Galant VR-4 Restoration #129/1458

[techboy]

Well, thanks to you guys putting some pressure on my son spoke with his grandfather who currently has the car stored at his shop for us, and it will be returning to its new home on the 27th. So about 2 weeks and we'll be back to work. Hopefully, this is the last time we have to move the car. It was shipped from TN to our old house, put in storage, back to our old house, put in storage again and now coming back. Next time it moves under its own power.

 

[techboy]

Alright ... so tonight was the big return of MOTOR MONDAYS as my son and I call them.

Over the Easter holiday we were able to meet up with with Saturn345 from here on the board that we have struck up a bit of friendship with since he happens to be local to us. He was willing to part ways with an OEM 14B turbo that we so desperately needed. I'd been looking for one of these off and on for years and I've definitely learned they can be hard to come by in decent shape. 2G T25's are a dime a dozen, but the 14B's are a bit harder to find these days. Here's what we got:

Our goal is simple, just take it apart and clean it up, put it back together. We started by removing the FP manifold.

We have a ported OEM manifold on the car already, We'll probably leave that one on for now and save the FP to mate up to something aftermarket down the road.

The turbo.

Got the clamp undone and got the hot and cold side separated.

Got out the snap ring pliers and got the cold side off too.

Now we just need to clean everything up.

 

[techboy]

Late last week we did some more work to clean up the turbo. Cleaned up the cold side real nice.

Did some wire brushing on the hot side to get the rust off.

Then my son hit everything up with some high-heat paint. Probably not gonna last past the first heat cycle, but it'll look good for now.

 

[techboy]

Well, it only took 6 months, but the car is now home. Hopefully this is the LAST time we have to move this car without it operating under it's own power.

This is it's "spot". I've never worked on a car outside before, but that's what we're gonna do for now. Hopefully we'll have a garage situation worked out by winter and we can push it in and finish it up.

 

[techboy]

So my son and I started by removing all the front wheel brake / suspension and hub assemblies last week. Last summer we picked up some 5 lug hubs so we could do a 5-lug swap on this car. The one thing I forgot to think about was the ABS. The hubs we got are non-abs hubs. And it looks to me like the ABS toner wheel is integrated into the hub. So, we can eliminate the ABS system, which I am in favor of, however that means we are going to need a 1G non-abs proportioning valve. I know they NLA and hard to come by. So that the latest update. We also need to purchase all new bearings for all 4 wheels so we can rebuild these hub assemblies.

EDIT: So, after more research, I may have been wrong about what I said above. I found a picture from the FSM Steve (dsmwiseman) posted and it looks like in this picture the ABS toner wheel is a separate pc. So, we may be able to remove that from the original hubs and retain the ABS system without having to track down a non-abs proportioning valve or other hubs. I also do know someone who has stash of DSM parts that might have a non-abs proportioning valve, so I'll give them a call.

 

[techboy]

Last Monday was a pretty low-key night, we just put the turbo back together after it was all cleaned up. Looks much better.

And we dug out the 5-lug hubs we got last summer and researched what bearings and seals we were going to need to rebuild these.

 

[techboy]

This week we got to work on the actual car. We started by getting the front of the car up in the air and removing the brakes, rotors, and suspension.
This is the drivers side:

A little bit later.

Then we flipped over to the passenger side and did the same.

I can already this is going to turn into a "when-you-give-a-mouse-a-cookie" scenario. The lower control arm ball joints are torn and oozing grease. I can also see the sway bar links are dried out and the tie rods on the steering don't look better. So, there is going to be a parts order going out here real soon.

 

[techboy]

I was super nervous about trying to remove this hub/knuckle assembly. I think I have PTSD from restoring my Starion, but these came off with no problem at all. I think we had both sides removed in less than an hour. The ball joint on the lower control arm is a 17mm and the tie rod is a 15mm castle nut w/ a cotter pin, so there's really not too much to separate.

And here they are ... both front hubs removed.

And since that went so quickly and we still had more time, we figured we might as well get these control arms off that are need to be replaced. There's a through-bolt you can see in the wheel-well with a nut on the back. Two 17mm wrenches did the trick. Not shown - under the car there are 4 bolts you need to remove. One is a long stud that goes into the subframe. There's a short bolt and two nuts. Once you remove them a semi-circle plate will drop that cradles the control arm bushing. (You can see it resting on the 2x8 under the car)

Control arm removed.

Here's both of them and the torn ball joints I mentioned in the last post.

Next up - while we wait for parts to show up we'll grind out the wheel wells, repaint everything with a rust-proof undercoating and drop these hubs off to get them pressed apart.

 

[techboy]

I didn't take any pictures, but 2 weeks ago we got out the grinder and spent some time grinding out both the driver and passenger side wheel wells. No issues, and I would say it was the one thing we've done so far that was actually nice to be outside for.

So, that meant that this past Monday we were able to get the the wheels undercoated.

Both side came out really sweet.

While my son was working on the undercoating on was on the opposite side of him working on removing the tie rod ends that were completely shot. I started on the passenger side.

