The Long Road Back

[—Bryan—]

Marking the old perch positions was easy--they bottomed them in the front

Need to wait for the car to settle, but I basically raised the perches until the springs just stopped moving with the suspension in droop. Measuring at the pinch welds, I essentially leveled the car out--there's no rake currently.

20201001_162614 by Bryan Wyatt, on Flickr

To level the transmission, I took a section of 2x4 and stacked two Racing Beat sway bar blocks on top of a piece of wood that I jacked up to the frame rails. The 2x4 + blocks put me right within the spec:

20201001_125243 by Bryan Wyatt, on Flickr

Put it all up on a jack and torqued everything down:

20201001_124940 by Bryan Wyatt, on Flickr
20201001_125158 by Bryan Wyatt, on Flickr
20201001_125147 by Bryan Wyatt, on Flickr

I put some closed-cell acoustic foam in the fuel tank tunnels and zipped the roll bar bolts again with an impact. We'll see if that makes any difference.

20201001_150109 by Bryan Wyatt, on Flickr
20201001_150140 by Bryan Wyatt, on Flickr
20201001_150226 by Bryan Wyatt, on Flickr

I didn't include any pics, but I also noticed the nuts on top of my shock shafts were barely on up front. While the shocks were still in the car, I put the Allen key in and tightened the lower nut first, then put the upper one on and tightened it. I'm hoping that is the source of the rattle at the front.

[— kung fu jesus —]

Awesome! I admire your perseverance. Loose top nuts on the front shocks would definitely make some noise!

How much did the car rise raising the perches? Looking at the pics, you have a nice, euro-looking drop. Very OEM+!

[—Bryan—]

All in all, I think the car went up about the width of a finger. Cleared about 3 threads on the collars.

Honestly, I'm planning for now to leave it where it is and get re-aligned next season. I think I prefer a little more OEM+ on the height. Definitely lowered, but not enough that you'd notice at first glance. Subtlety was where this car was supposed to be going in the first place, and maybe it's time I got back to that goal.

Driveline creak seems to be all but eliminated. The car doesn't seem to like going around corners in high gears at 3k rpm (feeling little hiccups from the driveline), but it's MUCH improved.

My son probably got sick of me laughing happily repeating, "I'VE MENDED SOMETHING!" the whole time on our drive.

We drove out to the power plant I went to weeks ago. Looks totally different in the daytime!

20201001_184504 by Bryan Wyatt, on Flickr

[— kung fu jesus —]

How I feel when I fix something.



I think that ride height looks perfect.

That method for setting the PPF height is genius.

[—Bryan—]

That method for setting the PPF height is genius.

Funny thing about that: I had traded my RB 1.25" bar (the second one I've bought) for a set of NB2 surfboard seats. I had planned to give the guy the Blocks and Bolts, but he told me to keep them. Turns out they were the only thing I could find onhand (without cutting more wood), and they measured out a perfect 2.5", which put me right in the middle of the specification.

I have to give props to one of my local Miata dudes, who just converted his RHD 1.6 to a manual. He'd mentioned making some kind of jig like this. I just improvised

[HarryB]

Awesome! And I will second the ride height comment, looks spot on! You will have to have it aligned, but alignment is cheaper than main and helper springs

[—Bryan—]

I'm going to wait until next season to align it. Honest truth is that I might only have a few more days left in the season to drive, and I don't feel like paying more money to just have it sit, lol.

[— Agent☣Orange —]

Ironic how you guys up there are getting ready to put things away and down here, we’re getting ready to get started.

[—Bryan—]

Ironic how you guys up there are getting ready to put things away and down here, we’re getting ready to get started.

Generally, I consider myself lucky if I get to November.

First time salt goes on the road is the last time the car is driven for the year.

Of course, with that thick-arse oil in the sump, I might have to consider putting it up early.

[— kung fu jesus —]

The oil is fine, just allow it more time to warm up and thin out before ripping it.

[— kung fu jesus —]

Orange;238379]Ironic how you guys up there are getting ready to put things away and down here, we’re getting ready to get started.

When I lived in the rust belt, I had to have the car ready to store by Halloween as a general target, sooner if the snow came early. It remained stored until mid-late April.

Here, Halloween is peak color and the only time I don’t drive it in the winter is if it snows, and no one drives in it anyways. October-November is prime convertible weather. We might get 1 -3 measurable snows a season and it never stays long.

[—Bryan—]

Since I decided to send back the helper springs, I've got money in my Amazon account burning a hole in my pocket.

It'd be nice to upgrade what I believe is a failing OEM (replacement) head unit.

Constraints:

1.) $200 or less
2.) Internal amp...I'd really like to not have to buy and find room for an external one
3.) PnP with OEM harness would be nice
4.) BT a must, Android Auto optional

Any thoughts?

[— Agent☣Orange —]

https://www.crutchfield.com/cart/default.aspx

[—Bryan—]

https://www.crutchfield.com/cart/default.aspx

I'll check there and cross-shop. Just wondered if anyone had any first-hand preferences.

[— kung fu jesus —]

I prefer mechless units. They are usually slimmer depth, have good BT integration, and customizable displays (colors). I have had good luck with JVC headunits in terms of price and performance, though you can do the same with a bluetooth amp standalone in the centerstack if you don't do anything except play music from your phone.

Do you have the Bose system or regular?