If my duct tape experience is anything to go by, soaking whatever is left in a little bit of WD-40 overnight makes it come right off. However this has not been attempted inside a coilover sleeve.
If my duct tape experience is anything to go by, soaking whatever is left in a little bit of WD-40 overnight makes it come right off. However this has not been attempted inside a coilover sleeve.
In reply to Dusterbd13 :
Thanks, good to know!
The eBay seller of the Allstar parts also has access to Koni, so he’s checking into prices on their sleeve & perch. I’ll see what he finds, but may end up making these work anyway.
Since all the parts arrived I decided to assemble one rear shock.
I picked up an o-ring kit at Harbor Freight tonight that had the correct size ones to go between the sleeve & shock body. I’m undecided on trying to cut down the original lower perch, it’ll end up looking like a hack job if I do. I’m not sure if I can find 1-5/8” ID washers that are precise enough to keep the circlip retained though?
I’m also not sure what to do at the top.
The bushing that came with the upper mount is too thick to use its washer(below) and the lock washer. The nut isn’t a nylock one either.
So do my choices are:
Which would you guys suggest?
Cut down the bushings, correct washer and nylock
How big of a hurry are you? I'd love to make my first real world part on my lathe.
In reply to Stampie :
What were you thinking of making?
Realistically I’m a few weeks from having it running/driving, and even though I ordered most of the suspension first, I should probably confirm it runs/drives before tearing the suspension apart - just in case there are any “while I’m in there” parts to replace too.
In reply to Pete Gossett :
I was thinking the lower perch. If you can get me some dimensions by Friday morning and what material you want it in then we'll stop by the metal store on the way to tow lot auction.
In reply to Stampie :
Awesome! I’ll send you a text, I figure there’s 2 ways to do it.
I missed whether or not this is for the challenge, but if not (and maybe if so), it seems worth $50 to have the right part and not spend hours trying to come up with an alternative that may or may not be as good as the correct part.
Just my opinion but it's coming from a guy who loves to pinch pennies
In reply to jfryjfry :
Undecided yet - I could put it together under Challenge budget, but not exactly how I want it, and with a stock 1.6 it won’t be competitive at all. I did order some 42mm ID washers today that should work for a lower perch and not protrude out or weigh so much.
I also found out the front shocks I ordered from Shockwarehouse.com a week ago didn’t ship out until today. Unfortunately nowhere on their site or in my order confirmation did it mention they order the Koni Race shocks directly from Koni... I would have just bought them from eBay if I’d known, they actually would have been a bit cheaper after shipping. Oh well :-/
Not much progress tonight, but I did get the remaining 3 bushings drilled out for the larger Koni shaft. I still need to trim down the thickness of the bushings without also doing the same to my fingers...
Most of my parts have arrived, except the front shocks & my FM order, which won’t be here until next week. So I probably won’t do anything major this weekend. I could start on the interior, but I’d like to get it running & driving first.
Minor progress tonight. First I got the shock bushings trimmed down. I’m not sure I trimmed them enough, but it’s always easier to take more off.
I also installed the new heater hoses.
...and that was it for tonight.
I had some time in the garage this afternoon. Step-1: service position.
I actually had to put my HF batter impact to the test removing several of the wheel lugs, but it worked fine & I've not had to charge it.
I pulled the rear swaybar since I don’t need it.
Don't need these either.
Of of course I had to clean out all the junk in the trunk to get the rear shocks out. It was a little skanky in there.
Before:
And after:
There’s actually some rust holes in the top right corner of the tub.
While I was back there I freed up the gas door release mechanism.
And i I found this stuffed way up underneath the top on the passenger’s side. It’s a personal loan for $1000 from 1995.
I’ll definitely be doing brakes.
Yup, it looks like a Miata... :-/
I shot hot all the suspension bolts with Freeze-Off while I was working too. Oh and I had a visitor - this little gal(I think) was right outside the walk-in door. I almost stepped on her!
