Parts are starting to roll in ... :-)

[Gabe]

Whatever place has the most space to work.

I can recruit a couple people too. The more the merrier! I'm usually free any weekend, but rather we pick a day thats above 40 degrees

Well, this Saturday the forecast is sunny and 43 degrees ... that would work for me

Do you have a driveway?
Here in Derry it's an apartment complex so the parking lot is it, although it's decent sized so it could work.
In Stoneham it's a condo complex, I have 2 parking spots together that I own so they're always empty (and if they're not, I can make calls and have the car towed, LOL)

I have drive-on ramps, and by Friday I should have my new floor jack and jack stands

I'd love to get the driveshaft and panhard bar done, maybe even the LCA relocation brackets ...

 

[S197gt07]

Here we go buddy.

Saturday, if you can swing down to my place in Peabody (2min off 95), we're having an install party already (see the NE chit chat area).

Billy is getting a new IC pump, and I'm swapping the fuel pump on Kevins car.

Bring your ramps and jack, and we can do yours too! My fiancee and roommate have 2 reserved spots next to eachother, so we can take those if we want.

I have a garage across from their spots so we can toss stuff in there if we want.

 

[Gabe]

Here we go buddy.

Saturday, if you can swing down to my place in Peabody (2min off 95), we're having an install party already (see the NE chit chat area).

Billy is getting a new IC pump, and I'm swapping the fuel pump on Kevins car.

Bring your ramps and jack, and we can do yours too! My fiancee and roommate have 2 reserved spots next to eachother, so we can take those if we want.

I have a garage across from their spots so we can toss stuff in there if we want.

Awesome!
OK, I'll go the NE chat thread to button it down !

 

[lethe]

Im glad to see your going to tackle the work yourself None of the things your doing are difficult. I did all my suspension in probably 4-5 hours total. I think the springs alone took my about 2.5 hours for all four corners and i probably could have done them faster if i wanted too. Control arms and panhard bar are a cake walk. I don't know how much the steeda springs lower your car but did you get caster/camber plates, or some camber bolts? Depending how low it goes in the front they alignment shop might not be able to get the fronts back into spec without the plates or bolts.

 

[Gabe]

Im glad to see your going to tackle the work yourself None of the things your doing are difficult. I did all my suspension in probably 4-5 hours total. I think the springs alone took my about 2.5 hours for all four corners and i probably could have done them faster if i wanted too. Control arms and panhard bar are a cake walk. I don't know how much the steeda springs lower your car but did you get caster/camber plates, or some camber bolts? Depending how low it goes in the front they alignment shop might not be able to get the fronts back into spec without the plates or bolts.

No camber bolts/plates.
I''ve lowered my 95 SHO and my 07 Charger and both times I didn't get camber stuff and both times the alignment shops couldn't get the cars back into spec, and both times I had no odd tire wear ...

The Steeda Sports are advertised as 1" drop in the front and about 1.25" in the rear I think.

I was REALLY not happy with my usual performance shop saying that this stuff "sounds like it's a full day worth of work" ... they/no shop likes it when the customer hangs around since they have to charge the time they actually have into the car, instead of charging more than it takes them to do the job.
I was a Ford Service Advisor for over 9 years, I know all too well how that goes ... "when you're done, park the car out back cuz the customer's waiting" was something I told the tech more than once since I had to justify the labor times that we were charging for the job.

Well, after seeing him dilly-dally on my Mustang the last time I was there, for a shifter bracket, LCA's and rear springs, I'm sure he wants to charge more than what he has into it, and get it done quick so he can move on to the next car.

I'm gonna give them very little left to do, maybe only the alignment and resonator-delete at this point ... lol

 

[lethe]

If its a 1-1.25" drop they should be able to get the camber close if not within spec. I avoid shops at all cost for the reasons you mentioned above.

 

[Gabe]

If its a 1-1.25" drop they should be able to get the camber close if not within spec. I avoid shops at all cost for the reasons you mentioned above.

