Time to improve the suspension.

[oxbrain]

They were $5 cheaper than the next cheaper place, but their shipping is from FL instead of IL, so an extra 1-2 days transit time.

I'll pull the bolts for the control arms and put in the lock washer. I agree that I would feel safer.

[oxbrain]

SCORE!


I decided to pick up those miata wheels for $50. They are alloys and had khumo victoracers installed. The tires are 195/55/14 and have enough tread left for one or two more races. I don't have the rear done yet, so I can't test fit them. I think I might cancel my order for the toyos for now though in case the 195/55 do fit.

On the rear springs, the haynes manual doesn't say anything about compressing the springs. Do I just undo the upper strut nut and they are uncompressed enough not to go flying, or do I have to compress them?

[Safety Guy]

I had lockwashers on my front control arm pivot bolts too.

On the rear, just loosen the top nuts on the shocks because the weight of the car keeps the springs conpressed a bit. Then when you jack it up they'll come out. Or loosen the bolts after you jack it up, for that matter. It shouldn't make a difference.

Karl

[25Horseplay]

The rear springs are OK to remove without compressing them.

[oxbrain]

I already had the car up on stands and laziness > more work, so I just put my spring compressor on hand tight and removed the upper nuts. It popped a little when the nut came off, but nothing too serious. There was about 1/2" of compression left. I put the old spring next to the new spring and it looks like the new spring won't even be compressed with rear end off the ground. It will be close.

I am focusing on the rear beam for the moment because I want to find out if the wheels/tires I have will rub. I have the front about 80% done, I just need to put the lock washers in, finish up the drivers side, and torque everything down.

[Silv3rBull3t]

I have those exact tires in that size and I run mine at AutoX's... They do rub a bit but nothing too terrible... -Kyle

[oxbrain]

What offset and width wheels are you using?

Mattswab posted pictures of his miata wheels with 195/45 tires. These 195/55 are about .7" more radius than his. I can't see from the pictures how much clearance there is though.

[oxbrain]

Well, I tore one of the rear beam bushings trying to get it in.

I have only removed one bushing from the beam, one of the old ones is still in. My only options right now are to wait for a replacement from FMS, or use one new, one old bushing.

:x


I just measured the old and new bushing side by side. The new bushing is 50mm diameter, the old is 46.6, and the hole is only 43.3. No wonder the bushing wouldn't go in, it's more than 1/4" too big.

Has anyone else had this problem?

[oxbrain]

I got the new axle beam on using the bushing it came with. This beam came from a car with 120k miles, so everything is nice and solid. Handbrake cable routing was easier than I expected, but I tore my carpet a little removing it.

Good news, NAPA should have my wheel studs and nuts tommorow, bad news, my flight for chicago leaves tommorow and I'm not back till wednesday.

More good news, the victoracers clear the spring perches. They may or may not clear the fenders, I haven't lowered the car yet. My camera batteries are charging, I should have pics of the clearance later tonight. Bad news, I noticed that all 4 tires are left side specific. They are assymetric and directional, so the outside is different from the inside. This means I have 4 wheels for the left side of my car, and none for the right. Reverse circle track maybe? I'm probably just going to autox them with two facing the wrong way, I only expect 1-2 uses out of them anyway and they were free tires, so whatever. I got my 155/80/13 mounted on wheels and those will clear everything.

Judging by the amount these tires bulge on the miata wheels I'm starting to be unsure about mounting the toyos on them. The sidewalls are going to be rolling in so much.

The only thing left now is to install the tierod ends, bleed the brakes, install the new battery tray, and splice on a new positive connector.

edit for pics




I'd say there is about 2mm between the tire and the spring perch. Hopefully the hubs won't flex that much with weight on them.

[Silv3rBull3t]

They do rub there... But only during hard cornering.. And you will probably have to roll your fenders.. I had to. I don't think I have any pictures of my wheels on my car close up, they are MK1 MR2 wheels 14x6" but they fit almost identically to your wheels on the rear. -Kyle

[oxbrain]

I'll have to look into those. I've been trying to find a set of e30 wheels, but the cheapest I've found is $125.

I just got the shipping conformation, delivery date is set to the 23rd, which means a whopping 11 day shipping time instead of the 5 UPS claims for ground from FL to WA. This also means I won't be able to get them mounted before the autox.

[oxbrain]

Just got the toyos in today, those are some seriously reenforced sidewalls.

Right now the list of things I need to do to get the car running again is dwindling. As it sits now I need to,

Fix the alignment, I just eyeballed it when I put the tierod ends on and one wheel is a bit cockeyed now, should be an easy fix.
Unplug the festiva brake calipers and plug in the aspire ones. They are already bolted in and the hoses installed.
Bleed the brakes.
Remount the battery tray. I broke one of the bolts a while ago while swapping the engine, then cracked the tray. I have a new tray, but I am going to have to drill that rusted bolt out.

I got the wheel studs installed, they look really nice. I didn't use locktite becase I was in a bit of a hurry. The worst case is they back out when I try to loosen the nut, they won't come off on the road.

[Silv3rBull3t]

I would be careful about that... If they were to come out while driving it could not only ruin the car, but potentially ruin your life.. I wouldn't mess around with that. Just my .02 though. -Kyle

[oxbrain]

I do plan on locktiting them eventually, but for now I need to focus on getting the car on the road. Torquing down the lugs will put enough pressure on the studs they won't come out. The only time they could loosen is when I'm taking the lug off, in which case I would be checking. Also, with hubcentric wheels the loss of one lug isn't catastrophic. It could cause some serious tire wobble at speed, but not enough to throw you off the road.

I stopped and got hose for bleeding the brakes today. Unfortunatly I'm busy tonight so no more work will be done. Tommorow hopefully I'll get the battery sorted and back in. I'm trying to do the battery with as little work or cost as possible as I intend to relocate it later on. The current plan is to drill out the bolt and tack weld a nut on there. The tray won't be perfectly level, but that shouldn't be a problem.

[oxbrain]

What the hell is up with the flare nuts? They are just stripping instead of moving at all. I've used the rust eater, I've used heat, these fucking things are made out of butter.

edit: problem traced to a shitty spanner. I measured it and instead of being 10mm like it says, it's actually 10.7. THANK YOU SEARS!! :cussing: