AquaMutt build thread...

[Safety Guy]

My Dad came over and helped me out since I had planned on installing the gas tank and rear axle. So far so good, but I'm now waiting on a Festiva MC with plastic reservoir since I couldn't get my reservoir off to put on the metal only Aspire MC I had bought:



It just wouldn't budge! My Festy MC should be in Friday...maybe. By that time I should have the rest of the braking system done. (Crosses fingers and toes.)

Here is where I was before gas tank install with finishing my fuel line routing:



I managed to keep sorta close to the factory routing, though I used more FI rated hose instead of hard lines. Those 5/16" tubes are just so hard to manipulate!

Another pic:



The open tube is the vapor line, which I connected after tank install.

One more looking north:



Remember, replacing all the hard lines was the reason I stripped Aqua down this far and put her on her side to more easily accomplish this goal. It was a real learning experience! I think I'll do better, more easily the next time...and there WILL be at least TWO next times when I redo Luxstiva and Twinstiva.

Now for a booboo:



My fuel return hose is too short! So I used some steel line and lots of clamps to solve the problem:



Tank and rear axle body back on!:



I need to finish up the short brake lines on the axle, which will require some filing on the inner hose-to-brake-line junction brackets. They are too small for my new hoses for some reason. Since my Dad had to get home we put the axle on. Both drums were previously taken apart and put back together with the new wheel cylinders.

My last acts of the day were to torque the axle bracket to body bolts and I also spray painted the left wiper arm flat black. Unfortunately, the right side wiper arm won't come off! I'll get that one maybe in the spring.

Here is one more picture at the end of the day, showing where I covered the "rust reformer" black with blue spray paint:



Tomorrow I think I'll go to a 'yard for some more parts and if the weather holds I'll finish up some paint and body work!

I think I can see the finish line from here too!!

Karl

[Safety Guy]

Hey John! I just saw your post.

What rear seat you talkin' 'bout?

Yeah, I'll have the blankets, etc. See you tomorrow!

Karl

[Pu241]

Hey John! I just saw your post.

What rear seat you talkin' 'bout?

Yeah, I'll have the blankets, etc. See you tomorrow!

Karl

Well Willis, if it's not the front pass or driver seat, you gots only one other choice!
I guess you could back seat trick it so you have room to run it from the back of the driver seat to the back corner of the passenger side.
That way you don't have to remove the back seat.
That's how I have it in mine now.

[SuperDaveGulvak]

Looks like its coming together nicely Love the pic of it on its side def easier than crawling under it : )> And yet another great use for "Great Stuff"!

[Safety Guy]

Thanks Dave.

I'll be updating with more pics soon. Back axle and brakes are done, almost finished with front brake lines and carpet and seats are in. Tonight I did the last of the undercoating and I'm choosing my front end pieces: Aspire hubs and manual components. I set up a vice on a board to clamp to my outdoor table for heavy work.

I'll probably be putting the B3 back in. Easier, I think.

Karl

[Pu241]

Karl, looks like you got four nice days, maybe more, to get this wrapped up!
Weather this nice doesn't happen often in November!

OK, got all the 12" tires off the rims, the alloys were much more difficult than the steelies.
What did you do with the crappy tires.
I can't get Wal-mart to take them even if I pay their "recycling" fee!
I'd like to be responsible, but it's not looking good!

[Safety Guy]

Yes, "Indian Summer" like Custer would have it!

Used, no good tires, eh? I still have maybe eight of them hanging out. I used them for my "crash pad" and some other work. However, used tires aren't fun to keep around when they get in the way!

I think a friend of mine has put one or two in the trash every week. That's one way to deal with it. Another would be to cross over into Rubber Land from Plasticville and devise some new uses for them! You'd also open up another job area, no doubt!

My used tires will probably hang out for another year or two. Maybe by the time I get some land I can use them there in an earthship or tire house, etc. I can dream eh?

Karl, getting to work on a very nice mawning...

[Safety Guy]

GOT BRAKES!!

My Dad came over today and we bench bled the new MC, finished front caliper and MC install and before we could start bleeding the system--LEAK CITY!

Fortunately it wasn't that bad. I had just not tightened two of the rear brake line to hose connections and one wheel cylinder connection was also loose. A few frantic minutes of tightening and all was well! Then we bled the system and NO LEAKS. Not from those three NAPA compression fittings, either, which was what I was worried about.

Unfortunately, my camera batteries are both low and I think my charger is at work.

Pics to come!

Karl

[Pu241]

:wav:
Alright!
Phase one complete!
:wav:

[Safety Guy]

Thanks John!

Tomorrow I'll probably redo the front brake pads (wear indicators on wrong and would interfere with wheel mounting!), install Aspire brake cable, odd stuff, but mainly organize my garage with a clear area for engine work. I have all the seals...I want that B6!!

Karl

[Pu241]

You want a B6 with a 5 spd this time!

[Safety Guy]

Yup!!

Karl

[Safety Guy]

Well past update time! Yeah, I'm slow. Loading pics onto the bucket now...

