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Old 12-10-2023, 06:57 PM   #121
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i'm just gonna leave this here while i put the car back together. new gktech subframe bushings, powdercoated a whole bunch, sandblasted all the hardware (thank god, it needed it), freed up a lot of stuck ball joints, lots more to come.
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Old 12-25-2023, 06:36 PM   #122
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welcome to part 4. final results are at the end, but the whole story is pretty good. "well why didn't you also do ________?" the answer is "time and money and avoiding the snowball effect".

one last pre-rebuild pic



i had some suspension rust that i said "wasn't structural". it was about to be. i also had no IACV, bushings from 1993 everywhere on the car, a shaky left mirror, a leaking exhaust, seized ball joints/heim joints and dirt everywhere. literally everywhere.

so here's what i did:



first, dropped the rear subframe. i'm lucky that every bolt came off properly as it should. then i bought another rear subframe that looked equally bad but had way less rust!




and this began the process of stripping the old frame AND new frame of everything. i wanted it all stripped and repainted, with new bushings and NO RUSTY HARDWARE. and then i'd put all my current suspension stuff, onto the new subframe. so i did that...



seriously, i hate subframe bushings. these were not fun at all.
obligatory "holy shit dude, you fucking killed them." i'm aware of the hole saw method, but didn't have the right tools. a saw, hammer and chisel worked fine.



pulled EVERYTHING off the front and rear after that. sway bars, brackets, bushings, etc...




and now, it was "repair and replace" time. i may have used unconventional methods to press the bushings in, but...gotta do what you gotta do with minimal tools, and it worked.
  • powdercoated everything except diff, axles, knuckles
  • sandblasted every single piece of suspension hardware. eccentric bolts, washers, nuts, etc.
  • replaced the front arms and ball joints
  • cleaned off the rear arm guards
  • nismo rear traction arm bushings
  • gktech subframe bushings
  • prothane rear lower arm bushings
  • energy susp sway bar bushings
  • new rear lower arm ball joints







i know the bushing and insert aren't flush, i wasn't done when i took the pic






i also did some cleaning, not that that counts towards a rebuild.







and then, reinstallation and wrapping things up with other misc jobs, before i show the finished results.

rethreading the sway bar bracket holes because guy powdercoated over them.

new IACV, which didn't fix my cold start issue. on cold starts, i have to hold RPM at 2000 and slowly bring it back down to 1k or else it'll shut off.

the interior A pillar mirror trim piece was missing a "nub" so I bought a $45 used one thinking it would stop my mirror from vibrating while driving. you can move my left mirror up and down a bit, and you can't do that with my right mirror. thought it would fix that. nope.

new exhaust gasket, oh yah

wrapped the hood black. good enough until paint time


let's talk about steering and wrap this shit up. my motor mounts are old and saggy, which i think is why my Flashark headers (never heard of them) hit the steering column. the $100 fix would be new motor mounts, the $0 fix was to remove the headers, bang them out, and call it a day until i decide to spend $250 on new headers.


except, that sucked. the headers wouldn't come out at any angle, even with the valve cover AND all studs removed. the O2 sensor was frozen onto there too. all easy jobs start looking like this, right?


took the U-joint bolts out, hammered some spreaders into there, and spent 2 hours getting the U joint off the rack. this meant the "extendable" part of the column needed enough force to retract back into a completely dry column. ugh.

the pic looks like the spline is bent, it's not.

somehow i got the column off. i did a solid Gktech steering bushing while i was at it. there's minimal instruction out there for how to remove a steering column frozen onto the steering rack by 30 years of rust, WITH the engine and all accessories installed. it wasn't fun. getting the column back on was way easier.



while the headers were out, swapped the ridiculously dirty O2 sensor.



used the table vice to press a 10mm wrench into the part of the header that the column was hitting, to bend it. worked fine, meaning "certainly not the right way to fix the problem, but it cost me $0 until i pay someone to fix the studs".

ok, last part.







looks like the knuckle isn't all the way on the ball joint, it is, but the ball joint is missing the dust boot. need to get a replacement one


and that's it for now. i seriously, seriously need an alignment; i left for vacation right after i finished and haven't had time. actually haven't touched the car since driving it around the block after the rebuild...so we'll see how it goes next year.

thanks again for reading. merry christmas and all that shit
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Old 01-12-2024, 11:12 AM   #123
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1 year ago today, i picked up this car.