We gave her some snacks.
I tore into the front brakes this morning & fortunately they came apart ok. Unfortunately both bleeder screws snapped off.
So so I checked the rears - the LR cane free easily, but the RR snapped off too, so I’ll just replace all-4 calipers and be done. Hopefully.
In reply to Pete Gossett :
There's been many a day that I would have been happy with a 25% success rate.
I pulled the last rear caliper off tonight. I ordered the replacement from Advance - apparently rebuildable cores carry a premium, so rather than tie up over $100 waiting for my cores to ship back to Rock Auto & then to credit my PayPal account, I ordered the replacements from Advance. I can take my cores in when I pick them up tomorrow & with my 20% discount email they might end up being cheaper anyway.
My FM order arrived today too, so I can tear into the timing belt this week.
Hey yu need a hand....I'm stayin' in D'Iberville working in Mobile Al, for the next few weeks????
My nb 3 wheeled tonight off the left front control arm rear mount. Its STIFF.
any plans to stiffen up yours?
In reply to 759NRNG :
Awesome! Hit me up on my cell: 765714two93five
In reply to Dusterbd13 :
Not right now. With these springs I’m sure it’s going to be like a kart where you tune it by stiffening the chassis though.
Being a 1.6 weight is my enemy, I’ve read about people who’ve got under a ton in STS prep. I’m not ready to lose my a/c yet, and I’m not in a hurry to find a manual rack to swap out for either, so I expect I’ll be 2100lbs+ However I’m going to hold off adding any bracing until I find out if it’s worth the weight penalty.
I haven’t had any luck finding a cheap off the shelf way to support the coilover sleeves, and while Stampie’s offer to turn something for me is awesome, I don’t want to take him away from his own projects - nor do I entirely trust my ability to measure the dimensions precisely enough to ensure it would seat correctly on the Koni’s snap ring.
So tonight I decided to cut down the supplied perches.
That’s round enough for my needs. And fully assembled.
The front shocks should be in this week, so I can hopefully do the same process with them too.
The bump stops on the rear shocks have been bothering me. I didn’t order any fancy bump stops because with the extended top hats & high spring rates I know many people don’t use bump stops at all. I don’t consider myself that lucky, but I felt the Koni bump stops were too tall, so I trimmed off about 3/4” from each one.
That’s a stock one on the right, with the trimmed piece on the left. I also discovered I didn’t have them installed all the way at the top of the shock shaft.
So here’s a side-by-side comparison.
That added about bout an inch of free travel, bringing the total to about 4” before the shock body contacts the bump stop. Considering I only got about 3/4” of travel before it life’s the car, I think/hope I trimmed them enough.
Speaking of...so I couldn’t just leave them setting on the shelf.
Both sides went on without any major drama, now I’m just waiting on brake parts.
I also started on the engine disassembly, but only got the two belts off.
Great job. What's your spring lengths?
In reply to Stampie :
They’re 7”/650lb rear, 6”/800lb front.
I finished up the rear brakes tonight, except for the pads that should arrive next week.
While back there I noticed the bumper cover was loose & missing screws on each end at the wheel wells, so I added a couple to tighten it up. It still has a fastener at the top that wouldn’t tighten though.
I also discovered the muffler was only held up by one mount, so I reattached it, and it appears a plastic bag got wrapped around the muffler & melted at some point, so I peeled off chunks of it.
I set the rear to max negative camber, minus a slight bit of toe-in.
Then I moved up front, and after much prying/pounding/impacting got the passenger side disassembled. I will say loosening the nuts on the upper a-arm through-bolts is much easier when you can access them while standing in the engine bay.
I discovered the steering rack boots are torn, so I’ll be ordering a pair tomorrow, but hopefully I can get the driver’s side apart, ball joints replaced & the brakes back together tomorrow morning. Then maybe I can finally make some progress on the engine.
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