coldturkey

Yeah the issue I had was that some ball joints dont seem to be bedded in right. Might just oil up the thread and see if that helps. Thanks hellraizer, I have already tried putting jacks everywhere to try keep pressure on the balljoint with limited success. Its not a hole through the thread like you get for split pins, but a hole down the axis of the bolt, only 5mm deep though. Surely there must be some kinda tool to do this?

Does anyone know how do tighten/loosen balljoint nuts without them spinning on you? Its driving me nuts, all I can do is clamp the joint upwards to the suspension arm and hope for the best. There really seems like nothing to stop it spinning on me. The worse part is they are all nylock nuts which require some force to get all the way to the top of the thread. There is a bit of a hole upwards in the balljoint but it doesnt look like an allen key fits in it or anything to stop it spinning. Really struggling. Any help appreciated.

Yeah yoeddynz I agree, I wanna keep it looking sorta 'brittish'. I probably will end up getting them widened but I doubt as much as 3inches. Those wheels will look good man. These ro's have really grown on me, but will probably tidy them up a bit at some stage. The back tires are actually wider than the front even though its the same width rim. The back ones look pretty choice i reckon.

Love this angle.

Then I chopped off roughly 2 coils of the TRD springs which was as much as I could keeping springs JUST captive (i.e. if you give them a really good jerk you might be able to rotate them) so this is basically the limit of low in the front unless I get creative (cant get shorter shocks for these or shorten them). Had to shave front bumpstops a bit. The front of chassis is now 130mm off the ground. Then I took out the rear springs so I could send em away to get compressed. Also looked rediculous with the rear end 50mm higher than standard and the front lowered. These photos are with the rear sitting hard on the standard unmodified bumpstops.

OK progress! Got shitloads done today and im wrapped. Minimal photos but its the result that counts. Also got my car professionally tinted, was kinda a spur of the moment thing - got it done for half price - but I like it and it really suits. First of all: Vauxhall Viva Spring Versus Toyota Altezza TRD lowering spring:

Im pretty sure ive got all the air out of the system now, it pretty much will warm up and then sit at the same temperature no matter what. But it just sits slightly higher then it used to. I did change the thermostat when I changed the radiator so its possible its just a slightly different temperature. I doubt it is of any major concern though.

My fan is running in the correct direction... If I run an electric fan with the standard radiator then I might only be able to fit it on the front. Then of course I would make it "push" instead of "pull". But im thinking this would obstruct the airflow significantly cause the fan would cover the whole radiator. The radiator on there at the moment is quite thin. It has already collected half of the country's bee and fly population which makes me think there is significant air going through it.

yea im starting to think a standard radiator with an electric fan would be ideal..

wtf is a 2ZZ! .. Ok, well, I got a pry bar around the bushes (you meant the front bush on the lower suspension arm where it bolts to the chassis right, couldnt really get at the back bush too easy), bugger all play. No change, still clunks Pulled the front swaybar off cause the joints looked worn as. No change, still clunks. (probably just leave it off - cant-be-assed-itis) Startin to get pissed off and start poking at all the other joints. Hmm, tie rod end joint seems to dent in a bit when I poke it. Grab tie rod...bit of play. Shake and twist it a bit more.. shit...the whole thing is able to be rotated by over 45degrees! Also makes a distinctive CLUNK when I rotate it. Success! (I Hope). Will replace the tie rod ends and see how we go.

Thanks fuel. I will definately give this a go and report back.

As fuel said, it has torsion bars up front so its not a spring seat. It doesnt squeak - just goes clunk once or twice when im turning, and its not necessarily at full lock. Not lockstops, not springs/springseats. Whole truck kinda twitches when it happens. This is a late 80's mark 1 2.5TD, but i've also got a '93 mark 2 2.8TD and yes, it hauls ass. I find it crap to use on open road driving though (might be the manual box ratios). Well im not actually sure, I can turn the front wheels by hand when its jacked up - they seem to spin independently of the CVs, but I cant spin the CVs. Which doesnt really make sense but meh. The 4WD and difflock definately works, tried going round in circles on ashphalt in 4wd and couldnt get it to clunk but it was skidding its wheels so didnt try for very long.

yeah it does seem something simple like that but the problem is nothing looks obviously poked

yargh i know

My 1988 Pajero has a clunk when turning corners, or when hitting bumps around corners. It sounds like a front CV but I dont think it is, because the boots look fine and it doesn't continuously make the noise if I drive around in circles. It only seems to do it once each way I turn. It only does it while moving, I.e. sitting still and moving the steering wheel lock to lock doesnt do anything. Any ideas? Have looked for ages and cant see anything obvious

haha thanks for that guys. Yeah I know.. but for now they are already twice as wide as the standards. Plus it has good rubber which would be a shame/waste of money to have to change. Also, I will hold off till it has more low. That is now #1 priority.

Wired straight to ignition. For simplicity, and since the thermostat restricts the flow, warming up is no problem.

Seems to be behaving at the moment. I changed the thermostat recently though and I think its opening a bit late? Like it must have a higher temperature threshold then the original. Is it possible to buy a thermostat with a slightly lower threshold? (before it would sit with the needle straight upward, now it is about 65% to 70%

So I took heed and tried to position it higher. Managed to get it sitting nice n high and straight!

OK so sure enough, spent ages idling in traffic in the weekend and it start getting hotter and hotter and overheating. This is the radiator as it was on an angle:

Same photo but cropped: Personally I reckon the rostyles are the business on this thing, they are about twice as wide as the standards too. Handling dramatically better. I was gonna get them widened but I'll wait till atleast I have worn all the tread away (they were good tyres). I reckon widening them might spoil the look too, it would change it to a more JDM feel rather than the british-ness it has at the moment. It'll be interesting to see how they look with more slammage. Watch this space!

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Picked me up some BroStyles in the 4" stud pattern. Crazy thing - they are originally off my Green Viva! Turns out the guy I bought them off used to own the green viva many moons ago and took them off. He was a gc, old fella. Used to race HB's and HC's - crackup. Photo from the beach: