Watch ADD guy build car

[Westview]

I'm a little late starting a build thread, but procrastination is an integral part of my personality.

My donor is a 2006 WRX Wagon, which I purchased from Wayne at Very Cool Parts. Here are some pictures picking it up down in Alabama:
2803628037

Getting it out of the bed of my truck once I got home:
279412794227943


Picked my kit up a few weeks ago:
2794427945

I have a lot of back ordered parts. I missing the entire Box 6 which is the bulk of the aluminum. No gas tank, no headlights, missing exhaust hardware and more. I don't think any of that will be a problem for quite awhile.

I spent this past weekend tearing my steering rack apart to "de-power" it. I post some picture of that soon.

[K3LAG]

Good to see you're getting started. Dave and I are just a few miles away if you need help with anything.

Since we are several months ahead of you, hopefully we'll solve all the problems before you get to them! :o

Larry

[Mechie3]

You could always ask for a credit for the headlights and go aftermarket. I have the factory ones lying around too but think it would cost as much to ship them as you could buy them on ebay with free shipping.

[riptide motorsport]

Welcome and congrats.... Nothing wrong with procrastination!!! :o

[svanlare]

Congrats and looking forward to following along.

[STiPWRD]

Hey man, I'm also about an hour away and pretty much at the same stage as you. I too was working on the steering rack this past weekend. Great so see we have a few builders in the DC area!

[Westview]

Since we are several months ahead of you, hopefully we'll solve all the problems before you get to them! :o

I certainly hope so...I don't want to have to solve all these problems! :)


You could always ask for a credit for the headlights and go aftermarket. I have the factory ones lying around too but think it would cost as much to ship them as you could buy them on ebay with free shipping.

Given my penchant for procrastination, they'll probably be here before I make up my mind which way I want to go.


Welcome and congrats.... Nothing wrong with procrastination!!! :o

Thanks! I appreciate the moral support. I'm just a little concerned that procrastination isn't the best personality trait for building a car.


Congrats and looking forward to following along.

Thanks!


Hey man, I'm also about an hour away and pretty much at the same stage as you. I too was working on the steering rack this past weekend. Great so see we have a few builders in the DC area!

Maybe we'll get to meet up at some point. Wait til you see the high tech tool I made to get my steering rack apart:rolleyes:. I may be banned from the forum after they see that.

[metros]

Well don't leave us hanging. Post your high tech home made tool!

<---Also local to you.

[Westview]

Bolted my steering rack to a 2x4 in order to hold it down while I worked on it:
28042

First significant problem was the requirement to remove the 'plug' which holds the valve assembly in:
2804428045

My high tech solution to this special tool requirement involves a 2x4 and four 20d nails.

First made a pattern to get the spacing down:
28046

Drilled a 3/4 inch hole in the 2x4 to fit over the shaft:
28047

Measured, cut and ground down the nails to fit the holes in the 'plug':
2804828049

Installed the nails into the 2x4:
28050

Placed my newly constructed, high precision tool on the 'plug' and tapped it with a hammer to remove the 'plug':
2805128052

[Westview]

Now I have the 'plug' out, just pull the pinion & valve assembly out by hand:
2805328054

Once the valve assembly was out I removed the 'Holder' and pressed the shaft out of the housing:
2805528056

Once the shaft was out, I used an angle grinder to cut the seal, and then a chisel to break it and remove it:
2805728058

That's as far as I got with the steering rack. Next I'm going to weld the valve assembly & pinion to fuse them together and remove the slop in the steering.

[AZPete]

Your high-tech tool looks good to me. Be sure to sign up as a vendor before you start selling it!

[Westview]

Your high-tech tool looks good to me. Be sure to sign up as a vendor before you start selling it!

I hadn't thought of that...with material costs of about 25 cents I should be able to make nice profit!

[Westview]

Spent some quality time with a wire bush and my steering rack housing.

