Yesterday I installed 4 new Bilstein HDs in my 1978 280 SLC. I thought it was going to be a bit of a mission, having read some others posts mentioning coil spring compressors and the like. Actually it turned out to be VERY easy. All 4 done at home with my usual tools in a kind of casual mood in about 2 1/2 hours. That was even with having to cut off one of the locknuts with my Dremel tool.. The handling has tightened up quite a bit, especially on the front where there used to be Monroe Gasmatics. One of which could be compressed by hand to half length with NO resistance.. Scary. On the back, the shocks I took off were the original Bilsteins, date stamped with 09/78 like everything else on my SLC. Even after 26 years they still felt like they were OK. Just a bit softer than the new ones on compression and a bit slower on extension. Nice to have them as spares I guess!.. It was raining here today, so I haven't given them a real thrash on a fun twisty road yet. Around Wellington city (which to be fair is all corners..) they do feel better and the SLC does seem to sit flatter in corners.