Some pics of my work this weekend

[Wobba]

Thought some of you may be interested to see how I got on this weekend, fitting new inner track rods and new ends. I also fitted a new set of KW V2 suspension, in place of my AVO's.

The tyres go on next week onto my main set of wheels, whilst the trackday wheels will be soon shod with some scrubbed 888's:



Saturday, car in the air, I take stuff apart. I suspected as much, but the MOT guy also said he thought there was play somewhere on the left hand side in the steering. He was right. You cant tell here, and the video I thought I took ****ed up, but there was play in the inner ball joint, which would translate to vague handling. Luckily, I had two new track rods and ends to hand



Now, we all know what a total biatch inner rods can be to take off. This is because they are screwed in with a locking washer and there is no easy access. Fortunately, I have a special tool for this very thing:



Basically, it grips the side and makes the other edges bite into it and turn it. This side was still pretty tough, but was still off in 5 mins. I did the other side easily in under a minute. I know some of you have struggled for hours with these ;)

A close up:



Bish, bash, bosh:



Old and new. You can waggle the old one about. Cant budge the new one at all by hand:



So, on went the new one. The old gaiter on this side was fine, though I replaced the right hand one with a new rubber.

If you see here, there is a breather hole on both sides that goes into the gaiter:



They have a pipe slotted into them. It can be bloody fiddly, but with a bit of patience and pressure, go on fine:



I then fitted the front suspension. The new KW's are a nice piece of kit. THey have slotted top bolt holes, and although you can see them here with camber bolts fitted, I decided to remove these and just use OE bolts as there was TOO MUCH negative camber. There was so much I couldn't get the wheels on and the bolts were just complicating the set up, as they allowed for too much variation in the geometry. The slotted hole is enough.



I love nice new parts

They worked fine straight off with the AST solid top mounts as well, as seen here with the new specially made top nuts Cliokongen sent me Thanks mate!



I then went on to fit the rear Koni adjustable dampers. This is quite an easy job, made harder by KW's instructions for changing the damper settings being totally wrong!

I forgot though how hard it can be to get the right hand side lower bolt out of the rear damper on a lowered car flol...

So, I adjusted the toe as best I could without measuring tools and took the car for a spin.

It was a loooong spin. In fact, I had to go find petrol half way through.

All I can say is: fuk me!!! This really is becoming a proper sorted car now, what with the power, and now the handling in another league. The new handling is very nice, really direct now, it just makes the whole car feel more alert and really goading you into driving like a total tool. Front damping could probably be a tad firmer, though I've only got it on about half max damping rate currently, and it is a bit low as it is scrubbing the inner arch over bumps again hehe.

Really pleased. Hope you liked the pics.

[Daz.]

I like new parts too :D

Now go and cover those threads before the collars seize and you have to have them rebuilt like I do

[dkrevs]

[cliokongen]

Nice work Wobba.... YAY! :D

[fab]

Loads of questions not much time to ask..

Those advans are they the AD08's?

The konis where/much?

Whats the name of the tool to take the inner rods out?

Do you think you will be needing/should be considering a roll cage for safety reasons?

[Wobba]

I like new parts too :D

Now go and cover those threads before the collars seize and you have to have them rebuilt like I do

The collars are plastic, and the threads are resistant to corrosion. Will see how they go

[Wobba]

Nice work Wobba.... YAY! :D

Fanks!

[Wobba]

Loads of questions not much time to ask..

Those advans are they the AD08's?

The konis where/much?

Whats the name of the tool to take the inner rods out?

Do you think you will be needing/should be considering a roll cage for safety reasons?

They are AD08's.

The Koni rears are the yellow sports ones, type 26 I think? They come with the KW's as part of the kit.

The tool is called: Sealey Steering Rack Knuckle Joint Tool VS4000

Roll cage? Safety? More weight? Naaahhh! That's for people planning to crash :D

[fab]

Thats all the info I need right now :D

Nice work btw

[Daz.]

plastic! Wish mine were :(