Gordo's X8 Ramblings

[Gordo 0]

Thanks Mo.

I miss your ass-ripping posts in the newbie threads.

Trying to carry on the tradition, but with out you, Jacob, and others, it's a lonely place.

[Mo 0]

Blame Cressida Nation, they stole our business. It's like losing business to China all over again.

 

 

About the boots, why not grease it? Just wondering. I found a video:

 

[Gordo 0]

Well, they expressly say not to install them that way, as you run the risk of tearing them.

But I will try it now.

Sure looks easier then the way they say to do it.

 

And today, I punched the 'Buy' button on this rear upper arm stuff.

Although I could have got it all from Speedway Motors, I went through 3 different vendors.

First, I wanted the black arms, so I got those from Keyser Manufacturing (off their eBay store).

Went with 6" on both front & back, hope I drew everything up right.........

If not, I will have to order different lengths.

Their eBay store for 5/8 threaded tubes:

http://stores.ebay.com/Port-City-Racing/_i.html?_nkw=Steel+Swedged+Suspension+Tube+5%2F8%22&submit=Search&_sid=690147253

 

Second, I found a forged ball joint mount from SouthWest Speed (everyone else's were fabricated).

Not only does it look like a stronger piece, but it was cheaper by a few bucks.

http://www.southwestspeed.com/?sec=view_part&id=431

 

Here is the rest of the items that I used Speedway for:

 

2) 91002006 CLEVIS-5/8 PLAIN/ 3/8 HOLE $6.99 ea.

2) 1750806 HIGH MISALIGNMENT HEIM 5/8" LH MALE $14.99 ea.

1) 1756048-RH 5/8 STL JAM NUTS 3/4 OD 6PK $3.99

1) 1756048-LH 5/8 STL JAM NUTS 3/4 OD 6PK $3.99

1) 91082160 SPANNER FOR 910-34323 $12.99 (actually not a part, but a tool)

2) 91034323 SCREW IN BALLJOINT $12.99 ea. Don't buy these, they are SHIT quality !

2) 1750316 PREC HEIM 5/8" LH MALE $12.99 ea.

 

Their site:

http://www.speedwaymotors.com/

 

The only thing I don't have are the required spacers to make the Heim joints fit the 49.5mm opening on the subframe.

I will probably just make those myself, but as it looks right now, there will be 2) 1/8" thick, 2) 1/2", and 4) 5/8".

(rough numbers, as those figures added to the heim ends come out a little too long)

 

Anyway, fitment will be verified in about a week when the shit gets here.

[Gaijin Smash Wayhoff 0]

When are you going to start selling this crap Gordo instead just hoarding it for yourself? Also, this thread needs more cats.

[Gordo 0]

Ferengi Rules of Acquisition # 13: Anything worth doing is worth doing for money.

 

Wasn't trying to make money on this shit, so I posted all the p/ns, and where to buy it all.

The only thing that isn't off the shelf are the spacers thast I ordered last night from QA1, which after they make them, I will have to machine a few of them down. Don't understand people who have shit on an on-line site, but not have the shit in stock.

 

They didn't make any 5/8" long, so I had to order 3/4", and will have trim them.

Other people had 5/8, but I am a stickler for details, and wanted stainless steel.

If I like standing out next to my old lathe in the Texas heat, I should just make the fuckers, but stainless is hard to work with, and after making the first one last night, and fucking it up, said the shortened serenity prayer (Fuck It !), went in and ordered the shit.

 

Other stuff, like my front tension rods, are what XM should be making.

Their RLCA are good, as are their FLCA, but those tension rods suck due to their front mounts, and adjustment style.

Everybody should go to them, and tell 'em to make the 'Duax' style rods. (not that they are my idea, all the tension rods in Japan look like that)

Maybe they will get the hint, and make some.

Maybe they will offer me a job.

 

By the way, what's the status of my old project car ?

[Gaijin Smash Wayhoff 0]

Has front and rear subframes swapped, all the XM front and rear arms mounted, JDM front bumper, and Megan coils. Just ordered a billet tensioner. Once I have the Fluidampr and a new timing belt on, the motor should be ready to drop in. After that it's just a money search for AEM v2, tune and AFPR.

[Kyle 0]

<3<3<3

[Gordo 0]

Glad that the old girl is getting another chance.

Did you do anything with the roof pannel that my dumb-ass cage builder fucked up ?

And did you swap the rack out ? That one had a bad clunk in it when you reversed directions, that's why I threw in the spare.

