Rob Keeble
Member
- Messages
- 12,633
- Location
- GTA Ontario Canada
Well after a concentrated mamoth push on our parts, i am happy to report we the end is near on the car job.
I have been too bushed to sign on a make a comment.
Will admit its been a fun and not so fun at times project. We ran out of parts at 6pm yesterday evening, which is a good thing in the sense that we got it all back together. Now loads of torquing of nuts and adjustments and some fluids to be changed and some to be put in.
To give u an idea of what w been up to we too his honda civic and hauled the entire suspension off both back and front. Then out with the culprit rusted cross member and steering rack.
Discarded most except for recently replaced front discs and calipers and a couple of Honda proprietary items like knuckle.
Got second hand subframe from recycler in near new condition, scrubbed it down in a few spots where it was losing paint, had to do a few mods to that due to weld nuts breaking loose when removing bits and pieces from it.
Then my garage turned into a refinishing unit for a few weeks as son got stuck in with grinder and wire cup brush and stripped all rusted items we were recovering down and treated with that rust convertor.
Then we painted all the parts with tremclad paint even the new parts.
Some project creep took place when "Dad" screwed up on removing hand brake cables so new ones were added.
Replaced rear trail arms inc bearings as well as all attaching arms with bushings, new drums and brake hoses and shocks all new bolts.
In front we changed out bearings in knuckle, cv axles tie rods and ball joints and shocks along with new bushings on lower control arm ane stabilizer bar and upper control arm. New engine mount on cross memeber.
So basically if it attached tso lower undercarridge its been replaced or renewed.
Only thing that led me to do this was absolutely amazing condition of this cars under body and topside. Its a 97 and given 17 years of weather up these parts its nothing short of amazing.
Also if were not for price of replacement parts from Rock Auto would also never have done this. Not even with prices from a place like JC Whitney.
Purchased a few new tools in the process most delightful of the bunch was mini oxy acetylene set.
Tried using propane torch and mapp gas for rusted bolt removal but oh boy the difference with the right thing is day and night and fast.
Killed my pancake and bought a 20 gallon compressor with little bit greater capacity. Not what i want but what i could hope to run on the power available. Anyway got parts in process to hopefully recover my pc pancake unit sometime. (Time will tell on that one right now its on a loooong to do list)
Got to say Harbor Freight in the air tool auto line sure has some worthwhile tools at really ridiculous prices if you take on a job like this. They also were an enabler in this project.
Anyhow still have a bit to go but we entering final straight then i can get back to woodworking.
Cant wait to take the car for wheel alignment and see how it feels to ride. Will be like a new car should see him through school and some and then he can get something new when he has a full time job.
Done my bit to teach him whats possible and what he could do with his own hands and a few tools if he is up to getting dirty. Not going down this road again. Now its totally up to him. I got sucked in to being more that a consultant on this one, ended up as lead mechanic. Lol. Got the nose scar to prove it too.
I have been too bushed to sign on a make a comment.
Will admit its been a fun and not so fun at times project. We ran out of parts at 6pm yesterday evening, which is a good thing in the sense that we got it all back together. Now loads of torquing of nuts and adjustments and some fluids to be changed and some to be put in.
To give u an idea of what w been up to we too his honda civic and hauled the entire suspension off both back and front. Then out with the culprit rusted cross member and steering rack.
Discarded most except for recently replaced front discs and calipers and a couple of Honda proprietary items like knuckle.
Got second hand subframe from recycler in near new condition, scrubbed it down in a few spots where it was losing paint, had to do a few mods to that due to weld nuts breaking loose when removing bits and pieces from it.
Then my garage turned into a refinishing unit for a few weeks as son got stuck in with grinder and wire cup brush and stripped all rusted items we were recovering down and treated with that rust convertor.
Then we painted all the parts with tremclad paint even the new parts.
Some project creep took place when "Dad" screwed up on removing hand brake cables so new ones were added.
Replaced rear trail arms inc bearings as well as all attaching arms with bushings, new drums and brake hoses and shocks all new bolts.
In front we changed out bearings in knuckle, cv axles tie rods and ball joints and shocks along with new bushings on lower control arm ane stabilizer bar and upper control arm. New engine mount on cross memeber.
So basically if it attached tso lower undercarridge its been replaced or renewed.
Only thing that led me to do this was absolutely amazing condition of this cars under body and topside. Its a 97 and given 17 years of weather up these parts its nothing short of amazing.
Also if were not for price of replacement parts from Rock Auto would also never have done this. Not even with prices from a place like JC Whitney.
Purchased a few new tools in the process most delightful of the bunch was mini oxy acetylene set.
Tried using propane torch and mapp gas for rusted bolt removal but oh boy the difference with the right thing is day and night and fast.
Killed my pancake and bought a 20 gallon compressor with little bit greater capacity. Not what i want but what i could hope to run on the power available. Anyway got parts in process to hopefully recover my pc pancake unit sometime. (Time will tell on that one right now its on a loooong to do list)
Got to say Harbor Freight in the air tool auto line sure has some worthwhile tools at really ridiculous prices if you take on a job like this. They also were an enabler in this project.
Anyhow still have a bit to go but we entering final straight then i can get back to woodworking.
Cant wait to take the car for wheel alignment and see how it feels to ride. Will be like a new car should see him through school and some and then he can get something new when he has a full time job.
Done my bit to teach him whats possible and what he could do with his own hands and a few tools if he is up to getting dirty. Not going down this road again. Now its totally up to him. I got sucked in to being more that a consultant on this one, ended up as lead mechanic. Lol. Got the nose scar to prove it too.