you do want to set them to what Myles was suggesting. To me if you have the pump off its a good idea to replace it since its such a pain to get to. Though they all have a slight bit of resistance to turning.
Thanks Colin. I still may still cut holes in the rear to for the adjuster extenders. The car won't see winter ever again, so I am not too worried about a hole. Mostly, I am curious to see what happens when I do play with those settings, but I won't want to pull the unit to change it. 8 clicks is what I'll start out with, though. I'll have to think about the water pump - it probably is just fine, but you're right, it is deep in there. However, as long as the car has the AC and alternator hanging off the front, I really can't begin to get serious about swapping the suspension and moving it up and down on the wheels to set ride height and the downlinks. Right now I lean towards putting it back in for the rest of the summer, then replace it in winter when the car goes into hibernation. The dip stick o-ring wasn't leaking - in fact, it kept rusty sludge water accumulated above it around the opening in the block from getting into the motor. Amazing that that area wasn't all oiled up like the rest of the front of the engine. Brown goo all around the tube just above the o-ring as I pulled it out.
I always replace the water pump while I'm in there, unless the current one is less than 3yrs or 35k miles old. Cheap insurance, since they are designed to seep even when new (they just catch it in a reservoir until they seep faster than it can evaporate).
I put the pump back in. I can't work on the car next week and need to actually have a working car for the coming months, just in case. Waiting for another part to get here and then fixing it 2 weekends later (no time next week) is really out of the question. I don't drive much anyway. This year so far 450 miles and of those I only drove 50 miles myself, the rest was my son. At this rate, I think the water pump really only has to last another 1500 miles before the car goes back into winter hibernation. And nothing was wrong with it in the first pace - it just is getting up there in age. In spring, I will tear into it again and replace what I didn't replace this time around. It actually isn't that difficult to get the supercharger out of there if you can take your time. Tomorrow flush and fill the coolant, oil change, put the bumper back on. Then finally to the coilover job. I am getting pretty good at putting that SC belt on and off the pulleys
Found some parts in a box I got from the first owner - the bolt for the top engine mount (corroded original I had put back in a few days ago now replaced). I also found a new bottom engine mount (stock) with Powerflex yellow poly bushing inserts. Guess I will install that, too. Oil changed, engine fires up (phew), now the coolant. Not sure when I will get this thing rolling, but it coming soon. When changing the oil and installing a nice Fumoto drain plug, I saw some fresh oil under the oil pan on the gearbox side - there's a small 10mm bold in the center. Can oil leak out from the transmission from a possibly bad crank seal on that side and accumulate in that area? If not, then this is just more crank position sensor leakage I didn't wipe up last time. I do see a clutch job coming up this winter, as it is about time to do.
buttoned it mostly up today, filled in coolant, started it, and crap - coolant came gushing out from somewhere near the water pump. Panic at first that I'd have to pull the SC again, but I just forgot to put the clamp on the front of the water pump to the bottom of radiator hose. Phew. Later I yanked off the old suspension. Spent a lot of time with breaker bars, impact tools, liquid wrench. That stuff was SEIZED on tight. Especially the rears at the bottom. Double pipe extension, and a breaker bar that was rather close to snapping, but the bolts finally gave. Lost a lot of time with that. Fronts are installed as they shipped re height adjustment. Sure look a lot shorter than what I pulled out. I wasn't sure at first what you meant here: This is the passenger side as installed now with the screws moved to the outside, inner pair dead center - is that what you meant? I didn't get to install the rears, as I cannot get the old passenger side downlink off. Soaking it in liquid wrench for another day... And some of the junk that came off the front: replaced by this
There is a penetrating product that is called Kroil Oil that is very effective in loosening rusted bolts. Good luck with the rest of your project.
Sorry, that may not have been the most straight forward instruction. I should have sent a picture. Your picture looks like you got the gist of it but went the opposite direction and added positive camber. You want the cap screws next to each other so they are accessible through the hole, but in the other direction so you have negative camber.
Oops. I even compared it to my old camber plates, and those too look like they slightly are set in that same direction, even though the car had serious negative camber, But those are a different design and bolts are above the hole. I figured it would correct the extra camber set by more drop, but it's no big deal to correct. It won't be that difficult to change to the other side.
The penetrating oil and some soak time worked. I got all parts in - still on jacks until I get the bumper back on. These coilovers look really short (I installed as shipped), so I probably will be all slammed when I set it back down on its wheels tomorrow or Friday.
