Project SS!

[Mike]

And the solution to a wheel that isn't straight? Mount it a few teeth off

[HAULN-SS]

did you mean max out camber in the negative direction? Also, as for setting up the ..caster? I think, should I just adjust it so the wheel is mostly centered in the wheel well, then work the control arms to max and make sure nothing bumps?

[Evan]

well I was assuming that you just wanted it to not kill your tires while you get it to an alignment shop, but generally speaking yes a good starting point for a performance alignment is max negative camber, max positive caster, and zero toe. you can do a little toe out but its easier to do zero with the tape measure method.
though im not sure how the 18th century suspension design on that car affects things

[HAULN-SS]

Frustrating time last night. Was just about to get everything buttoned up - just had to put the caliper on the caliper bracket. Turns out, I think the caliper bracket is twisted or something. I had a hard time getting the torx bolt and shims in place because it seemed like it was way out of wack - worse than the driver's side. After it was all lined up and torqued down, the rotor was rubbing on the very edge a little bit. So, much cussing later, I have the air grinder out and I'm getting the clearances shaved a little bit so that everything works, finally bolted back on, rotor spins freely..alright..home stretch! Or...not. The caliper wouldn't bolt on to the caliper pins - at least not both at the same time. I think the bracket itself has some twist in it or something that is causing it to not line up propery so if you get one bolt on, the other one won't go. Pretty damn annoying.

I have contacted the place I ordered the kit from and the hilarious part is he's like "well the fastest way for us to get you a new one is if you buy it." Which makes no sense - but I'm ready to get done with this. He tells me then that the "warranty on the part is voided" because I was grinding it down for clearance. We'll see how it goes, but he wants to look at it before sending a refund on the new on that I have to buy..it's a real WTF kind of way of doing business. The borked one is cast steel, so there's no way it could have ever fit without modifications, and even that wasn't enough.

[HAULN-SS]

I mentioned earlier I might try to upgrade the oontz in the car whenever I get around to doing the dash (might be this winter at this rate, i just want to drive it now). I came across this today: <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.amazon.com/Lanzar-HTG558BT-5-Channel-Amplifier-Bluetooth/dp/B00LJX5J0I/ref=sr_1_12?s=car&ie=UTF8&qid=1406237688&sr=1-12&keywords=bluetooth+amplifier#productDetails">http://www.amazon.com/Lanzar-HTG558BT-5 ... uctDetails</a><!-- m -->

Finally a way to sync directly to an amp without having to have a head unit. I have never heard of that brand, and I need to check the specs on my old stereo equipment to see what I need to get exactly. I still have an amp and a kicker 10" sub that was pretty top end at the time and crushed when I still had my blazer. I may be able to get away with a 2 or 4 channel tucked up under the dash if I can wire the sub and rear 2 speakers to the amp I already have. It's been a long time since I wired up any car stereo stuff so I am having to do a refresher on exactly how all this crap works.

[davej]

pick up another for a matching pair. what's another 10k?
<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://harrisonburg.craigslist.org/cto/4543093772.html">http://harrisonburg.craigslist.org/cto/4543093772.html</a><!-- m -->

although

T-Tops, "Do not leak",

might be cause for concern...

[HAULN-SS]

doesnt look too bad but it'd have to also have an immaculate interior to pull that price. The next Gbody I'd buy would definitely be a grand national though

[HAULN-SS]

Long story short I think I got the front end back together last night. The bracket issue may have been caused by incorrect torque applied to the bolts that hold the conversion bracket to the spindle (air gun). Seems like I got it more in line with where it should be, but it is still stiff to turn the wheel. It may be the brake pads rubbing, not sure - I think that will correct itself once I go for a drive and bed the pads.

In other news - the car does seem to be sitting HIGHER than it was before. Has anyone ever put in new spring sbefore? I don't know whether to expect these springs to settle a bit or what, but I'm going to have to do something else if this is permanent. I think thye are installed correctly, but who knows.

[Mike]

doesnt look too bad but it'd have to also have an immaculate interior to pull that price. The next Gbody I'd buy would definitely be a grand national though

Yeah, but his loss your gain.

[.RJ]

In other news - the car does seem to be sitting HIGHER than it was before. Has anyone ever put in new spring sbefore? I don't know whether to expect these springs to settle a bit or what, but I'm going to have to do something else if this is permanent. I think thye are installed correctly, but who knows.

Did you replace the control arms, or anything with bushings? IF so you need the suspension loaded at ride height while torquing bolts down or else the bushings are bound up and it will sit higher.

[HAULN-SS]

The upper control arms did have new bushings in them. Maybe I need to retorque them while it is on the ground. I hadn't thought of that. I also did some searching around, and apparently the coil springs have to be clocked properly. I had kind of just rotated them til it "felt right" but I don't know if that corresponds to the right clocking or not. I will have to check that when I get the next chance.

