288 replies to this topic

[allpaw4]

Hahaha, no probs man. Happy to host more discussions lol. Completely understand the lack of desire to modify the old girl Bennie, she probably won't be far off her grave at almost 500k. Eventually cars just start costing more than they are worth in my experience. Once you start replacing hoses and bushings every couple of weeks, that quickly gets old and rather exxy.

That said, if you have an adequate supply of spare parts, these old girls can go for a very long time...

[El_Freddo]

Well this one had all new suspension bushes a few years back and new front struts so we’re good in that department. We’ll see what happens… maybe your next track hack shell *hmmm*

Cheers

Bennie

[allpaw4]

Well that's a relief then, I remember my old R31 just became too expensive to keep it going. Would literally be something going wrong on it every month. First it was a couple of bushes, then the alternator died, then one of the power steering hoses sprung a leak, and within a week or 2 of that being fixed, but of course one of the other power steering lines did the same thing. Each time it was costing me a couple hundred in parts and labour, plus leave me stranded. For a car that was worth 3k, I stopped playing that game when I got to about 6k in bills. Sold it on and that was that. Just the joys of playing with 20 to 25 yr old cars...

Not sure there Bennie, for one, I don't think the wife would approve of me getting another car when I've only just cleared the back yard out of wrecks this last fortnight...
That and I know myself well enough to know that it would not be kept as a track hack, I'd be putting all sorts of nice bits on it and it would snowball from there. As much as the wagon suits baby duties, I really miss my sedan for road going stuffs...

[El_Freddo]

Wagons are where it’s at Sedans are a dead platform, ppl just haven’t realised it yet That said, I don’t know the aerodynamic benefits of a sedan vs wagon if any…

Cheers

Bennie

[allpaw4]

Yea, great for carting shite, will admit. But also don't consider it the "master race"

Hahaha, yeah nah! Much prefer the look of the sedans, and there's a few of us that do.

Also not sure on any aerodynamic advantages, besides the fact I can put a dirty great ugly GT wing on the sedan and not know it from the front view.
Besides that, it's more than likely a moot point.

Cheers,
Ben

[Barbbachello]

Wagons are where it’s at Sedans are a dead platform, ppl just haven’t realised it yet That said, I don’t know the aerodynamic benefits of a sedan vs wagon if any…

Cheers

Bennie

Unfortunately the way the market is these days wagon is dead and has been for a long time. Sedans and crossovers/SUVs as far as you can see

[allpaw4]

After trying to price up a Recaro XL seat, I've moved brands to a Velo. Looking down the barrel of somewhere between $2k and $2.6k for a genuine Recaro, and that's on the basis I can actually source one, as a recent factory recall on them has resulted in 5 years worth of manufacture being replaced or refunded by Recaro. This means it's nearly impossible to get one...

So. Going over to Velo, which are made in Adelaide, which makes it a bit of a plus, always been a fan of Aussie made.. They meet ADR's and CAMS regulations. Plus they're a hell of a lot cheaper than the Recaro's. Should be good.

Hopefully be able to use the Recaro base and side mounts without issue.

Other than that, not a lot to report. Still waiting on my fourth package.

[El_Freddo]

How much fun is the anticipation of waiting on a package??

The Aussie made seat sounds good! I bet Recaro is hurting right about now if that recall news is legit ;(

Cheers

Bennie

[allpaw4]

Normally it's fun Bennie, but this time it's frustrating, as the other 3 packages that were sent at the same time (like seconds/minutes apart) have all been here for a while...

Yea, can't wait to get it happening. Might be a ways off yet though. See how things progress.

It's not too bad from their perspective, it's them that put it out. Dec 22 they picked up on something, and are now replacing or refunding anything (might only be a couple of seat types too) between 2017 and 2022. More than likely a defect in their materials, I didn't read to far into it. Net result is that most suppliers are not taking new orders due to extended lead times on them coming in from Recaro, presumably from the backlog of replacements. Not ideal, but given their price, it's probably a good thing that I decided against it.

The more I read up on this stuff, the more it's seeming like I need to hurry up and put a cage in as well. Fixed seat and harness with no roll over protection, not such a good idea. I was hoping to slowly get stuff as I go, but it seems some bits are almost an all or nothing kinda deal...

Anyways. Come down with some sorta virus that's aggravating my throat, so have decided against going out into the cold shed at night this week.

Hopefully this thing buggers off soon and I can get out there and fit all these bits to the arse end...

Cheers,
Ben

[allpaw4]

Got out into the shed during the little monsters nap this arvo. Car is now up on the hoist, rear wheels are off and I've started disassembling the rear end.
Need to get some brake line spanners, as I've finally found one that doesn't want to know me. Taken a lot of years of tinkering with cars to finally have one that needs the special tool, but here we are.
Has anyone got any hints or tricks on cracking the CV out of the hub? I've got it absorbing some penetrant now, and will hit it with some freeze and release spray before having a go with a bigger hammer, but just curious if anyone knows of a cheats way of cracking potentially years of being held tight. That's about as far as I got today.
See how things go over the next few days.

Anyways, have a good week all!

Cheers,
Ben

[Beckers]

Got out into the shed during the little monsters nap this arvo. Car is now up on the hoist, rear wheels are off and I've started disassembling the rear end.
Need to get some brake line spanners, as I've finally found one that doesn't want to know me. Taken a lot of years of tinkering with cars to finally have one that needs the special tool, but here we are.
Has anyone got any hints or tricks on cracking the CV out of the hub? I've got it absorbing some penetrant now, and will hit it with some freeze and release spray before having a go with a bigger hammer, but just curious if anyone knows of a cheats way of cracking potentially years of being held tight. That's about as far as I got today.
See how things go over the next few days.

