Kyle T
Premium Member
Registered: 11th Sep 04
Location: Selby, North Yorkshire
User status: Offline
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quote:
Originally posted by BeetleGav
You given up and bought coilovers yet?
Nope 
The struts are all ready to go tbh. I've rubbed them down again (used a dremel with sanding attachment on the lumpy surface rust) and gave them a clean coat of hammerite... they're actually looking pretty smart.
I've just been putting off the install. It's going to be a long day I think, factoring in sticky bolts and the fact I need to dismantle the existing on-car struts, remove the damper inserts, install in the new refurbed struts and then grease everything up before reinstalling. We've just not had the weather for it yet!
I lost last weekend helping a friend out, his waterpump had died on his Corsa C so we swapped that out (both as inexperienced as each other, but I've got tools now so said I'd lend a hand!) and this weekend is F1 + crap weather.
I need to do something soon, the missus is sick of the suspension parts lying around. 
Also, due within the next couple of weeks is my CDF group buy of Front/Rear ARB's with solid drop links which I really wanted to fit separately to the springs/shocks so I could gauge where the bulk of the difference (hopefully improvement) is coming from.
Lotus Elise 111R
Impreza WRX STi
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Kyle T
Premium Member
Registered: 11th Sep 04
Location: Selby, North Yorkshire
User status: Offline
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Suspension change penciled in for Friday this week, but the weather needs to do a serious change-around if it's gonna happen.
When I bought the (red) JDM dials, it was supposed to be the start of a project to convert all the internal illumination from green to red. To progress that project, I've ordered some bulbs from Hong Kong (  ) to replace the ignition ring lighting and the ashtray lighting.
That will just leave the LCD clock, which will be getting replaced with a gauge pod at some-point and the heater controls... which are a proper bitch.
The heater controls have got white LED's inside, with a green overlay which cannot be removed without destroying the knobs. The workaround is to paint the white LED's red, just to blank them off as much as anything else and then wire in some separate red LED's into each knob, daisy chained with resistors and then soldered into the PCB behind the dash.
In typical non-confidence fashion, I've paid £42 for a heater control panel from eBay which I'll butcher in comfort. I can then swap out with my current one and then mod my current one too - as I reckon selling a pre-modded heater control unit will fetch enough ££ to cover the cost of the project, as people like plug and play modifications.
ETA on the bulbs is a few weeks, so next update will hopefully be a successful install of Prodrive suspension springs, with non-clunking shocks 
Lotus Elise 111R
Impreza WRX STi
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Kyle T
Premium Member
Registered: 11th Sep 04
Location: Selby, North Yorkshire
User status: Offline
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New arrivals today:
150pc Socket/Spanner set £79.99 down from £199.99 at Halfords over Easter Weekend 
Spare HVAC unit, LED's and some Resistors:
I just need some thin wire then I can start the HVAC modification. Job for saturday I think, as tomorrow is suspension day
Lotus Elise 111R
Impreza WRX STi
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Kyle T
Premium Member
Registered: 11th Sep 04
Location: Selby, North Yorkshire
User status: Offline
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Mixed results over the past two days...
A friend had agreed to help me out with the suspension change over, he's got no mechanical experience either - but has a flat drive, a garage and a lovely wife who makes the best bacon butties ever.
I turned up nice and early on friday morning and we decided to start on the rears, as they would involve dismantling struts, replacing the damper inserts into my refurbished bodies and then refitting to the car... fronts are an easy straight swap so would leave those till' last.
First job is rear seats to come out, nice and easy - 5 or 6 12mm bolts:
That then exposes the top mounts of the suspension struts so we can remove the dust covers, take a note of the alignment of the tophat and loosen the bolts off a bit:
Now it's time to jack up the car. It seems that I've done more research into safely lifting a car than I have replacing suspension - I'm properly paranoid...
So then, wheels off - I'm sure these have been massively over torqued in a past life... and here's what we've got to look at:
The next job was to disconnect the brake hose from it's clip on the strut, and remove the two 19mm bolts which hold the strut to the hub assembly. Easy, right?!
These bolts just would not move, I've learned so many new swear words in the process of getting these bolts off - you would not believe it.
We soaked in WD40, had about 3 hours worth of swearing, coffee breaks, tea breakes, bacon sarnie, booked a Monaco city break with my missus, etc. They still weren't going anywhere 
I'd done some reading some weeks ago that WD40 wasn't actually any good for this kind of application, so I suggested we jump in the car and go to Halfords to try a specialist product. 30mins later (damn road closures) I end up with some of this:
It's made by WD40 but intended more for penetration. Ooo err.
Sprayed it on, had another coffee.
Sprayed more on.
WOOSH!
Overjoyed with our achievement, it was time to get a move on.
