better late than never

[pat white]

pat white submitted a new DSM Profile :

better late than never


Read more about this vehicle here...

 

[pat white]

front wheel bearing replacement...sandblasted and painted ...backing plates were in good shape for a 28yr old

 

[pat white]

seals and bearings in ..doing this without a press

 

[pat white]

all done and going on the shelf until needed ..just need studs ...thanks 1gcrazy for posting in the how too's way back 12 yrs ago ..that info is awesome (as is this forum )

 

[1990TSIAWDTALON]

Since you are there, take a GOOD look at your struts, especially where the mount for the strut mounts to the spindle. My struts looked "OK" but were rusty there and they almost rusted into 2 before I could get them replaced. It was very dangerous, so just take a look and make sure they are in good shape too since it is a OLD car!

 

[pat white]

thanks for the tip ...have new struts and yes looking at the old ones the mounts are showing corrosion

 

[Ludachris]

New wheel studs while you have easy access?

 

[pat white]

actually just found the originals and they are still in good condition ...would have been easier to put them in before but somebody (ME) didn't put them in the labeled bucket so many yrs ago ..i have no idea why i removed them in the first place

 

[pat white]

cleaned, inspected and blasted and painted the stock front calipers..got a rebuild kit from rock auto..had to order the bellows for the guide separately...and ordered 2 not realizing there were 4 in a pack ...used the tech section "suspension and brakes...1G how to rebuild front callipers in this forum ...calan goes into good detail on how it's done ...thanks !!

 

[pat white]

used this piston depressor (and an aluminium bar) i had to make the job of pushing past the seal easier ...just make sure u center everything so the piston goes in evenly ..oh and lubricate with brake fluid of course) i found it was easier to put the retaining ring for the bellows if i didn't put the piston all the way in (had to do it the hard way on the first one of course !)

 

[pat white]

and here is the finished product

 

[pat white]

now on to the rack and pinion ...once again i followed a thread in the tech article section "how to remove and rebuild the rack and pinion" by housegsx way back in 2006 ...these archived articles are a treasure trove for guys like me ...Thanks !! ...so cool how this retaining pin spins out ...i modded a grinder wrench to fit the holes ...but a pair of pointed nose pliers will work

 

[pat white]

bolt works fine as a hex key

 

[pat white]

I used a socket and a long extension to knock the washer and inner seal out

 

[pat white]

after i warmed up these seals with a hair dryer (was a couple of degrees above freezing in the garage) this needle tool helped get them on undamaged ..gotta put the first one in deepest so ur not trying to install over each other ..the old ones were brittle ..no way to remove them without destroying them..but the new ones were more pliable

all done and painted with new boots ...I skipped a lot of steps ..the tech article already does a good job on it ...just went over the the stuff i was fuzzy on

 

[Element21302]

Are you doing spray or roll-on paint? It looks good.

 

[pat white]

Are you doing spray or roll-on paint? It looks good.

rattle can spray ...primer first then VHT paint on the rack and their caliper paint on the brake parts it covers well we'll see how it lasts!

 

[pat white]

Got to put together the front struts..got to thank the invaluable archived info here again in the how to's tech section ...boosted beaver has a video for doing this on 1gs ...thanks ! ..as u see this pro kit finally came in the mail ....about 10 ys ago ...the struts were bought at the same time ...just stock replacements nothing fancy ..the rest of the parts i just bought from rock auto ..another great resource for parts

 

[pat white]

 

[pat white]

here you can see spring compressor i built back in the 90s to do the springs on my '88 f150 ...wrapped the jaws in electrical tape as so not to scratch the springs ...i would recommend buying or renting a quality compressor with the safety locks ...these worked for me but there is a better way !..as you can see the boots i received have a split which goes to the bottom of the strut...and the bumper should be cut if you are installing lowering springs ...my spring kit specified 20 mm ...or 3/4 inch ...which is what this kit lowers

 

[pat white]

just have to make sure u line the hole up in the upper spring perch and lower spring perch on the strut...as shown ...i also replaced my strut mounts ...bearings and rubber had it after almost 30 yrs

 

[pat white]

and the final product ...i had sand blasted and painted the top spring perch and then just the rubber liner for the spring was reused ...as before there is a bit more detail to this but it is well covered by boostedbeaver in his video

 

[pat white]

my power steering pump rebuild kit came in from rock auto ..Gates kit ...ordered the kit for a '91 ...but when i took the pump apart the it didn't take the big oring seal ..and the shaft seal was too small ...checked it out and the pump is for a '90 ...checked the vin on the motor and it didn't match the car ...so i guess it had a motor swap ..oh well i'll just have to rebuild the pump that's on the now donor car ...no biggie