July 2018 Update #2: Front Brakes, Steering, and Engine Odds/Ends
Front brakes: Cleaned up existing brake discs for semi-temporary usage. I’ll replace them down the road but they’re fine until the kit is fully finished. The pads are even in good condition with lots of material. Mounted the 4 piston front calipers. Front suspension Issues: The replacement ball joint I bought was poor quality and […]
July 2018 Update #1: More Suspension
Front suspension: Disassembled front axles and inserted outer axle stubs into the spindles. Used the pipe trick which made this super easy compared to FFR’s vice and hammer method. One whack and it was off for both axles. Tore up the boot to one upper ball joint when I used a pickle fork to remove […]
June 2018 Update #3: Front Suspension
Worked on getting the front suspension bolted up last weekend. Repainted lower control arms and attached lower shock mounts. Replaced the wheel bearings and ball joint in both front spindles. Hydraulic press definitely required for this but wasn’t too bad overall. Assembled the upper control arms. Mounted the upper control arms, lower control arms, and […]
June 2018 Update #2: Front Firewall and Donor Parts Prep
Engine Rebuild Mounted exhaust manifold and turbo. Installed hard coolant lines but waiting on replacement rubber hose connections for them. Timing system fully installed and covers added. Suspension Parts Prep: I disassembled the rear donor suspension. However, I have to tackle one more long lateral link bolt that has rusted in place as well as […]
June 2018 Update: Underbody Panels and Suspension Prep
Riveted the underbody panels. Coated with 3M Rubberized Undercoating. It’s hard to get the finish consistent with this paint but it turned out alright and not terribly important for an underbody panel. Donor suspension prep: Derusted the spindles using a chemical rust-reverse product. It turns them a nice black color. The stuff’s fairly expensive though, […]
May 2018 Update #2: Picked up the kit!
I finally got to pick up my 818C kit from Factory Five! 😊 Took a 2000 mile road trip from Michigan to Factory Five to Georgia. Got an awesome tour of the FFR facility and the staff there were great to talk to and helped load the trailer. The trip went smooth, just trucking along […]
May 2018 Update: Ready for a Road Trip
I did a few items on the engine: Installed oil pump and water pump. Installed TGVs and Intake Repaired stripped valve cover bolt thread. Had to get creative with this one but was able to make it work. As things go…my EJ257 gasket kit didn’t have the right valve cover gasket for the EJ205 heads […]
April 2018 Update #3: Painting the Engine Parts
I painted the intake and valve covers in VHT Wrinkle Blue paint to replace the poor red paint job that was on them before. Note: The wrinkle paint needs very good prep for a consistent texture. My intake didn’t come out perfect, but it’s not bad. Long dry times but it comes out pretty nice. […]
April 2018 Update #2: Engine build and Kit Preparation
Kit is paid for! Picking up on the morning of May 14th 🙂 Hoping the 30+ hr driving time road trip for this goes smoothly. Donor shell is officially off to scrap. Engine Rebuild: Does it still count as a “rebuild” if 90% of the parts are new? Top tip: Dishwasher is great for aluminum […]
April 2018 Update: Preparation for Kit Pickup and Relocation
Relocating all the donor stuff to GA (with the kit to follow) Brought a truck and trailer to MI so that I can carry all my donor stuff down South and go pickup the kit while I’m at it. Should be a fun road trip! Rebuilt trailer hubs to make the trip, quite a messy […]