LaserSVT 98 White Pearlescent Progress Thread

[XLRVIII]

take out the old..

remove upper and lower bolts
pop the solenoid out
grab the lower portion and push upwards until it compresses enough to clear the LCA

 

[LaserSVT]

brute force..like the big and tall guys have.
LMAO

Yeah, sure.

I put my crow bar under it and just couldnt get it high enough to clear it. It only too a minute to remove the LCA bolt to get it out with minimal work.

You got two choices. Go to Autozone or O'Reilley's and check out their spring compressor. Or take the strut to a shop, and tip the mechanic, and he can take it off for you. That's what I did to get the springs on my struts. Thanks for the link.

? Did you get into my weed when you were here? :lol:

How do I get a coil spring compressor on an air strut?

 

[XLRVIII]

meh...wuss.

you must be smokin the weak weed..

 

[XLRVIII]

How do I get a coil spring compressor on an air strut?

you have to spray it with liberal amounts of Northern Lights

 

[GMAN]

Yeah, sure.

I put my crow bar under it and just couldnt get it high enough to clear it. It only too a minute to remove the LCA bolt to get it out with minimal work.


? Did you get into my weed when you were here? :lol:

How do I get a coil spring compressor on an air strut?

I thought you were talking about removing the spring from the Tociko strut.

 

[LaserSVT]

Well I figured since I had all the stuff that I would just slap in the front brakes tonight. Figured 2 hours if there are issues...... so 4 hours latter I am done. :lol:

So the swap is pretty easy and not too expensive if you do it right. Here is the final break down:
Bullitt calipers: $190 shipped. Buy the Cobra ones for $229 though and reuse your old banjo bolts.
Brakemotive rotors: $100 shipped.
Spinning wheels braided stainless lines: $153 shipped.
Ford OEM banjo bolts: $49
6- Ford OEM banjo bolt washers: $4
Blue brake fluid: $15
Apex power bleeder: $68
Rotor re-drilling: $80
Paint: $19
So thats $678 all together and the power bleeder will be used many many times. I also could have saved another $30 if there was a better machine shop around. Save another $10 by going with the Cobra calipers and reusing the old bolts. And the braided lines are not needed but I wanted them. And you can save $10 buying regular brake fluid so really you can duplicate this for $381.


The hardest part of the install was the brake lines. Had I kept stock then I could have done this in 45 minutes. You have to cut the stock bracket and then drill holes for the new bracket. That part of the car is thick and self taping wasnt gonna do it. Even busted a drill bit.
So after getting them in I bled them out untill the fluid was solid blue. Nice and clean. I also swapped the fuel filter while I had the wheel off.


Here is the bracket. I first cut it like this because I was trying something out.... didnt work. So I cut it flat which you can see in the installed picture. Tried to make it look OEMish.

And of course I had to do the mandatory size comarison shot that we haveall seem a thousand times. :lol:

Before:

And after.

I also upgraded the floor lights to something brighter. In the pics it looks blue but they are white. I had a bright standard bulb in there but it started to melt the plastic if the door was open more then a minute. So I found some LED lights for $3 on egay.

LED on the drivers side and regular bulb on the passenger side.

 

[k9t8m]

That REALLY makes me want to do a cobra conversion on the 96. Maybe ill have the time\money in 2011 lol.

 

[Lownslowlsc]

those brakes look sexy!

 

[98lincmk7lsc]

take out the old..

remove upper and lower bolts
pop the solenoid out
grab the lower portion and push upwards until it compresses enough to clear the LCA

That's what I do....One time, the strut was being a bitch (or I was), and I had to use a jack to compress it by jacking up the bottom of it until it was over the LCA.

I'm not 6 foot tall though. I'm only 5'9

 

[LaserSVT]

So continuing on with the upgrades:

Today I did the rear brakes and stainless lines. I also painted the calipers to match the front.

Before:

After: :wrench

 

[danny_holtermann]

damn those front calipers look nice with that emblem in there

 

[LaserSVT]

Thanks!

 

[Duck]

Fantastic look!! Rear looks great too! Good Job.

 

[LaserSVT]

I didnt want the brakes to scream "look at me!!!" but wanted them to look nice when people did notice. They have a very subtle coolness to them. Really they are easy to overlook if you didnt know these cars.

 

[kustomizingkid]

They look great... now get some god damn center caps!

 

[LaserSVT]

Geno has them.

 

[kustomizingkid]

Why??

 

[LaserSVT]

I sent the faux Saleen caps to be recovered in the Lincoln Star..... except he doesnt do that anymore, its only the Cobra Star so I am doing that instead. Well he couldnt cover the caps cause they were not flat enough and then when removing the sticker the cap has a hole so he cant cover that eaither. So I finnaly found some 2 3/8" flat caps and they are in route to him now. Hell he may have them already.
It bugs me to no end with no caps and I would even buy a temp cap if this size were redily available.


That reminds me, my locking lug nut key broke today. Has me wondering how many different ones there are because if the tool were to be used then my wheels are gonna be scratched to hell.

 

[kustomizingkid]

What a cluster:q:q:q:q!!

 

[LaserSVT]

So current updates:

Finnally got the tune in and the messed with shift points for a few hours. The TC kept locking and then unlocking under light load when it shifted to 3rd and 4th. Pretty sure its worked out now.

I swapped the plugs for some basic NGK copper plugs. All the old plugs were clean and no oil leaks. I see two new COPs and all 8 boots are newish.

Unfortunatly the car started making a horrific ball joint squeak. Just out of no where it started and now it wont shut up at all. No grease fittings so I guess I will just go ahead and get new controll arms and swap em out after it gets back from the body shop.

Sure would be nice to have at least one weekend where the damn Marks didnt DEMAND my attention. :lol:

Fuggin cars.

 

[LaserSVT]

So shes gone for the next few days.
Shes in the shop getting the dents fixed and the new bumper installed. I also am replacing the drivers tail light with the one from the 97 since the 98 has a dent in the trim piece.
So I have to suffer with a new Impalla for a few days. I am reminded why I dont like GM cars. Just so many little things done wrong. Ford has always seemed to be better at building the car around the driver. Oh well, at least it has a moon roof! :lol:

 

[Lownslowlsc]

for the ball joints go to your parts store and see if they sell that grease pusher thinger were you can insert the needle in the boot and inject it.might not work but its under 20 for both the "gun" and the lube.but if theres play in the wheels it will be a bj.

 

[LaserSVT]

I have a grease gun, wonder if they make an attachment that has the needle on one side and the zurich fitting on the other?
Its worth a shot but really for under $250 I can get all the UCAs and LCAs with fresh bushings and ball joints. Plus I want to put in new SRB anyway and the strut rod to LCA bushing so I may as well do it in one lump bunch. I have the strut rod bushings so $300 for the arms and strut rod to LCA and I will be good to go with all new front end stuff.

 

[kustomizingkid]

for the ball joints go to your parts store and see if they sell that grease pusher thinger were you can insert the needle in the boot and inject it.might not work but its under 20 for both the "gun" and the lube.but if theres play in the wheels it will be a bj.

BAD!!!

Then we can see the pics of the ball joint failure and his car wrecked in a ditch...

 

[LaserSVT]

Bite your tongue!