The drivers side would not budge. Partially I think b/c was no longer connected to the control arm, there wasn't really any way to get leverage. So, I got creative and used a rachet strap to tie it to the sway bar and I finally got it to break loose.

Here's a fun little look at our makeshift outside set up. The pop-up is nice for keeping us out of the sun.

Next up, we got to get all the bearings pressed off the 5-lug hubs we got and get the new bearings installed. Then we can put the front back together and start working on the rear.

 

[techboy]

We haven't gotten the front hub assemblies pressed apart yet, so we figured why not get to work on the rear in the meantime. Tonight we jacked up the rear, removed the brake calipers and got the suspension removed.

The rear brake caliper backets are 14mm. They're kinda buried behind the e-brake cable and abs stuff, but they're back there.

The rear suspension is about as easy as it can get on a car. There's a single bolt 17mm on the bottom of the hub and then there's two 14mm up in the trunk on the top hat. Once they're all out, the suspension just falls out.

Tomorrow we'll separate the struts/springs and send the springs out for fresh powdercoat.

 

[techboy]

After removing the rear suspension last week, today we popped the springs off the old struts and dropped them off for powder.

Rear:

Front:

Even with spring compressors pretty clamped down these things still really "popped" when they came apart. I was surprised how compressed these things really are.

As a side note - I made an interesting discovery. I believe our steering rack is bad. When I was working on the tie rod ends I noticed the boot was torn, when I went to investigate further I noticed oil running out. So, I'm pretty certain the seals are shot - probably from just sitting. I've been all over the internet but I'm not having much luck finding a rack. I called Detroit Axle today - they have them listed on their site, but when I called they don't actually have any in stock. If anyone has any suggestions, I'd greatly appreciate any help on this side quest.

 

[CrackedDSM]

As a side note - I made an interesting discovery. I believe our steering rack is bad. When I was working on the tie rod ends I noticed the boot was torn, when I went to investigate further I noticed oil running out. So, I'm pretty certain the seals are shot - probably from just sitting. I've been all over the internet but I'm not having much luck finding a rack. I called Detroit Axle today - they have them listed on their site, but when I called they don't actually have any in stock. If anyone has any suggestions, I'd greatly appreciate any help on this side quest.

Are they the same as a 1G dsm rack?

 

[saturn345]

I think I have may have good one. I got check the galants for you chris.

 

[Imback]

If you plan to retain 4ws then just rebuild yours. If you want to delete it i would do a 1g rack since it doesn't have the extra ports for running lines to the back.

 

[techboy]

Are they the same as a 1G dsm rack?

From what I understand I don't believe so b/c of the 4WS, which the DSM's didn't have

I think I have may have good one. I got check the galants for you chris.

Thanks for taking a peek Chad. Let me know what you come up with via text. Although, I'm trying to respect the fact that you're building one of these too and I don't what to dip into your parts supply constantly.

If you plan to retain 4ws then just rebuild yours. If you want to delete it i would do a 1g rack since it doesn't have the extra ports for running lines to the back.

I know a lot people have said they've had trouble with the 4WS. I talked to my son about what he wants to do tonight. Ultimately, I'll defer to what he wants to do since it's technically his car. If the 1G racks are definitely interchangeable then that might be this easiest solution - esp if they can still be had.

Thanks for all the help/input everyone.

 

[techboy]

A little steering rack update. There's a seller on eBay who seems to have a 90-93 Galant VR4 Steering Rack for sale. It looks like a core exchange program. We still have to pull ours out and get a good look at it, but most likely I'll give them a call when we do. If that doesn't work out, then I'll order a GSX rack and we'll just eliminate the rear steering.

 

[techboy]

Last night we worked on getting the rear hub assemblies removed for the 5-lug swap. This was pretty simple.

Kinda hard to see in this picture, but we removed the 3-bolt axles and moved the rear axle out of the way by storing it on top of the trailing arm.

Once you do that you can access the single nut on the back of the hub. Its a 27mm, so it's a big one. Impact had no problem removing it.

Once that nut is removed you can take a drift pin and a 3lb sledge and knock the hub forward through the rear knuckle. It's a bit awkward on the ground, but now that my son is getting bigger and stronger I can just tell him what to do and watch.

Repeat the process on the other side.

You can see the hub, bearing, and spindle out in this picture. You can also see the 27mm nut loosely threaded back on, on the backside.

And here's both of the 4-lug hubs removed.

So, next up, I need to order new bearings for the hubs. And, we need to look at the threads on the 5-lug hubs and determined if they are usable b/c whoever removed them bashed directly on the spindle instead of using a drift pin and messed up the threads.

 

[techboy]

My son was away at a summer camp all last week, so no work on the car. But, he's back now, so today we got back to it. Finally finished up with the grinder grinding out the two rear wheel wells and getting everything undercoated.

I gotta say ... I really cannot get over how rust-free this car is. Just not something I used to living in the northeast.

