Intro: http://www.ca.dsm.org/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=441452#Post441452

I'll use this to post some pics on the work I am doing. Do not comment on my pink worklight.

Uggh. Different Brakes and Rotor Size. Yay.



Yup. It was CV grease. What a chunk missing!


Culprit. What is this thing? All lines to it are cut. It got bent down and ripped the boot.



Here is the cancer that is the front rad support. Drivers side bad almost all the way to the bend, passenger seems to be in better shape.



And the cover for the tranny/engine mount:


Tomorrow:
Pulling rad and starting to remove the tranny.

Wow, you've got some work ahead of you.

So..... the previous owner went through the trouble of painting his calipers, but didn't bother putting the same brakes on both sides?!

That could be a new record for previous owner frack ups...

EVAP Evaporative Emission Control System

Haha, that's brutal! I imagine you have some brake steer?

Thanks Alex!




I did not feel any, granted, I was not driving her too hard.

Am I gonna have a problem trying to get a matching 2 piston caliper and larger rotor on there? Are the mounting bolts the same >.< Uggh..

Question. With the center member removed (nothing supporting front engine mount and once I take the tranny out, is there any reason I can't support the other side of the engine by placing a 2x10 across the shock towers and tow strap to support the engine? Not concerned about the 2x10 not supporting the weight, more worried about the the downward pressure on the bolts.

I want to be able to put the wheels back on and roll the car out of the garage if necessary.

You will probably have to buy both but other than that it's all the same mounting holes, just replace the rotors and pads on both sides though.

Thanks. Brakes will need to wait. They work as is.

My budget and time for this year is gonna get soaked up by the tranny/clutch, Front Support and Rust prevention of the entire car.

Seen quite a few people hang the motor from a 4x4 over the strut towers. There's also a device sold for this

http://www.harborfreight.com/1000-lb-capacity-engine-support-bar-96524.html


For now though, it's still supported by the end mounts and the rear roll stop though.

Thank you sir. To save a few, I have a nice never used 4x4 laying around.

Progress continues. It's slow. I keep pondering an AC delete. Summers are getting hotter, and I am getting older. I also get distracted by a small rust spot, so I wire wheel it and rust check it. Anyway...

Tranny drained.



Rad Removed. Spilled coolant from lower rad hose. I always forget the lower rad hose.



Here is that welded rebar I keep talking about. Only thing holding up that center member.





Engine bay getting empty. (room to clean!)


So tomorrow, I need to pick up a 32mm socket. Time to tackle the removal of axles.

Question of the day.
Once I am done with tranny removal and fix of clutch / flywheel / tranny. I will NOT be able to put the center member back up. From what I see, it's only function is for the front engine mount and protect the tranny. Will I be ok to drive to the body shop without center member put back?

I personally wouldn't risk it, out of all the mounts the front one is the one that does the most work. Unless you super granny drive it all the way, any load on that engine is going to make it twist like crazy. I would get it towed

Good progress so far



Careful with this; your axle nut is what holds your wheel bearings together. If you have your axles out of the hubs, even rolling the car in and out of the garage can cause the bearing to separate.


Driving to and from the body shop without a front roll stop would be doable, but as Bryan said, you need to drive like a grandma. It's one of only two mounts used to prevent the engine from twisting under torque, so be really easy on the gas pedal and shifter.

I leave my axles right in the hub and unbolt the lower control arms, I find it much faster and easier than dealing with stupid ball joints. Plenty of room to get the axles out of the tranny in this manner. Hell the last time I had my motor out I didn't even take the wheels off.

I agree, driving in granny mode would be ok.

Ah right. Once tranny is out, I could replace the CV axle and just suspend the tranny end using coat hanger. Then again, maybe I should just hurry and get it fixed.



This sounds easy. The lower ball joint nut came loose easy enough. The lower control arm one is being a b**ch.

Anxious to get in to see the clutch and flywheel.

On the brakes, without having looked at stock brake setups in a long time, my first thought is the single piston side is a fwd setup & the dual piston is the awd setup. Therefore getting a 2 piston caliper & rotors shouldn't be a problem.

Charles, if you want, I have a set of working 1G front 1-piston calipers with good rotors and pads that I would donate to the cause. You may need different front soft lines to run them (as 2Gs use a banjo, 1Gs directly thread in) but it's a pretty simple switch/adapter/etc.

Let me know if you want them and I can get you a quote on shipping from Richmond Hill or if someone wants to pick them up on a trip to Toronto (looking at you Mike Eng) then that works too.

PM me if you're interested.

Lol why me?

No road trips planned in the next few months.

But that can change overnight.

It used to seem like you were coming to Toronto all the time. You're also the only other person I know from the board from Ottawa although there are a bunch of Kingston/Quinte DSM'ers who aren't THAT far from Ottawa.

