LaserSVT 98 White Pearlescent Progress Thread

No matter what you do white will never look clean unless you just quit driving it and put it in sealed storage, i hate white cars.......black is easyer to keep clean than white.
 
So I have been neglecting my thread duties.

K, dropped the car off on Monday to get the gears installed. Didnt happen, shop flaked and wasted my time and money. Good side is I was hooked up with a new friend and hes gonna help me in two weeks. I am honored to have his help and cant wait to meet him in person.

Cars ball joints got too damn loud so I bought all new SCP front end suspension components as well as some new door seals. I should be installing the upper/lower controll arms, front/rear strut rod bushings, sway bar links and tie rods next weekend and then take it in for an alignment in anticipation for my drive down to Austin.

Still waiting on the ASHAM8, hope it arrives soon.

Geno still has my caps and I wish he would get off his lazy ass and send them back! :mad:


JK :p Geno is seeing some gawd awfull weather and is snowed in. I feel for the poor dude. :(


OH YEAH! I also got and installed my LVC stickers. :D
That has made me two new friends as well. One dude drove past my work and saw the stickers so came in to meet me. Another dude with a sweet 91 LSC saw the sticker today and decided to stop and talk. He said it was cause of the sticker, usually means the owner is a cool person.
I liked hearing that. :)
 
New updates:

The parts all showed up so there goes my weekend. :(

Also fixed up something else that was bugging me.


Before:

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After:

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Enjoy installing those Taiwan parts that are gonna fail the first time you drive the damn thing!!!!! (j/k i wouldnt want anybodys ride jacked up).
 
Damn them doors are hard to close now! I hope the seals soften up and form a bit cause it kinda sucks how hard you have to slam them.

That has me asking another question. I have chrome door latches from the 97 and the latches on the 98 are black. I am kinda thinking of installing them.

Also found out my center caps are not done yet. Appears to be yet another SNAFU in this endevor. I find myself longing for my fake saleen caps. :(
 
what about the colored balls from the Mcdonalds Playground?

you could swap the colors depending on your mood.

OR..

Find some white plastic bottle caps that are the same size and cram them in there.
As good of a job as you did on the calipers, I'm SURE you can fab something that'll work to cover the hubs..for the time being.
 
*starts to paing old style milk caps with Lincoln logo*
 
So I got the car prepped to do the front end overhaul tomorrow. Got it in the air and the wheels off and sprayed everything with PB Blast. I am so glad I am doing this as the lower ball joints are way worse then I had thought. The boots are destroyed and the drivers side has visable dammage on the ball. I also found out why the car would dart left and then drag right when getting on the brakes. I knew it wasnt a brake problem as the pull wasnt severe and it ..... hard to explain, I just knew it wasnt a brake issue.
Turns out the 6 month old Moog strut rod bushing had the washer almost pulled all the way through it! :eek: I could hardly see the washer and the bottom of the bushing is really eaten up. I jushed it with my finger and the washer POPED out of the bushing. I pried it back a little with the screw driver so I could show how eaten up and split it is.
Too bad I am so tired as now I really want to tear into the car cause I know shes going to drive soooooo much better when I am done. :D

Also found I have a family of Road Runners living beside my car ports :lol:

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Wonder if hes got a Hemi. :lol:

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I was planning on taking pics during the install tomorrow yes. Why?

I like to have good doccumentation of whats done to the car and how. It helps me keep track and maybe help others. Also if I decide to sell its a good selling point.
The other thing that saved me some trouble last time on the 97 is I put the bushing in backwards and someone here noticed it and told me. Yeah I had to redo it but was better that it was caught before alignment or any driving on it. :)
 
Well at 6 pm I got bored so i started on the tear down.
Only took me 38 minutes to get everything out and that was because I had to cut out the factory SRB because the sleeve was over tightened and mushroomed together. :(
I also saw that the UCA is a TRW so they have been replaced sudo reciently. Dont know how old so they are getting swapped out anyway. Better safe then sorry.

