JLarson's build thread

[JLarson]

9/22/2018 In Which Josh and Rusty Destroy A Bushing

7 am came a little too quickly, but after reinforcing myself with coffee and a delicious omelette courtesy of Chef Rusty's Grill and pleasant conversation with both Rusty and his wife Chris, I was ready for another round!

-Finished prepping the differential by cutting off a couple of the fins which will interfere with the Fast Intentions exhaust. Again, the sort of thing I wouldn't have expected, and glad Russ did! I'm sure it's much easier to do when the differential isn't already installed.
-Went after the bushing. I'll spend a little more time on this particular topic. First, do not waste your time with the Z1 Bushing Removal kit. I guess it might work as an act of desperation, or on a lift with a lot of room for a breaker bar + extension, but the kit works by applying tremendous force to try and push out the bushing. We did give it a try, but quickly went with Rusty's actual plan - an 18v drill and a hole saw.

At the first application of the hole saw, the bushing employed its squid-like self defense mechanism and sprayed Rusty down with black goo. Undeterred, Rusty cut the core out of the bushing, set its guts on a shelf as a warning for future bushings. I'd guess it was probably about 20 minutes to cut out the bushing core using this method. Do not expect the hole saw to be good for much after this.

The OEM bushing is surrounded by a metal collar, which Rusty removed using an impact gun and an exhaust tool. Maybe 1 minute to remove by this method. We took a few minutes to celebrate this victory with pictures. Because the OEM bushing hole is not truly round, Rusty used a grinding tool to remove some of the burrs and remnant material from inside.

-Installation of the new bushing came next. Again, Z1's instructions are not awesome. They recommend installing the bushing with a rubber mallet. This is a bad idea, for several reasons. First, you have very little room to swing the mallet. Second, the bushing is fat and the hole is thin. Third, as previously discussed, the hole is not perfectly round, and the bushing will try very hard to go any direction other than straight. If you try this method, expect to spend a lot of time working at it for fairly minimal results. Practice your swear words.

The solution was that the z1 bushing has a sort of groove in the surface on the differential-facing side. Rusty matched a large diameter socket to that groove, and using that socket, 2 metal plates, a length of all-thread, and some nuts, he made a bomb! Oh wait, that's MacGyver. He made a bushing installation tool! The bushing was forced into place, and there was much rejoicing.

At this point, it was pretty much just reversing what we'd done so far, and by a little after 2 pm, we had everything reinstalled, new lube in the diff, and the car on the ground. Total work time was about 10 hours, and Rusty guessed we could've dropped a couple hours off if we had lift access instead of ramps + jack stands.

[JLarson]

9/22/2018 - In Which Our Heroes Go For A Cruise

Next phase (after cleanup) was test drive, and Rusty toured me around some of the fine and winding roads of western PA, ending in the Ohio Pyle park. Very pretty area, and apparently ideal for whitewater rafting! Back to his place, said goodbyes and thank yous to both Rusty and Chris for their hospitality, and then it was back to my side of the state.

I'm overall quite pleased with the modifications. The change in gear oil has resulted in quieter and smoother shifting, and the bushings (in conjunction with the metal subframe bushing collars and poly transmission mount) make for a more solid feel which is very apparent both in a launch and during 1-2 and 2-3 shifts. A lot of drivetrain slop is gone, and my acceleration has improved. I'd like to compare the feel of the poly bushing to a solid bushing at some point, just curious how much of a difference that would make. This concludes my update for now, though I'll be adding some pictures shortly.

[Rusty]

Here's my collection of pictures.

[Rusty]

And more.

[Rusty]

And one more.

[JLarson]

Well it's been a while since I've updated this, having gotten through most of the desired mods on my list already. This weekend kicked off another round, mostly small stuff.

1) I'd been experiencing a judder from my front rotors during high speed braking for the past year or so, finally decided to take care of that and decided to do brakes at the same time, so I picked up a package from StopTech.

2) I've experienced the axle nut click for a while now, and since I was going to be in there anyway, that was an obvious choice.

3) I had picked up stainless steel brake lines from z1 more than a year ago, and they've been collecting dust in my garage. This was a good time to add them in.

4) Finally, it's time for a brake fluid flush!

I got a late start, around noon. I've got to get better power run to my garage since I constantly trip the breaker there, and I set up the QJ in my driveway instead, near ample power access.

[JLarson]

Things started off smoothly. I had nothing frozen up; my caliper bolts came loose easily, and my rotors required only moderate persuasion with a dead blow hammer. I was naturally suspicious (see picture of me looking suspicious).

Removing the axle nut was interesting only in that it requires a 32mm socket, which I did not have. My wife was very fortunately shopping for groceries near an Autozone, so a quick text message solved that problem (my hardware angel delivered swiftly).

You can see the deformed cap sitting on the axle nut. This was quick and easy to replace. Lubed up with fresh grease, maneuvered the new one in place, bent the cotter pin appropriately, done.

Edited: here's the link to the DIY. FIXED: Rear axle click clunk noise