Before:
28227
After:
28228

Now I'm down to tooth picks trying to get the remaining crevices cleaned out. An interesting internal conflict is brewing. My OCD will have me cleaning this thing for days. On the other hand my patients are wearing thin and of course my ADD wants to go work on something else for awhile.

[RM1SepEx]

looking good... I made my spanner out of scrap aluminum and a couple roll pins from ACE. I like that you invested 1/2 as much as I did!

None of use has much patience... :o

Nice tractor!

[RM1SepEx]

looking good... I made my spanner out of scrap aluminum and a couple roll pins from ACE. I like that you invested 1/2 as much as I did!

None of use has much patience... :o

Nice tractor Wayne!

[Westview]

Spent some more quality time with a wire brush today. Cleaned up the tube nuts from the steering rack. I'm going to have the holes welded shut to seal up the rack.

Before:
28250282512825228253

After:
28254

[Westview]

Did a little painting today.

After doing some research I decided to use Eastwood Rust Encapsulator and Extreme Chassis Black to paint some of the parts on my build. I've laid down plenty of latex in my life, but have no experience with this sort of paint. My plan was to use a foam brush to paint my parts. That was a mistake. I was not prepared for how fast this paint dries. Brushing is not really an option. I could not lay it down smoothly even though its fairly thin. I had never used a spray gun before. My only spray experience involved aerosol cans. But I happened to buy a very cheap spray gun awhile back but never used it. So I decide it was time to try it out. It worked great and I looking forward to using it to finish things up. Here's a picture of my drying rack, which consists of to horses, two 2x4 and some closet hangers, its a little low to the ground but got the job done:

28320

[Westview]

Finished up the steering rack. I had the pinion gear welded to eliminate any movement. I copied the approach Rasmus took (http://thefactoryfiveforum.com/showthread.php?5966-De-powering-the-steering-rack-plus-more-to-come-on-rebuilding-wrx-parts&p=140714&viewfull=1#post140714), welding through the holes in the valve:

28857

One word of warning if you take this approach, make sure you clean up the weld splatter. I missed some, put my rack back together and it made about half a rotation before it hard stopped. Had to take it all back apart and discovered weld splatter sticking out had caught on one of the power steering fluid orifices inside the housing.

Here it is all back together:
28859

[Westview]

Pulled apart my donor axles/CV joint today. This is what I started with:
28968

Don't have a vise, so I clamped the Axle between two 2X4s to hold it while I tapped the CV housing off with a hammer:
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It's a messy job:
2897428975

Here's everything apart:
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Here's a the inside of the front inner CV joint housing. There doesn't seem to be any scratches, but I was surprised by how they look. They look like they are burned:
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Still have some work to do taking apart the rear outer CV joint and clean it up. Then it will be time to put the CV joints on the Factory Five supplied axles.

[Westview]

Installed my first aluminum panels on the front firewall:
29261292622926329264

[Westview]

Finally finished the front firewall:

29682

I have a few holes to fill in. Some made by Factory Five for shipping purpose and a couple of mistakes I made:
296832968429685

[svanlare]

Looks great, feels good to check off as if feels like something real is done.

[AZPete]

Looks good. The only error I notice is calling extra holes mistakes whereas they are actually "weight saving voids". I've added some WSVs to my build also.

[Rasmus]

Looks good. The only error I notice is calling extra holes mistakes whereas they are actually "weight saving voids". I've added some WSVs to my build also.
I using that. It's not a mistake; it's a WSV.

[Bob_n_Cincy]

I using that. It's not a mistake; it's a WSV.
my Motto: If you can't fix it, feature it.
Bob

[Westview]

"weight saving voids"

LOL, now that's funny!

[Westview]

I didn't like the looks of my ball joints so I got new ones
29717

The first one I removed simply fell out and came apart when I removed the nut
29718

The second one came out of the control arm easily, but the cone would not come off the ball joint spindle. I cut away the rubber and was able to get a puller on it and pull it off:
2971929720

Here's the new one next to an old one:
29721

[Westview]

My fuel tank finally arrived today:
29883

[gwarden]

You get my vote for best use of 2x4s in a build
Looking good

[Westview]

You get my vote for best use of 2x4s in a build
Looking good

Thanks!! It's such an honor to be nominated for Best in 2X4 :)

[Westview]

Installed the front lower control arms today. I had to drill a hole in the driver's side firewall to get the control arm to fit. Found a button plug at Ace Hardware to plug the hole from the inside. The plug just barely fits over the end of the bolt that is sticking through the firewall:

3068230683306843068530686

[AZPete]

Yup, I did the same. If the hole is big enough for your 19mm socket you can torque the nut later when you've got wheels and it's at ride height.

[RM1SepEx]

the "wiggle" on the rear bushing is supposed to be on the bottom...

[Westview]

the "wiggle" on the rear bushing is supposed to be on the bottom...

Wow...Thanks for pointing that out!!! I completely missed it. I turned it around and now the hole I drilled in the firewall is off :(

[Westview]

Here's my now miss-aligned firewall hole for the driver side front lower control arm:
31260

So I drilled 1 inch hole. Had to flip the bearing which moved the bolt off center. I originally figured I needed at least 1 ⅛ inch hole to fit a socket through. So I was always planning to enlarge the hole. Now the center of the bolt is .818 inches from the far edge of the hole I drilled. If I split the required 1 ⅛ inches in half that gives me 9/16ths or 0.5625 inches. If I add the 0.5625 inches to the 0.818 inches that gives me 1.3805 inches. This is approximately 1 ⅜ inches (1.375 inches). To be safe I think I need a 1 ½ inch hole in order to fully encompass the existing hole and leave enough room for a socket. Finding a plug to fit a 1 ½ inch hole is proving to be a bit of a challenge. It seems once you get over an inch the recessed portion of the plugs are reversed. So it would have to be installed from same side of the fire wall as the LCA. Which means I would have squeeze it behind the LCA bolt to install it. So far the best plug I've found is this one:
3126131267
It's for a 2 inch hole and I would rather not go that large if I can avoid it. It also looks pretty thick, so squeezing it behind the LCA bolt could be challenging.

While I've been pondering that dilemma, I did press the front hubs out of their housing:
3126231263312643126531266
Now all I have to do is figure out how to get the bearings off the hub. I may have to let someone else do that for me. I know there's a special tool to do that and I can't think of anyway to do it without the special tool.

[metalmaker12]

Press out from back side out the front where the snap ring is. It's easy with a press and something that fits on the race. Soak with pbblast, but from the looks of it that should come right out . With the bearing on hub, put in a vise and get long a pry baror slide hammer etc

[Westview]

I tried to pry the bearings off the hub with no luck. So I ended up buying a bearing splitter/puller from Harbor Freight. It just barely fit on the hub, but I got it on and was able to pull the bearings off:
315613156231563

I removed the bearings from the housings and found marks on the bearing surfaces of the housings:
315653156631567

I'm not sure what to do about these marks. I could use some advice on this one. I can't feel the marks when I run my finger over them. I don't want to damage the surface trying to remove the marks, but I'm concerned that not removing them may result in premature bearing failure.

[AZPete]

You're correct that a 1.5" hole is good for the front lower control arm bolt. Look in Ace Hardware for a 1.5" metal hole plug like this.
If your local Ace doesn't have these, PM me and I'll get a couple from my Ace and send to you. These can be placed from the other side (the inside of the firewall).
http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/bb180/AZPeteCobra/FrtLCAaccess.jpg (http://s210.photobucket.com/user/AZPeteCobra/media/FrtLCAaccess.jpg.html)

[STiPWRD]

I removed the bearings from the housings and found marks on the bearing surfaces of the housings:
315653156631567

I'm not sure what to do about these marks. I could use some advice on this one. I can't feel the marks when I run my finger over them. I don't want to damage the surface trying to remove the marks, but I'm concerned that not removing them may result in premature bearing failure.[/QUOTE]

Those marks are on the inner race surface of the bearing, which also has to be pressed out of the hub. The new bearings will come with the two bearings and the race. I'm also in the middle of replacing my bearings - I've got all 4 spindles disassembled and painted and new bearings are in. I just have to pack them with redline synthetic grease and press them back into the spindles. I found a pretty good video on youtube for replacing subaru wheel bearings that helped out a lot.

