Nathan's 626 - Suspension Work Part 1 of 2

Nathan here again, this post will be part 1 of 2 on the front suspension work that has been done to the 626. This post will cover control arm replacement (including the 2 bushings and ball joint), front sway bar links, and inner & outer tie rods (as well as new dust covers for the inners).

While working on the car one day, I realised that the control arm bushings were flogged out. The ball joints had bad dust boots and were very loose, and the rear control arm bushings were ready to come apart! So we went out for a long drive out west and bought new ones. We decided that the next ‘stage’ of the work on the car would be steering/suspension/bushings. Replacing all the old, worn parts, with nice new ones! Pictures Below:


The new control arms they came with a new ball joint, as well as new rear and side bushings:

Taking the old arms out and the difference between the old and new ones! 

Old rear bushing:

New rear bushing:

New arms in:

Video of Old Ball Joints:

Video of New Ball Joints:

Next was new sway-bar links and to install the inner and outer tie rods that we had bought a while back, along with the steering rack rubber boots.

We did this on a friends work hoist (since they had an inner tie rod tool) and also installed some new exhaust hangers so the exhaust wouldn't move around while driving (which fixed it!) No pics of exhaust hangars but it’s easy to imagine what it would look like, it’s an easy job:

Exhaust hangers look like this: Their job is to hold up the exhaust system to the body. When they get old the exhaust will move around more than is acceptable and create funny noises like rattles etc. They are very cheap to buy so we replaced all 5 on our car.

New sway bar links:

Up on the hoist:

Outer tie-rods removed and prepping the inner tie rod removal tool:

Inner tie rods removed:

Unfortunately my phone ran out of battery just after the last pic was taken, so no pics of installed inner or outer tie rods (or rubber boots) :(

We got a wheel alignment the next day as the car had barely any castor after the suspension work, and it was back to driving! Part 2 of the suspension work will cover front strut replacement. It will also be the last post by me on the blog.

- Nathan

Sam's 2nd Post - My History of Cars

Below is the brief history of cars in my family.

The first car to enter the Knowles household was a 1990s Holden Commodore station-wagon pictured below. This facilitated my Dad's business at the time, serving as an incredibly reliable vehicle. A lot of my childhood memories involve this car - just looking at the picture brings nostalgia. Obviously, the car is nothing fancy, just a sturdy, practical vehicle for getting from A to B.

In 2001 my parents split up. With my Dad hanging onto the station wagon, my Mum needed a cheap, second-hand car to make the 40 minute commute to work/school. She found this 1960s Volvo and decided to give it a shot. As the decade indicates, this car was ANCIENT. In an attempt to make it more hospitable we did up the seats and put in a new CD player, likely doubling the car's value! In fact, if a thief were to break into the car (of which there were many ways) the CD player would unquestionably be the only thing worth stealing. Unsurprisingly, though, the car had incredible charm and while we'd never take it back, it remains as one of our favourites of all time.

In 2003, we parted ways with the old Volvo and upgraded to a Holden Astra. By far and away, the best upgrade the car provided was air-conditioning and heating, meaning that we no longer battled dehydration in the summer and hypothermia in the winter. While undoubtedly an improvement on the last car functionally, it lacked character and seemed to epitomise the notion of a pragmatic car whose sole purpose is that of a tool. Needless to say, I neither miss this car nor despised having it - it was merely just there.

In 2008, my Mum bought the car which she still drives to this day. It's a Subaru Impreza hatchback.

This is the car which I predominantly learned to drive on, and with my limited experience driving other cars, it seems incredibly easy to navigate. From a functional perspective it fits the bill, with a spacious interior and all aspects you'd expect from a modern car. To top it off it's had only minimal mechanical issues in the 6 years it's been on the road.
Now, as we all remember, I'm not a car person. 100, 200, or 300 horsepower means absolutely nothing to me (are those even standard denominations!?). However, when I put my foot down on the accelerator, the engine roars and the car moves quickly... very quickly. It doesn't take any mechanical know-how to realise that going fast is fun. This car incorporates the sheer power and ferocity seen from WRX drivers (read: tryhards ;)) into a modest and practical vehicle.

This concludes my chronological history of cars! My next post will be about selling of a written-off vehicle!

Car Lifestyle Post 3 - VL Commodore suspension overhaul

Time for post 3, today I'll be running through the monumental task of a suspension overhaul. This was early 2014, I had slowly been buying and collecting parts from various sources and letting them sit around in the garage till I finally had everything I needed to begin doing what I have wanted to do since the day I bought the car - lower it! And make it handle better..

This is most of the parts I bought in preparation for the upgrade. Consisting of: KMac adjustable strut tops, lowered KMac sports springs, heavy duty shocks and struts, nolathane bushes for the front, and finally an adjustable panhard rod to keep the pesky live-axle rear end straight! What a mess...

Now to begin the process. I started with the rear of the car, as I knew this would be much simpler and a good way to get into it. Jacked up the car, put the rear on jack-stands and the front on bricks (because safety is always important!)

