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Ended up having to straighten out part of the engine cradle where the lower control arms goes into it. The new bushings are much fatter and the car must have taken a hit from the previous owner.. It worked out ok with a BFH and a blow torch.
Tip on anyone using mevotek ball joints re-use the original nut with the built in washer, the supplied castle nut does not inspire confidence.
Not that anyone cares bit today did not start out well.
It was in fact snowing... O well, got the drivers side done...
Little scared to drive it because I know im about to listen to some new squeaks and other odd noises... The old ball joints were real floppy at 80k miles. Still seemed ok just a lit of free motion.
My lower control arm bushings were starting to crack on the shock mount, and the subframe bushing is kinda a jokely set-up.
I'll be sure to play with my old parts at some point.
I haven't done much. But I got these, Number Plate lock bolt.
I was going to order covers for the original screws, but then I saw these and thought, why not? For about mid $30, my personalized plate will be safe. Some part in me thought maybe someone might actually want "HR Z33" on their rides.
I was browsing around and saw a nice center cap (below, Black Chrome/Blue) and wished it fit on my 57XTREME wheels. They look much better than my current ones. The hub clearance is 9mm on both center caps (below and my current). Though for 57XTREME uses 2 screws to hold the center cap. While one below snaps into place of 57DR and 57CR wheels.
I looked around and thought about some kind of hack job, but I dunno. Is there an idea I don't know about? Super Glue? I could write a letter to RAYS for a product request but that won't happen most likely.
Very nice Swede! That sounds familiar; you will find that you can hear it a mile away when you get someone to "get on it" no doubt. Congratulations on getting an awesome exhaust, you are going to love it! *Hey, I'm 1/2 Swedish (I love pickled Herring "sill", lingonberries, etc.); my Dad's parents were born and raised in Sweden and I have a bunch of relatives over there; beautiful Country! *also I have the exact APR cooling plate on mine.
Did my rear diff bushings and tranny mount bushing.
If anyone in New England more specfically near Providence, RI, I highly recommend going to GearHead Systems International in Warick, RI.
Its a DIY shop with 5 bays, each equipped with a lift, air tools and any sort of tool you can imagine. The whole shabang as if it was a real automotive shop. I had access to a press and sawzaw as well which made the process of removing rear diff a heck ton easier. PLUS, its family owned and the husband and wife are super nice people.
As for the diff bushings: I got there at 12pm and left at 7:15 pm, took a few breaks and had lunch there. I was by-myself in my bay and didn't run into any issues. Removed the crusty exhaust, dropped the drive shaft, transmission mount was removed and replaced in about 5 minutes.
The rear diff bushings were a bit longer but not too bad. Dropped the diff and Ron the shop owner came over to help remove the 2 ear bushings on the diff with air hammer which took about 3 minutes. Then I spent about 1 hour removing the larger bushing on the subframe. I used the Z1 tool first to remove the inner sleeve. However the outer sleeve was a bit more stubborn. The Z1 tool has a larger diameter plate to remove the inner sleeve but it has to fit on at a perfect angle or it will just chew into the subframe. I ended up using a sawzaw for ~45 minutes to cut up the sleeve in different places and punched it out. install was a breeze. Most of my time was just lifting the car up and removing rusted exhaust and the diff itself.
My diff bushings weren't that shot and no fluid was oozing out so I didn't notice a huge difference in driving but I did notice less rear end dip when i throttle. Also almost no rear end dip when I shift from 3-4-5. My transmission mount was still in great shape and I replaced with nissan OEM tranny mount since i heard a lot of reviews about the polyurathane one having a lot of NVH. Overall car feels a bit better. Gunna go back there and replace exhaust and install my bilsteins in a month.
didn't take too many pics but feel free to PM for questions!
Hehe my dad could hear me moving my car around, I used his garage which is ~300m from his house with 4 story buildings in between.
I havn't got on it yet, gonna do an oil change tomorrow and after that maybe some back roads but so far im blown away by the deepness of it. Love the sound!
*Heyyyy! For being a small country with only 10mil we got relatives and half-swedes everywhere!
My girlfriend (soon to be wife, don't tell her, havn't asked yet) is half american so soon I'll have a bunch o relatives over in Sacramento and San Diego.
Did my rear diff bushings and tranny mount bushing.
If anyone in New England more specfically near Providence, RI, I highly recommend going to GearHead Systems International in Warick, RI.
Its a DIY shop with 5 bays, each equipped with a lift, air tools and any sort of tool you can imagine. The whole shabang as if it was a real automotive shop. I had access to a press and sawzaw as well which made the process of removing rear diff a heck ton easier. PLUS, its family owned and the husband and wife are super nice people.
As for the diff bushings: I got there at 12pm and left at 7:15 pm, took a few breaks and had lunch there. I was by-myself in my bay and didn't run into any issues. Removed the crusty exhaust, dropped the drive shaft, transmission mount was removed and replaced in about 5 minutes.
The rear diff bushings were a bit longer but not too bad. Dropped the diff and Ron the shop owner came over to help remove the 2 ear bushings on the diff with air hammer which took about 3 minutes. Then I spent about 1 hour removing the larger bushing on the subframe. I used the Z1 tool first to remove the inner sleeve. However the outer sleeve was a bit more stubborn. The Z1 tool has a larger diameter plate to remove the inner sleeve but it has to fit on at a perfect angle or it will just chew into the subframe. I ended up using a sawzaw for ~45 minutes to cut up the sleeve in different places and punched it out. install was a breeze. Most of my time was just lifting the car up and removing rusted exhaust and the diff itself.
My diff bushings weren't that shot and no fluid was oozing out so I didn't notice a huge difference in driving but I did notice less rear end dip when i throttle. Also almost no rear end dip when I shift from 3-4-5. My transmission mount was still in great shape and I replaced with nissan OEM tranny mount since i heard a lot of reviews about the polyurathane one having a lot of NVH. Overall car feels a bit better. Gunna go back there and replace exhaust and install my bilsteins in a month.
didn't take too many pics but feel free to PM for questions!
Nice, job, what are you doing for exhaust? Some local dude is selling a Gemini im a little tempted to swap out my borla.
Thanks! I was actually looking at invidia gemini also. I think i know which one. THe one on CL? i texted him but never got a response, emailed too. I wanted invidia gemini because it is just a tad louder than stock and also has the rolled tips like stock. Been rocking this ebay HKS rep with magna flow reasonator for too long.
