Nice Rack.....
Dave, What brand paint did you use on your calipers? Where did you buy it? Your calipers look great! I have mine off and apart and I want to do as you did, paint them red. Thanks.
Dave, What model QA1's did you go with? Are those the Promastars? I too have QA1's. What length did you use front and rear? What spring rates did you go with? Thanks Henry BTW, great pix
Lou, I ended up using Dupli-Color high heat ceramic paint... Red # DH1606, after priming... and then a coat of Dupli-Color high performance wheel coating, Clear # HWP103. The clear coat stuff should help resist brake dust, chemicals, and cleaning solvents. I'm hopeful that they will hold up to weathering.
Henry, The QA1 Motorsport shocks are from Summit Racing. They were so-pose to be the same model that you had installed in your car. Front shocks: HAL-4855P Rear shocks: HAL-5855P After we had talked on the phone I tried to order them online but ran into problems, so I ended up calling them to place the order. When the shocks arrived they were the non-adj rebound model. Rather than send them back I thought I would give them a try for as little as they cost. For the springs I went with Eibach from Truechoice... As far as spring rates I went a little stiffer than most run on the street, hoping to gain a little better track performance. 325lbs. front and 275lbs. rear. 1000.250.325 1200.250.275
BUSHINGS The upper & lower front and rear inner a-arm bushings all use the same polyurethane part. I've got a set that I plan to install next spring. POR15 POR15 is great stuff. A little goes a long way. Go with brushing, it does the best job of self-leveling I've ever had a coating do. Very slow cureing, especially in cool low humidity conditions. It's very thin out of the can & flows almost as well as water, so after each coat go back after about 15-20 min & brush out any drips that have appeared. It's now carried by a lot of the auto body supply stores. I got the $15 starter kit and had a lot left over after giving both of my pinch welds about 5 coats each. Vy important to read the instructions to ensure success. Give me a call before you start & I'll pass on some tips. Actually quite easy to use. Also get a pint of cheap lacquer thinner from a HW store. It'll clean it up as long as it hasn't seroiusly started to cure. I used it to clean the brush after each coat. You could just buy a bunch of very cheap brushes tho. It flows so well that just about anything can be used to apply it. Those blue Nitrile gloves I use are great with it, keep it off of your hands.
Verell, thx for the POR-15 tip, I bought some two weeks ago on your rec. So far, I love the stuff! Brushed it on liberally over my rusting front frame area, mostly on the frame where the front A-arms connect to and the front cooling fans area, beneath the headlight area and inside of the body panels adjacent to the headlight area that was not coated by the factory. I wirewheeled and blasted the frame first, then used the POR-15 metal cleaner. That cleaner is awesome stuff! I have confidence that after two coats that the POR-15 will stop the corrosion forever.
2 coats is probably enough for an area that's protected against gravel, etc. For exposed areas such as brake dust shields & suspension components where grit & gravel can be being bounced off of the surface I'd put on a couple of more coats. While POR15 seems to be pretty tough, More is supposed to be better when it comes to resisting mechanical impact.
Well I planed on a couple hours on the car but it rained all day... Just not good for blasting or painting. Here is the next corner in line.
Hey Dave, What'd you do about the difference in width on the shock mounts? Did you have some bushings/spacers made up?
Yeah, me too Dave. I might have something machined up over the winter, if I do, I'll check with you if you want to get in on it. You've done a first class job on everything from what I can see.
The poly bushings come molded into a metal sleeve with a lip. The new bushing's sleeve must be tack welded into place just like the original bushing was. Trick is to avoid melting the bushing while doing the welding. Use a MIG or TIG welder. Wrap the entire bushing in wet rags, or else something like Eastwood's Anti Heat Compound Item No. - 31042. Eastwood's got a new Form-A-Shield Heat Absorbing Gel Item No. - 19210 that sounds like it may work also. If you use the anti-heat compound, plan on misting it with water after each weld as it works by water evaporation. HERE'S WHY: w/o the tack weld the bushing's metal housing would rotate in the A-arm holes & rapidly wear them oversize & probably oval to boot, would also wear corresponding grooves in the bushing's sleeve. Then you've got big problems!!
Verell is correct, as it is best to tack weld the bushings back when finished. I was going to wait till I found an inexpensive welder with a nice duty cycle, and complete the job before alignment time.
Dave, Did you replace the ball joints as well? IF so where did you get these?Ferrari UK is out of stock for the lower ones... Also did you replace the sway bar bushings, and the adjustment shims between the ball joints and the A-arms? Finally (I know I can be annoying with all my questions) would it be better to powder coat or use the POR-15 or any paint?
As far as the ball joints go, I replaced a bad one last year, the rest were still ok... The sway bar bushings were replaced with Energy Suspension polyurethane grease-able bushings #9.5155G for my stock GTB bar, it would be different for a GTS. The end link bushings were Energy Suspension poly bushings as well, that I turned and re-drilled to fit the stock end links. The shims between the ball joints and the A-arms were still in good shape, and were reused. As far as paint goes, IMHO a good powder coat is the way to go. But in my case I ended up painting the arms and other assemblies myself, and I feel that it looks ok, and should stand up well.
Dave, Did you use universal shock eye bushings for the new shocks and if so do you recall the size? Phil
