euan_r Posted February 11, 2012 Share Posted February 11, 2012 very nice m8,the car will be better than new with that all done, thats a ace idea with the inner tube Yip he seems to have good intentions but not really going about it the way i would. Fmj, why didnt you drop subframe and tank whilst at it, opportunity mist imho? Secondly waxoyl is intended for interior cavities etc and wont last even a year in wheel arches. Areas that are subjected to impact require underseal, stonechip gaurd or epoxy. Ive removed rear hub bolts off 1800 gl beaters intact. Link to comment
fmj Posted February 11, 2012 Author Share Posted February 11, 2012 (edited) Yip he seems to have good intentions but not really going about it the way i would. Fmj, why didnt you drop subframe and tank whilst at it, opportunity mist imho? Secondly waxoyl is intended for interior cavities etc and wont last even a year in wheel arches. Areas that are subjected to impact require underseal, stonechip gaurd or epoxy. Ive removed rear hub bolts off 1800 gl beaters intact. Yeah arches are undershielded and then waxoyled to cover bits I couldn't get to As for the subframe. Yeah Ideally I would have but you can go on forever until you have nothing left but the shell. I am doing this to my daily driver, on a driveway, outside, in the winter, with fairly basic tools, on my own, with just knowledge learnt from DIY and the net. I did this whole project in free time after work and on days off over a three week period with a dead line for wedding I had to drive to. So I was limited on cost, location/facilities, time, ability. If I did the subframe then I would want to source a spare which I would then powder coat, all new bolts and mounts which would cost £100's more no doubt. Maybe next time I will do that but this will do for now . As for the bolts... I don't think you realise how crap these were. They are small (m6 I think) bolts that have been heated and coroded for 12 years. You could round them off with your fingers they are that brittle. Any attempt to use the head of the bolt to turn it resulted in rust dust and no movment. Even taking the heads off the bolts the parts were still rusted together. Beleive me these were fooked. Edited February 11, 2012 by FMJ Link to comment
fmj Posted February 11, 2012 Author Share Posted February 11, 2012 (edited) Ive removed rear hub bolts off 1800 gl beaters intact. Just realised you were reffering to the stuck lateral link to hub bolts. I don't know how you could physically remove these the way they were seized. Even a 5 foot extention wouldn't budge them. Didn't really have the time to arse around any more and I wanted to use new ones anyway (the originals were pitted and rusted) so my method worked just fine . Edited February 11, 2012 by FMJ Link to comment
euan_r Posted February 12, 2012 Share Posted February 12, 2012 Yes, i quite realise your doing it outside with no ramp, garage etc, im in same position. There was no mention of underseal previously and its entirely the wrong time of year to be doing it anyway. It should be done height of summer when moisture is low. Any moisture on shell which is then undersealed will be worse than not doing it at all as moisture is then traped under the underseal. Cant believe people fall for all the garage special prices for undersealing at this time of year,car would need steam cleaning to get muck/ salt off then several days drying out!!!! If you want to start a thread called epic then do it thourghly, i dropped subframes, tank etc and stripped / por15 the lot but just considered it routine maintanance. Are you fitting lowering springs? As otherwise i dont see neeed for bump steer kit and whiteline items dont really stand the test of time. The rear hub bolt can be removed by clearing debris in the gap with a wire brush, get the bolt turned and repeat brushing. Continue untill freely spinning then start removing whilst still rotating, never been defeated yet. Link to comment
rig-pig Posted February 12, 2012 Share Posted February 12, 2012 fek whats wrong calling the thread epic ?? for a guy with basic tools and limited knowledge like he said doing this on a drive in spare time to a daily runner with limited time and budget i think it is. as for hub bolts without seeing the bolts in question you can not say "the rear hub bolts can be removed" but as you say there is a lot more could be done if you had the time to do it, like strip the underside down to the shell Link to comment
jimmer Posted February 12, 2012 Share Posted February 12, 2012 well done buddy! i think youve done a bloody good job with limited resources! dont worry about geeks who want to critisize you! well done good job! Link to comment
monsterenergy Posted February 12, 2012 Share Posted February 12, 2012 Well done on giving this a go in yer driveway. I know the nightmare of workin on top of chuckies too - knee pads help a bit... but they dinna help ye find dropped nuts, bolts and screws lol. Nae sure why some folk find the need to criticise like little bitches - puts across a bad impression of what the club's about even if they're nae a member. Link to comment