[Westview]

STiWRD, Thanks! You are absolutely correct. I figured it out about an hour before I read your post:)

[Westview]

AZPete, Thanks! I'll have a look at Ace here and see if I can find the same plug

[K3LAG]

AZPete, Thanks! I'll have a look at Ace here and see if I can find the same plug

Clark's Ace in Ellicott City on 40 has been my goto place for that kind of stuff. They seem to be a bit better than the one in Burtonsville.

Larry

[Westview]

I was able to press the race out of one bearing housing:
316133161431615316163161731618

However, the second one broke my 2X4:
31619

Not exactly the best material for the job, but I don't have a piece of steel that will fit under the housing. I tried a couple of other ways but couldn't hold the housing straight. This second race is clearly harder to press out than the first one. I have a 12 ton press and I'm not sure its up to the task. Before I give up my press, I want to see if I can locate some scrap steel to hold the housing level.

[Jaime]

If that's the Harbor Freight 12-ton press, then it will do it. I did six of them with mine. I recommend the $30 Harbor Freight bearing press set (http://www.harborfreight.com/10-piece-bearing-race-and-seal-driver-set-95853.html). When you press a new bearing back in you're going to appreciate it.

Didn't the press come with arbor plates? If not, 3/4 by 2 hot roll steel is like ten bucks a foot from onlinemetals.com.

[STiPWRD]

^^ Agreed. That bearing press set is perfect for these subaru bearings. You'll also need a metal sleeve to press on the new bearing onto the wheel hub. I couldn't find anything at local hardware stores and didn't want to buy a $60 bearing sleeve kit so I found a sleeve from McMaster (pn: 6391K439 only $5.07) that is about the right OD, ID and length. Just used it last night to press on the new front bearings - I was amazed at how little grease comes on them out of the box. Highly recommend buying a jar or synthetic bearing grease.

[Westview]

If that's the Harbor Freight 12-ton press, then it will do it. I did six of them with mine. I recommend the $30 Harbor Freight bearing press set (http://www.harborfreight.com/10-piece-bearing-race-and-seal-driver-set-95853.html). When you press a new bearing back in you're going to appreciate it.

Didn't the press come with arbor plates? If not, 3/4 by 2 hot roll steel is like ten bucks a foot from onlinemetals.com.

It is a harbor freight press. I have two plates that came with it, but they are square with various shaped cut outs on the edges. They simply don't fit under the housing and allow it to lay flat. Thanks for the link, I'll check it out.

[Westview]

^^ Agreed. That bearing press set is perfect for these subaru bearings. You'll also need a metal sleeve to press on the new bearing onto the wheel hub. I couldn't find anything at local hardware stores and didn't want to buy a $60 bearing sleeve kit so I found a sleeve from McMaster (pn: 6391K439 only $5.07) that is about the right OD, ID and length. Just used it last night to press on the new front bearings - I was amazed at how little grease comes on them out of the box. Highly recommend buying a jar or synthetic bearing grease.

Thanks for the tips, I'll check them all out. Just got my new bearings today. Looks like there's a plastic ring holding the bearing halves together:

3167031671

I have some old synthetic grease, but I think to be safe I'll get some new stuff to pack them

[Jaime]

I have two plates that came with it, but they are square with various shaped cut outs on the edges. They simply don't fit under the house and allow it to lay flat.I used some 3/4 x 3 aluminum rectangle I had laying around. It was narrow enough to hold the bearing housing without interfering with the rest of the thing. That's why I recommended 3/4 x 2 steel. It will be plenty strong and stay out of the way. Also, steel is cheap.