We next clamped the spring, and whizzed off the 17mm nut in the top of the strut with my impact gun. This was the nut which gave me weeks of issues on the bought set of struts some time ago.
Took the tophat and spring off, leaving the strut body with the damper insert inside. Next off was the 14mm on the bottom of the strut.
Annoyingly this is on a shaft that spins inside the damper, so you can't hold it still. I'd read this tip on a US forum, but the fix was a quick dremel grind to create a gap for a flathead screwdriver. Using this we got the nut off no worries.
Damper out, Old vs New(refurbed).
New vs Old.
This is the part I'm retaining from the on-car suspension:
Next up was to clean down the shock insert, and lube up the inside of the strut. We got as much moly grease in as possible without using the new nipple addition, then we slid in the shock.
Hand tightened the 14mm back up, and then started pumping grease in through the nipple. No pics here, hands were minging 
I felt the pressure of the grease build up to the point I couldn't pump anymore in - took the grease gun off the nipple to find grease pissing out of the nipple  Some one-way valve this has turned out to be.
We watched it weep for a while, then decided it was a duff nipple - so took it out and installed another. This was better, but still didn't hold the grease under maximum pressure.
We decided it had enough grease in, and fitted the nipple with a dust cover to prevent any further seepage. This needs monitoring for the next few weeks/months to make sure we don't lose any more - but we shouldn't as the pressure will never change inside the chamber.
Spring back on, tophat back on, aligned, nuts done up and torqued.
Refitting the strut was cake, just took a minute or so to align the bolts in the top - then voila.
So that was one side done!
I'd love to say the other side was a repeat of that, but it wasn't
We were much quicker on the passenger side and before we knew it were looking at the 14mm nut at the bottom of the strut. My heart sank when I saw it, it was covered in rust - part of which was like a tumor that had eaten into the bolt and when we wire brushed it, we lost half of the bolt too
This was back out, or point of no return territory. We continued!
Armed with the dremel and a chisel, we butchered the remains of the bolt off the bolt and ended up with a pretty sorry looking thread. That said, the small cut(s) we made into the thread all looked clean - and with a spare 14mm bolt we discovered it still actually functioned fine.
We greased up again, with similar issues with a weeping nipple again but had the strut rebuilt in no time.
Torqued everything up, and lowered the car. How's this for a rally stance? 
Oh, forgot to mention - Mudflaps came off too, sick of them scraping ont' road.
We went for a shakedown, tentative at first but ended up giving the car a good beating - it was beautiful. Not a clunk to be heard/felt and the rear generally just felt nice. It passed all the tests, and we came home to high 5's and a job well done.
Fronts can wait till tomorrow...
Lotus Elise 111R
Impreza WRX STi
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Jon_C
Premium Member
Registered: 7th Dec 05
Location: Suffolk
User status: Offline
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Good work how much lower did the back settle after you drove it ?
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Kyle T
Premium Member
Registered: 11th Sep 04
Location: Selby, North Yorkshire
User status: Offline
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...Which brings me today, and the fronts.
Arrived back at my friends house later today, as I ached all over from those 19mm bolts the day before!
Jacked the car up, on stands, ready to go.
Target for the day:
19mm's soaked right away in my Halfords stuff, and went for a coffee break.
Came back out, and bolts came out relatively easily - followed by the ABS and brake hoses.
Shock out, and hub gently lowered. No drama:
Old vs New...
No fucking around with grease or nipples today as the fronts don't suffer the same design fault. Just a straight swap to benefit from the springs.
Strut back in...
Drama!
Basically, we couldn't straighten the hub back up (so that the brake disk is 90 degress to the floor again). All the balljoints seemed to have side to side movement, but the driveshaft just would not slide back towards the gearbox at all.
We removed the passenger side strut to compare, and that rocked back and forth easily.
I scurried around under the car, and found the drivers' driveshaft had come apart in the boot closest to the gearbox. I tried for ages to rotate the shaft and push towards the gearbox to get it back together and it just wouldn't go.
Fondled the boot and felt what I thought was a loose ball bearing. Decided it was time to remove the boot and inspect, to which I ended up with a face full of grease and a mouth full of 1cm ball bearings
This is what I've got:
This is the driveshaft end which connects to the gearbox
This lot should go into the housing as pictured above
And here are my bearings, a sixth one was later found.
We replaced the passenger strut without a hiccup - so my friend is now left with a three wheeled rally inspired ornament on his driveway
I got on the blower to Wrighty, and he's arranged a local mechanic friend to come visit me and the car tomorrow. The intention is to remove the driveshaft from the car completely, and rebuild it on a workbench. Fill with grease, hope not too much dirt got inside, and refit to the car.