The last shop I used for an alignment (for my Charger R/T), I waited over an hour for the car to get pulled in, the car was on the rack for 10 minutes, all they did was twist one of the tierods a half turn (without even replacing the zip-tie holding the p/s rack rubber boot in place, so it got twisted), then the 300+ lb "advisor"? (not sure what he was cuz he wasn't a tech) backed the car out and proceeded to romp on it in the back parking lot (the car had a cam in it, had headers/high-flow cats/full-exhaust, so it sounded awesome and sounded "worked-on").

Then he parks it out front, walks in and says to one of the guys at the service desk, "that's a nice car" ... and they charge me $95.

I was furious but didn't wanna make a scene ... paid the bill and swore I'd never go back.

It was NTB in Danvers MA ..... they'll never see ME again!


.

 

[lethe]

^ I would be heated too if they treated my car like that and charged $95 for a few minutes worth of work.

 

[slowlyrolling]

I've had horrible experiences with NTB as well. I literally pulled this little shit out of my truck after he basically drifted it into the bay to repair a slow leak in my tire.

 

[Gabe]

Well, I've spent all kinds of time today trying to find replacement strut dust boots, rubber bumpers and coil-spring sleeves, and I can only find the sleeves.
Was looking to pre-assemble the springs/struts/mounts, but it's looking like I'll have to transfer everything from the stock parts.

 

[Gabe]

Thanks to "Ross" on TMS for the dust-covers part number, today I picked up 2 Gabriel 143059 strut bellow/bumper kits at the local Autozone for $11.99 each even though they are listed at $14.99 each, and ordered 2 new coil spring "sleeves" (Ford part # 6R3Z-5L302-A) for about $8.24 each from the local Ford dealer, should have them tomorrow

 

[S197gt07]

Sweet. So we going to do that Saturday?

 

[Gabe]

Sweet. So we going to do that Saturday?

i hope so

 

[S197gt07]

Sweet. Full suspension for you!

 

[Gabe]

Sweet. Full suspension for you!

I hope so



Since I like to take pics, here's the new strut dust boot and bumper kit :

 

[Gabe]

Just got off the phone with Brian at BND Automotive ... another 45-minute phone call ... lol .... you definitely gotta know in advance that you'll be on the phone a while, otherwise don't make the call !!!! Lol

But seriously ... just ordered their "Quantum Blue" custom-blended oils for the engine, transmission, and rear diff ... can't wait to have all this done too, at the same time as the driveshaft, reso delete, and alignment. Guess I'm adding a couple of quick things for the shop to do ... something that shouldn't take "all day" either ... lol

Gonna have "12.5W43 QuantumBlue Custom Designed Heavy Duty 5.0L V8 Formula, Special Mineral Synthesis oil" for the engine good for 10,000-12,000 miles / 2 years, "QuantumBlue Special Transmission Fluid" for the MT82 good for 40,000 miles, and "QuantumBlue Special 85W95 Mineral Synthesis Gear Lube with demulsifiers and Tackifiers with Quantum Catalysts" which will have Friction Modifiers pre-blended-in also ...

I've used their oil before, in my '07 Charger R/T which had a cam in it, revving to 6400 RPM every day (stock redline was 5750), had different heads and other work done to it, and that oil was still clean after about 5,000 miles.

The Amsoil in my engine now, after about 4600 miles, is a nice shade of dark brown :-(


.

 

[S197gt07]

Do you do UAO's on your oil?

I suggest you send your current to blackstone, and then the fancy blue stuff as well.

I'm sure it was expensive!

 

[Gabe]

Do you do UAO's on your oil?

I suggest you send your current to blackstone, and then the fancy blue stuff as well.

I'm sure it was expensive!

I did on the Motorcraft that came from the factory and I will again on the Amsoil that's in there now.

The QuantumBlue stuff has gone 12-13,000 miles in some Hemi 5.7's with no issues, with glorious Used-Oil Analysis results ...

And it wasn't as expensive as you might think.

Normally the oil is about $13-14/qt, I got a better deal than that though ...

 

[S197gt07]

Be sure to share your results!

 

[Gabe]

Be sure to share your results!

Oh I will ...