- jhcain
- Nov 8, 2005
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EXCEEDING THE LIMIT? I'LL RUN YOUR ASS OFF THE ROAD 'CUZ I'M A PASSIVE-AGRESSIVE SPHINCTER-SUCKER. I FEEL INADEQUATE AS A MAN.
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Gear setup is something I just don't do- you're braver than I am!
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Nov 30, 2014 14:30
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May 4, 2024 04:38
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- jhcain
- Nov 8, 2005
-
EXCEEDING THE LIMIT? I'LL RUN YOUR ASS OFF THE ROAD 'CUZ I'M A PASSIVE-AGRESSIVE SPHINCTER-SUCKER. I FEEL INADEQUATE AS A MAN.
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So I'm pretty much over the stupid cold/flu hybrid that was kicking my rear end earlier this week and my garage is a balmy 48 degrees, so I figured I'd do a little work even if I don't have any new parts. First step was throwing a third of a bottle or so of diff fluid in the rear end and let it try to leak out. If it's still dry tomorrow, I'll put the other 2 bottles in and call that done.
Something that's been nagging at me for a while is the meeting of the rear end and the leaf springs. Something I failed to take into account when I bought the 8.5" was that the car that it came off of had multi-leaf springs. My car has single leaf springs. The perches for multi-leaf cars are a lot deeper than on single leaf cars and my sad 40 year old rubber bushings weren't going to be able to fill the gap between the spring perch and the bottom plate.
Pitiful bottom rubber pad:
When I mounted the rear end up originally, I got pretty ghetto with it and just used some stuff to fill that gap, but it wasn't really substantial enough. I figured I had about an inch or so of space to fill so I started hunting around for some thick rubber mats. I found some options around, but they were all pretty steep and this is a temporary solution anyway. Eventually, I ran across some commercial flooring site that offered free samples of their 1" thick recycled rubber flooring. Jackpot. Ordered a couple sampled and crossed my fingers that they were going to be big enough.
Hell yeah.
So I trimmed it down and put a hole in it so it will lock in nicely to the corresponding peg on the perch. Not as long as the original pad, but it's long enough:
Combined with the original top and bottom pads, the fit was perfect. U-bolts are torqued down and that axle doesn't budge. A resounding success.
Like I said, this is a temporary solution. Once I get the new rear leaf springs, they are multi-leaf springs and will come with all new pads.
While I was out there, I flipped around the parking brake arm on the driver's side so it will pull forward instead of backwards. The Camaro that I got the brakes from runs the parking brake cables backwards and up over the rear axle and then to the front of the car. That's a big dumb pain in the rear end so I'm going to just run them straight to the front of the car like the originals. Once I pick up some cables, I'll have another update.
Until next time.
I'm digging the ingenuity here, I wonder how well that new rubber pad will hold up in actual use - I'd drive cautiously and keep an eye on it.
Nah, I wouldn't. I'd just add "potential rear end clunking" to my list of regular noises to listen for on a drive!
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Jan 29, 2015 00:52
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- jhcain
- Nov 8, 2005
-
EXCEEDING THE LIMIT? I'LL RUN YOUR ASS OFF THE ROAD 'CUZ I'M A PASSIVE-AGRESSIVE SPHINCTER-SUCKER. I FEEL INADEQUATE AS A MAN.
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It's been a long time since I hosed with sealed beam lights (and they were all squares anyway), but I want to say the springs go on the mounting ring that holds the headlamp in the bucket, not on the bucket itself.
Yup. Goes on one of the annoying, possibly sharp tabs on the stainless ring that mounts the lamp itself. I usually install that last, after the retaining screws. Helps to have a little skinny hook-ended spring installing doodad handy.
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May 11, 2015 12:10
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- jhcain
- Nov 8, 2005
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EXCEEDING THE LIMIT? I'LL RUN YOUR ASS OFF THE ROAD 'CUZ I'M A PASSIVE-AGRESSIVE SPHINCTER-SUCKER. I FEEL INADEQUATE AS A MAN.
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It's not straight, but it's not keyed. I can probably loosen a couple screws and spin it, but I'm not worried about it.
Oh, it's keyed. DOT thing - if it's crooked, the beam shape will be canted, as well. The stupid little nub and associated notch in the bucket are difficult to find and line up sometimes, but it's there. Love that nova.
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May 18, 2015 12:45
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- jhcain
- Nov 8, 2005
-
EXCEEDING THE LIMIT? I'LL RUN YOUR ASS OFF THE ROAD 'CUZ I'M A PASSIVE-AGRESSIVE SPHINCTER-SUCKER. I FEEL INADEQUATE AS A MAN.
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Other option: superior German engineering.
I bailed on the VW sensor and Saab tee as apparently those 900s are unicorns and the tees are like baby hermaphrodite unicorns. Instead, I'm going with a BMW sensor. They seem to be the popular choice right alongside the VW units. As luck would have it, JagsThatRun actually sells a coolant tee in 1.5" with a 14mm x 1.5 fitting in it. This will go in my radiator hose and the BMW sensor will thread right in.
I spent some time going over that post on the SyTy forums that I found and got everything all wired up correctly (I believe). 12v into the Volvo relay is coming from the battery and switched 12v into the Bosch relay (present but not in picture) as coming from the + side of the coil. Sprinkle in some grounds and wiring the various small harnesses together and you get this:
The edit in red kinda shows where the tee and sensor will go. Once that's in, it's pretty well ready to rock. Only real thing I have to do is figure out how I'm going to mount the relays. Unfortunately, the Bosch relay doesn't have the cute little tab mount that some do. I could go buy one, but I don't really want to spend money to replace a good part that I got for free. I'm thinking some zip ties with the screw holes like these. I think we've got some kicking around work so I'll snag a couple on Monday and see if they will work. Any ideas from the gallery?
Also pictured above is my super awesome* fan mounting solution. The top radiator support/holder has two nice little holes on either end for the original fan shroud. The new fan tucks into the bottom of the support rather nicely, but the top was a hair short. I scrounged around in the yard the other day and cut that piece of plastic off an old Town Car. Cleaned it up, drilled some holes, and oingo boingo. Looks like rear end but it's actually pretty steady.
So yeah, hopefully I'll get that part by next weekend and I'll have a fancy pants e-fan setup done for about $70.
*Ghetto as gently caress.
Is it the quest to source all this stuff from the 'yard that has you chasing all the wacky metric stuff, and the hose tee? A quick trip to the local auto parts store for an NPT temperature sensor that screws right into the intake manifold water passage would have you going faster (and with less leak points than cutting a radiator hose) than chasing all the hose adapters? Or, just go to summitracing.com and buy a coolant hose sender adapter (tee) and have it tomorrow, if you want to go that route? The fan is the really expensive part of that project, and you got a good one very cheap.
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Oct 18, 2015 13:50
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Nov 30, 2014 14:30