So annoyed really as we were within half an hour of completing the job - completely on our own with no previous experience. Was a massively successful weekend on the whole I think, very satisfying to be torquing stuff up after a job. Those clicks are just the sound of a job well done 
Positives:
Fixed my Clunk
Learned loads
Had a laugh
Negatives:
My car has three wheels
Lotus Elise 111R
Impreza WRX STi
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Kyle T
Premium Member
Registered: 11th Sep 04
Location: Selby, North Yorkshire
User status: Offline
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quote:
Originally posted by Jon_C
Good work how much lower did the back settle after you drove it ?
I'll grab some after photo's tomorrow (hopefully), but it sits about 5mm lower than before, and about 15cm lower than that photo
[Edited on 30-03-2013 by Kyle T]
Lotus Elise 111R
Impreza WRX STi
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Wrighty
Member
Registered: 28th Feb 04
Location: Howden
User status: Offline
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n00b
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daymoon
Premium Member
Registered: 1st Aug 08
Location: Selby, North Yorkshire
User status: Offline
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Well done on braving to do it on your own! That's how I learned and some times you have to learn the hard way ( I had my car sat on the drive for 4 weeks with no brakes once).
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Ben G
Member
Registered: 12th Jan 07
Location: Essex
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thats the bad part about working on cars. Take it to a garage and it becomes their problem to sort out.
Suspension should be easy to change, but shit happens and at least it's not an expensive fix.
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Simon_16v
Member
Registered: 14th Aug 06
Location: Yorkshire
User status: Offline
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Similar thing happened when the coilovers were fitted to my old Ibiza. The driveshaft was wanting to come out when refitting the strut but luckily got all all back together,
Don't forget to have it all aligned when it's back together
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Kyle T
Premium Member
Registered: 11th Sep 04
Location: Selby, North Yorkshire
User status: Offline
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quote:
Originally posted by daymoon
Well done on braving to do it on your own! That's how I learned and some times you have to learn the hard way ( I had my car sat on the drive for 4 weeks with no brakes once).
Yep, learned so much over this BH weekend - just breeds confidence for the next job
quote:
Originally posted by Ben G
thats the bad part about working on cars. Take it to a garage and it becomes their problem to sort out.
Suspension should be easy to change, but shit happens and at least it's not an expensive fix.
Always had confidence in this job because if any part of the suspension system broke, I could just go out and grab some coilovers - sorted. When we had driveshaft issues though I started getting nervous - that wasn't in project scope!
quote:
Originally posted by Simon_16v
Don't forget to have it all aligned when it's back together
Car is going to have minimal mileage now until my ARBs and Droplinks arrive. Once here, I'll have a garage fit the lot and do the full alignment to prodrive specs... can't wait
Lotus Elise 111R
Impreza WRX STi
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Kyle T
Premium Member
Registered: 11th Sep 04
Location: Selby, North Yorkshire
User status: Offline
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Update for today:
Got to the motorfactors for opening time to grab a 32mm impact socket for the hub-nut. I'd need this to get the driveshaft off the hub end.
Good start, I looked at a 32mm socket on the shelf and picked up a 35mm one instead - soooo tired after this weekend
An hour later, after realising the mistake and returning to town - we had the correct one.
The hub nut was one of these "stake nut" things where the metal insert is bent to fill a gap to stop the nut undoing with rotation of the hub (I guess).
It was a bit of a pain in the arse, but the patience of my mate Fraser was enough to straighten it out, and we whizzed the nut off with the impact gun in seconds.
With that off, we were able to pull the driveshaft out of the hub and get into the garage to get cleaned up.
All that's missing from that photo is the gearbox end of the shaft, which was still hanging in the gearbox.
At about this time, Wayne arrived. Wayne has helped me before to refit the exhaust (when whistle hunting) and Wrighty kindly arranged his time for me today. He didn't have long due to other commitments, but upon seeing the removed driveshaft he ran off to grab some tools and CV joint rebuilding materials (clips etc).
Upon his return, the gearbox end of the shaft was quickly pried away from the car and then the rebuild process begun.
I didn't get photo's, as it took him seconds He really did make it look easy and before I knew it the joint was packed full of grease, boot refitted and clipped - and we were back under the car.
Wayne wasted absolutely no time and even refitted the last strut for me too
Top lad, really helped me out and I owe him big time. Gave him £20 for his time, and he left us with a car finally sat on all fours again
Mudflap-less car, finally. Suspension still has some settling to do - will get some road time in tonight and then hopefully get her washed tomorrow for some proper photographs
So that's it, project: restore shocks and replace springs is complete. Hopefully ARBs/Links will arrive sometime soon so I can get those fitted and alignment sorted.
So satisfying to get done, still gutted we stumbled at the end and couldn't 100% complete the job without help - but I'm confident that next time we can a) avoid the driveshaft drama in the first place but b) I fancy my chances of rebuilding a CV joint myself anyway.