[Gaijin Smash Wayhoff 0]

Not planning on doing anything with roof currently. I plan on beating the shit out of the car. If it survives I'll pretty up the roof before selling. Never saw a spare rack. Or a title for that matter. Not saying it didn't come with them. I just haven't seen them.

[Gordo 0]

Did he give you the old Momo seats ?

I threw in a lot of different shit with that when it was leaving.

Crap, I should have just kept the rack.....

[Gordo 0]

OK, tubes for the RUCAs are in.

No spacers yet, so final mock up will be a ways away still.

 

First impressions is that I should have ordered 5.5" tubes for the front, and maybe 6.5" tubes for the rear, but these will work.

And I can always shorten the fronts in the lathe, and order the longer for the rear, they are only $10 each.

But the rears still have full thread engagement, so these just may go on.

 

[Gordo 0]

OK, so don't buy the cheap ball joints from Speedway (or anyone else).

I tried to move the stem around by hand, and couldn't.

So I screwed it into the mount, held the stem in the vise, and with the leverage of one of the 6" tubes tried to move it.

It did with considerable force, and when it got over to max travel, I could see why.

The damn ball was a piece of shit of machine work.

So they are going back.

Speedway said that they are a good seller.

I can see why........

Most of them go to hick oval track racers, who assemble their cars with very large hammers, and bailing wire.

 

Anyway, looking at some Coleman aluminum ball joints, or at least, some QA1 low friction units.

They both cost a lot more (Coleman about $75, QA1 about $45), but shit happens.

Maybe something off the shelf at NAPA would be better quality than these $12 wonders (wonder why I even considered this shit).

 

[Gordo 0]

Just picked these up off eBay:

 

[Gaijin Smash Wayhoff 0]

I've beaten out ball joints with a hammer and had them look better than that $12 piece.

[Gordo 0]

Yeah, chinese make good shit, right ?

When they came in, I looked all over the packaging, but there was no country of manufacture on them any place.

The thing is, this crap is all over eBay, some scam artists trying to get $40 for them.

 

Anyway, just a little bump in the road. Speedway took them back with no argument.

Summit Racing always argues when I try to send some of their crap back (it seems that all of their house brand shit is out of china).

[Gordo 0]

One thing you will incounter when using these US ball joints is that their taper is just a half a degree off.

Toyota uses a 7° 30" taper (for you knobs, that is 7 degrees, 30 minutes taper, or in knob language, 7-1/2 degrees).

These chrysler pattern screw-in ball joints are 7°.

It is not a good idea to tighten one in, as it can cause problems, like failure of the stem of the ball joint.

(as many honda dorks find out when they mix ball joints with even more difference in the taper)

So, to keep you from having to buy a very expensive 7° reamer, I will rent mine out for a small fee, plus a very expensive deposit. Once I get the reamer back, I will refund the deposit. This way I cover my old wrinkly ass.

Loose my reamer, or royally fuck it up, and I keep your deposit to buy another.

I do this with other specialty tools on the supra forums, like my 7M intake boring tool, and head insert boring tool.

When I drop my other subframe, and assemble this setup, I will of course, provide pictures.

[Gordo 0]

Finished up the spacers for the RUCA heim joints today.

20/20 hind sight, I should have just bought the reducer sleeves from someone, and stacked them.

Making these long ones from tubing was a pain in the ass, because tubing is seldom round,

and has quite a wide tolerance when made.

 

The 5/8 tube took a lot of work to finally get it to slide through the heim joints.

But it's done now.

Still waiting for my Coleman ball joints, and rod end spacers for the LRCAs to show up,

and I had to order both RH & LH 5/8 taps, and a LH die.

 

It seems when you shorten these swedged tie rod tubes a 1/4 of an inch each end, that you run out of thread.

They have enough thread as they are, and that's it.

Shorten them, and your in trouble getting things to screw together all the way.

And my LH high misalignment rod ends have some slightly out of spec. threads, and will need the threads gone over.

All that shit should be here later this week, and just maybe I can get down to assembling the rear suspension.

 

Here are the spacers & reducing sleeves for the RUCAs.

 

[Gordo 0]

Rear upper control arms are done, except for putting the rod end boots on.

 

Thanks Mo for the YouTube link to the easy way to put them on, I tried it on some other ends, and it was a lot easier.

I thought for sure those fucking black condoms were going to rip, but they did go on.

 

 

Now for the where not to buy shit lesson for the day........

I wanted strong bolts for the clevis on these, so I ordered airframe bolts from Pegasus Racing.

There were extremely cheap (that should give you a clue), but I figured Pegasus wouldn't be selling cheap shit, right ?

