Archwisp's "Build" Thread
 

Hey all,

I have wanted a concise place to put all of the work I've done on my car. So, this is where it's going to be. It isn't so much of a "build" thread, so to speak, as it is a "stuff I have fixed" thread. With some major suspension work I'm tackling this week, I figured it was time to start.

I have a bunch of stuff to back-fill but for now, I'll just add new posts as I do the work.

Rear Toe Control Link Removal
 

October 27, 2014

My driver's side rear toe control link was damaged apparently before I bought the car and I didn't notice it until I tried to have it aligned.

For anyone who needs to do this in the future, separating the toe link from the hub is a challenge, to say the least. Follow all of the steps in the service manual and get the brake caliper out of the way. Then, I soaked the rod/hub fitting in penetrating oils and used a puller to press the rod out of the fitting while applying brute force to (read: beating the crap out of) the control link itself (with a breaker bar) until it came out.

You can see a how the old link looks sitting next to a brand new link.

Yikes, glad you got that sorted. I watched a shop flunky try and jack my car up from the control arms once. Luckily shops rarely touch my car so I was watching him like a hawk.

Thanks. Yeah, I generally don't trust anyone else to touch my cars except for tires and toe alignment. Even then, I try to vet them out pretty well and establish a relationship so it's not just some random customer's car they are working on.

First Day
 

March 29, 2014

This is what my car looked like the day I bought it. Before I bought it, I made sure that all of the decorations were stickers that could easily be removed. Also, note the terrible mirror tint that is mismatched with the front windows... work to do.

It also had the aftermarket wheels, an upgraded starter, the Racing Beat REVi intake, and Racing Beat REV8 exhaust on it.

March 31, 2014

I started working through the "First $100" thread and the first thing I did was clean the MAF and ESS. As I was doing this, I noted that my intake only had two bolts holding the filter element in place. Ugh.

Cat Code
 

April 4, 2014

From the very first day, I noticed that my car would intermittently pop a P0420: catalyst inefficiency. After reading many posts, I knew that if my cat was bad, the first thing I needed to do was to ensure that my ignition system was in good shape. So I ordered a set of plugs, wires, and coils. I knew that the Intermotor coils would not last long but I didn't want to sink money into a BHR ignition without knowing that the rest of the car was in good shape.

Replacing Ignition Components
 

April 5, 2014

My 5-year-old daughter helped me change the ignition components but I don't post photos of her on the Internet, so no cute shots of her for you to see :)

But here are some before and after shots with some nasty highlights.

Based on the stamp on the old coils, I'm pretty sure these were the original factory coils.

Lifts?!?
 

April 16, 2014

After driving it for a few weeks, I noticed that the wheel gap on the rear wheels was about an inch different, so I slid under the car...

WTF!?! Are those zip ties on the springs? An LIFTS?!? Yes. Yes they are.

I pulled all of that crap off and cleaned the outside of everything with some WD-40.

After doing that, the car sat evenly. It looked pretty low but it I wasn't sure if I was just imagining it with the aftermarket wheels. I compared the measurement from the hub center to the fender to some numbers I've seen on the forum and it seemed reasonable. It was even within the service manual specs at 14". (Turns out, my shock assemblies were trashed and needed to be replaced - more on that later.)

Lifts????

WTF? Those dont look safe at all. I'm sure one big enough pothole would send those flying and might even take a chunk of tire along with them. Glad you got rid of those. Hope you change the shocks soon.

Why the hell would anyone install something like that?

Because people are retarded and have no idea what that does to a progressive rate spring. But you bought it that way...............

Yeah, I deviated from my standard car purchase process this one time and I have kicked myself many times for it. Just moving on and getting stuff fixed.

Suspension components are converging on my house from many parts of the country. ETA for all is tomorrow!

What did you go with?

Have you pulled your cat yet? Do you think it's blown out, or just clogged? What midpipe are you looking into?

What Charles helped me decide on given my circumstances and the current state of the market. ;) Photos to come once I have it all up and running.

Boring.

Yep. I replaced it months ago with a BHR midpipe with catalyst and love it. It turned out to be gutted. But that's still to come in photos!

Remember, I'm back-filling as I have time. Removing the lifts happened in mid-April. I have a crap-ton more work I did and documented.

Oh ok, lol. Isn't selling someone a car without a cat illegal? You should sue and take their children.

Alright, I've added the date of the work to each of the posts to give an idea of the timeline.

They will self gut, I've seen me do it.

Installed Koni Sport dampers, Tein H.Tech springs and new bump stops
 

November 1, 2014

My rear suspension was completely shot, so I replaced all of the dampers with Koni "Yellow" Sport dampers and Tein H.Tech springs. I also replaced the obliterated rear bump stops with new OEM bump stops.

The wheels and tire setup are:

Front: PIAA Sport Mesh 18x8.5 +42, Bridgestone Potenza 970AS Pole Position 245/40/18
Rear: PIAA Sport Mesh 18x9.5 +38, Bridgestone Potenza 970AS Pole Position 275/35/18

Edit: I'll add photos of the work once I get back to my computer and have some down time.

Looks alot cleaner.:icon_tup: I loved the H-Techs on stock shocks, I'm sure they'll be better on Yellows.