Anyways, have a good week all!

Cheers,
Ben

When I converted to R180, I was unable to get the rear shafts out of the hubs. It wasn't such a problem this time as they went in the scrap bin, I would of kept them if they came apart.

We also had a front shaft that would not release from the hub, 20 ton of press didn't help either.

[allpaw4]

Yea, I'm not sure what I'm going to do should they decide they don't want to know me properly. Although, the diesel workshop at work has a shiny new 40t press, so might give that a go should I not have any luck.

Might just bite the bullet now while I have some parts still waiting in Japan, and get a spare set of hubs out of yahoo. See if I can find some tbSTi ones with 190mm hand brakes...

[El_Freddo]

Any excuse to buy more parts Ben! I see you’re arm is fully twisted too

Cheers

Bennie

[JDP]

Yea, I'm not sure what I'm going to do should they decide they don't want to know me properly. Although, the diesel workshop at work has a shiny new 40t press, so might give that a go should I not have any luck.

Might just bite the bullet now while I have some parts still waiting in Japan, and get a spare set of hubs out of yahoo. See if I can find some tbSTi ones with 190mm hand brakes...

 

Mate, been there!

I ended up giving up and replaced the hub. The press at your work is worth a shot first though, right.

[allpaw4]

Yea, especially as I found out this morning that it's actually a 100t one as well. One way or another, that CV is coming out 😂

Edit: Well. I was worried about nothing. Can of Yield comes to fruition again! Drowned the hub splines in it each night for the last couple of days.

Put the nut back on with a thread or 2 off being seated on the hub. Put the socket on said nut and held it there with a set of multigrips. Bashed the socket with a 5lb mash hammer with probably a medium amount of force several times.
Hey presto. Undone the nut another thread or 2, then repeat until it pushed the nut up against the hub again. Undo the nut, grab a big punch and it's now released to the point it bounces back in and out of the splines with ease...

Both sides are now free and moving. Now I just need to pop the diff sides out and remove the shaft completely.

Will be on the list for the next opportunity in the shed.

Cheers,
Ben

[allpaw4]

Made a start on the rear end last night. Was expecting to have this done within 6 or seven hours. Oh how wrong I was... Taken me about 4 hours just to remove the drivers side setup. But it's progressing.

Couple of progress photos:

Brake caliper and lines, ABS sensor, axle, hub assembly and backing plate all removed.


Trailing arm removed, as well as the brace to the rear subframe. First upper arm installed. Was honestly expecting the upper arms to be a nightmare job when I first looked at it, but after seeing it in bits, it's actually not hard at all with everything removed.


Also fitting the Cusco sway bar strengthening mounts, which ironically aren't required on the gen3, as the gen3 mounts are welded directly to the subframe, as opposed to the gen4.
The right side requires a little bit of trimming on the gen3 however, as it fowls on the fuel filler tube. Will be giving it a touch up when I get out to the shed during daylight hours.

Yet to remove the front mount off the arm (need to remove the mount and arm in one as the body won't allow the bolt to slide out once the nut is undone), and they are done up FT. Had to wait until daylight to break out the rattle gun.

Will post another update once I get a bit more done.

Cheers,
Ben

[allpaw4]

Managed to get into the shed for an hour and a half while Seb went down for his nap this afternoon. Got the drivers side pretty well back together, but forgot that the hub bolts are longer on the alloy arms compared to the steel ones (Tim mentioned this to me a while back, but forgot about that bit lol). So need to get some replacements next week from one of the bolt joints near work. Existing steel arms use M12x32, JIS flange head, 1.25 metric fine thread pitch, either 10.9 or 12.9 grade. The alloy arms need M12x50, as the alloy trailing arm is much thicker than the steel one. Probably just going to stick GR10.9 standard hex head bolts with a flat washer in my arms. A google search revealed a few suppliers of the proper bolts, but almost all the main bolt places seem to have set screw versions (full length threads, with no shank), but I feel that will allow slight movement in the hub, so I'm going to see what Rene can get for me of the correct grade, pitch and with a shank.

Anyways, some photos of today's progress.


Sway bar bracket cut and fitted. Everything is back together with the alloy bits as well. Just waiting to get the proper bolts for the hub before I put the brakes together etc.


Passenger side has been started. Bolts removed from the body to the trailing arm, and the rest of the arms and strut bolts have been undone and just spun back together by hand to keep everything together. I've removed one of the hub bolts, but then Seb woke up. Sway bar mount has been put in the right spot as well.

Will post up another small update once I've done some more...

Cheers,
Ben

[El_Freddo]

Hahaha… I shouldn’t laugh but don’t you hate it when the timeframe you thought you’d have the work done in blows out? Pretty common working on cars really.

Keep up the good work fitting time in when Seb’s sleeping. What out, before long you’ll find another one on its way if you’re not careful (unless you’re carefree because that’s what you and your partner want!).

Cheers

Bennie

[allpaw4]

Oh yes Bennie! Painful when you think it's gonna take so long, and then it takes a lot longer. But it's the way of cars lol!
She'll be right, we'll see what happens...

Another couple of hours last night, got the passenger side sorted out as well. Swapped out the sway bar from the tiny RX one to the semi decent B4 one. Also found the gen4 sway bar mounts don't fit properly, need to notch out where the bar passes across the mount, so they were taken back off again... Ah well...



New cusco sway bar mounts for the alloy arms are now on too. Supposedly stronger than the stock ones, but only reason I bought these is that only one arm had a mount attached, and the stock ones are discontinued; not because of an upgrade or anything.




Pretty well at a point where I need those longer hub bolts before I can go any further.

Cheers,
Ben

[JDP]

You're a machine, Ben. You managed to get the CV shaft out alright?