Wrong !

I knew I was in trouble the minute they came in, as I tried to screw on one of the K-nuts (small hex, flanged, lock nut).

Now K-nuts are supposed to have a distorted thread section near the top, to provide the locking action, but when I lightly spun the crap together with my fingers, it only went about 1-1/2 turns, and locked solid, no where near the top of the nut.

And I could not get the nut off then.

I had to take them out to the shop, and put fucking wrenches on them to get them apart again.

The plating had balled up in the treads.

Then I tried to look up the head stamp on the bolts, it wasn't to be found.

That lead me into tons of 'fake AN' bolt posts, and what problems they have cause, like window washer platform collapses due to fake airframe bolts, not to mention aircraft accidents.

So that shit isn't going on anything of mine.

 

Bought some bolts from an aircraft surplus guy in eBay.

Bolts are much nicer, look like they belong on an F18, or my car.

Plating is better, threads are not all banged up, nuts thread on like they should.

Even though they are surplus, they came with a protective sleeve over the threads.

The seller's name on eBay is rock651x .

These cost more than the Pegasus crap (about $5 each vs $1 each) but when something is in a critical location, it was worth it to me.

The fake is on the left.

 

 

 

[DiscoShit 0]

Looks good gordo. Seems like a long homework to even try to source out all the parts you used.

[Gordo 0]

It really didn't take too long once I decided to actually do it.

Been looking at those damn parts for several years, but I just kept pushing the project asside.

I'll probably revise the list so people don't have to fuck around as much as I did with making things fit.

[Gordo 0]

OK, pulled the stock RUCA from a spare upright I had laying around.

 

Stock weighs 6 pounds, new adjustable shit weighs 4 pounds

 

Put the upright in the bench vise, pulled out my trusty Hitachi 1/2 drill, installed 7° reamer, to find out how hard this was going to be.

Turned just a few turns at low speed, looked at hole, and it had already cut half the length. Spun a few more times, and done !

That went easier than I thought, could have done by hand with just a T handle.

So that will be an easy job once I pull the subframe from the car.

 

Hardest part was getting the damn halfshaft out of the hub, that was a bitch of a job, but that upright & halfshaft had sat outside for a couple of years, and had a little rust.

 

Now, while that upright & hub are in the vise, time to mock up the rear big brake set up with the adaptors I brought in from Japan.

These take the Skyline/Z32 rear calipers, with a JZX90/100 Tourer-V rear disk (IS300 disks are not the same).

They are machined from a large block of steel.

I may lighten them, or duplicate a set out of aluminum, not sure yet.

 

You old timers may remember that many years ago I had posted them here somewhere, and had actually sent all the dimmensions to that member who worked, or owned a BMW shop.

He was suppose to duplicate them, but like so many " I'll make some" wet dreams, it never happened.

In fact, he faded from here not much later.

 

While these are still off the car, the offer still stands.........

I will give the info to anyone with a bonified machine shop if they will make these things.

Oh, fuck 'give'.......

So to create some incentive to actually finish the project, I'll sell the dimmensions.

 

[Gordo 0]

OK, so 12" rear disks will not clear the factory dust shields........

 

 

So they were cut off the parking brake backing plate on a ban saw, making a huge racket, and greatly disturbing my neighbors

Then everything was wire brushed, cleaned, degreased, and sprayed with Krylon Rust Tuff.

 

 

Because that takes the gestation period of a normal house cat to dry, I forced the issue with a quicky paint curing oven.

A 5 gallon can, and a heat gun (metal can for all you retards, as plastic would melt).

 

 

Now the new bearings, seals, and a pair of Supra spherical bushings will get installed,

followed by a set of JZX81 halfshafts, as they have a smaller diameter constant velocity joint on the diff end.

 

Still have to go through the GT-R rear calipers, an abrasive blast job, adding a coat of color, new seals, titanium heat shields, and EBC Red-Stuff pads.

 

Not sure just how the fuck I am going to cut the .5mm titanium sheet, but I picked up extra just in case.

[swim 0]

this shit is seriously badass gordo. next mod.

[gameface 0]

nice work with the upper control arm it looks pretty sick

[Gordo 0]

Thanks guys.

 

Next job is to actually get all this stuff on the car.

Fucking argued with the other spare upright for 3 days, trying to get the fucking hub off, so I could disassemble the rest of it.

No amount of heat, or pressure would get the halfshaft to un-glue it's self from the hub.

So the whole thing went in the scrap barrel.

Will have to start pulling parts from the car now.

At least the right upright on it already has a new bearing in it.