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Frankenwagon suspension build-up


Numbchux
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well, I've been working on this for about a week now. stole my dad's '94 LGT wagon (he can drive the caravan :-p ), and did this to my wagon:

PICT3212.jpg

 

got some parts ready for install :banana: :

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hmmm

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8" wide rim.....yikes:

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out with the old:

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got the new knuckles stripped down, new bearings are on the way:

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trying to get the rear diff pinion nut off:

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took out the driveshaft, locked the center diff, put a breaker bar on the nut, and proceeded to drive. it just locked the tires. I guess I'll have to try an impact :-\

 

yesterday, I spent about 3 hours (got locked in.....who'd a thunk they close @ 5?) and most of my paycheck at the junkyard yesterday:

PICT3207.jpg

 

today, with some seafoam deep creep, and this rig, I got the splindle nuts loose:

PICT3215.jpg

 

all of this for those 2 stinkin brackets:

PICT3216.jpg

 

I'll be taking them down to my buddy's place next weekend to sandblast them. hopefully get my superpro bushings ordered very soon.....I can't wait!!!

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looks like a hunk of metal and rust..... Where the finished results?

 

Kidding... Lookin good man. Mine looked about the same but it was mostly assembled when I put it into my coupe. I also swapped my engine crossmember too so I had the turbo corssmember already for the turbo EJ swap eventually.

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yep, lots of rusty metal at this juncture. but I'm staying at my parents house tonight, and in the morning, going out to a buddy's place where he has an extremely sweet sandblasting setup. and will be stripping the trailing arms, sway bars, and 3 pairs of backing plates (XT6 ones to be installed...and 2 pair of 4-lug ones to sell) down to bare metal. then the re-assembly phase can begin.

 

And after that, out to my uncle's place where he has a hydraulic press to get the outer races out and the new ones in :banana:

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a couple hours of sandblasting (would've been less if the @#$@#%^ compressor would've just stayed running :mad: ), and you've got this:

PICT3222.jpg

 

PICT3223.jpg

 

PICT3224.jpg

 

the paint is drying now. some rustoleum rusty metal primer, and professional grade gloss black......mmmmmmmmmmmmm

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dont know if anyone else noticed but why do you have two different licence plates? the front #'s are different than the rear #'s.

 

other that that... any word on the progress?

 

-=Suberdave=-

http://www.suberdave.com

 

hehehe.....I was wondering if anyone would notice.

 

this spring was 10 years since we bought the car....which meant new plates. I put the one on the rear....and haven't changed the one on the front. hopefully I'll get around to doing it before it hits the road again :-p

 

yea, I've worked with POR 15. good stuff....but more money than I wanted to spend for this project. I figure this stuff lasted 20 years without even being painted, just painting them will probably get them more than the car will last.

 

progress? well, I bought an air compressor, and an impact wrench. finally got the pinion flange off the rear diff, put the new seal in it. put it back in.

 

got the new bearings in the front knuckles

 

got the trailing arms and control arms in.

 

got the poly sway bar bushings ordered (to save money, and time, I'm not doing a full set, just the sway bars, endlinks, and leading rods)

 

 

still need to order the rear wheel bearing tool, and get those taken apart/repacked

 

still need to order all my wheel bearing seals

 

still need to decide on a spring rate, and order springs (I'm actually considering keeping these uber stiff springs, just to delay the hassle/$$, but Noah has already claimed them...)

 

still need to buy tires (at this rate, might as well go right for my snow tires, we got flurries last week :eek: )

 

 

 

haven't had much time. I've been working on wiring harnesses in all of my free time. and a local guy has agreed to hire me to EJ-swap a rust-free EA82 GL wagon he found. so, unfortunately, my own car has gotten pushed pretty far down the list :(

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update. progress has been rather slow. since my last paycheck was almost completely soaked up by this:

PICT3228.jpg

I love Craigslist....

 

 

BUT, with my new impact wrench, I was able to get the pinion flange off the rear diff and get the new seal in place.

 

and today I started working on the interior stuff.....

