Knewstance 1998 Restoration/Build (1 Viewer)

[knewstance]

Stock, Wheels/Tires, and Lift.

Got the OME medium lift installed. All went fairly smoothly. I will need to change things in the front end a bit when I install my new bumper that should be here soon.

 

[TintedOut]

Is this the 1.5 or 2 lift from OME?

 

[knewstance]

Is this the 1.5 or 2 lift from OME?

It's the 2.5". The rear springs are the 2860.

 

[TintedOut]

Just realized you switched to the 18”. Was wondering why the gap looked smaller. Looks good BTW, can’t wait to my lift all situated.

 

[knewstance]

Just realized you switched to the 18”. Was wondering why the gap looked smaller. Looks good BTW, can’t wait to my lift all situated.

Thanks! I'm happy with how it turned out. The ride is stiff, but coming from a history of sporty cars, I feel right at home. I can definitely feel the lift getting in and out, it's a bit more of a hop than I needed before

I will probably go back you the stock 16s eventually when I get new tires but maintain the same overall tire size (33ish) and look in general.

 

[knewstance]

Re-clamped my CV axles with Pfran clamps. They were starting to leak a little bit from the new lift angle. No signs of leaking after about 20 miles. I have new boots and I'll put those on when I have a little more time.

Also took about 30 mins to replace my heater T's with the four seasons metal ones. It was definitely time to replace them.

I have service history of replacement of both the CV boots and the heater T's from maybe 100k miles ago. Definitely wear items that require replacement.

 

[knewstance]

My upper and lower radiator hoses looked good when I did my TB a couple months ago, they started leaking a bit so I also replaced those.

My current project is prepping and painting some chrome 16" wheels. I understand it to be a sin to repaint the stock silver ones, so the chrome ones are going under the knife (sand paper rather)!


Before/After/paint will probably come later this week.

 

[knewstance]

The previous owner had the steering rack replaced about 10k miles ago, but the bushings are not in great shape. Replaced those with the Whiteline bushing kit. I used methods in this thread: Replace steering rack bushings question. Using a bolt, nut, and larger washers to press the new bushings in was extremely helpful. I'm not sure I could have done the job without that. The old bushings came out super easy (not good), but it was fairly difficult to press the new bushings in, but it is done now!

Got the wheels painted, didn't turn out quite how I wanted but they look good enough for now. I may redo them again in the future. Will be installing and getting an alignment in the next couple days.

Also did a little bit of "flexing" today haha

 

[knewstance]

Tried to get an alignment yesterday, and they pointed out my bad lower ball joints stating that an alignment would be ineffective. I also noticed that my pfran clamps, while doing their job, my cv boots have started seeping very slightly. This is encouraging me to just dive in head first and tackle all of the major wear items in the front end. With the steering rack recently replaced and new bushings, I will have a completely new front end by the end of this.

Upper ball joints
UCA bushings
Lower ball joints
LCA bushings
Sway bar end links and related sway bar bushings
Outer tie end rod (torn knuckle boot)

Thinking about doing wheel bearings while in there, since I will be taking all of that mostly apart anyways. Not sure exactly which parts can be reused vs needing new yet, haven't done enough research on that. Looking at the parts diagram, there are sure a lot of little parts in there.
Edit: PO had the wheel bearings replaced about 50k miles ago. I'm not going to dig in there.


Helpful threads for these items:
Wheel Bearings - Consensus on Front Wheel Bearing Life and Scored 2007 Unicorn. The holy grail of 100 series.
Ball Joints - Can you replace upper and lower ball joints???

 

[knewstance]

After 3 days of working on this thing, it's almost done! New upper and lower ball joints, tie end rods, and rebooted CV axles (almost finished). Also replaced a caliper, brake line, and flushed the brake fluid due to some pulling after replacing the brake pads. It didn't fix anything, so I'm going to get an alignment and see where it stands after that.

 

[2001LC]

Loose ball joint and wheel bearing may yield some pulling. I'd stick a run-out-dial on front rotors/disk if still pulling when all done.

 

[knewstance]

Loose ball joint and wheel bearing may yield some pulling. I'd stick a run-out-dial on front rotors/disk if still pulling when all done.

I will try that. Hoping that the replacement of all these worn parts solves the issue.

Also, @2001LC thank you so much for your detailed pictures and meticulous documenting. That has be so beneficial to me being able to complete all of the work that I've been doing.

 

[knewstance]

Completed alignment, everything is fine and dandy now! Celebratory trip photo:

 

[knewstance]

An update with some helpful tips that I found during the replacement of all of these parts and some photos that I took while working. Hopefully they can help someone. I post all of this because had I known to use these specific tools or methods, I would have spent many many hours less doing this project. I tried to use a pickle fork on many occasions. It was essentially useless for me. These tools were key to me completing this overhaul.

These pliers (bought at O'riley's for ~$12) were very helpful for all of the snap rings.

Large Pitman Arm Puller (rented from Orileys) used for releasing UCAs and TREs.

Adjustable Puller, I was able to fit this between the dust shield and the LBJ on the steering knuckle, allowing me to remove the steering knuckle. I beat on these things for a while, there was no way the lower ball joint was going to release after I recognized how much torque was required to break this free.

Removing this bracket was key to getting the TRE loose.

 

[knewstance]

Pressing out the UCA ball joints was wild how much pressure was required. I ended up clamping the clamp style press onto my bench to allow me to use a big breaker bar on it. A vise would have been nice at this point. Note the press clamp kit from Autozone is much more complete than the Oriley's kit. I was also able to use some of these ring adapters to help properly seat my differential seals to the proper depth.

Pressing in the lower ball joint.

Removing the inner snap ring of the CV axle. I lightly clamped one end with a vise grip and then used a micro-screwdriver to carefully pry the other side loose. Don't forget to put these back in!

 

[knewstance]

Luckily I haven't needed to do a ton of work lately on my cruiser, but I have been busy with other projects.

Finally got my body side molding installed that has been missing since purchased. I was waiting a long time to get the proper clips to do the install "properly." I finally said screw it and I just stuck both sides (recently tore the other side off in a car wash) on there with the 3M body molding tape. That worked great. Definitely more solid than with the clips.

 

[whatsvanos]

looks great love seeing this come along. come a long way.

 

[knewstance]

looks great love seeing this come along. come a long way.

Thanks! It feels good being able to use it for the intended purposes.

 

[knewstance]

I have a few updates:
Finally mounted my aux fan switch... @Somebodyelse5 will be so proud of me

 

[knewstance]

Also rolled 300k and a celebratory trip with Copper State Cruisers!