mshihrer

yes, you heard right. Thanks to the booming economy in Southern California, I was able to pull a WAD of money in equity on a house I just bought. I don't care, I'm sure I'll be dead long before it's paid off, so, why not put the dough into something meaningful, like an '85 GSL-SE. First, in case you haven't seen any of my prior posts, I was sooo lucky to buy an almost perfect one from an older couple going off to some island in the Pacific for volunteer work. (Seriously). The car had 135,000 miles on it, complete, totally straight, no rust, runs perfect, and they had 7000 dollars worth of receipts for work they had done over the years. Here's the best part, they were asking 1500, I talked them down to 1300. I probably could have went lower, but, these folks obviously loved this car, and, it was right at blue book value, I'm ok with that. So, at first, I thought this was going to make a great car for my 16 year old son. At first, he hated it, then, after he realized what it was, he loved it. BUT, being a kid these days, he doesn't want to lift a finger to do anything with this car. Anyway, thanks to booming real estate prices in SoCal, I was able to get a FAT refinance on my house, of which, I plan to spend a significant portion of it on this car. As for my son, all I can say is, "Dude, you're getting a Yugo!".

mshihrer

ok, so, first things first. The car runs great, but drives like crap. The thing really needs shocks, springs, bushings, and balljoints. Ok, I'm all for tight suspension, so, I'm going to tackle this problem first. I read thru the factory service manual several tiimes, then order my shocks.......

Well, first, let me say, factory service manual SUCKS. I started on the front end, pulled the struts and control arms. It's obvious the ball joints are toast (I fixed them already, later story), but how do you know your struts are bad? WEll, as far as I'm concerned, they have to be, 135,000 miles, and no recieipts for shocks or struts. After I received my Tokico shocks from http://www.prostreetonline.com/parts...x7/suspension/

(you have to dig for the Mazda application), I set out to disassemble the struts. First off, after a nice reply on another post, I found out you need an air wrench to remove the top nut from the shock strut(no mention of this in factory service manual). No problem, I need an air compressor anyway. Sears has a 33 gallon upright compressor WITH a 1/2" impact wrench, 3/8" ratchet and an air chisel for 299.00. I bought it, with a better air hose and an air sprayer and a set of metric impact sockets. I spent 410 dollars. And, when I'm done with this, I can paint my house, quick!

phinsup

yugo lol that's great.

mshihrer

So, I get my air compressor, read the directions, and VIOLA! It works, it busts that top nut off the strut just like the poster said(sorry, I forgot his name). Cool, all I have to do now, according to the FACTORY SERVICE MANUAL is remove the nut holding the shock in. It says to clamp the resevoir (this should be a hint to you all) in a vise with soft jaws and remove the cap nut with a spanner or monkey wrench. Ok, well, I don't have a vice (I will tomorrow) or a spanner. But, I came up with a better way. I do have a woeden work bench, so, I just lagged the strut down to the workbench thru the holes that mount the steering linkage, and undid the cap nut with a flat monkey wrench. I'm all happy now, I'm so smart, except the cartridge (or so I think it is) doesn't pull out. And, if you tilt it it leaks oil. I can see two little holes in what looks like ANOTHER retainer nut of some sort. Man, I'm getting pissed. "Remove the o-ring on the piston guide with a suitable tool" is what the FACTORY SERVICE MANUAL says...well, the only "suitable" tool I could find was a 1/4" wood auger bit for my drill press...I aimed it for the holes, tapped it with the hammer, then yanked on the "cartridge" rod, and it came out!

mshihrer

well, in case you haven't done this job, it's not a cartridge. At least, not in mine. It's a piston that slides into another tube that slides into the strut assembly. According to the FACTORY SERVICE MANNUAL, the whole mess is rebuildable. F that. The Tokico cartridge slides right in, no fuss, no muss, and, it's ERECT. The old shock, you could pull it out, and in no time at all, it shrinks back into it's housing like a scared turtle. So, proof positive, I need shocks. Well, left side almost done, right side to go, reassembly should be pretty straight forward. While the front end is all jacked up, I decided to pull the seats out and get them redone. And, since the seats are out, I decided to upgrade the stereo system with a cool subwoofer setup I saw on cardomain.com. And, since the wheels are off, cross drilled brake rotors all the way around, and maybe some 16" wheels instead of the stock 14's? Anyone that has some info on wheels...

nightwolf_4_98

you can get some nice meat on the stock 14's, i got some nice ones on my 84, i think they were 205's or 250's, that was like the max i could get and just BARELY rub the front fender in hard turns but wasnt enough to even be worried about, personaly i like how they looked



[attachment=30087:attachment]

Shane.Trammell

this is my fave. its on the eibach prokit, with 17in konig imagines

DJ Rotor

That's too big



go 15s

Shane.Trammell

[quote name='DJ Rotor' date='Apr 13 2005, 11:30 AM']That's too big



go 15s


[/quote]



i dont know how you can say thats too big

DJ Rotor

me either, but I just did