 

manual seatbelt conversion:

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and I took pics of the painted parts today. I wish I hadn't been lazy, and had taken pics while the paint was fresh....

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started mounting the legacy handbrake handle:

PICT3231.jpg

 

finally ordered the socket to get the rear wheel bearings apart, so I can get the sand blasting media out of there, and some fresh grease and seals.

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Just wondering why are you useing the legacy E-brake handle ? are you going to use the Legacy rear brakes ?

 

nope, using Nissan 200SX rear calipers for rear handbrake (still cable operated). I live in a very hilly city, and am a delivery driver, so I need to have a parking brake.

 

and the stock EA82 cables won't reach the back without kinking. so I'm mounting the rear-pull handle, and drilling new holes for the legacy cables to go towards the back.

 

 

custom short shifter (cut 3-4" off the stock shifter, drilled new hole for the little spring pin)

PICT3239.jpg

 

and, extending the PT4WD hi/lo shift rod to work better with the FT4WD DR trans. now the hi/lo shift lever won't hit the 5MT shifter when in 4th Lo! went to menards, and bought a 1ft section of 5/8"-11 threaded rod, and 2 matching couplers. then cut the shift rod, and tapped the ends to match (took all day to find a 5/8"-11 die!), a little thread locker, paint to resist rust, and voila!

PICT3241.jpg

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Cool just wanted to know how that goes because im going to have to do a simmlar thing to my brat with the Brembo swap .

The short shifter will look cool but its not a true short shifter . to make it a real short throw shifter you need to move the bracket that holds the shift rod up and re weld it , one inch would be a lot .

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Cool just wanted to know how that goes because im going to have to do a simmlar thing to my brat with the Brembo swap .

The short shifter will look cool but its not a true short shifter . to make it a real short throw shifter you need to move the bracket that holds the shift rod up and re weld it , one inch would be a lot .

 

the handbrake handle mounting is pretty easy. the legacy handle sits lower than the loyale, but a quick notch in the center console, and it fits fine. the mounting holes are completely different. but I just drilled holes in the driveshaft tunnel, and bought new bolts with nylock nuts to put on the bottom.

 

and yes, I know it's not a true short shifter....but I'm actually not that concerned with the shifter throw.....I'm more concerned with my hand vs. the radio issue :)

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hey numbchux,

do u still have the rear backing plate off the trailing arms? if yes could you measure the size of the hole that fits around the hub and the bolt holes as well for me? looking at creating a plate to adapt the legacy backing plate to the L-series hub/trailing arm three hole mount and it would help me to know those dimension accurately so I don't have 2 dissassemble my rear hub ;)

Kaz

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hey numbchux,

do u still have the rear backing plate off the trailing arms? if yes could you measure the size of the hole that fits around the hub and the bolt holes as well for me? looking at creating a plate to adapt the legacy backing plate to the L-series hub/trailing arm three hole mount and it would help me to know those dimension accurately so I don't have 2 dissassemble my rear hub ;)

Kaz

 

I'll see what I can do. the size of the center hole will be easy.....but to accurately measure the location of the 3 mounting holes will be very difficult.....

 

 

 

got a couple boxes this evening....

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inside:

PICT3244.jpg

 

every wheel bearing seal for the entire car (XT trailing arms, and legacy knuckles), the EA82 rear wheel bearing socket (smaller, non-Subaru box), one lug stud (there's one missing from my XT6 hubs), and a full set (20) of brand-new acorn style lug nuts.

 

I love our MNSubaru discount at the local dealer :banana:

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Where did you get the tool from? I'm going to be stripping down a complete rear suspension and get it powder coated for my coupe (I kinda messed the threads up where the rear seal housing screws into the trailing arm a bit) along with putting new seals, bearings and bushings in it... You sir, have a PM coming your way;)

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so what strut did you end up using in the rear?

 

stock miata. will be replacing with KYB AGX's for a miata when the funds become available.

 

update...got one rear wheel bearing removed, cleaned, and repacked. got the new seals in, spindle in, and hub/rotor on. so I thought I'd mount a wheel and take a few pics:

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