Nine81's Silver Wiener Build

[Acadia18]

Nan's is worth a trip, their flank steak is top shelf and the veggies should not be slept on either

Used to live right by that Canes in Boston as a student, it was good as student food where I could use my meal card and get a discount. Not felt the need to go back since graduating though.

Only time I get it is if we're going to the Paradise. Since it's right there.

 

[Nineeightyone]

Only time I get it is if we're going to the Paradise. Since it's right there.

Next time I'm up there you'd better have two tickets for us

(to paradise)

 

[messrock]

The ‘dise is a major love/hate venue. Small and intimate? Check. Shit sound in 80% of the place? Also check.

Seen so many amazing shows there over the years

This chicken place though - https://www.yaschicken.com/

 

[swcrow]

. Food tourism is my jam.

this. we literally plan around eating ...... and the beach is secondary lol

 

[Saabingti]

Nein, next time you drive through CT you need to pick up some Haven Hot Chicken.

 

[Acadia18]

Now Nan

The ‘dise is a major love/hate venue. Small and intimate? Check. Shit sound in 80% of the place? Also check.

Seen so many amazing shows there over the years

This chicken place though - https://www.yaschicken.com/

They opened a Yas in Providence. Haven't had a chance to go yet.

 

[Nineeightyone]

Picked up a ratcheting 3/8" breaker bar today, because the M12 bit I have is 3/8" and I have comically bad luck with adapters. I think having things mostly assembled will be helpful, as most instances I've seen folks doing the wheel bearing hardware on these cars it's been with them on the car. Hopefully this evening isn't TOO cold, going to try to wrap up the front end and the driver's rear should be EZPZ (knock on wood).

Passenger's rear it sounds like there's a rather rude clip for the evap tank thing, but we'll burn that bridge when we get to it. And then it just needs inspected and I'll order stuff for an oil change since it hasn't been changed since last year sometime, and it's pretty cheap insurance. There's a LOT of stuff I have on hand to do otherwise, but it's all pretty easy/straightforward stuff that doesn't need to happen and I want to avoid getting distracted.

 

[Nineeightyone]

inb4 "I thought you were gonna lower it", "not low", "did you forget to install the coilovers", etc
Finally wrapped up installation in the front. I followed sage advice and hit it with my purse, specifically I took my purse to Harbor Freight and picked up a ratcheting 3/8" breaker bar that inspires a little more confidence than my other tools. Using the leverage of other pieces I was able to get the 90° turns on the wheel bearing hardware, though now I think I fucked myself up. Also torqued the axle nuts to 52 ft-lbs + 90° as I have a shouldered 12 point 24mm bolt and not the 6 point hex, hopefully that's correct (but there's still plenty to do before it's all back together).

edit: Looks like 200nm/147.5 ft-lbs + 180° is correct as my axle bolt is smooth. Tomorrow I'll pull the center caps and torque the axle bolts correctly before starting on the rear, because the last thing I want is to forget

Control arms are a little above parallel with the ground so I think geometry is still alright, but I got down to ~14" from the bottom of the center of the fender arch to the centerpoint of the wheel hub. Once it settles I may go the slightest bit lower, but the big decider is going to be how it feels on the road.

If it's not awful outside tomorrow I may start on the rear end, if anyone is ever reading this way down the line I found a silly cheat code that helps is to reuse your old hardware to get everything in place, then install new hardware once everything else is in place. Ball joint nuts need to be done with everything on the ground as does the axle nut, but it's not hard to reach with a little creativity.

I miss driving this car, and will greatly look forward to getting the rear done so I can get it inspected and back on the road for the springtime.

 

[Nineeightyone]

oh and one other thing -- I finally made time to actually mess with my SAI bracket so that it would be out of the way of my intercooler piping, which has only been a thing since it was installed (I had ziptied a sacrificial piece of silicone in there). Because you can take the rat out of the hood but can't take the hood out of the rat, I really considered a delete altogether, though I have no idea what it would involve. But thankfully it wasn't too nightmareish to bend stuff so it would work.

 

[Nineeightyone]

All four back on the ground! Everything is torqued to spec, gonna get some fuel in it and get it inspected, then give it a little bit of mileage for everything to settle and then it's time for alignment.

Glad everything is back together (finally), the weather wasn't super cooperative so it took far longer than I'd hoped (and there were some hiccups along the way and unexpected surprises) but ultimately I'm now much more familiar than I was before.

Also, I found justification in never getting rid of a tool, a set of drop/offset wrenches that I almost returned to Harbor Freight and didn't roughly 5 years ago came in clutch for the rear strut mounts.

 

[19birel]

Drop wrenches can come in clutch haha, I actually returned a pair of mediocre duralast ones I got from autozone in my very broke college days after using them. 6months later I came back and repurchased literally the exact same set (the packaging was held together with two black zipties, I didn't have black when I repackaged so I used clear which was the giveaway). After that I learned to never return tools bc if you don't need it now you probably will later hahaha

 

[Nineeightyone]

Drop wrenches can come in clutch haha, I actually returned a pair of mediocre duralast ones I got from autozone in my very broke college days after using them. 6months later I came back and repurchased literally the exact same set (the packaging was held together with two black zipties, I didn't have black when I repackaged so I used clear which was the giveaway). After that I learned to never return tools bc if you don't need it now you probably will later hahaha

Truth, I have some passthrough sockets that came with my ratcheting wrenches that I've been using a majority of the time BUT sometimes they just don't quite work where/how I need them. Even with sockets of the same variety, I've learned that sometimes the shape/size of one versus another (say, between two 13mm 3/8" 'deep' sockets) will be enough of a difference that one fits and one does not.

Side note, the fuel level is pretty low on the car in that photo, so I'm hoping fully topped off it'll sit a bit lower in the back. Having to disassemble stuff in the rear to make ride height changes sucks, and I may see if I can do something a little creative with spring compressors to make changes to the rear height because pulling the springs is annoying. Also the front will almost definitely come down a little, for some reason it got taller while I was doing the rear. Weird stuff.

 

[swcrow]

LOWAR....lol

 

[Nineeightyone]

LOWAR....lol

Haha I know, I know... I even got some fresh 2x6s to keep in the trunk, old habits die hard. But I want to see where it settles as it sits at the moment, cleaning up the wheel gap was a must but I really wanted better road handling. I'm going to see how everything settles and go from there, it stings a little knowing what I spent and what I went through only to look stock height, but if it feels good driving the car I won't be upset.

If it still feels kinda wallowy and undefined then idk, part out? jk front sway bar and solid subframe bushings are on the list, but again one thing at a time is the goal here.

 

[swcrow]

Oh I'm well versed in "one thing at a time" and the patience game.....you've done a ton of work already!