[Boog]

I ran across this site one day and decided to swap out my HF cast arbor plates. Could have been a scare tactic to drum up business but with a 20 ton press it didn't seem worth the risk.
http://www.swagoffroad.com/Arbor-Press-Plates_p_7.html
I don't recall if I went with the ones listed on the site.

[Westview]

I ran across this site one day and decided to swap out my HF cast arbor plates. Could have been a scare tactic to drum up business but with a 20 ton press it didn't seem worth the risk.
http://www.swagoffroad.com/Arbor-Press-Plates_p_7.html
I don't recall if I went with the ones listed on the site.

Yeah..I'm very cautious when I use the press. If what I'm doing is a little sketchy, I have a ladder next to my press and I climb up above the press to protect myself.

I was able to press the second race out of the housing today. It was pretty sketchy so I was above the press when the wedge I was using popped out. Yes it missed me.

[Westview]

Worked on cleaning up and painting my front hubs/housings. I'm using Eastwoods Rust Encapsulator, so I just wire brush the loose stuff off and don't worry about getting it perfectly free of rust. Before wire brushing on the left, after on the right:
31855

I really like the final finish for these kind of parts:
31856




I recommend the $30 Harbor Freight bearing press set (http://www.harborfreight.com/10-piece-bearing-race-and-seal-driver-set-95853.html). When you press a new bearing back in you're going to appreciate it.


Jaime, I took your advice and got the HF press set. Worked like a charm pressing the race in.



You'll also need a metal sleeve to press on the new bearing onto the wheel hub. I couldn't find anything at local hardware stores and didn't want to buy a $60 bearing sleeve kit so I found a sleeve from McMaster (pn: 6391K439 only $5.07) that is about the right OD, ID and length.

STiWRD, Haven't figured out how I'm going to press the bearings on yet, may take your suggestion.

[STiPWRD]

STiWRD, Haven't figured out how I'm going to press the bearings on yet, may take your suggestion.

I used that sleeve last week, worked like a charm. I did the front and rear bearings with it. When doing the rear bearings, remember to bolt on the e-brake plates before pressing the hubs into the spindles - I almost forgot to do this (cuz I took mine apart to clean and paint) but remembered at the last second.

[Westview]

Worked on taking my rear bearing/hubs apart. I was really stumped on how to press the hubs out without damaging the backing plate. Then I found a link where a guy just clamped the housing in a vice and beat the hub out with a socket and a hammer. That worked for me:

323723237332374

When I grabbed the second one to start working on it I noticed it was damaged. Not sure how I didn't see this damage before, but I need a new housing this one is toast:

323753237632377

[Westview]

Finally got to bolt on the front suspension pieces and the steering rack:

32795

Still need to install the sway bar. The brackets appear to need to be flattened to be installed. It's not clear that they'll fit once flattened. I'd like to confirm that I'm doing the right thing before I start bending them.

[RM1SepEx]

Many of us just bought generic bushings, 17MM for the sedan bar. My originals didn't line up even when you flatten them, details in my thread

[Westview]

Many of us just bought generic bushings, 17MM for the sedan bar. My originals didn't line up even when you flatten them, details in my thread

Thanks Dan,

After doing some measurements it was quite clear that the donor brackets would not easily work. So I order some bushing with brackets as suggested.

[FFRSpec72]

Did a little painting today.

Doesn't count as you did not get enough overspray on the driveway, you need to do it again

[Westview]

Wayne came through and replaced my damaged rear bearing housing. Damaged one on the left, replacement on the right:

32984

I started cleaning the housings up last weekend. They seemed much worse than the front bearing housings. I wired brushed them and that didn't seem to be getting anywhere. I decided to try Evaporust. That didn't cut it. So today I decided to try the "De-rusting bucket" (http://thefactoryfiveforum.com/showthread.php?13816-De-rusting-bucket-removing-rust-from-steel-and-cast-iron-parts-old-school). Being ADD I read the first half of the instructions and immediately started trying to figure out how I would build my bucket. I don't have a welder so welding some re-bar together wasn't a quick option. Then I remembered I have a bunch of tomato cages. They have rings that are just the right diameter for the bucket. So I went to work:

32985

Then I decided to see what kind of solution I needed. That's when I finally read the very last instruction. No galvanized steel. Of course my entire set up is galvanized steel... so back to the drawing board.

