imma have to say:

It be Xmas time as Casa de Gru!

Got most of my Griggs Racing goodies today.
(Didn't get the K-member and front control arms, as they are the parts that apparently have to be custom fabbed)


Coilover kits, with drift-specific valving and spring loads:

.


Bump-Steer Adjusters (2-way adjustable tie rod ends)


Titanium freakin rear lower control arm


The boring but oh-so-important Subframe Connector Rails:


Big-ass mammoth torque-arm brace:


And the uber-cool Watts Link and special aluminum diff. cover that also has those cool adjustable push-bolts that help keep the diff. from moving around inside the casing:


Man, I can't wait! I can do the coilovers and rear control arms right away, but the rails, torquearm and Watts Link all require welding, so will have to wait for my appointement with a certain Izzy's Custom Cages to put those in.

nice hardware

Wow dude... that is gnarl biz.
dick!

It's the same setup as Dan Pina's Forumla D foxbody.


Well, there's still a couple things that I'll need to do to be an exact match, but that's the majority of it.

Dan's a totally cool guy. He just went "Get this, this and this....when I talk to them about my car, I'll tell them to do yours the same way."

It wasn't til after I ordered it that he told me that it actually *is* the same setup as his car, literally.

March is gonna be a fun month of installing and practicing for me.



And I fully intend to trailer my happy butt down to Atlanta at least once this year.

watts link is sweet

Somewhere I found comparitive animations showing the differences in how the rear axle moves up and down with stock upper control arms, a panhard bar and a watts link.

Watts link is definitely worth the money.



and....
w00t!
More toys showed up today!

Solid motor mounts:


And an engine torque damper:

Awesome Goodies!!!

Can't wait to see it all on the car and rockin out!

Opps, missed a couple small updates:

March 1:
Little bit of work done today:

1. Ran wire from starter solenoid to steering column to bypass the wiring gremlin that wasn't letting me start the car. This obviously bypasses the clutch switch, which is fine by me.

2. Installed engine torque damper. Probably more frill than function, but wasn't that much so figured why not.

3. While working on starter problem, I noticed something important: my brake resevouir was emtpy. Yikes! Filled it up and bled the brakes. Still feels sloppy but they grab. Need to get another bottle of brake fluid and bleed it some more.
(EDIT: Next morning, realize why...I have a leak! oh joy.)

4. Discovered that parking brake still doesn't grab enough. *sigh*

5. Ran down to junk yard because I had the time, picked up a pair of SN95 front spindles and hubs off a 95. Only $45, not bad. No to research how to modify them for a bit more steering angle, and I'll be ready to go for a brake upgrade (when I have the money)

6. Decided to not put in rear control arms and rear coilovers until I have the missing parts for the fronts, and then do both ends at same time. Seems smarter.


March 10:
Whee! The missing parts to the front coilovers came today! Yay, with nice weather tomorrow and Wed, I can fix the brake line & put the new coilovers on. w00t!

These also came in:


17x9's (was going to go staggered, but then realized that I'd be using these 4 mostly on the rear end, so got equal 9" wide for all of them)

March 12:
A little bit of progress today:

1. Found the brake leak....there's a little rubber stopper-like thing in the bottom bracket of the master cylinder, I guess it's a kind of blow-out protection thing that'll pop before the piston or hardline does. Anyway, it was where the leak was at.
1 hour trip to the Junkyard and back, $7 for a replacement (and a hood prop) and leak appears to be fixed!


2. Got the coilovers installed!
Front:


Rear:





Tried to replace the rear lower control arms, too, but the stupid bolts are rusted into the bushings.
The brake drums block a direct angle to beat them out with the sledge. So when I do the 5-lug axle swap, I'll just unbolt the drums and get to the bolts then....at least I was able to get the stock springs out, so it's ok for now.

THOSE WHEELS ARE HOT!

andysapp wrote:THOSE WHEELS ARE HOT!

Simple but effective....That's kinda my motto for this whole build.

(course, then I'm going to go slap big Pirate stickers on it....oh well, can't be me without a little contradiction thrown in)

PICSPICSPICSPICS!!!

Gonna take it for a drive tomorrow, see how the coilovers feel and make sure the brakes aren't leaking any more.

If weather stays nice, I'll take some pics.

Still a lot of work to be done by the FOERST STL event April 4th.

w00t!

The last two (three) parts from Griggs Racing came in!
Tubular K-member and custom-geometry front control arms:


And I also got this yesterday:
A Saleen front air dam (yes, that's the TommyKaira R32 bumper behind it, but that's not the point)



Here's a good pic of it on an actual car:

needs pics on the real car.