Driver's Side:

I worked on the passenger side while my son undercoated the driver's side.
Here's the passenger side mid-grind:

Undercoat in progress:

After shots: (there's some sun-glare on these photo unfortunately) - Driver's Side:

Passenger Side:

 

[techboy]

Dropped off the rear 5 and 4 lugs hubs this morning to have the old bearings pressed off and new ones pressed on, and the ABS rings swapped over. They said they should be done by Friday. We'll get them all cleaned up then and re-installed. Progress.

 

[techboy]

I kinda feel like we are all over the place right now with this car. There's like 5 irons in the fire. While we're still waiting to get the rear hubs back, we decided to tackle removing the front steering rack.

Started by removing the feed and return fittings in the engine bay, and the bolt that holds the rack to the steering coupler that's on the opposite side of the boot you see.

I didn't take any pictures from underneath while we were working, but the rack is held in place by 4 17mm and there's a couple of cross members and plates you have to remove in order to be able to snake it out. You also have to disconnect the flare fittings on the feed and return that run to the rear pump for the 4WS.

Once it's out it looks like this. The Galant rack is on the bottom, the top rack is a spare GSX rack I just bought from a member here in case the original is not really salvageable and we choose to eliminate the 4WS.

Here you can see the difference between the racks a bit better. The lines sticking up in the air are the additional feed and return lines for the 4WS.

 

[techboy]

Last Monday we went out to the garage to work on reassembling the suspension. Unfortunately we didn't get too far. I noticed when we took these apart with the spring compressors that they really "popped" when they came apart. I was not able to compress them enough to get them back together safely. So, we have to table the suspension for now until we can get over to the shop and use the wall mount spring compressor.

Here's a pic of the OEM springs after getting them back from powder.

My sons Christmas present last year was all new struts all the way around.

Since we couldn't reassemble, we took the time to clean up all the top hats and repaint everything. This is the before.

This is the after.

 

[techboy]

My son said it well tonight ... he said, "So it's a paint everything red night tonight?". Yes, yes it is.

Gave the front sway bar a coat of red.

And then we disassembled and started working on the front brakes. We still have to clean up the rears and get paint on them.

So, things are still happening over here, just not as fast as I would really like. Still trying to hit that goal of having this car on it's wheels and pushed into the garage by Christmas so we can finish it up over the winter.

 

[techboy]

Haven't posted in over a month, but some things have been happening. We finally got around to getting the suspension fully assembled with help of my FIL over at this shop. I will also be picking up the rear spindles/hubs tomorrow night. There's a bit of the story with them ... I'll share that later.

Tonight we finally finished up painting the rest of the brakes, including the rears. I have new brake lines I bought for these years ago, I just have to find them before we reinstall everything.

We also go the backing plates back from powder. They came out really nice compared to what I dropped off.

 

[techboy]

So the story I mentioned in the post above ... the hub spindles were pretty severely mushroomed over. I think I may have mentioned that before. My plan was to just grind the mushroom off and then try to re-tap them. But, after talking to a good friend about he said the tap will probably never align with existing threads and it would screw up the spindles. Turns out he knows a retired guy with a machine shop. So he took them for me, had them mounted on a lathe and had the ends turned down. He then chased the threads and cleaned them up. Problem solved. So, a huge thanks to that gentlemen for getting us moving forward again and helping overcome a situation I knew was going to be a problem.

So with the spindles fixed up, it's time to get them assembled.

I was going to bring a pc of pipe home from work for putting these bearings on, but I forgot. I ended up cutting a pc of PVC I had laying around and it worked just fine. Wasn't sure plastic was going to work well enough, but no problems. Just tapped them down with a rubber mallet.

We tapped the ABS rings back on too. We're most likely going to be eliminated the ABS, but b/c I don't actually parts in-hand to do it, I figured for now we'll just install them and if they end up there its not going to hurt anything.

Last we decided to install new lug studs. The old ones had to be knocked out to mount to the lathe, so instead of putting the old ones in back in, we just replaced them.

All done. Finally. Rebuilding these took way long than it should have, but it's all good now.

 

[techboy]

While the ladies were out black Friday shopping today, my son and I put quite a few hours into the car today. Time to get these 5-lug hubs installed.

Put a little bit of grease on everything.

They just slide ride in from the front.

Reinstalled the axle cup from behind. Gland nut gets torqued to about 140.

Matched the axles back up and bolted these back in place. 40ft-lbs on these.

Here's a nice shot of everything reinstalled.

Next, we reinstalled the rear suspension.

Pretty straight forward bolt-up. Two nuts in the trunk, and a 17mm at the base.

New Eclipse/Talon Powerstop rotors ready to go.

Next it was back inside the garage to get the rear brakes reassembled.

It took me way longer than it really should have to figure out these clips. I should have taken a photo when I took them apart. I did eventually figure it out. Here's a picture for my future self.

After messing around with these things for a while, I figured out you can't install these assembled, there's just no room to work. You have to install the bracket and then mount the caliper and swing it into place. We ran out of time for that, but we at least got the brackets installed.

I bought new brake lines for this car several years back, and since the move I have not been able to find them. We looked for probably an hour today. Problem is (like many of you) I got WAY too many parts. I really need to start selling things off and thin out. Hopefully we can find them soon, I'd really like to get the new brake lines on when we install the calipers.