[Westview]

I am officially a big believer in the "De-Rusting Bucket" (http://thefactoryfiveforum.com/showthread.php?13816-De-rusting-bucket-removing-rust-from-steel-and-cast-iron-parts-old-school). I bought a 10ft long, 1/2 inch section of re-bar and cut it into three equal length pieces. Bent them into a U shape with one leg longer than the other. Inserted them in the plastic bucket and wired the long ends together to complete the circuit. This allowed me to avoid welding:

3302833029

Unfortunately I don't have a 2amp charger. I have a 6amp charger that will put out 12v or 6v. It was drawing way too much power at 12v so I dropped it down to 6v. That dropped the draw down to between 4 and 5 amps. So I was probably boiling way harder than needed, but it still worked.

Here's my bearing housing after de-rusting:

33030

That looks pretty good to me! But here's what really made me a believer, a backing plate before and after de-rusting:

33035

The de-rusting process bubbled the paint up everywhere there was rust. There's no way I would have found all that rust without this process. I'm very grateful to Rasmus for documenting this process and the others that contributed. THANKS!!!

On a sad note. My Harbor Freight vice was not up to the task of bending 1/2 inch re-bar:

33036

[Westview]

I read some posts where people broke the plastic ribbing in the filter sock on the fuel pump while inserting it into the tank. So I was nervous about installing it. But I was able to get it in without breaking:
36639366403664136642
It was too long:
36643
So I had to pull it back out, trim the hose and weave it back into the hole:
36644

[Westview]

There was no way the stock sway bar mounts would work without serious modification so I decided to purchase some after market mounts:
366453664636647
The sway bar is very close to the springs:
366483664936650
So I decided to install a collar to keep it from moving:
36651

[Tamra]

Your filter sock on the fuel pump looks huge. What brand is that? Ours fit through without any difficulty.

[Bob_n_Cincy]

Your filter sock on the fuel pump looks huge. What brand is that? Ours fit through without any difficulty.
On the gas tank socks. The one on the left is out of my 06 NA impreza donor. The one on the right is out of my 04 FXT donor. The FXT turbo sock looks the same as Westview's.
36653

[Westview]

What brand is that?

It's supposed to be off a 2006 WRX Wagon.

[RM1SepEx]

My 05 WRX one was huge and difficult to fit as well. And I think everyone has had to pull it out to recut the tube to get it at the right length!

[Tamra]

hm, I wonder what ours is then. It came off an 02 WRX with an upgraded pump (255lph), but the fuel filter sock was pretty small, closer to the NA that Bob pictured. We do have an external fuel filter in our engine compartment though, so I wonder if that is the difference. We had no issues fitting it though the hole, and no cutting of any tubes.

[Westview]

hm, I wonder what ours is then. It came off an 02 WRX with an upgraded pump (255lph), but the fuel filter sock was pretty small, closer to the NA that Bob pictured. We do have an external fuel filter in our engine compartment though, so I wonder if that is the difference. We had no issues fitting it though the hole, and no cutting of any tubes.

Entering the realm of pure speculation...at some point Subaru decided to eliminate the external fuel filter. The original filter sock on the fuel pump provided sufficient filtering to keep the pump from clogging up and the external filter did the rest of the work. Eliminating the external filter meant the filter sock now had to do all of the work. So they had to make it a finer filter. To maintain the rate of flow through the finer filter sock they had to increase it's size. Except for the fact that they eliminated the external fuel filter, the rest is, as I said, pure speculation on my part.

