Project DD moonlighting as trail rig

[Senor_Taylor]

I was washing my truck after work today and peaked under to spray the underside.

See if you can spot what's wrong here. It's really subtle, so only a trained eye can spot the problem.



Little did I know; shocks don't work very well if they aren't actually connected to anything.

I have no clue how, but the piston shaft unscrewed itself from the little eyelit/bushing thing that connects the bottom of the shock to the axle. I should have peaked under there sooner because the whole drive back to Harrisonburg felt like driving a pogo stick.

The sun set on me too quickly, so I just took the shock off (Thank goodness for leaf springs so taking the shock off can be done with no jack or anything.) Then I threaded the piston back onto the bottom and had my roommate hold the shock compressed for me while I put it back on.

During this, I discovered that I'm missing half of the bushing on the top of the shock. Whether or not this is why my shock came off, I do not know, but I'm sure it has contributed to the many many many suspension noises I've heard in the last year. I guess I'll order a new set of bushings, If I can find them, and put them in.

[Senor_Taylor]

After further inspection, I have TWO Driver side shocks installed. Which makes no sense. Driver side shocks are shorther by .5", but that doesn't matter since the one that over extended was on the driver side.

I just ordered some 10" 5125s, since I BELIEVE the ones I have are the 8" and 8.5" 5100s, so we'll see how things go when they get here. I may have to try and find some extended bumpstops.

[V1GiLaNtE]

After further inspection, I have TWO Driver side shocks installed. Which makes no sense. Driver side shocks are shorther by .5", but that doesn't matter since the one that over extended was on the driver side.

I just ordered some 10" 5125s, since I BELIEVE the ones I have are the 8" and 8.5" 5100s, so we'll see how things go when they get here. I may have to try and find some extended bumpstops.

Is that a Toyota specific thing? I have never heard of Jeep Bilstein 5100's being side specific. :dunno:

Also bushings are super cheap. Check out Summit Racing. They usually carry them.

[Senor_Taylor]

Is that a Toyota specific thing? I have never heard of Jeep Bilstein 5100's being side specific. :dunno:

Also bushings are super cheap. Check out Summit Racing. They usually carry them.

Yes, and the 5125s I ordered should come with some.

[Senor_Taylor]

So, I finally got around to replacing my 5100s with 5125's. I started around 11:30 and finished just now at 4. Why you may ask? Because I'm dumb.

So, to start off, here is the comparison between the 5100s and the new 5125 shocks. The 5100 is an extended shock good up to ~2 inches of lift, which was too short for me.



The old shocks came off fine, but I had to get Giancarlo to come help me compress the shocks to get them on. Here is where the fun started. For some reason, we couldn't get the new bushings to slid onto the studs on the axle and frame, so we tried sanding them with some metal working sand paper and that didn't help, so we kept banging and banging them to get them to slide on. We got the top of the passenger one on and then couldn't find leverage to get the bottom side compressed and on the stud, so we used a ratchet strap. We then spent 2 hours trying to bang this bushing on. We ended up shaving the bushing to get enough room to get the bolt to start threading and squeeze the bushing on. This almost worked, but the bushing didn't move and just started to get squished and malformed so we moved onto the other side. This is when we realized that the handle of one of my Giancarlo's ratchets scraped the rust off of the studs very well and sanded it down. The other side was much easier. So we went back to the passenger side to do sand those studs when we realized that I had a dremel in the house with a sanding tip....

So after 4 hours, all it took was 5 minutes with a dremel and the shocks slid back on super easy. It seems obvious but our brains were so busy trying to find ways to use straps and bottle jacks and all kinds of things, that we skipped the easiest solution.

Good news is that I have a good bit more rear travel and so far, it seems to ride WAY better.

[Senor_Taylor]

Attempted to install my extended SS rear brake line and did not succeed. I couldn't get the bolt/nut thing on the hard line side to budge and it started to round.

I also found that the shop that did my last rotation/balance crossthreaded my security lug on BOTH sides on the rear.

I think I'll pay a shop to install the line, and I'll tackle replacing the stud myself.

[CaptainHenreh]

Attempted to install my extended SS rear brake line and did not succeed. I couldn't get the bolt/nut thing on the hard line side to budge and it started to round.

