fuel Posted January 31, 2011 Share Posted January 31, 2011 ^^ that's the photo I was trying to find! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coldturkey Posted January 31, 2011 Author Share Posted January 31, 2011 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. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yoeddynz Posted February 4, 2011 Share Posted February 4, 2011 I'm waiting for these to arrive from wellington.... I'm looking forwards to them as my standard victor rims are only 4 or 4.5" wide and the 185 tyres fitted bulge out a bit on each side. The new wheels are 6" which will hopefully mean flat side walls. I too am not a fan of really stretched tyres on old Brits- just not quite right. I want the period look. If I was you I'd wait till tyres are worn down too then maybe get them done. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coldturkey Posted February 5, 2011 Author Share Posted February 5, 2011 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. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coldturkey Posted February 5, 2011 Author Share Posted February 5, 2011 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. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikuni Posted February 5, 2011 Share Posted February 5, 2011 You can really get yourself caught out if you have a spinning ball joint and can't loosen the nut. Like you, I've had trouble with these in the past and the only way I've found to get around it is to just crack and loosen them before popping the ball joint out of the taper. The rear springs from Vectra A's and most IRS Commodores are very similar to those, if the BMW ones don't work out for whatever reason. I think I've posted this before though Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raizer Posted February 5, 2011 Share Posted February 5, 2011 Use a jack to put a little bit of pressure on the arm so you can undo the nut /use a big hammer on the underside of the ball joint to get the taper in tight. The hole in the top of the ball joint thread is to put a split pin in to stop the nut coming loose/falling off. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coldturkey Posted February 5, 2011 Author Share Posted February 5, 2011 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? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raizer Posted February 5, 2011 Share Posted February 5, 2011 Oh I know the hole your talking about now, I don't think that its there for any practical reason. Have you got the nut undone enough to get a hacksaw blade/thin angle grinder cutting disk in between the nut and the arm? When they spin that easy there normally fucked anyway. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yoeddynz Posted February 6, 2011 Share Posted February 6, 2011 If your set on using nyloc nuts as most seem to have what i do is tighten up the ball joint tight as witha normal nut and flat washer. Once its tight I then remove normal nut and refit nyloc. If you cant even get ball joint to stop spinning while you tighten nut then if you can geta bottle jack up in there and really push ball joint in place tight then tighten/remove nut. Heres a mates HB viva with GT Rostyles and chrome rings- looks sweet... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NaN Posted February 6, 2011 Share Posted February 6, 2011 I used a gear pulled on the back of the ball joint with a wee bit of wood inbetween the puller tip and the ball joint, turn the pulled upside down, and use it to push the ball joint into place real tight. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coldturkey Posted February 6, 2011 Author Share Posted February 6, 2011 I got the nylock nut off but having trouble getting it back on. I did manage to get a normal nut and washer on it so I'll give the nylock nut another crack next time I attack the suspension. Dunno, just using the nylock nuts cause thats what was on there, but it seems like a pretty good idea being that its part of the steering. Might have to grab a Clamp of some sort and try that too. oo some chrome rostyles would be choice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yoeddynz Posted February 10, 2011 Share Posted February 10, 2011 Looking good!!!! Those altezza springs quite hard? Also...nice Rimu tree in background of carpark shots. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coldturkey Posted February 20, 2011 Author Share Posted February 20, 2011 will update with a couple pics after wof tommorrow! Got suspension sorted! (almost, just need to get front spring ends re-moulded so they arent so cut-tastic). It handles awesome, like a go-kart. Yeah yoeddnz the altezza springs are basically perfect (from what I can tell from driving it briefly), a bit harder but not too hard. A quick comparisson revealed they have more coils (which would make the springs sit lower, but also the steel is a bit thicker, which makes them harder.) I.e. basically perfect. The front is now 120mm off the ground with the springs still captive, I can get another 10mm lowerage out of it if i space the lower shock mounts out a bit, which I am doing. I also got my nylock nut back on, after a week it seemed to have pressed into the steering joint enough, I also crc'd the crap out of the threads and then threw the nut in oil and it slid on mint. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yoeddynz Posted February 21, 2011 Share Posted February 21, 2011 sweet- I'll see what my springs are like and then maybe go altezza.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coldturkey Posted February 22, 2011 Author Share Posted February 22, 2011 scrap that man, forget about altezza springs they are too soft. Just realised today while driving it a little that it sits on the bumpstops when I jump in, so either my springs are too soft or they are just too short. Damn. Back to the drawing board. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coldturkey Posted February 22, 2011 Author Share Posted February 22, 2011 ^^ thats with "custom" bumpstops too. I have about 2 inches of gap betweeen top suspension arm and bumpstop when im not in the car. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yoeddynz Posted February 23, 2011 Share Posted February 23, 2011 I dont know what my springs are from but they might be Victor ones? certainly much stiffer but hopefully not too stiff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coldturkey Posted February 24, 2011 Author Share Posted February 24, 2011 im going to try for some altezza race stiffer springs and will report back, but if you had some spare victor ones i'd def be keen! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yoeddynz Posted February 25, 2011 Share Posted February 25, 2011 I havn't any spare but I'll ask about. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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