fmj Posted February 12, 2012 Author Share Posted February 12, 2012 (edited) Wow, never thought I would receive so much negativity on this forum. Thank god it's only from one member! I am not instructing people here. I put this thread together because a lack of new stuff on these forums leads to people going elsewhere. I like to try and do my bit to contribute to the forum and if somebody can use one of the pics or posts I put up as a reference or to see a part of the car before they attempt something then hopefully it will help them. The Undershield was done back in October so it was actually quite mild and it hadn't rained for weeks so the underside was very dry. As I have said. I had a limited time window and I wanted to get this done. I could have waited until the height of summer but I would probably need the car then not to mention other factors that would have stopped me from getting this done. If you don't think I tried cleaning the bolt with a wire brush, glass paper, dremmel etc before removing it then that may be because I didn't write that I did. I tried these things, they didn't work. I am sure you could have done it and next time I will give you a PM and ask you to come and do it for me. Epic? No? So this is an easy task for somebody with no mechanical background and no garage facilities? I know everbody who saw me doing it or asked about it thought it was a pretty big undertaking as well as Powerstation when I told them I had just done it all on the drive. Yes I am using Eibach lowering springs. If you think that dropping the tank and subframe is routine maintenence then I guess there are a lot of lazy forum members on here because I doubt many do this. To those who are still reading thank you for the support and I will finish this off with the after pics in the next few days . Edited February 12, 2012 by FMJ Link to comment
jimmer Posted February 12, 2012 Share Posted February 12, 2012 get on buddy! i personally would like to see more,you help a lot of us diy mechanics get it right through your mistakes & improvements on doing it! well done again! Link to comment
Vimmy Posted February 13, 2012 Share Posted February 13, 2012 This is a bloody good thread, pretty much all of it is what I want to do, but do not have the knowledge to do so or the time with the car being my daily driver to work. Its great to see how it all comes apart and goes back together, I wouldnt worry about the criticism, it's easy to do so. If criticism is to come then why not come back with informative instructions to show alternative methods of fixing an issue? Keep up the great work Cheers, Col Link to comment
fmj Posted February 13, 2012 Author Share Posted February 13, 2012 (edited) Cheers guys Here is a picture heavy result! Rear: Front: You will notice that some of the bolts in the pics have plastic caps on them and some don't. After taking those pics I did finish fitting caps to all the bolt heads hopefully to stop corrosion, making things easier next time I take it appart! All in all things went pretty smoothly. The project did take me twice as long as I had originally planned and I did have to go to A&E due to a red hot piece of metal sticking to my eyeball (yes I was wearing goggles but the little **** some how blew around them and into my eye!). The result was a car that sat about 15-20mm lower and looks far more balanced. The car feels far more planted and just grips and grips. After fitting all of this I took a run up to Powerstation who did a full laser allignment and checked everything over. The ride is more firm and things do rattle around a little more but that is to be expected when fitting harder springs and poly bushes. High speed stability is definately better! I am very happy with the car and now have a new sump (too much rust on the current one) and an STI6 Carbon Fibre spoiler to fit. So stay tuned for threads about those bits in the near future. Edited February 13, 2012 by FMJ Link to comment
the bungster Posted February 13, 2012 Share Posted February 13, 2012 Excellent work mate , an inspiring thread and thoroughly worthwhile project ... good on ya Link to comment
kennyuk300 Posted February 13, 2012 Share Posted February 13, 2012 A very grand job Indeed FMJ ,hat off to you sir I for one am glad you took the time to post this up ,as you said forum can get a bit slow/quiet and not many people would have bothered to post the work done .. Epic Link to comment
Weird Nev Posted February 15, 2012 Share Posted February 15, 2012 This is truly epic for a one man on the drive effort. Well done mate, I can't believe you got any negativity at all. Someone must have had off milk on their cornflakes that morning or something. I did a similar suspension rebuild on my MR2 a few years back, and that was hard enough and the suspension on those is very much more basic than it is on an Impreza, so I know exactly the pain you have been through! Well done, now get out there and enjoy it! No wait, on second thoughts, I can't believe you got that far and didn't acid strip the shell, repaint it, Re do the car with a new loom and Forge new suspension parts yourself out of titanium and unicorn spit.. I mean, if you're going to call a thread epic... Link to comment
rig-pig Posted February 17, 2012 Share Posted February 17, 2012 ace job m8, hat off to you Link to comment
andyyam750 Posted February 20, 2012 Share Posted February 20, 2012 Epic indeed... Its all too easy to post a thread on how to do something when its easy going and all goes according to plan, Threads like this that capture all of the problems and issues along the way are way more valuable.. I am hoping to upgrade the rear brakes on my Budget Wagon project in the not too distant future and the info on your post is excellent. Good pictures and nice detail... Good job buddy and the end result looks superb, hope she handles nice and tight after all your hard work.. WELL DONE Link to comment
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