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lookin good man, ill be under mine tomorrow swappin out sway bar linkage and tie rod ends, and the oil filter gasket again, should be done early, let me know if you need some help and ill swing over
i found the rear UCA bushing at Oreillys cheaper than anyone else and with a lifetime warranty $60 per side, they will be in Tuesday ( yay no more rattle)
anyway you got my number if you need any tools or a helping hand, give me a shout
 
jrherald420 said:
How long did it take you in the upper drivers side?
Click to expand...
Well I lit a cig right before I started it and still had 1/3 left when done so i would say 5-6 minutes.
Remove the brake fluid level sensor plug and that vaccume thing above the strut so you can move them out of the way. Put a 18mm ratcheting wrench (dont see ANY way to do it without one) and crack the nut loose. Then if your tabs are broken off the bolt like mine were you can put a wrench on the bolt and back it off. I backed it most of the way off using the ratchet wrench before I realized I could do that. If you just unscrew the nut the ratchet can only swing one "click" at a time and its very slow going.
Not a hard job at all really.

Sapperfire said:
hey Bill, yes the console has to come out in order to get the cup holder out, there is a screw in the center on the bottom of it, very easy to do, if its at all like mine, open arm rest, 2 torx screws in there under the rubber mat, pop the trim from around the Climate Control to reveal 2 more torx screws, pop the trim from around the shifter and unplug the switches and cig lighters, slide console toward the back seat to seperate the air duct for the rear vents in console and lift out
Click to expand...

Uh yeah. That problem was solved that same day and I am pretty sure there are pictures with it out of the car right after that question was asked.

Reading FTMFW!! :p








So tomorrow I have to install all this again and then R&R the other side. It seems Bill from SCP left out a grease fitting though. :( Guess I will just have to reuse an old one.

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Sapperfire said:
lookin good man, ill be under mine tomorrow swappin out sway bar linkage and tie rod ends, and the oil filter gasket again, should be done early, let me know if you need some help and ill swing over
i found the rear UCA bushing at Oreillys cheaper than anyone else and with a lifetime warranty $60 per side, they will be in Tuesday ( yay no more rattle)
anyway you got my number if you need any tools or a helping hand, give me a shout
Click to expand...

Nice ninja edit Jeremy! :lol:

I forgot to tell you I have a set of greasable front sway bar bushing mounts and poly bushings you can have if ya want them. Thanks for the offer, I had a friend that was supposed to come by to help but canceled on me so thats why I started it tonight. I thought it would be harder then it is so at least I can still sleep in a bit tomorrow.
An extra set of hands would be nice to get the tie rods off (I couldnt budge them so they are soaking now) and to ratchet the UCA bolts but its not worth the drive for you.
See if you can remember a good shop for me to have the alignment done at for Monday since you said the place I was going to go sux.
Also Terry talked me into doing my J-mod myself so if you want to do it too we can save some money by ordering the gaskets together and you can also order your upgraded solinoids. :)
 
yeah i ninjaed my post after i went back reading thru everything again, was reading it on my iphone so its a lil screwy at times
the drive dont matter to me, i get bored and use a tank of gas... just to be driving my car..rofl
if im gonna order parts we better do it fast, this tax check is burnin a serious hole in my pocket
went and looked at installing Siruis and getting a new deck today, thatll be 400 gone on monday..Geno needs to answer the phone so i can get my hood and wing ordered -cough-
tie rod ends, you doing just the outters? if you are doing the inner, theres a pin that has to be removed first..or you WILL strip the threads and buy a new R&P
(ninja edit) i dont see one in the pic, thought i would ask, and maybe someone reading this in the future can be warned too :)
the shop in right next door to the Dairy Queen on Waco Dr, across the street from Members Choice bank, dont know the name but they did mine, got it pretty straight even with busted rear UCAs and a bent K-member :( -mumble- cant be leave you sent one to scrap
 
I could prolly find you a Pioneer flip out DVD/NAV deck for close to $400. And I am not doing the inner tie rods.

I am waiting for my back meds to kick in and then I am going out to finnish it up. I hope to be done by 5pm as I have tyo go see pops tonight.
 
Cars still kicking my ass. :( Had to cut off the other side rear and front bushing sleeves. Somebody really over tightened these damn things. I had to take a break cause I almost threw my back out trying to loosen these damn things. Almost there though. Drivers side is done and passenger side is almost out, just have to drop the strut then remove the UCA that is another TRW but its ball joint is loose as hell in there.

Never removed air from both struts before so getting it back to ride height should be interesting. Good thing I have two hydraulic floor jacks. :lol:
 
OMG is that PITA, I've rebuilt the front suspension a couple times on a MN12, always came back with busted knuckles and a sore back.
 
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