Been making super slow progress on the SC since it's now worked into my DD rotation in place of my tC. Took apart the 4.26 diff that I had lying around in the garage to prep for a potential LSD purchase.
Then it was high time I resolved my broken passenger side window regulator clip by avoiding to resolve my passenger side window regulator clip.
Then my front swaybar endlink snapped. So I switched over from a Male-Female heim rod end setup to a Female-Female heim rod end setup w/ a threaded rod going through the middle. Should be a bit beefier. Though, the new ends that I bought squeal like mad.
After months of laying low from the bigger projects and taking care of maintenance-related stuff, some of the more purpose-oriented projects started.
In my mind, there were 3 things that were direly needed to be done to the car before it got into drifting.
1. Radiator
2. Diff
3. Drift spares
I slowly started to check each item off.
First off - Cooling.
Ever since I got my car, I've gotten around to replacing pretty much out all the fluids, other than the coolant and diff fluid. So, out with the old radiator and it's putrid used coolant/hoses and in with the new.
In my mind, there were 3 things that were direly needed to be done to the car before it got into drifting.
1. Radiator
2. Diff
3. Drift spares
I slowly started to check each item off.
First off - Cooling.
Ever since I got my car, I've gotten around to replacing pretty much out all the fluids, other than the coolant and diff fluid. So, out with the old radiator and it's putrid used coolant/hoses and in with the new.
Shiny. Already off to a good start.
The fan shroud took a bit of grinding and dremeling to fit the contour of the Mishimoto's drain plugs, lower coolant hose outlet, and curves to sit perfectly flat against the radiator. The battery tray also saw a bit of grinding action in one of it's corners.
The passenger side upper bracket then got slammed against the floor to get bent down so that the radiator couldn't bounce out of it's lower mounts.
Then the new HPS coolant hoses went in with a shocking amount of brute force, and the system was bled (sorta).
For the longest time, I was looking into a KAAZ 2-way to go into my rear end. Then I bought Works, so those plans flew right out the window. But, all my drifting friends had always suggested I go welded, at least for the time being.
So, on my next trip down to SD to visit friends, I brought the diff that I had taken apart months ago with me to see if PBM can do the welding. Unfortunately, bringing just the diff turned out to bite me in the ass, since the spider gear of the diff had quite a bit of play, and they required the axle stubs to push in and stabilize and center the gears while welding. I took the diff home and stopped by GarageLife the next day with the diff and axle stubs and they were able to get it all welded up.
The passenger side upper bracket then got slammed against the floor to get bent down so that the radiator couldn't bounce out of it's lower mounts.
Then the new HPS coolant hoses went in with a shocking amount of brute force, and the system was bled (sorta).
For the longest time, I was looking into a KAAZ 2-way to go into my rear end. Then I bought Works, so those plans flew right out the window. But, all my drifting friends had always suggested I go welded, at least for the time being.
So, on my next trip down to SD to visit friends, I brought the diff that I had taken apart months ago with me to see if PBM can do the welding. Unfortunately, bringing just the diff turned out to bite me in the ass, since the spider gear of the diff had quite a bit of play, and they required the axle stubs to push in and stabilize and center the gears while welding. I took the diff home and stopped by GarageLife the next day with the diff and axle stubs and they were able to get it all welded up.
After wire brushing it thoroughly just to make sure there were little to no weld splatter that could come loose while it was installed in the car, it went into the pumpkin with the bearing carriers
Tip: Wite-out apparently dries way too quick to check backlash. It was dry by the time the teeth came back around and showed me no sign of backlash. I used some grease, got a very rough idea of how the mesh was, and said "F it" before starting to put the diff back together.
I was only 50% sure I was supposed to put toyota orange fipg between the bearing carriers and the housing, so I put around 1 unit fuckton of it in. After taking a bit of a break to let the fipg harden just a bit, the re-build re-commenced.
Now, my car has had a welded diff in it before, and for dd use, I can't say it was practical. Actually, I hated it. So, I'll be installing this diff once to check to make sure there aren't any noises (other than the 374 different noises a welded diff makes naturally), and then reverting it back to stock until track time.
The 3rd item on the list was one I've been taking care of for a long while now, hunting down decent deals on craigslist various forums.
A pic of one of each pair.
The 3rd item on the list was one I've been taking care of for a long while now, hunting down decent deals on craigslist various forums.
A pic of one of each pair.
Top left Enkei GF-01, spec-wise is 17x7+45ish, dual drilled in 5x114.3/100 and in perfect condition. $40 for the pair, can't complain.
Top Right is some cool looking and surprisingly aggressive ARE Inc. wheel (no clue what that is). Turned out to be legit 3-piece and will most likely have 225/55(or 50)/16 tires mounted on it.
Bottom left are fabulously purple Enkei RP01, specs are unknown but they came with trash tires that seem to be holding air, so I think they'd be perfect for a noob like me.
The BuddyClub P1's (bottom right) are 17x9+17 with 215/45/17 Feddy RS-R's. They'll hopefully be going up front, but when I tried them on my rears a year or so ago, they made clunking sounds, so I'll be taking them to get balanced and whatnot in a few days to make sure they're good to go.
I really hope they're fine, since I do like how the white looks with the brown
Pic from a year or so ago when I discovered the clunking
Top Right is some cool looking and surprisingly aggressive ARE Inc. wheel (no clue what that is). Turned out to be legit 3-piece and will most likely have 225/55(or 50)/16 tires mounted on it.
Bottom left are fabulously purple Enkei RP01, specs are unknown but they came with trash tires that seem to be holding air, so I think they'd be perfect for a noob like me.
The BuddyClub P1's (bottom right) are 17x9+17 with 215/45/17 Feddy RS-R's. They'll hopefully be going up front, but when I tried them on my rears a year or so ago, they made clunking sounds, so I'll be taking them to get balanced and whatnot in a few days to make sure they're good to go.
I really hope they're fine, since I do like how the white looks with the brown
Pic from a year or so ago when I discovered the clunking
I'll most likely be laying low until my first track day with the car, as this month's cc bill scared the bejesus out of me. Until next time.
RSS Feed