[HAULN-SS]

short update here tonight. I had to have the wheel adapters I ordered for the rear machined a little bit because they wouldn't slip over there flange on the rear drums. I dont know who's fault it is, but I gave them to my dad to machine and got them back and on there tonight. Some good news - the ride height seems like it is going to settle in nice - wheel gap looks good, and to pat myself on the back, I think the stance is going to be awesome.

Now for the bad news - I went on a quick lap around the neighborhood - something on the brake caliper is definitely rubbing on each rotation. The good news is I think the suspension is clearing lock to lock. I'm going to have to take it in for an alignment for sure anyway - I'm going to have them diagnose the grinding sound from that rub. i am just tired and out of time to be fooling with it. Secondly, I don't know why - but the car seems like it is going to stop pretty well, but hte pedal does seem spongy. Going to have them diagnose it too. Getting so close to being back ont he road. Next pics oughtta be after its all cleaned up and back.

The next thing to do as far as the project goes - get the emissions legal, car registered in WV or VA, and get the dash rebuilt with the digital one.

[HAULN-SS]

Got the rear shocks and springs put in. I just picked it up from the alignment shop this morning. I gotta say, the results are awesome! I haven't driven it much because I now need to get it registered and inspected, but on the twisties roads back to the house, it is planted! I was skeptical of just how good the results were going to be, but it feels as tight as my ATS at first blush. I will be able to tell more when I get a chance to push it some more.
I have to get it cleaned up, but here's the gist of it. I am pretty happy with the stance, and it should settle in some as the springs settle some more. I will get it cleaned up and get some high light pictures. Kinda crappy conditions outside for good pics today

[WRXtranceformed]

Nice! Liking the stance. Needs tint for full gangster effect

[HAULN-SS]

Yeah - I need to get some center caps too. I have the TSW ones, but I'm not sure I want them on there. There is already virginia legal tint on there, but I have been thinking about re-doing it to something darker. I'm not sure how much darker I could go without drawing unwanted attention

[Sully]

Get medical wavior so you can go 35% on the fronts. I think that's what it is.

[HAULN-SS]

Well this is a good thing and a bad thing...she has brakes! I was telling someone at turducken about how I had basically no pedal feel after doing all this work for a bit. It started out OK, but then eventually got to the point it has to be mashed to floor to get any stoppage. No bueno.

So I tried to figure out what was going on - bled the brakes a total of three times. Finally got fed up and took it to the shop near my house. They come back and tell me the MC is leaking, and they are going to replace it, flush and bleed the whole system. So I agree, and think maybe that's the problem. Long story short, they had the car about a week trying to figure out what it was, and AFTER replacing hte MC, come back and tell me the proportioning valve needs to be changed. Well, they couldnt find one, so I took this as an excuse to come get the car, because I am pretty sure it doesn't need a new one for this setup, especially cause i didnt put discs on the back.

So I ended up racking my brain thinking of what it could be. It finally dawned on me to swap the calipers side to side so the bleed valve is on the top. I do that, and what do you know they bled easy and i got a hard pedal right off the bat. The only slight problem i had is one of the bleeder valves had a leak around it. I used some teflon to seal that up, and she's good to go! I was working off a diagram the C6 brake kit guy sent me, and it clearly showed to have them mounted with the bleeder valve down. I feel like a dummy, but at least the problem is solved. Now the question is, why wouldnt the shop hav ecaught that? I spent a lot of money for nothing over there, and would be spending more if it was up to them. I am thinking I am done taking shit there (same shop that had previously quoted me 1700 on the F250 brakes)

[Senor_Taylor]

Sounds like one of those things that's too obvious to ever consider.

[HAULN-SS]

especially considering this is the drawing I was sent showing the install:

bleeder valve is purple on the bottom left

[HAULN-SS]

Quick update - this is why you should never trust your 18 year old self to have done something right:



This was an inline fuse that I had put under the carpet of all places. It fried, and this is why my electric fan had quit working. I had known for a while it was a shitty setup, but I didn't remember exactly how shitty.

Anyhow, this weekends project was re-doing the electric fan correctly, with a themostatic relay so that it can kick on based on temperature, instead of being on all the time. The wiring on this was pretty simple after it was all said and done, and the relay has an adjuster on it so I can change when the fan kicks on by a little set screw. I also have extra wiring for it to run another fan, but I only have a single for the moment. I was all set to put in a dual fan setup, but since the original one was still working after getting the wiring right I left it.

I started to dig into doing sensor replacements so I can put in the digital guage cluster, but when I opened it up, the face plates were the wrong color

I have some emails out - but I wish I had opened to box sooner. I wasn't going to work on this while it was 20 degrees out. I hope they can just send me a new cluster with the right colors