Now since the rear end is a very basic design, the process is quite simple. We start with the lower control arm (LCA) - it has 3 bolts. 1 to the shock, 1 to the body and 1 to the diff. We remove the bolt connecting the LCA to the body, allowing us to pull it down, thus exposing the spring from it's seat between the LCA and body of the vehicle. Using brute strength, or spring compressors if you prefer, remove the old spring from it's seat, then put in your new spring! In my case, the KMac lowered spring.

Then put the bolt back in connecting the LCA to your car's body. Then undo the bolt connecting the LCA to your shock, and undo the bolt located in your boot which will in turn undo both the bottom and top of the shock and allow it to be removed. Replace it with your new unit by doing the same process in reverse and you are done. Just do this on both sides of the rear and you'll be ridin' low in no time. This is how the rear looked after I finished these steps:

Now onto the front of the car, this is a bit harder because the front suspension is more complicated, being an independent setup. The front has 2 struts, which are a shock-absorber unit with a spring around the outside of it. Thankfully my new parts came as one entire unit, so I was able to put them in without needing to dismantle and reassemble too much. to start, jack the front of the car up and put it on jack stands, the rear can stay on the ground because the hand-brake will stop the rear wheels moving.

Unbolt the control arm connecting the strut to the body, front sway bar links, and Z-link bar. This can be frustrating as these bolts aren't used to being taken out! Given the forces suspension components endure combined with age, parts are often worn, warped, corroded or just plain broken. So taking things out can take hours despite only being a few simple steps!

Once the lower arm is unbolted completely, undo the 3 small strut top bolts located on the strut tower in the engine bay of the car. Make sure someone is down there holding the strut tower though, because if not, when you undo these bolts - well, lets just say gravity will take over and it will quickly find it's way to the floor without someone to hold onto it.

Now begins the fun part - putting in the last of the new bits. The reinstall is basically the reverse of the removal. Have someone hold the strut up to the strut tower while you quickly do up the top 3 bolts, then bolt back in your Sway bar links, Z-links and the large boly connecting to the body/Kframe of the car. You may have to mix around with the order of the bolts and incorporate a lot of pushing and swearing to get everything lined up - trust me!

 Now double check everything is tight, and lower down the car. This is how mine looked at this stage, after 2 days of hard work:

 

Next step, take it for a drive and make sure nothing falls out! If not, you're (probably) all good! Now go get a wheel alignment done to make sure the car tracks straight and you are done! There is truly no better feeling than being able to take something apart and make it better with your own hands.

Then in for a wheel alignment:

 This is what came out of the car! (Stock parts)

Was very happy with the outcome despite how much work it was. Here is a comparison, top is before, bottom is after.

And another, from a few weeks after once it was completely settled in:

And there you have it, job well done!

-Alex

Jesse's Car History

The cars that I have owned in my life.

Since I have owned a license I have had ownership of 3 cars and in my life a total of 4.

My first car I owned was at the age of 6, it was my dads old 1988 Ford Fairlane that he simply gave me as a present to drive around our property with his assistance. I only had it for a year since we could not keep it once we had moved and I was only able to drive it a few time but at the age of 6 it was many more times than I should of had anyway.

My second car was given to me for my 18th Birthday present and was a 1989 Nissan Pulsar N13. It was originally my grandparents car that they handed down to me. This was after I had my license and was while I was saving up to buy myself a car. Even though it was my 18th birthday present it was not my kind of car and with their approval I sold it and used that money along with my savings to purchase my next car.

Now for my latest 2 cars which I currently own now.

My third and current daily driven car is my 1990 Nissan 300ZX. It was the car I purchased as the replacement for my Pulsar and was the first car I had purchased myself. I've owned my car for the last 3 and half years and loved every day of ownership. I purchased this car while I was on my P-plates due to the fact of it being one of the fastest, most powerful, most fun and best handling P-plate legal cars you could buy.

My fourth and final car to date is a second Nissan 300ZX but is unable to be register on the roads and is used as a car for the track. I purchased it as it was a drivable right off and to be used by my friends and I.

I am now currently looking for my next car to purchase that will be my fifth car and will be my first turbo car.

ISYS100 group,

Jesse.

Nathan's 626 - Rust Repair (post 2)

Nathan here. This post will be covering some rust repair that I did on my car. I hope it will help you learn how to deal with things like this!

We knew the car had some rust around the bottom of the boot area, but once we started looking at it we realised there was more than we thought. Luckily it wasn’t hole-in-the-body bad, but it wasn’t exactly good either! Thankfully we haven’t found any more rust on the car anywhere, it’s strange that it was there to start with; maybe it had a bad seal at one point. We decided to get together with some friends and take care of it.

Here’s the pictures from that day:

Rear bumper and tail lights removed:

Grinding away the rust:

All clean!

Now to paint over the bare metal. This is done to protect it from future corrosion:

Sitting Pretty:

Boot covered to prevent over-spray:

Speeding up the paint drying process:

The parts that were taken off:

Going back together:

Done!

The rust repair was done in July 2013, meaning we had almost owned the car for a year at this point and had yet to really start working on it ourselves (mechanically).

Lots of things were done between buying the car and the rust repair, however I have skipped over them since there will only be 4 posts by me on the blog.

- Nathan