1 year later, all i've done is put a new carpet in:











from Auto Custom Carpets. i did all the work myself and it was pretty annoying. there are several areas on the corners of the "seat wells" that had either not enough material or a ridiculous amount of excess. either way...worth it. some areas look like they have "bulges" but it's just shadows.

step 1: take the old junk out.

step 2: remove the old sound insulation with a wire brush, remove the fat red wire (anyone know if it was for an amp or just a badly done battery relocation?), clean it.

step 3: old carpet goes on top of new carpet. i cut out the general outline, but they were too different to cut any other holes... i don't know who sized this at ACC but it really wasn't a direct match.

step 4: hire yourself to perform $0 of labor to install the carpet - lay it down, cut a few holes, take it out, cut more, put it back in...

step 8: dye your stock interior parts with $26 of fabric dye. the color is deep, it doesn't rub off, and i like it.

i'll throw some more pics after the whole car is back together and running. anyone want to sell me their valences?
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Old 01-12-2024, 05:35 PM   #124
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The new carpet is one of my favorite mods I ever did - makes the car feel so much newer.
How do you like the subframe bushings? I'd like to ditch my solid ones...eventually.
Also, the cheat code for making small holes in the carpet is to use a soldering iron a bit more precise / control than a razor blade
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Old 01-13-2024, 06:15 PM   #125
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ok, picture time. i think i'm done for the foreseeable future, minus a power steering rack rebuild and maybe some valences. interior is done, underside is done, hood is wrapped, and my exhaust scrapes every fucking thing in existence!





red LEDs on an all black interior can get it!



Quote:
Originally Posted by tuzzio View Post
The new carpet is one of my favorite mods I ever did - makes the car feel so much newer.
How do you like the subframe bushings? I'd like to ditch my solid ones...eventually.
Also, the cheat code for making small holes in the carpet is to use a soldering iron a bit more precise / control than a razor blade
agreed on the carpet, especially since it makes the inside match the underside (now they're both nice). i love the bushings, they're just as compliant as i would want them to be, and they make these offbrand coilovers feel much nicer than they are. but i'm neither an expert nor someone who has tried solid bushings before, so...
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Old 02-11-2024, 08:35 PM   #126
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this forum's been dead recently. whatever. the vert has been very alive. another 300 miles down since the last post and only some leaking power steering fluid to report:





met up with some friends. did some offroading at the beach. 124 miles in a day.

decided i wanted new motor mounts so i got poly ones. underestimated how non-pliable polyurethane is...and realized just how much my interior can vibrate. immediately went back to new OEM.





could be cleaner in here, but i don't care. everything has been working as it should, and that strut brace was free.



unless i can fully strip, rust repair, repaint and undercoat the bare frame I don't think i'm gonna keep this car forever. i can keep chasing imperfections, but that's how people end up broke. the rust is in super small areas, but it's in enough areas that it's not worth my time to do anything other than a full restoration on the whole chassis.

and it's about to be vert weather so i ain't gonna do that.

but, WOW! it looks good!
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Old 02-12-2024, 08:00 AM   #127
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awesome to see how you saved this car. keep up the good work
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Old 02-13-2024, 11:24 AM   #128
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Seeing the subframe and suspension redone like that is always so satisfying -- not particularly looking forward to doing it myself, though. Car is looking awesome for sure, glad to hear it's not giving you too many issues either
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Old 02-13-2024, 02:24 PM   #129
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I wholeheartedly believe that the correct way to clearance headers and exhausts is to dent the hell out of them. They never fit 100% unless you get bespoke tig welded etc etc for those of us with the occasional fleabay part on our car denting the exhaust is totally valid.
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Old 02-13-2024, 07:47 PM   #130
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Quote:
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I wholeheartedly believe that the correct way to clearance headers and exhausts is to dent the hell out of them. They never fit 100% unless you get bespoke tig welded etc etc for those of us with the occasional fleabay part on our car denting the exhaust is totally valid.
i still don't get how, with brand new motor mounts, these headers can hit the steering column. guess "flashark" didn't do any test-fits before they sold these to my previous owner for probably $5. it seems that "godsnow" didn't test-fit their exhaust either lol. none of the hangers line up.

so i REALLY want someone to cut through the collector on these headers, and weld it to a bespoke oval-tube exhaust with the hangers in the proper spots.

if i didn't have a mix of Enjuku, OEM half-stripped and broken exhaust studs, I would just buy nice new ISR/megan headers, which probably won't hit the column.
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Old 02-26-2024, 08:22 AM   #131
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hanging out with cool guys.







i did another 84 miles around the state yesterday and had time to think. i really don't have issues with this car anymore. i need to figure out what to do about the soon-to-be-expensive parts of the car, like these...(ignore the 6th pic)



rust. and power steering lines that aren't corroded, but are about to be. do i tear this entire car down and have someone fix the rust, fix the terrible holes the previous owner cut for his KA-T intercooler, possibly break a lot of trim and small 30-year old plastic pieces in the process?

or do i avoid a teardown, have someone fix the rust and then give Maaco a call for paint? lol.

if i wait and do nothing, the rust will get worse.
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Old 02-26-2024, 08:26 AM   #132
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double post but just found out that this car used to have a fucking KA-T. that explains the hole in the hood.

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