If you're only replacing the springs with springs or coilovers, you'll need to separate the shock from the spring. If you have shocks and springs/coilovers, you won't need to separate them.

Best bet is to reference the online manual for this. I might have missed some stuff. Wrote it all from memory...

General Suspension... http://www.honda.co.uk/owner/PreludeManual/18-1.html
Removal of assembly... http://www.honda.co.uk/owner/PreludeManual/62sf100/12-34.pdf
Disassembly...http://www.honda.co.uk/owner/PreludeManual/62sf100/12-35.pdf
Reassembly...http://www.honda.co.uk/owner/PreludeManual/62sf100/12-37.pdf
Installation...http://www.honda.co.uk/owner/PreludeManual/62sf100/12-37.pdf