[Bob_n_Cincy]

Entering the realm of pure speculation...at some point Subaru decided to eliminate the external fuel filter. The original filter sock on the fuel pump provided sufficient filtering to keep the pump from clogging up and the external filter did the rest of the work. Eliminating the external filter meant the filter sock now had to do all of the work. So they had to make it a finer filter. To maintain the rate of flow through the finer filter sock they had to increase it's size. Except for the fact that they eliminated the external fuel filter, the rest is, as I said, pure speculation on my part.

The 06na pump has a small sock , filter and requlator in the tank. Damper in the engine bay. No return line from the engine.

The 04 FXT has a large sock and damper in the tank. It also had a canister filter and return damper in the engine bay. The regulator is on the engine.

The white plastic piece is the "jet pump" used for sucking gas from the other side (drive shaft hump) of the tank.


36658

[RM1SepEx]

The 05 had a filter in line with the pump after the sock. I added the external 02 type filter in my 818. The original, in line, in tank filter could not be used/inserted inline.

[Westview]

The 05 had a filter in line with the pump after the sock. I added the external 02 type filter in my 818. The original, in line, in tank filter could not be used/inserted inline.

Seems like there's quite a variety. Here's what mine looked like straight from Wayne...no in-line filter:
36669

It occurred to me that maybe Wayne simply didn't include the in-line filter since it can't be used?

[tmoretta]

Good idea. What did you use for a collar on the sway bar?

[RM1SepEx]

McMastercarr.com 17MM split collar, you need two to stop movement

[Westview]

Good idea. What did you use for a collar on the sway bar?

I did get them from McMaster-Carr as Dan said, but I ended up getting the 5/8" size. I forget why I did that...maybe they didn't have the aluminum in the metric size. They are a little smaller than needed, but they work. Here the line item from my order:

6436K136 Two-Piece Clamp-on Shaft Collar, for 5/8" Diameter, Aluminum

[Westview]

My wife and kids chipped in to get me Wayne's K-Tuned Shifter (http://thefactoryfiveforum.com/showthread.php?11462-VCP-end-of-Summer-Sale&p=115952&viewfull=1#post115952) for Christmas and my wife embroidered an 818 silhouette on a sweat shirt for me:

37492

Thinking about adding Factory Five Racing under the silhouette:

37493

[flynntuna]

Nice. :cool:

[AZPete]

Wonderful wife!

[Westview]

Nice. :cool:

Wonderful wife!

Thanks guys. I want to point out that the embroidery was done by machine. Many hours of work on the design, but now that it's done it's easy to replicate. If there's any interest, I may be able to get her to apply for vendor status

[flynntuna]

Yes please

[wleehendrick]

Yes please

ditto!

[Westview]

Finally got around to installing my rear suspension. Had a some trouble coming up with a way to get all the bolts in. Ended up using my bearing puller to push the arm into place:
45566
45565
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[Westview]

Decided to try out sand blasting on my calipers. I had no experience with sand blasting. My research indicated that at 4.2 CFM, my air compressor was well under the recommended 10 CFM, but from what others said it might still work. So I went for it and bought a kit and some play sand from Home Depot. The first problem was the wet sand. I ended up spreading it out on a tarp in my basement with a dehumidifier and a fan blowing on it. I was shocked how fast it dried the sand out. It took maybe two hours tops. I quickly discovered why they invented blasting cabinets. After using q-tips to get the sand out of my ears, I headed down to Harbor Freight to get a cabinet. They had one on sale for $109 and with a 20% off coupon I got it for a little over $87. Things were much better with a blasting cabinet, no sand in the ears, shoes, or pockets. So the good news is that you can indeed sand blast with a 4.2 CFM air compressor. The bad news, it is REALLY a slow process. I could blast for maybe 10 seconds before my compressor would come on. In order to not burn up my compressor, I had to let it cool down very frequently. It took me several days to sand blast 4 calipers. I suspect I could have done it in about 20 minutes with sufficient air flow.

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WARNING: If you use sand to sand blast, you MUST use a respirator!!! That stuff will kill you.

[K3LAG]

Nice to see you back at it!

Larry

[Westview]

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