WARNING, LONG WRITE UP. THIS ISNT MEANT TO BE A DIY, YOU WORK ON YOUR CAR AT YOUR OWN RISK.
Got to spend a solid 8 hrs working on the car yesterday, which was good as I pretty much got it all back together. Sorry but in my haste in working on it I didn’t take a lot of pics.
I got the core back in place on Saturday, so started Sunday putting the headlights and airboxes in. Headlights were not so bad, just took a little time adjusting them to get the gaps with the fender consistent.
The airboxes I must say were not that easy, I had the wheel inner fenders out for the suspension work, fitting them with the fenders in would have been really hard. Seemed to take for ages to get them in place and the intake snorkels fitted properly. The LH (Drivers side in US) was especially tight. Maybe there are some tips for easy fitment.
Glad I purchased some new air filter, these look like they have been in there for some time!!
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I’m still waiting on the new PVC before I drive it any distance, but I put the old one back on so I could start the car and pump the suspension up once I had done that. One annoyance was I split the LH intake tube from the airbox to the throttle body. It was the connector that goes I think to the carbon canister pipework, clearly I was being a bit rough with age hardened plastic. Some duct tape sealed it up so I could at least start the car, that was an annoying $138 lesson to be a bit more gentle.
During all the work I have done on the engine, some of the thin/small hard plastic vacuum lines were broken, with time these get very brittle. Where they had broken I just cut them off square with a dremmel and replaced them with 3mm rubber hose. The car started with no warning lights so all seems well.
Finally, on the front of the car, connected the wiring and fitted the bumper cover. Considering this car has had nothing but repairs and servicing (no recorded accidents), it amazing the number of bodged/missing fasteners for the fender cover. I did my best to refit it properly with fasteners vs the zip ties that one of the garages felt was a good method.
One good piece of news was that on starting the car my front parking sensors now work, I had presumed I have a sensor out, but it looks like it was just a loose connection……that is a result in my book.
So with the engine work done, and the front end back on, it was time to sort out the suspension. I had already removed everything whilst I was waiting for parts. So it was refurbing/refitting new parts.
First up was to replace the RH front axle CV boots which were both split. I have never done this job myself before, but decided to tackle it and a good excuse for a new boot clamp fixing tool. Before you start this, invest in some disposable workshop gloves, as roll of shop towel and a can of brake cleaner. As its messy to say the least. Start with the outer joint first, obviously remove the old clamps and cut the old boot off. Then you can clean most of the excessive grease off. Then hold the axle in a vice and using a soft drift strike the joint off. Mine came off with one strike of a 4lb hammer.
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Now clean up the outer joint to remove all the grease, just be careful as it’s easy to manipulate and the balls fall out. Once you have most of the grease removed with shop towels, blast ½ can of brake cleaner on it to remove all the old grease.
Then cut off the boot for the inner joint. You can remove the inner joint but I left it fitted and just cleaned it out with towels and brake cleaner. A blast with an airline dried it out and it was good to rebuild.
Apply a little grease to the inner boot and slide it onto the axle, then pack the joint with the grease that comes with the boot, I packed it with grease and moved the joint around to ensure coverage. Once that is done you slide the boot in place and fit the clamps.
For the outer joint, grease the new boot and slide it on first with the clamp. I packed the joint with grease before driving it onto the axle, for me it is easy to do this with the joint separated. Then you need to drive the joint onto the axle, first make sure the locating clip is in the axle groove (sorry I didn’t take pics, didn’t want to cover my phone in CV grease). Then line up the joint onto the axle splines and drive it on with a heavy hammer, I used the soft drift to take the impact as you don’t want to damage the end of the joint splines. Considering how easy the joint came off, driving it back on took some pretty hard wacks with a 4lb hammer. Once it is in palace slide the boot over it and fit the clamps.
Overall it was a pretty easy, and dare I say satisfying job, took just over an hour all in.
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I will be interested to see how the boots hold up. I got them from Pelican parts, the inner boot was a GKN part and the outer was a Meryle part, the GKN felt more rubber like and the Meryle felt more plastic/rubber. After doing it if they fail again it’s a pretty easy fix. So let’s see which one holds up best.
