Finally got to install all those parts

well started installing all those parts i bought over the holidays. Been procrastinating something serious as i have not been looking forward to pressing in those diff bushings and for good reason now that i have gotten started on it and realise just how big of a pain in the sphinx it is lol. I already had to run to Tony for another set of diff bushings because i ripped one of them as i pressed it into the diff. Now i have extras so i hopefully wont make the same mistake twice.

a list of the parts-
-ES diff bushings
-Z1 alluminum drive shaft
-Z1 HICAS Elim. bar
-Specialty Z sub frame spacers
-new brake pads front and rear
-CZP sylicone brake hose(you know the s shaped weird one

Day one i only had about 4 hours to do all that so needless to say it didnt happen. I did manage to drop the diff, drive shaft, exhaust, install the specialty Z sub frame spacers, ruin one of the es diff bushings, press one of them in, removed the tie rod ends from the hicas system in the rear and attach them to the elim. bar so i can just bolt it back into place when im finished with everything, hopefully tomorrow.

Tomorrow i hope to press in the remainder of the the bushings, re install the diff, hicas elim, one piece alluminum drive shaft, swap out my front brakes and get the rotors turned, compression check the sysem and check for fuel leaks from possibly pinched rings in my injectors (no im not pulling my plentium im watching for fuel like tony tought my newb self), boost check and fix the leaks, re assemble my passenger door the way it should be and clean my freakin car after all that if i have any dexterity left in my hands.

Ok didnt post up an update on day 2 so i will throw a spin off of it on day 3 Needless to say i didnt get to do all i wanted to do on day 2. (ie finish it off lol) but i did learn alot more lessons Cleaned the hell out of my rear diff, it had what seemed like an endlessly thick layer of road grime and who knows what else plastered all over it. Turns out there is a lovely little orange sticker on the back that reads "viscous LSD" which made me feel all giggly inside. Pressed in the other bushing so i have one red and one black because the kit i got from Tony was a red one but you cant see it so im not to terribly worried about it. The funny thing about Tony having that kit is he literally picked it up the day before saving me having to wait a coupld of days to get what i needed. ANYWAY also pressed in the rear diff bushings which i had to make a tool to do, taking up a good portion of my time alotted, to press them in and ended up not even using it and using tonys freakin forked C clamp to do the secound one. Getting long winded on this one but i got the diff back up and into place connected everything back together and test fit the drive shaft and tightened in the HICAS elim kit before the end of the day. Needless to say all that was left to do was tighten everthing up put the sway bars and exhaust back then put the T off fitting for the forward portion of the HICAS elim system in and all was finsihed.

drove her away and was blown away by the diffrence in ride. There is a little more vibration felt in the drivetrain than i expected but i believe that is because the es bushings are stiffer than the stock ones, and the sub frame spacers are solid obviously, plus now i have a one piece drive shaft instead of two pices to soak up some of the noise. I am periodically going to check everthing to make sure it stays together well seeing as this is my first real drive train drop. Thanks to Tony for sticking around during his lunch break to check everthing out and throw up some pointers.

that sucker rattles even more now like i said huh? i hope i get to figure out my hiccuping problem before you get a chance to ride in it and experience how harsh it is in mine!

Congrats on the installs.

If you clocked the driveshaft maybe you can reduce some of the vibration?

Just a thought...

i guess i mis typed. Yea there is vibration, but its no more than i would expect with the type of upgrades i installed. It actually is a huge improvement. It still has a slight knock but no more than i have noticed in every manual vehicle. I still havnt put many miles on it (a total of 30 to date) but so far so good