Just did the first lap around the neighborhood since before this thread started. The engine runs like smooth clockwork: ATI damper, fresh tensioner and idler pulley, and a perfectly fitting fresh belt that is not slipping even with aggressive throttle inputs. The new engine mounts also seem to smooth things out. The suspension feels like a Cadillac compared to the junk that was on there. Still firm, but it actually evens out the road surface and bigger seams that used to just bang through everything. Ride height was spot on driver's side. On the passenger side I only needed to drop the front 1/3" and the rear 1/4" to get it to be about right. No reason to go lower. For the first time, the car didn't scrape on the bottom front edge as I backed out of the driveway! At first I wanted to go lower, because the car was darn low, but for now, I will just go with what I have now (24.3" front wheel arch to floor, 24.6" in rear). Now if only some alignment shops were open this weekend... Still bleeding air from the cooling system every time it runs, checking for loose stuff, etc. - I have never done that much to a car before. I've had motorcycles completely apart, but cars always were too big for me, until I found a small one
you guys are fast with those Likes here is what I did over the days 6/16/2015 ATI damper, new belt, new idler pulley, new tensioner, crank seal 6/21/2015 Helix lower control arms installed 6/21/2015 Valve cover gasket replacement, intercooler cleaned, CPS o-ring 6/25/2015 super charger oil change, new o-ring on dip stick tube 6/26/2015 termostat and housing gasket changed 6/26/2015 new radiator foam installed in new rad support 6/27/2015 Oil and Filter change, Fumoto drain valve installed 6/27/2015 Coolant flush and refill with Extended life Penzoil 6/27/2015 Top engine mount and bolt, bottom engine mount Powerflex 6/30/2015 Whiteline rear adjustable downlinks installed 7/01/2015 Revalved BC Racing coilovers with Swift Springs installed 7/03/2015 Ride height adjusted to 24.3 and 24.6" at front/rear wheel well
Gotta love the instructions from BC to adjust ride height (the capital letters actually make sense in a small diagram they have next to this text) - measure distances - use C wrench to loosen tightened pallet B - Along C direction to turn cylinder and raise car body - You have to renew with tightening pallet after D direction lowers adjustable height - Looseness will result in noise and affect driving safe - if unnecessary to unchanged spring length, please don't loosen and move pallet F - please don't use pallet F to tighten the spring to change car height and increase hardness. If do that, that will cause extreme uncomfortable in drive feeling - please don't loosen the pallet F to make spring looseness to lower car body. If do this, that can shorten shock cylinder and cause danger.
Great job! Compared to the broken setup you had anything would be better, but you'll really like the new coil overs. Firm but compliant.
At least on the first few miles, they didn't feel "firm" at all, but then my experience of firm was that of running on what appears to be completely seized up shocks and sagged and broken springs. I can barely move the piston in the one FSD I have taken out of the spring in the rear. The broken spring immediately fell apart once I removed the tension - yikes. But yes, I think it'll be a great car now. I just haven't really leaned on it because it doesn't feel like the car is aligned even remotely the way it used to be. It feels very light in the steering, and it won't return to center as willingly as I am used to. There was a ton of camber on the old setup, which now seems to be gone, or at least there's less. I plan to have them set the front to -2 and the rear to -1.5 max, no toe in the front, rear a tiny bit of toe maybe to keep it from wandering around. The old setup was -2.5 and -2.0 I think, at least when it was last aligned. Up next on my to-do is the front right CV boot that's slightly leaking, and after that it'll be exhaust. That one-ball modded stock unit is suddenly making the rear hatch vibrate at idle - never done that before the recent work. But no cash for a Milltek or Borla until I sell my truck.
I've driven the car only about 25 miles since I got the thing back together (because only today I was able to get it into an alignment shop that knew what the word "coilover" meant - picking up after work, just in time for three trips to the big vintage racing event at Road America this weekend ). One thing I noticed over those few miles: it appears as if the car has picked up a pretty strong resonance vibration around idle speed, and only at idle. It sounds like the rear hatch is rattling, but once you stick your head in there in the back, the location is lower and below the floor. My first theory was that the muffler (one ball mod) is hitting something, outside you can't really tell what it is, nor can you hear much when listening under the car. Probably a heat shield. I can make the muffler hit something when I shake it side to side without the engine running, but I can't see what it is unless I put the thing back on jack stands. The reason for the noise is a clear increase of vibration coming from the engine (new ATI damper, new top mount and new lower mount with PowerFlex inserts). I bet it is because those lower bracket engine mount PowerFlex bushing inserts I inherited from the previous owner. I figured throw them on there and see what happens. Now I am not so sure if that was such a good idea. There's even a random slight vibration coming from the glove box area at times that wasn't there before. What's the general consensus on those PowerFlex things - I have the larger lower mount pieces seen in this install video: https://youtu.be/RQrYTKyHYyA