Refitting the axle is straight forward, only item to note is that if the car is lifted (both front wheels off the ground) its not easy to tighten the CV to diff bolts (6). First tighten all the bolts up as best you can, then us I found the easiest way to do torque them was to place 2 wheel lug bolts in the hub and wedge a pry bar through the bolts to the ground. You then just tighten the 2 bolts you can get access to, rotate the axle, move the lug bolts and tighten all 6.
I also had to replace a tie rod end on the RHS, the ball joint was fine, but the circlip holding the rubber boot was missing so only a matter of time before it wears. Easy replacement, loosen the lock nut, then count the number of rotations to remove it. Fit the new one with the same # of rotations and your steering alignment should be close (as long as the length of the new and old tie rod is the same). As I am fitting new upper control arms so my car needs a full alignment and ACC calibration once all the work is done.
Next task was to fit the new upper control arms, I know that some people pre torque them in position. I didn’t do that as I would rather torque that with the car sitting in the right position on its wheels, and its easier to fit them if they are loose enough to move around. I had to replace my struts, so I have the complete assemble out of the car, one thing to check is the 3 suspension mount threads. The mounts aluminum and very easy to damage/cross the threads. One strut had already been replaced on my car but on refitting they had stripped one of the treads, probably driving the bolt straight in with an airline driver. I replaced mine with a used one for $50. I’d suggest either running the bolt or even better a tap through the treads first to ensure they are clean.
Then refit the strut assy, place the top of the strut in place first, then lift the bottom of the strut over the lower control arm and slide the lower bolt on place to hold it. Once in place insert the upper 3 bolts by hand to ensure you thread them correctly as noted above. Tighten them sequentially to pull the mount into place. Then lightly tighten the lower bolt, but don’t fully torque it up yet. Attach the airline connection and electrical connector.
Then slide the upper control arm ball joints in the hub/suspension casting, I gave them a very light smear of anti seaze, and a light smear on the pinch bolt shaft (but none on the thread), just to make removal in the future easier.
Refit the sway bar with new links.
Once both side were done I fitted the wheels, and lowered the car. Don’t lower it to the ground yet, but enough that it senses when you start it that it needs to pump up. Start the car and let it pump the suspension up, once it is up and stable remove the jack and let the car sit on its wheels.
I then torqued the axle bolt up, the easiest was I found to do this is us a 6 inch extension on the socket, then put an axle stand under the extension, so when you lever the breaker bar to tighten, you keep the socket square to the bolt.
I then started the car, set the suspension to auto and drove the car at 5mph to the bottom of my drive and back. DON’T DRIVE IT ON THE STREET AS YOU HAVENT TORQUED THE SUSPENSION UP.
Parked the car back on the lift and left it to idle for a few minutes to settle the suspension. Then switch the car off and you can just get your hand in between the wheel and fender, now mark a line with a sharpie across the upper control arm and mount as a reference. Jack the car up and remove the wheels for better access. I then place a floor jack under the brake disc (with a piece of wood so you don’t damage the disc), then jack the suspension up until the sharpie line you put on the control arm and mount are aligned (essentially mimicking the cars ride height). Then torque up the upper control arm mounting bolts and lower strut bolt. Do the same for the other side. Refit the wheels and you’re done.
I haven’t driven the car yet as mentioned I want to replace the PCV first. But started it again and left it to idle and settle the suspension. I’m pleased that I don’t have any warning lights after the engine work and nothing seems to be leaking.
I also want to let the car stand to make sure I have addressed the dropping front end, in an earlier post I commented that I thought both front struts were original and leaking. But once removed I realized the LH was original and the RH was an Arnott replacement with a 11/15 build date. Previously the car would drop at the front within 24 hrs. I left it overnight and the old Arnott on the front and one of the back corners seem to have dropped about 5mm after 12 hrs, I’m going to measure it over 48 hrs and see how it goes…
Sorry for the long write up, it was a busy weekend and I have a running car, sort of , cant wait to start driving it.
