Yes! I sure do have some updates! Trying to get the time to post about them has been tough though.
So I went ahead with one of the more major mods I think the car will see which is to lift it the full 3" with the gear I purchased way back last year sometime. Here's what went in:
-Shocks - Bilstein 5100s
-Springs - Dobinsons. Front: #C29-024 raised HD. Rear #C29-031 Raised HD. The rear's aren't in their catalogue and you will need to ask about them when speaking to someone at their head office. I had to wait a little while they were made. I don't know of anyone else who has tried these so it was a bit of a gamble on my part, but one that turned out real well.
-Iron Rock adjustable track bar
-Iron Rock extended rear sway bar links
-New front end suspension bushes
I was freaking out about doing the bushes as everything i'd read pointed to them being near impossible to get in and out. I bought one of
these bushing puller kits from ebay. Honestly, it was the best money I've ever spent. The first bush I approached with a little trepidation, and 30 seconds later the job was done. Simple.
Good thing I did them too as I found a couple with the inner sleeve torn away from the rubber. The only problem I had was that I thought that the lower arm had the same bushing on both ends (as does the top arm), but it doesn't. There's a round one and an oval one. So the oval ones didn't get done, but i'll have to get back to them soon as I've got a little clunking happening.
The rest of the install went great, just took my time and enjoyed the weekend doing it. I have a pic here of the new spring compared to the stock one with the 2" spacer. They're the same height uncompressed, but as you can imagine, they end up a lot different under load.
The height before I installed this lift was around 490mm plus or minus 5mm. This was with the original springs and 2" spacers. Post-lift i'm now riding at 530mm all round. So the yanks class the original height at 18" and 530mm is just shy of 21", which means I've achieved my goal of a 3" lift.
The ride is fantastic. The springs are great, not too hard at all, but most noticeably is the smooth feel of the Bilsteins. The whole car is much more planted and direct and I've really lost a lot of the wallowy feel when cornering, and no death wobbles! I'm really happy with it.
As well as this, I've plasti-dipped the badges and the chrome trim along the doors. Just a small detail that will go a long way when I get to the other cosmetic items on my list.
Speaking of which, my to-do list has had some serious modification of it's own. I'll get to that in another post!
Baby Vader
Grand Wookie Jedi
