First Aspire Suspension Swap Part 1 (Rear)

[sickfleming]

Thanks to my paycheck today from my new Jimmy John's gig, I was able to get some more of the stuff I needed for this swap. With my brake shoes constantly falling over and grinding, it's a good thing I did lol. However, since I don't want to be behind on the rent, I'm just going to do the back part first and ride around on that until I find a that aspire steering knuckle

I picked up two regular 14'' steelies from a 98 Protege. Li'l rusty but that's what sandpaper and rustoleum is for lol. Paid $15 apiece; Not bad.
Also I grabbed two junkyard tires for $10 a pop. They both have a pretty decent amount of tread on them, and they were mounted on different tires and seemed to hold air. I was originally going to get 13''s, but man, I couldn't find many. Oh well, I hope the tires don't rub. They're 175/65 14''s on the Protege wheels.

Anyway, I'm having them mounted and balanced tomorrow and I'll get started. I'll put up pictures as I go.

[sickfleming]

Well dang. As soon as I put the greased bearings in and try to mount up the drum to the backing plate, the brakes feel too big. The drum slides over the shoes but the e brake latch won't even move, its so tight. Maybe I put the brake shoes in backward? The drums are from two different aspires but I don't think that's relevant.

[FestYboy]

make sure that ebrake adjuster is SLOPPY loose and try again, you may either have the shoes out of alignment or the adjuster too tight (the toothed part needs to be set ALL the way in when you install the drum, and if everything is working properly, it will self adjust once you pump the brakes and actuate the e-brake)

[sickfleming]

Yep, I figured it out lol. I just tightened down the bearings. I don't have a torque wrench but I'm tightening down to where the washer will barely turn. Now I'm going to start taking stuff off my car.

[sickfleming]

Okay... Passenger side rear strut mounting bolt all chewed to pieces. Tried a cyclone socket and everything else and still nothing. Looks like I better get some spring compressors and take out the whole strut
Other than that, bolts all came out

[sickfleming]

Okay, what the hell? Everything WAS going okay (minus renting a spring compressor and taking off the left strut) except the passenger side trailing arm pivot bolt is IN THERE. The nuts came off okay, but the bolts are square headed, with that raised part beside it which I guess locks it in. The right bolt came loose with a little oomph with a 17mm open end wrench, but the left one just simply won't move, no matter how much Liquid Wrench I use. I've even tried putting the nut back on and knocking it through with a breaker bar and sledge hammer but still nothing. What am I doing wrong? Do I need a certain tool? This needs to be done tonight so HELP!

[Bert]

Okay, what the hell? Everything WAS going okay (minus renting a spring compressor and taking off the left strut) except the passenger side trailing arm pivot bolt is IN THERE. The nuts came off okay, but the bolts are square headed, with that raised part beside it which I guess locks it in. The right bolt came loose with a little oomph with a 17mm open end wrench, but the left one just simply won't move, no matter how much Liquid Wrench I use. I've even tried putting the nut back on and knocking it through with a breaker bar and sledge hammer but still nothing. What am I doing wrong? Do I need a certain tool? This needs to be done tonight so HELP!

This bolt should smoothly slide right through (I had both of mine out just a few weeks ago). This bolt passes through a steel sleeve that is enclosed in rubber. Yours must be rust seized. Can you withdraw it enough to expose the square end so that you can attempt to turn it a few times to get the penetrating oil in there?
If the parts you are monkeying with are on the original Festy trailing arm why not just undo the body brackets and leave the pivot points alone until the whole works is off the car. Using the Aspire-derived brackets is nicer anyway because they are sturdier and they cause the trailing arm to sit lower (ie easier to access the pivot bolts). You can always beat the crap out of the Festy trailing arm once it's off.

[sickfleming]

This bolt should smoothly slide right through (I had both of mine out just a few weeks ago). This bolt passes through a steel sleeve that is enclosed in rubber. Yours must be rust seized. Can you withdraw it enough to expose the square end so that you can attempt to turn it a few times to get the penetrating oil in there?
If the parts you are monkeying with are on the original Festy trailing arm why not just undo the body brackets and leave the pivot points alone until the whole works is off the car. Using the Aspire-derived brackets is nicer anyway because they are sturdier and they cause the trailing arm to sit lower (ie easier to access the pivot bolts). You can always beat the crap out of the Festy trailing arm once it's off.

I would but the JY is on the other side of Houston about an hour away lol. Definitely a good idea for the near future. I got that bolt out by removing the bracket and giving it a few light slams lol. Now for that stripped strut mount bolt however, things are still going south. Even off the car' AND with cyclone nut bolt extractors AND a sledge AND a breaker bar, it still won't budge. I'm half tempted to take it to midas or something just to get that bolt out. Other than that I'm home free. And sorry for the delay on pics, phone issues