swflastang05's build thread

[swflastang05]

Well I/ tried to get to the track the weekend before last, but we got rained out, figures! But some Black Friday goodies arrived today, new strange brakes! I wonder if I can install them without the wheel spacer to gain a little more clearance b/w the tire and front wheel wells to prevent tire rubbing. The instructions talk about using the wheel spacers and also installing shims to center the calipers on the rotors, I may see if I can use the spacers on the caliper brackets instead and skip the wheel spacers to gain about .250 clearance. Nothing is ever that easy for me so I'm sure it won't work but I will find out!



Strange Kit #B4148WC

I also ordered SS Wilwood conversion kit #220-9111 to go from the OEM metric fittings to -3an to the hard lines.



BMR A-arms should be next to arrive part #AA010H.

 

[swflastang05]

I decided to "look" at the upcoming brake swap job after work today and ended up tearing into it, lol. I removed the OEM stuff and cut the ears off the spindle, drilled out both bolt holes and as my luck would have it broke the effin' tap off inside the top hole!!! I was able to get it out, and took the hint this was not meant to happen tonight, and since I have to get a new tap anyway decided to call it quits for tonight. I did take a couple pics though:





and confirmed you cannot leave the spacer off, as without it the rotor rests up against the tie rod end, which is of course "no bueno"



Installation shall resume this weekend

 

[ford20]

Giggity! Those look muy bueno!!

 

[bujeezus]

i'm diggin the arrows...

 

[travelers]

Looking good so far. Easy on the taps.....

 

[swflastang05]

Well the past couple days have been good news, bad news. Starting with the bad, I broke another tap off inside a dead hole, and wasn't so lucky to get it out this time, after several hours of throwing everything in my arsenal at it I admitted defeat and ordered a new spindle..
This is where threw in the towel:


These spindles must be forged or something, they're hard as hell! I did learn some valuable lessons with this, I strongly recommend to anyone planning to do this to remove the hub first, it looks like there's enough room with it installed but there's really not, at least not enough to properly maneuver the tap hence my breaking two of them! Also when tapping you need to use a ton of cutting oil and take it super slow, I mean like 1/4 - 1/2 turn at a time then back it out, clean it out then another 1/4 - 1/2 turn. The good news is with this procedure I did manage to successfully tap the DS spindle and install everything on that side.

Mounted the caliper bracket and spacer


Caliper installed using one .025 shim to center over the rotor, contrary to the instructions that call for two .025 shims


Gravity bled the new calipers, which took forever then I realized you can't do both sides at the same time or the air bubbles will never stop!


Test fit the wheel, there's a mile of clearance around the calipers now!


Now I get to wait for the new spindle to come in, then hold my breath again while tapping that sucker!

 

[JUSTA3V]

looks good. It does not matter what im tapping. I always back out after a 1/4 turn to break the metal. Old habit from machine shop class back in high school.

 

[swflastang05]

looks good. It does not matter what im tapping. I always back out after a 1/4 turn to break the metal. Old habit from machine shop class back in high school.

^^Wish I had a class like that back in high school, I always learn the hard way lol!

 

[05stroker]

If you have some keyboard cleaner, a punch, and a hammer you can shatter the tap. Turn the keyboard cleaner upside down and spay the tap for a few seconds. Then take the punch and hammer and shatter the tap. I found this method on YouTube and did it once.

 

[swflastang05]

If you have some keyboard cleaner, a punch, and a hammer you can shatter the tap. Turn the keyboard cleaner upside down and spay the tap for a few seconds. Then take the punch and hammer and shatter the tap. I found this method on YouTube and did it once.

I saw that on YouTube also, and tried it, I was able to remove a couple chunks but had no luck on the whole tap, and what I did manage to get out marred around the hole pretty bad, even if I got it out after that I didn't feel comfortable with having to heli-coil one of only two bolts that holds that brake caliper on. I went through half a dozen punches, even grinding them down several times to a new sharp point and went at it with a BFH for hours. My hands are soar today!

 

[BruceH]

A tool is made for removing broken taps. IIRC it's called a broken tap removal tool, lol. You could make one from something else like a flat bladed screw driver tip.

 

[swflastang05]

A tool is made for removing broken taps. IIRC it's called a broken tap removal tool, lol. You could make one from something else like a flat bladed screw driver tip.

Thanks Bruce, I saw those too, although they don't have very good reviews, I tried to use a couple small screwdrivers and broke one of them off in there too! That sucker was super tight when it broke..I'm screwed on this one!

 

[ford20]

Yup, that's my luck! Hopefully things turn around for you!!

 

[swflastang05]

Yup, that's my luck! Hopefully things turn around for you!!

Yep, just like I told you the other day LOL!!!

Well on a positive note my 17's finally arrived today after just over a month wait, Weld had to build them to order supposedly. Anyway, they tuck under the fender much better than the 15's, they're a bit heavier of course and the M/T radials are waay heaver than the Hoosier front runners so I'll have to see, maybe I'll just use the Hoosiers at the track and the M/T's any other time. In any case these wheels are show quality, even the inner lip is fully polished, much better than the 15's even though they're supposed to be the same wheel.







New spindle is supposed to arrive on Thursday, along with a "good" quality spiral design 3-flute tap. If all goes well I'll have everything back together this weekend.

 

[travelers]

Congrats on some really good looking wheels and new tap.

 

[Scott]

Kyle the Welds look good, looking forward to on car pictures!

 

[swflastang05]

Congrats on some really good looking wheels and new tap.

"..and new tap" hahaha

Kyle the Welds look good, looking forward to on car pictures!

Yea me too, I got the tires mounted today, took a quick crappy pic, car is still in the air less one spindle:



Speaking of spindles my new one arrived today, a day early! I managed to install it on the car and drill both holes out to 5/16" so tomorrow when my new tap gets here I can get it done, hopefully without effin it up this time lol.

 

[swflastang05]

Update: the tap arrived yesterday and I dove into it after work with success this time! Justin (Beachmonkey) recommended a spiral flute tap which is what I ordered and all I can say is damn! It cut through that spindle like butter lol. This is a bad ass tap:



Holes tapped, OEM ears cut off:


Caliper bracket and spacer:


Rotor and caliper installed:


Done!


For some weird reason my camber got messed up during this process, even though I marked the upper strut bolt, I had way too much negative camber anyway it was about -1.75 so I adjusted both sides to about -.75 using a method I found on You-Tube and what do ya know it actually worked! Just drill a couple holes in a level and install screws and a couple nuts then measure the difference from top to bottom while the bubble is level. 1/4" is very close to -1 degree, I ended up at .20. Looks much better now, and hopefully won't sway as much either.





Brakes are bled, ready to test drive and bed the pads tomorrow.

 

[swflastang05]

between the corrected camber and the Strange brakes moving the wheel out .06" my old wheels don't fit any more, they stick out way too much now, guess I will be selling them after all!

 

[skwerl]

I recently read about somebody messing with the spacers and getting their front wheels to sit inside the fender properly.