Dean's S15

[craig8585]

Only just spotted your post about the bushes mate. Good to hear they are nice quality. I didn't realise you were starting the work so soon. I've got myself a garage sorted now too but don't want to start the work until the weather turns in for the really cold and wet months. I have a feeling you are going to be doing pretty much the same as I have planned. Mine has been waxoyled when it was imported so visually it looks a lot blacker than yours underneath (primer has all been covered with waxoyl) but hopefully when I clean it off there should be very little surface corrosion. What do you plan to do with the rust patches? I guess you've seen that comprehensive s14 rebuild thread on sxoc? I think the guys name is petrol who did it.

Have you decided on a colour for the bits and pieces underneath yet? Really can't wait to start mine now! Have all the bits here waiting to go apart from the z32 handbrake conversion.

 

[DeanS15]

i'll be on the lookout for a z32 conversion mate, but only if one is going for a fair enough price. some seem to want a lot for them in less than great condition.....

i have had a good look through petrols thread mate, for anyone looking to do this sort of thing, thats the bible lol. i wasnt going to start this so soon i must admit, but the tax ran out and it seemed like a good time to start. it wont take 6 months

any light rusting will be wire brushed back and treated, zinc primed and stonechipped. something i didnt want to have to do is remove the box, but in for a penny, in for a pound. it will be much easier to do it all properly without that in the way.....besides the clutch pivot is squeaking anyway...

i think as the arms are all blue i'm gonna go for blue and silver with black for the other bits. most will be powdercoated apart from stuff like the lower arms etc that have rubber parts/balljoints or bearings in them, those will have to be painted as they may not like the heat.

 

[sliding-r]

Good progress mate, keep the pics and updates coming

 

[ichigo-300]

That's cool, your making it look easy

Would love to have a crack at getting the underside all sorted, don't think it gonna happen this year though, keep those updates coming, great project :thumbs:

 

[craig8585]

Hmm, I defiantly won't be taking my box off! Had enough trouble with 3 of us on a 2 pilar ramp! As for the Z32 handbrake - I'll order it through perfectrun. May cost a bit more getting it new but at least you know what your getting. I have all the PN's of everything you need listed in excel on my laptop if you want a copy

 

[DeanS15]

go on then mate, how much?

i've scrapped the box idea now anyway, looks like if i mask up around it i should be able to get it all done without doing it. stripped the subframe bare last night, by far the heaviest thing is the diff. i'd say it probably weighs the same as the subframe and all arms put together......killed one balljoint removing it (well, damaged the nut), but hoping to get away with just getting the local machine shop to chase the thread and give me a new nut as i can't seem to find the part anywhere.....driveshafts came out of the hub nicely with a lump of wood and a 2 lb hammer

 

[DeanS15]

last night i was mostly removing bushes from the subframe......it's about the crappiest job theres been so far, but has to be done so never mind. it's surprising just how soft the original subframe rubber mounts are compared to the poly, so i'm hoping for a marked improvement in feel from the back end when this is all done.

here are the old bushes

and here is the stripped subframe ready to be stripped and coated, along with the new bushes to go on. the original diff bushes have a metal central mounting cup for the backplate that needs to be removed from the original bush and fitted to the new one

i've made a start on removing the bushes from the lower arms, but these are much harder than the subframe bushes to remove, which wasn't easy in itself....progress will slow down from time to time thanks to this sort of thing.....

 

[Fruitbooter]

Excellent progress mate!

I really want to do this to mine either this year or next year but I can just imagine what my gf will say haha

Its going to look fantastic once done with all the blue orange and black!

 

[craig8585]

Awesome work mate. Progression seems to be happening quick! Looking forward to seeing the bits after powdercoating.

 

[DeanS15]

cheers guys, i'm keen to get all the powder coating parts coated and wrapped in bubble wrap. they will go up in the loft (if they fit) to free up space in the garage and dining room until the underside is ready for them all to be bolted back up

on a side note: as i'm fitting adjustable arms, i wont be using the eccentric bolts in the camber and toe arm mounting points, and these holes are elongated to allow a small amount of stock adjustment. i was considering having a washer welded over the enlarged holes to make the mounting holes 12mm, so that everything can be fitted and when the car is back on the ground the arms wont move out of place before torquing up.....i can see it being a bit difficult to get everything matched up as a starting point if there is 8mm of side to side movement in these two arms - what are your thoughts?