Muchos thanks to Fraser & Bev for their drive, patience, tea, coffee and bacon sarnies. Wrighty for helping me out with Wayne, and ofc Wayne for getting his hands dirty and finishing the job.
Ace
Lotus Elise 111R
Impreza WRX STi
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Kyle T
Premium Member
Registered: 11th Sep 04
Location: Selby, North Yorkshire
User status: Offline
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Oh, I almost totally forgot. I was laid in bed t'other night and had a bit of an impulse by in the ScoobyNET classifieds.
Got an "Afterburner Raptor" backbox and centre section coming. I kinda had my eye on this combo to replace my existing system because the previous owner of my car seems to have some kind of mismash of sections, which I'm sure is resulting in a leak due to soot deposits.
It basically goes:
Turbo - Downpipe (2.5inch) - Second decat pipe (3inch) - Centre Section (2.5inch) - Backbox (2.5inch)
The system I've bought will replace the backbox and centre section with 3" parts, so all I'll need in addition is a second decat pipe which is 3inch at one end and 2.5inch at t'other, and I'll keep my prodrive sports cat in the downpipe.
The Backbox/Centre would cost me best part of £400 new, I got the pair for £250 delivered and it's only been on a car for 3 weeks, the owner wants something louder
Lotus Elise 111R
Impreza WRX STi
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Wrighty
Member
Registered: 28th Feb 04
Location: Howden
User status: Offline
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ace
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daymoon
Premium Member
Registered: 1st Aug 08
Location: Selby, North Yorkshire
User status: Offline
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Could have borrowed my 32m socket
We should meet up some time for car talk at Mcdonalds car park
Get Simon_16v to come along too. he#s local
[Edited on 31-03-2013 by daymoon]
[Edited on 31-03-2013 by daymoon]
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Kyle T
Premium Member
Registered: 11th Sep 04
Location: Selby, North Yorkshire
User status: Offline
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Aye I'm sure I could have saved a fortune by borrowing tools I'm sure I'll get use out of them in the future though
Definitely up for a meet up, dunno about McDonalds carpark though - some intimidating corsas, saxos and clios congregating there normally
Lotus Elise 111R
Impreza WRX STi
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Kyle T
Premium Member
Registered: 11th Sep 04
Location: Selby, North Yorkshire
User status: Offline
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I went with a friend to test drive a Megane RS Turbo thingy the other week, lovely car but I was amazed at the bonnet lifters - never seen them in action before on a car
Had to go and grab some for myself
Lotus Elise 111R
Impreza WRX STi
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Seany
Member
Registered: 13th Dec 06
Location: Dunfermline, Fife : Drives Astra cdti Sri
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Really like this car. Always so clean. Looks kida goldy in the last pic, but that coild just be my phone screen.
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Kyle T
Premium Member
Registered: 11th Sep 04
Location: Selby, North Yorkshire
User status: Offline
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Thanks Seany, no need to adjust your phone! The rare sunlight really flares up the gold flakes in the paint... looks stunning in the sun
Lotus Elise 111R
Impreza WRX STi
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BeetleGav
Member
Registered: 27th Jun 10
Location: lancashire, nelson
User status: Offline
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looks great! thought it was meant to be lower?
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Ben G
Member
Registered: 12th Jan 07
Location: Essex
User status: Offline
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bonnet lifters are great. so much easier than faffing about with a metal stick.
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Kyle T
Premium Member
Registered: 11th Sep 04
Location: Selby, North Yorkshire
User status: Offline
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Aye Gav it's currently sat marginally higher than before.
I need to get the old springs cleaned up to see if I can see any branding on them anywhere. From what I read, the prodrive springs should be slightly lower than OEM - but we're talking <10mm. Maybe it still has some settling to do - really not got any mileage done yet as I don't want to chew my tyres up... I get the feeling all four wheels are pointing in different directions atm
Ben, lifters are ace - the stick on these seems to get in the way of EVERY job that you may possibly need to do under the bonnet, so these just make the whole bay more accessible.
Lotus Elise 111R
Impreza WRX STi
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BeetleGav
Member
Registered: 27th Jun 10
Location: lancashire, nelson
User status: Offline
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Once the cars moved a few feet it tends to settle as much as its going to.
still the intention was to stop the knockin really wasnt it
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Kyle T
Premium Member
Registered: 11th Sep 04
Location: Selby, North Yorkshire
User status: Offline
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Aye indeed, never intended to drop the car (I had the odd scrape with passengers before anyway) and I don't think these cars suit the "slammed" look anyway...
Will see how it goes, my main concern was having one side lower than another as the springs I've put on have considerably more mileage than mine did - but it all looks neat and tidy.
Lotus Elise 111R
Impreza WRX STi
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