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Finally got her running well again, so after a 30 minute joyride, i've pulled her back into the garage to do complete brakes and suspension. Spent probably 3 or 4 hours over a couple days doing front bushings (not fun), got one side back together then had the shock mount for the other side break as i was installing it. It was a brand new Mevotech piece, i don't recommend them, comparing it to the masterpro i was able to get in town the Mevotech is junk.
Spend a few hours wrenching on her today, finished corner number 4 (LCA's relo brackets, caliper, SS line, rotor, bump stop, shock, and spring). Went to put my watts link in and found that whatever muffler it has in it was mounted too far forward and keeps my Fays 2 from going in, it's going to have to get moved a few inches rearward.
After putting the panhard back in and bleeding the new brakes, i think it's ready to go in for alignment and to the exhaust shop so all can be finished.
The end is near for this build (at least that's what i tell myself)
She's pretty much done, here's a couple after shots since all the suspension work:
Just after letting her down
In her Auto-X shoes
Final adjustments on the Watts link
Had to get the muffler cut off to get the Watts link in, so she's a little loud right now, it gets welded back in Monday.
Kind of sad after all the work i've put in, i missed registration for this mornings Auto-x thanks to the slowness of the Les Schwab alignment guy...
all and all it's been a pretty thankless 8 or so months getting her torn down and built back up. I'm hoping there's still plenty of warm enough season i can drive her a bit.
She still needs a few things: pinion seal, fuel pump (preventative), rear studs, and power steering cooler.
Will update as i do that stuff, but i'm gonna take a break for a while, i definitely need it.
Awesome job. I'm completely redoing my 95 but only interior. looks awesome man
Hey thanks, it's been a lot of work, but even just driving her around today, it's starting to feel all worth it. Do you have a thread up on your interior, or some pics?
To update, muffler went back in today, they did a beautiful job, a bunch of new piping and lots of clearance everywhere for my watts link. Also got it down to the shop i work on it at, got the pinion seal changed, and some ARP studs on the rear. Thankfully i didn't have to take the axles out to do it.
Most everything else is just as i get time, it's DDable at this point
You definitely doing it right.
I haven't posted any pics yet. I kinda wanted to get it done then post my beginning to end.
Right now I am completely gutted interior wise. Bare metal. Trying to get a day off to install my stereo, no better time to run wire than when it's nothing in it. I've got my racing seats, the rears covered to match, my carpet, sound deadening and heat shield all ready to go in. I've painted all my plastic from light gray to black, replaced window motors, headlight motor gears and installed a new dash cap. Getting the nose media blasted and painted next week. Looks like the previous owner got a faded one from a junkyard and put it on, looks horrible!
I'll post the entire journey when it's all back together.
Your engine work motivates me but I can't do any of that on my own. Your painted calipers look awesome and I can do something like that.
Back in the country again, starting back up finishing up some small things on the car, swapped out interior lights for LED's today (was feeling too lazy to do the catch can), then flashed a new bin with the stall saver fix steveo_ posted about, helped the drivability greatly, so i decided to pull over and flash again to lower the idle some since i'd raised it to help with takeoff. Low and behold i got an error from Tunercats about 2 seconds before it finished the flash and i'm stranded:
That'll teach me to mess with my PCM when i'm not at home i guess.
Got the new PCM in Saturday, got it programmed and it runs again, i did my catch can at the same time and had to take off clear up to the intake, started her up and i've got my lean issue back again, long term fuel trims go up to 145 (B1) and 160 (B2). I was having a similar issue before with split blms and being very lean on one bank and i couldn't figure it out for the life of me. I took the intake off one day checking around for vacuum leaks and when i put it all back together it was gone. So it's seeming like there's something weird with my intake...
So i went and got a new Fernco coupler (the old one was looking pretty worn) to insure a good seal from MAF to TB, re seated my MAF in the air box and am hoping for the best as i wait for my laptop to charge so i can watch the datastream when i take her out. Fingers crossed!
Had a check engine light thrown late last week just as i was getting home, check with the laptop, code 13, open circuit bank 1 O2 sensor. Had to park it for a few days, but got it up on a lift, and sure enough, the white wire spot welded to the outside body of the sensor had broken off. The old sensor was fairly black, but if i could get that wire welded back on, i assume it'd still be good to use.
I also swapped in my aluminum driveshaft at the same time then today ran the car up to 80 on the freeway and the terrible vibration above 70 is gone! I thought i was still hearing it at first, but it turned out to just be the exhaust droning...which i've never been able to hear at that speed before.
My vibration hits from 60-70 then goes away. New wheels, new u joints, drive shaft balanced, no change.
The tires are used but practically new but mounted on 2 bent rims which I bought as a complete set. Got the new rims so I'm thinking an out of round tire. Glad you got yours fixed. I hope mine is just a tire
My vibration hits from 60-70 then goes away. New wheels, new u joints, drive shaft balanced, no change.
The tires are used but practically new but mounted on 2 bent rims which I bought as a complete set. Got the new rims so I'm thinking an out of round tire. Glad you got yours fixed. I hope mine is just a tire
Mine did it since i bought it, i had the wheels balance checked and decided it was drive shaft. I read in a few places though that the steel shafts often still vibrated a bit even after a balance, i decided to find an aluminum shaft from an LS1 car, a member on here hooked me up and i'm stoked to actually be able to top 70 miles an hour in my 350 HP car lol.
My vibration started at 75 when i had 3.73's in my rear, then went to 70 or so when i went to 4.10's (good indicator of drive line) and would get worse the faster i went.
i can't remember if your car is auto or manual, but does it change depending on what gear you're in? could just be a certain RPM where your engine vibrates
Here are the tests I performed.:
65 mph in overdrive = vibration
65 mph in 3rd gear = vibration ( it's an automatic)
3rd gear at same rpm as overdrive= vibration
Ran it up to 85, threw it in neutral and let engine idle. As I came back down through 65mph I got vibration.
So in my mind I can rule out, rpm related, transmission related, driveshaft related
( balanced, no change from unbalanced)
The only thing I haven't checked is tire out of round.
First Auto-X event of the year is tomorrow, shouldn't have any trouble making this one. Still doing some last minute prep work though, got my rag joint eliminator done, valves adjusted, MAP, TPS, and IAC all replaced. Got the rear end centered finally and did an oil change with Mobil 1 synthetic and a big filter...working on changing spark plugs at the moment, just have a power steering flush/cooler to do then change out the wheels and wash her...
No pics since you really couldn't tell the difference from anything i've done...
Awesome build. I can't wait until you see how awesome these cars are at auto-x.
What rubber are you running for auto-x?
I only have rotors left AND my power steering pump left for the basics. Once those get done, I'll start to consider drivetrain, rear, and power mods.
Let us know how things go!
I picked up a set of wheels/tires from a guy on craigslist who used to race his C5 Vette, Hoosier A4's, 275's front 315's back, massive meaty things.
It had a great first event though, things went super smoothly with the car, and yes, i was amazed at how well it handles, very planted, little to no body roll, and plenty of power out of the corners...I still got beat by some guys in stock hot hatches, but they're super experienced racers, i'll have to hit them up for driving advice.
Here's some pics and a video if i can get it to work:
I ran in the novice class since i have only done one event previously and that was 5 or 6 years back. But i did win the novice class and took 28th out of 68 in the raw times.
09-25-2015, 02:47 PM
Once those get done, I'll start to consider drivetrain, rear, and power mods. 