Much appreciated Salomon. I will let you know, but right now, these work. I would like to find the proper 2g. Larger rotors and 2 piston. If the wallet allows, I may look at some 4 piston setups. 500 hp is not far away.

So tonight was frustrating.. (doesn't help the weather just keeps getting hotter). And why can't people use Antiseize on every bolt under the car?!!! Would make life easier.

The bolts for the plate that connects under body to center member were a pain x 5. Too tough to do with regular socket. So I had to use breaker bar to remove completely. I then cut the rebar and removed the center member 1.5 hr.

On to Axle removal. I started on passenger side, trying to undo from the lower ball joint. &*@#$^ thing wouldn't separate. I tried undoing lower control arm from the back. There is no room to move a breaker bar. After 2 hours, I gave up. (I even removed the caliper to try and make room to pry)

I moved on to the driver side. This time, I removed the fork from LCA, then I went straight for the bolt at back of LCA. Luckily breaker bar cleared oil pan. Poof. Arm drops. Then i try to remove the carrier bearing. I want to beat the living &*@&*# out of the person who thought those bolt locations were a good idea. After a lot of fighting I remove the carrier bearing. Axle pops out! 1.5 hrs.



I go back to passenger side and stare at it for awhile. It's too late at night to start whacking away at it. I had been applying penetrating oil to it over the few hours in the garage.

This is the annoying LBJ.



Tomorrow I will try either:

#1: Thread the nut flush with top of bolt. Place tip of pry bar flat on top of the nut/bolt and baby sledge it.

#2. Concrete chisel placed in the nook between ball joint and fork to LCA joint. Baby sledge.

And remove the exhaust and transfer case.

Do you have an impact gun?

I can't remember the last time I removed my lower ball joints unless I was replacing them. They're just too much of a pain in the ass.

To avoid having to separate the ball joint, your options are:

1) Do as Jason mentioned, and pop both the lateral arm and compression arm off the subframe.

2) Remove the upper ball joint from the knuckle. I find that ball joint almost always comes out easy, and then you can fold the knuckle away from the car far enough to get the axle out. **Edit: FYI, the caliper will likely have to be removed from the knuckle to get enough space to pull the axle.

#1 is easier if you have an impact gun. #2 is easier if you do not.

Sounds like a frustrating evening. Couple beers, go back swinging tomorrow

Unfortunately... it's an electric impact. It's MASSIVE. The only bolts it has broken loose are the axle nuts. Those lca bolts and nuts.. it couldn't loosen them. Breaker bar was only way to get it started. (The bar was flexing pretty good on driver side lca 2 fork bolts)

I am cleaning all this up and anti-seizing everything!!

Ooo. Question of the day.

CV Axles. Do I:

#1. Send them to Frisby for rebuild?

#2. Get NAPA ones?

If it's one of those Mastercrap electric impacts, yeah you're pretty much screwed for the LCA bolts. I've got a Milwaukee electric impact that has yet to meet a bolt it can't break loose. Expensive as all hell and worth every penny

Anyway, back to more relevant stuff.. I would suggest popping the upper ball joint out. Loosen the nut but don't remove it all the way, then smack the SIDE of the knuckle where the ball joint bolts through. The knuckle should drop a bit (but stay held on by the nut), allowing you to remove it at your leisure

Yup. Mastercrap. (Hey.. their Maximum hand tools are good).. just not their power tools. It was given to me.

I will try your trick. Thanks Jeremy.

No problem!

I use a lot of their stuff too, no worries; most of it works just fine if this is just a hobby. The reason I know you're screwed with that gun is experience

And yeah.. they are seriously huge. Felt like some kinda gun out of Halo.

I have the Mastercrap gun, get yourself a wobble extension and you can get on pretty much any bolt. I also have an impact universal joint that helps in some places.

No need to unbolt any of the ball joints with my method.

Your method works great That is, if a gun can loosen it. universal joint w/ breaker bar makes me a little nervous, but will try an impact one.

I like the idea of not messing with the ball joints. I will go buy something tonight and let you guys know. If can't loosen, I will try Jeremy's upper ball joint trick.

Little trick with the impact is not to just keep it in reverse, alternate back and forth quickly between forward and reverse, quite often it'll loosen the corrosion just enough to break it free.

I guess it also depends which electric impact you have, I know CT has 2 sizes, the smaller one isn't very powerful.

Chuck, I usually just unbolt the upper control arms from the strut towers and pull them down, remove the strut fork bolt, unclip the brake line and bend the whole assembly outwards. That will allow you to slide the axle out of the hub.

No need to mess with the ball joints or lower control arm bolts.

It's not hard to change the cv boot yourself. Just make sure there is no play in the axle by rotating the joint back and forth.

I will examine that option. I just watched Eric the Car Guy ignoring his just let it fail idea.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-S-ofMoWsr0



That will be option #3. The lower control arm method was easy peasy. 2 bolts. Again, the room needed to break bolts loose is not there with the upper control arm.