 

[DeanS15]

more updates

de-bushed (might of invented a word there lol) lower arms ready for driftworks bushes

stripped down rear hubs after the seam between the bearing and the hub carrier had been soaking overnight

removed the control arm bushes from the carriers

thats it for today, gotta go food shopping . tonight will be spent tagging and labelling all the parts before they go off to the coaters. also need to measure and record/take photos of all the bolts as the zinc plater will no doubt end up with a mixed up pile of them in the end :wack:. i've also been thinking that because the nuts etc on the apex arms are raw steel and will rust (as i've seen on other peoples apex arms), i may as well strip them down and get the threaded sections and nuts plated too......

people said to me before i started that it was clean as it was and didn't really need all the work, but as is becoming more and more obvious the rust bug is a sneaky bugger and will find its way in where it can't be seen.....i'm definitely glad o be doing this.

the heap of bits is getting rather big now

 

[Fruitbooter]

Good stuff.

I was reading that Petrols S14 refurb thread on SXOC the other day, it shows how out of hand these things can get

How are you treating the underside of the shell where there is surface rust? also will you be undersealing it all after you have sorted rust?

I need to do it to mine asap but not sure how much its all going to cost yet..I think ill try and clean up most of the parts with the Detox c stuff that guy used and then paint them myself to save cost.

 

[DeanS15]

it can get out of hand mate, to the point where pete actually has his living in a tent now lol.

i will treat the surface rust first to the wire brush drill attachment, then if theres any trace left then a smear of deox gel. i was going to borrow a mates compressor and grit blast it, but i'd rather avoid that because of the mess..... wire brush really should get rid of most of it. its only worth me going back to metal on the seams and where there is rust. if the primer is clearly intact then i will key it up ready for a coat of zinc prime, then probably hammerite followed by stonechip the arches will be scraped out as the underseal in there has a habit of keeping rust warm underneath so i have seen on s14's.

i've collected the bushes over time, so i havent bothered to factor that into the cost of the re-furb. but taking into account the powder coating, zinc plating, bolts, paint, sealer etc i'm not expecting to spend more than 500-00, in fact i reckon i can get it all done for a fair bit less than that. but it is a fairly relaxed timescale so it will be in dribs and drabs, i just want to get the stuff ready for coating and put away. the actual underside is where the work is

 

[craig8585]

With the excentric bolts, if it was me I would let them sit at the end where they would naturally fall when there is weight on them and tighten them up like that. then just use the adjustment of the arms to get it spot on. Oh, and I havent had the quote for the Z32 parts from Perfectrun yet. Wi;; let you know when I do though

Cost wise, I have spent £200 on bushes and expect to spend about £150 on coating the frames, arms and diff. Unsure if its worth renewing the LCA balljoints as it's almost rude not to while the arms are off, and if they get powdercoated they have to come out anyway. If so, they will probably be another £80, Are you doing the balljoints Dean?

 

[DeanS15]

i was thinking about it, i ruined the thread on one of them removing it, but firstly i cant find a part anywhere, only the front balljoint. if its the same then i know i can get it from camskill. this would make it easier as i can have the arms coated, but the actual joints have no play in them.....if they are easy to source then why not change them

 

[craig8585]

Theres a load of talk about them on SXOC as Nissan only sell the whole arms. People buy them in form America as they are cheaper. Front and rear balljoints are the same.

I'm going to do the rears for sure and probably the fronts too when I attack that end. I know James LuPix wants a couple too so I'll find the name of the American site and see how much they are with delivery etc.

What about the wheel bearings?! :wack:

 

[DeanS15]

wheel bearings dont need doing at all, and they will clean up. there no point changing them now, the cars not a daily so they will take ages to wear out. the balljoints as i say are 39-00 each from camskill but thats for a front one, so if the rear is the same then that seems to be the place

 

[craig8585]

The American balljoints are called 'Moog'! They are $26.79 each so roughly £16.90 each.

http://www.rockauto.com/dbphp/prt,11,K9820


Edit (got shipping cost wrong):
And delivery would be $60.72 if we ordered 8 (4 for me, 2 for you and 2 for James)

 

[Suspect]

Liking the work dean and it seems to be moving quick to, keep up the good work.

The American balljoints are called 'Moog'! They are $26.79 each so roughly £16.90 each.

http://www.rockauto.com/dbphp/prt,11,K9820


Edit (got shipping cost wrong):
And delivery would be $60.72 if we ordered 8 (4 for me, 2 for you and 2 for James)

*cough* *cough*

group buy

 

[DeanS15]

craig, put me down for 4 my man (may as well have the front ones put away), i'm not in a rush but would need them in the next couple of months......i can sort it if you want, i know you wanted to take a break from group buys lol

cheers suspect