I had left off at the brakes. Just before that I had installed the tan carpet from Muttstiva, which cleaned up a lot better than the original grey carpet. I threw that away except for a small section which contributed to some extra padding underneath.

Note that the electrical connections between older manual belt Festivas and the newer auto belt ones mean you have to make some choices. It looked to me that there were two plugs for the auto belt latches, while the older cars only had one plug for the center dual latches. Compare the following pics, with the older car first (Muttstiva, white):



Now Aqua:



The plug for the dual center latches would not fit whichever new plugs reached it, so I chose to wrap the two plugs in duct tape and tuck them under the steel ridge under the front of the seat. (Also note the red wire, which plugs into the handbrake lever the same on both cars.)

The larger plug to the auto seatbelt control box I simply sandwiched between some of the grey carpet I had saved and Mutt's tan carpet:



I didn't have time to try to figure out any splicing, etc. I'll just deal with the stupid seatbelt buzzer later, probably by disconnecting the noisemaker. I don't need a reminder to buckle up.

Anywho, here's the installed tan carpet in my mostly grey interior car, with the tan console (obtained from a 'yard years ago) from Muttstiva:





The "mutt" theme continues inside, with a grey door panel on the left and a tan one on the right! Ah, looking more finished every day!

One more pic of the installed seats with tie dye covers:



Up next, brakes and hubs, etc.

[Safety Guy]

Brakes came off pretty uneventfully, except for three fittings I had forgotten to tighten which led to early leaking as the fluid from the MC drained into the lines. I quickly tightened them. Bleeding turned up no leaks. Whew!

Here are shots of both lines on the rear:



While everything on the right side fit stock, the left rear connection between hose and hard line on the axle would not fit in the axle bracket hole. So I cut an old stabilizer bar bushing to form a cushioned pocket and zip tied the result on top of the axle bracket. We'll see how it holds up!:



Oh, those are new Monroe Sensa Trac rear struts. Had to tap and pry them into their axle brackets to get them to fit. Pry bars, various blocks of wood, large mallets and larger sledgehammers all come in handy! With age, experience and practice, the wisdom to use them will come! :p

Meanwhile, I worked on the front. Brake lines went in:



Here are my used but serviceable components:



It's so, so nice to have a "reference library" nearby, in case one forgets what goes where, and how it is supposed to fit!:



Brakes are all finished, and I had put on the rear bumper and attached the license plate:

[Safety Guy]

I finished the fuel line installation up front as well. Part of this was to reposition the fuel filter up top like in Aspires and older B6 Tracers. I used an Aspire bracket and mounted it to the two rubber isolators which held only the vapor cannister electrical and vac line connector. I didn't need the heavy plate which held the connector, so that went away. Instead, I drilled an extra hole in the Aspire fuel filter bracket and used some rubber stair tread to help fill in the space between bracket and filter (otherwise, the filter bracket would not bridge the gap between rubber firewall isolators due the bracket being tightened too much). I then hung the electrical and vac connector on the side of the whole shebang. (The elec/vac connector is attached to the screw for which I drilled the new hole in the bracket.):



However, since that firewall bracket was not meant to hold a heavier amount of stuff, the filter was directly rubbing on the firewall crease. That worried me, so I cut a short piece of old fuel line and slit it lengthwise. I then slipped it on the firewall crease, serving as a rubber bumper for the bottom of the fuel filter. This should prevent any "bad vibrations" from doing any harm. Another view in which you can see the bumper:



I've also largely finished the front suspension. I took apart my two 2002 Kia Rio front struts and put on Muttstiva's original cut Aspire springs (from my first suspension swap on Muttstiva back around 2002). The Harbor Freight strut compression tool worked fine to take apart the Rio struts, but it bound up horribly trying to take off the cut Aspire springs from the old Aspire struts. I had to borrow a different tool from Auto Zone to do this. It worked really well. I like that design better, so I will probably be buying my own set in the spring.

Here is the Rio strut in my vise, getting the useless appendages cut off:



Here are the two struts compared (Aspire strut and spring still assembled), with the stuff I cut off the Rio strut visible on the table:



Disassembled struts compared. Aspire is on the left. Note the single piece bumper/boot of the Aspire unit (which I used on my new assemblies) compared with the separate Rio pieces:



Finally, here's the assembly table showing the HF strut tool at top and the much better AZ design compressing the cut Aspire spring:



FYI, my Aspire springs had one coil cut each. They appeared to give stock ride height on Muttstiva and worked pretty well, IMO. The only thing "wrong" I recall was some knocking noises from one of the fronts when I turned to one side in reverse. Otherwise, no problems! I should be happy with them if they work well with the Rio front struts. If so, Rio front struts represent what I think may be one of the best, most cost effective parts for our cars, as KYB has apparently discontinued their Aspire line. That's why I went with the Monroe rear struts. (Also, for those not in the know, Rio rear suspension is totally different and won't work on our cars.)

One more update post in a moment!