Y U NO have line wrenches?

[Kaan]

he might have been using the line wrench that Ryan bought (Kobalt) for the Mazda 3.... I don't know what these guys lines are made of but my 20 year old integra was swapped with a 16mm and a 10mm box wrench... the actual line wrenches killed their brake lines lol

[Senor_Taylor]

Yup. Was using the exact same one Ryan bought. It didn't ACTUALLY round, but it started to slip. We learned our lesson with Ryan's so I've halted all operations until I decide to drop some money on a nice snap on wrench or pay a shop like $20 to do it. Might see if my uncle has one.

[D_Eclipse9916]

Yup. Was using the exact same one Ryan bought. It didn't ACTUALLY round, but it started to slip. We learned our lesson with Ryan's so I've halted all operations until I decide to drop some money on a nice snap on wrench or pay a shop like $20 to do it. Might see if my uncle has one.

Cut-off wheel, new nut, and flare tool. Having to do a bunch on the LS1/M3 to move the ABS pump, they really are pretty easy to do.

[ViPER1313]

I had a bear of a time on the Bonneville taking a brake line off. I actually had more luck with vise grips than a line wrench hrug: ymmv

[Senor_Taylor]

Yup. Was using the exact same one Ryan bought. It didn't ACTUALLY round, but it started to slip. We learned our lesson with Ryan's so I've halted all operations until I decide to drop some money on a nice snap on wrench or pay a shop like $20 to do it. Might see if my uncle has one.

Cut-off wheel, new nut, and flare tool. Having to do a bunch on the LS1/M3 to move the ABS pump, they really are pretty easy to do.

I don't think there is any way to get a wheel up in the space to cut it. It's a really tight space with only enough room to have the wrench grab the nut one way. which is why I gave up so easily. Those are also all tools I don't have. I'll just hang on for a few weeks until I can use my uncle's tools/brother in law's shop.

[Senor_Taylor]

Sent an e-mail to the guy who listed this.

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I would really appreciate everyone's thoughts on this. I think this would be a fun little car compared to my truck and much cleaner than any miata for that price and an easy flip if I'm not liking the ETA too much. Depending on what he says, I may convince my mom to let me take some money out of my savings to go get this.

[Sully]

I thought everyone hated the ETA? I feel like I remember Jake hating it. That's about all I know though.

If that's true though, it may not be as easy to flip as you think because wrong motor. I mean, I'm not saying you won't get your money or most of it back out, maybe even talk him down a tad, but it may not move as fast with that motor. (I swear I didn't mean to make a pun)

[Senor_Taylor]

The other Matt is saying the same. I don't doubt that's true. It just depends on the degree of how right y'all are that is what concerns me. I don't mind something being slower if it still handles the same as a normal 325 AND I can flip it and get my money back. The last part is most important.

Hopefully Jake will chime in. He told me before he didn't like the ETA, but I don't remember why. The lack of power is fine, but if it's miserable to work on (by Jake's standards), I'll run far away.

[JPolen01]

Jake didn't enjoy the ETA because the motor falls flat on its own face when you touch the go pedal.

[CaptainHenreh]

The ETA is a DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOG. It's no joke, man. Real talk, I'd rather have a 318is than a 325e.

[D_Eclipse9916]

The other Matt is saying the same. I don't doubt that's true. It just depends on the degree of how right y'all are that is what concerns me. I don't mind something being slower if it still handles the same as a normal 325 AND I can flip it and get my money back. The last part is most important.

Hopefully Jake will chime in. He told me before he didn't like the ETA, but I don't remember why. The lack of power is fine, but if it's miserable to work on (by Jake's standards), I'll run far away.

Unless you are picking it up for $1k, you won't be flipping it for profit. Move along...


Then again, all the current students will now go "you are wrong!", "you are just cheap".

[Senor_Taylor]

Message received. Thanks guys. The search continues.

[Senor_Taylor]

I'm so torn right now. This looks like such a killer deal, but it just doesn't... excite me. <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://richmond.craigslist.org/cto/4976570806.html">http://richmond.craigslist.org/cto/4976570806.html</a><!-- m -->

That'd be such a good DD/autocross car though.