Eventually though, I want to take the whole assembly out to clean and paint.



This one is the Halo sized digital one. But I just realized I hadn't changed the torque setting from when I put the wheels on. so I think it's set at 100flbs



And of course, now I look online for specs and find this recall >.<
http://healthycanadians.gc.ca/recall-alert-rappel-avis/hc-sc/2012/15958r-eng.php

Get one of these for popping ball joints out. It works beautifully every time.

http://www.princessauto.com/en/detail/powerfist-ball-joint-separator/A-p8004135e

Doesn't that kill the boot? The ball joint is in great shape.

No that tool won't, a pickle fork can kill the boot though. Although when I used mine it didn't.

You can get a new boot/dust cover if it does get ruined.

See here:

https://www.rtmracing.com/xcart/product.php?productid=18885&page=1

Ok. Another day from hell. I only expect it to get worse...

Tried the lower ball joint again. No go. Tighten it back up. I then loosen the upper ball join to near the end. I whack and whack... took forever.. but it finally dropped. It's not enough to get the axle out. I go to remove the nut completely to drop the knuckle.. the whole ball joint thread is spinning with it. I had to clamp it using vice-grips (on the solid part of sleeve, not threads) to remove the nut.



I got it off. Cleaned the nut and the ball joint thread. That lock nut goes on nice till it gets to the locking part. I am never going to get that on tight once I get the knuckle back up.

Annoyed.. I move on and try the LCA again. The impact with U-Joint can't do it. I get under the car with a combination wrench and a rubber mallet. I whack away fully expecting the wrench to give. after 5 minutes a creak. few more minutes.. I am getting some movement. Now take the impact to it.. voila. LCA drops!
One end out.



Now on to the inner cv. Nothing. I can't get it to budge. Big flat head, prybar, won't release. Knocked my elbow hard under the car >.< .... As the boot is torn anyway, I pull out the rest of the drive-shaft leaving the inner cup attached to tranny. Figure I'll tackle it another time. (Question: Can I pull tranny with that part still attached and remove after it's out?)

Off to start removing the exhaust. Lugnuts have been used to attached the O2 to Downpipe. Barely room for the socket on the driver side. I manage to get it off with impact. Sweet!

Passenger side bolt is being stubborn. I had to grind down a 1/2 17mm socket to get it in there. Impact won't move it. break out the breaker bar, loosen, tighten, loosen, tighten, I get about 1/4" undone and ...... SNAP. Expletives follow.



I removed the bolt for 1 hangar and then decided to call it quits. I am gonna yank off all the hangars and remove the entire exhaust. (clean and High temp paint black)

I sit there staring at the exhaust manifold thinking.. &^@%#&*^.. I have to get the O2 housing off now.. as I play with the turbo, three of the 4 Manifold to turbo bolts wiggle. I could loosen them with my hand. (part of my slow spool issue?!!).



Guess I will just pull the turbo and O2 housing out together. Of course, I don't have a 12mm 12 point socket for the arp bolts.

I am exhausted (pardon the pun)

Please let tomorrow be better.

Fun times lol. These things always seem to happen when the weather is nice and hot too.

Trans should pass with the cup in, maybe a little tighter but should go no issue.

Sounds like another rough night.

When you get a ball joint spinning with the nut as you're trying to pull it off (which almost always happens), use a clamp to push the knuckle back up. It tightens the ball joint to stop it from spinning without damaging anything. Sorry you resorted to vice grips, but luckily the UCA comes out very easily with the other stuff out of the way.

Not sure why you couldn't get the axle out with the upper ball joint detached. It's worked for me every time. Or were you trying to pull the axle out with the knuckle still attached to the upper ball joint?

I don't know the 2G suspension that well so I'll keep quiet on that topic but with regards to the turbo bolts backing out - get new OEM turbo bolts and new OEM turbo washers. They're super expensive (like $4-5/piece) and you need 2 for each bolt (so 8 total) but they work amazingly well. Never had a turbo bolt come loose with the OEM washers as they are concave/convex and you put them on in such a way that they essentially act like a heavy duty spring pushing out on the bolt and against the manifold, keeping everything snug and tight.

I thought ARP stuff was the cats meow. >.<



I will try that. I think everything is gonna come out for the passenger side. I never looked at how to remove the UCA. I thought you had to remove from inside fender (2 bolts)... but from pictures I see on MOOG.. looks like I can remove bolts from inside engine bay? I'll have to look.





That was with the the knuckle completely off. If I had 1/4 inch more room, it would have come out, but I had it folded as far out as it would go.

That's weird... sorry it didn't work for you.

The UCA bolts on with two bolts going into the engine bay. They're the big 17MM nuts, one at the front and one at the rear of the strut tower. Now that everything else is out of the way, they come out very easily.