DrEvyl

iTrader: (5)

Well, it's safe to say at this point that Jason and I got our asses kicked by the mod installs today... And it's not finished, and I will have to work on it during the week.



Here's how the car is sitting right now...




The first thing that screwed us up was that QA1 was so kind as to not including lower shock mounting bolts for the rear. Geez, you spend $700 on a set of shocks, and they can't include $7 worth of mounting hardware...

So we did some searching on the net and found a good write up on the install... and put together a mount..


But what really did us in was the front shocks. Remember these are the factory DeCarbons on a '98 with 81,000 miles on it.. so let's say they were a little rusty. Jason described them as "having been on the Titanic". We tried and tried and tried, and could not for the life of either of us break them loose. I'm going to have soemone take them off for me, because I can't get it. Here are the culprits...
[img]

Oh, and I thought I would at least show off the new wheels on the car, even if they are only on the rear.... but they look NICE, and with the Eibachs, the ride height looks kickass. It's lifted here because the car is up on jack stands... but when the weight is on the ground, it looks totally mean. Navigating my driveway it going to be fun.


Oh and last but not least, my uber trick $5 license plate mount..


This is how I can justify this one if the cops pull me over..

The law in the state says the license plate needs to be 12" off the ground.... if I mount it in the stock location with the lower springs it's going to be 9.5" off the ground... so therefore my stock mounting location is illegal. The place I have it located is within the guidelines of the law... visible from the front, and more than 12" and less than 48" from the ground. Totally legal.

WAHUSKER

iTrader: (4)

Looks like those front shocks will need the blue wrench or hack saw treatment. Man, those are RUSTED dude! Those are well beyond Liquid Wrench & a propane torch....and I forgot all abnout HAL not supplying bolts for the rear shocks. Cheap bastards!!!

Can't wait to see that bad boy....lookin GOOD Zeke!!!

DrEvyl

iTrader: (5)

Yeah, those suckers are on there solid. Not coming off. I couldn't even scrape enough crud off them to see where the bolt ended and the nut began.

Now if I could just figure out a place that was open on Sunday that I could get them taken apart, I'd be batting 1000 and might have the car together in time to get an alignment done on it before next weekend.

Tranzor

Yeah, them bolts were something else... haven't seen anything like that come off of our cars. I think "Titanic" is the new nickname for your Formie...

Had fun wrenching on the car... but man am I sore. Also, I had no idea I had so much dirt on my face. My wife told me I looked like I was working in a coal mine.

TwoFast4Lv

iTrader: (8)

I usually just soak them in Liquid Wrench for 10-15 minutes and hit them with my nasty 1/2 impact Some times I have to use a pair of vise gripp's to but they always come off.

Had you ask many of us could have piped up about the "correct" bolt for the shocks. Any good parts store has them in stock I think we paid $2.99 each for Jim's. Old Chevy rear end shock mounts I have seen that setup bend and break.

Good luck man! Looking good so far!

DrEvyl

iTrader: (5)

I figured that I mentioned I was putting HALs on the car at least 5 times over the course of a month, and that someone would have volunteered some helpful info if they had it. That's what I would do... not sure how I'm supposed to know to ask these things when I didn't realize I needed the bolts until I had the rear end apart and the old shock in my hand. It's not like I can stop working and wait for someone to reply to me on the board.

slowpokez28

[QUOTE=TwoFast4Lv]I usually just soak them in Liquid Wrench for 10-15 minutes and hit them with my nasty 1/2 impact Some times I have to use a pair of vise gripp's to but they always come off.[QUOTE]

Hmm I think you sleep with that nasty 1/2 Impact I wonder how much my car was violated with this thing....


Anyways zeke your Car looks good. Soon i will make it up to a saturday quiznos to check out everyones car in person.

Todd2001SS

Looks like some great progress, I can not wait to see your car.

Compstall

iTrader: (5)

Ellis/Zeke my upper strut mounts looked just like that when I did my springs. I USED an impact on them but all that did was spin the threads off it and the nut was stuck on there. I had to take my dremel and cut the nut off.

Once I was finally done I cleaned up the upper strut mount and jammed grease all over it, then covered all that with RTV.

DrEvyl

iTrader: (5)

I'm hoping that I can get all the parts rounded up by the weekend to put it back together. I'm going to be real desparate to get this car back on the road by Sunday evening so I have time to be ready for the trip to Atlanta. If I can't get it ready by Sunday night, I'm pretty much fucked. I'm gonna have to take extra days off work just to get everything done.

Begging... pleading for some help this weekend. I know there's a race on Saturday, but I gotta get this car together by Sunday night.

rotwiler

iTrader: (1)

I've been driving mine now for 6 months with no license plate in front. Even driving in hilltop in Tacoma and they looked right at my car several times and left me alone. I think I may be running out of luck and maybe should do something like you did.

burbman

Zeke, I thought I had a pretty good idea where you were located so I tried to swing by on Sat afternoon. I was wrenching on the burb and needed a bolt from Ace so I ran up past the storage place to see if I could find a mess of F-body's all in the same place. Guess if it was just Jason and you, I could have driven right by and never noticed. I'm headed to Vegas on vacation this weekend, but if you still need some help after I come back, I can come by and provide a bit of muscle.

Tranzor

You wouldn't have seen it from the road... and you'd never have known anyhow because the two vehicles parked in front of his place were his Colorado, and my wife's CR-V I had to hijack because my car was also being torn down. No f-bodies in sight except for the one in the garage.

DrEvyl

iTrader: (5)

Yeah, my house is not visible from the road... I'm off in the trees and about 40 feet above the road level. Pretty secluded.

Without directions you'd probably never find it... hehehe