05/16/09 - Suspension installation:
Part 2
Assembled the rear
subframe. Pressing in the new poly bushings wasn't too
difficult, all the parts were nicely powder coated...
That in itself created a little bit of a problem. A long time
ago I had the rear subframe powdercoated. Then I remembered
that I had purchased the Ireland Engineering camber kit.
This was a weld on kit with eccentric bolts that you rotate to change
camber (inside bushing) and toe (outside bushing). Since I
had to weld on the subframe and powdercoat again, I had to strip off
all the old powdercoat. That was NOT easy. 3 trips
through the automatic blaster, a belt sander, hand sanding and manual
blasting later, I was able to weld and re-coat the part.
Welding the parts on was pretty easy, I had to do some extra
fabricating, though, because the camber adjusters weren't all that well
designed.
Here is a shot of the subframe assembled:
And a close-up of the camber adjusters. Basically the channel
portion that the eccentric bolt rides in welds onto the subframe, then
you slot the existing holes. Turning the bolt allows the
bushing to ride up and down (foreground, camber) and forward and
backward (background, toe)
Then I painted the rear dif. It took so fucking long to clean
it... Like 4 hours. Just adding to the rainbow of
colors! I used duplicolor 500 degree engine block paint to
the dif. I used the some very aggressive stripper/degreaser to clean it.
A few shots of that:
Next, I installed the Ireland Engineering rear swaybar. The
factory swaybar uses only one bolt and a tab to hold it on.
The Ireland mounts use that one bolt, and then require the drilling of
2 more holes into the trunk then a backing plate. Much much
stronger.
I didn't install the end links yet, because I'm not sure if they're
going to be in the way while installing the dif.
While the paint was drying I installed the subframe...
alone. Kind of a pain in the ass to do alone, but it's
done. :) I was worried that the subframe was going
to be slightly warped from the automatic blaster, but it fit in
fine. Finally something going right! I really need
to re-spray the wheel wells.
Tomorrow I am probably going to rhinoliner the trunk and clean the
transmission for installation...
Monday should be wheel bearings...
I need rubber spring seats and shock mounts before i can install the
rear suspension, and strut bearings before I can install the front
suspension...
