V1 Alex and the Extended City Frame - 08 Sport/Automatic Donor

[Bretter]

Regarding the mounting nuts - we managed to get one off of the broken and it is a bit rough going on the OEM studs. I don't see any other donor nuts that we could use. Am I stuck going to a junk yard and pulling a hub? Other suggestions for these 2 nuts? Thanks!

 

[Briann1177]

I went to the hardware store and picked up some M10x1.5 flange nuts. Work perfectly.

 

[Karter2026]

Just go buy 8 new studs.

 

[Bretter]

Just go buy 8 new studs.

I did consider that for a bit. But with the quality of studs there initially, I'm not sure the rest of the hub is better and I don't want to guess.

I have learned a tremendous amount about cars and the cobalt ecosystem in particular over the last 6-9 months. These were originally purchased from primechoiceauto.com - I am sure that their "lifetime warranty" and decent ratings on Amazon played into my early, inexperienced decision at the time.

9 months after purchase may be a bit long for a refund but I may investigate. Certainly this is part of my "learning tax"

 

[Bretter]

Trying to debug why our motor wouldn't run on it's own, I think I found a problem. We put a vacuum cap on the valve cover to keep dust out - see below. I am pretty sure in normal operation this needs to be vented or piped to the intake between the MAF and butterfly valve. Unfortunately we didn't have it vented - so could this be a cause of our problems on running the engine do you think? i.e. if we ran this engine with this line capped, what should we expect? Problems? What kind?

 

[Briann1177]

I don't think a cap on the breather will prevent the engine from running on its own at least not immediately. At the most it would eventually blow the cap off as crank case pressures increased.

You're right though in that it does need to run to your intake tube. I believe there is also a check valve that sits between the capped off port and your intake. The check valve should prevent fresh air from being forced into your crankcase.

 

[ctuinstra]

Does it even try to start? Surely you have the paint cap removed from the intake. I had my headlight harned plugged into the coil packs, yes, the connections are the same and I was trying to spark off my headlights! It didn't take long to figure out that we had no spark and checking over the harness I checked and swapped those two and sure enough it started right up.

 

[Bretter]

Yes the paint cap is now removed This picture was taken several days before we did the first start

I think we will have to try it again and see how it works. That will probably wait a bit as our hubs are showing up tomorrow

 

[RichRich]

Give a little insight on the issues you're having. Starts up and dies kind of thing? Got some good people on here that are more than willing to help, we will put our minds to it

 

[Bretter]

We changed out the rod ends so that the short ones were on the front. Then trying to align the uprights close to what they should be, we tried to take off the rod end but it was stuck hard. Tried using penetrating oil and even a 3# sledge to try and knock it out with no luck. Any tricks of the trade out there to get conical rod ends out?

 

[ctuinstra]

We changed out the rod ends so that the short ones were on the front. Then trying to align the uprights close to what they should be, we tried to take off the rod end but it was stuck hard. Tried using penetrating oil and even a 3# sledge to try and knock it out with no luck. Any tricks of the trade out there to get conical rod ends out?

Yep, and you ain't going to like it. Hit the end of the knuckle with a hammer. This will slightly deform it enough to push it out. This is an old trick that always works but can damage the finish. Maybe try it the first couple of times with a piece of hardwood between it and the hammer.

 

[Bretter]

Will try the jaw puller first - then banging the end. Have tried wiggling all around and rubber mallet on rod end every which way. Thanks!

 

[Briann1177]

Or take the steering arm off and try to find the correct angle to pull it out. It should wiggle right off.

 

[Waterdriver]

Use a 2 jaw puller. So as not to deform your steering knuckle.
https://m.lowes.com/pd/Sunex-Tools-...saoHmRuNXtxHpjVEAmsF2MI4zUPPs_9hoCPQEQAvD_BwE

 

[Bretter]

On rear struts, what are people doing with the dust boot? The old ones were pretty ratty so we purchased new ones and they just aren't long enough. Granted the struts are full extension now with no weight on them (1st picture green arrow), but even with full weight, there is still a gap. The boots came with what looks like a bumper I think - looks like originally it would go on the end of the shaft where the aluminum spacer is now. I'm thinking to hollow out the center further and put it like the green arrow in picture #2. Other options?

Also in 3rd picture, the tab for the upper plate rotated to this position naturally. It puts the deepest part of the top plate towards the right rear of the car (directly opposite the tab). Looking around at the forums, it seems there are several pictures with different positions, so is there a "correct" or best reasonable orientation of the top plate?

 

[ctuinstra]

I did away with the boots completely. Not too many rocks going to ding up the shafts. I don't plan on driving through mud, salt and snow.

Also, I clocked them where they fit the spring the best.

 

[Waterdriver]

I might depend on if you cut a 1/2 or 1 coil off the spring.
I cut a full coil off and indexed the tab directly towards the chassis.

 

[Bretter]

The new Moog hubs are in and on the Goblin. No problems whatsoever with them - they are great!

As for the brake rotors, the rear ones fit great since they are meant to work with a 4-lug hub/rotor. The fronts on the other hand are drilled for a 4-lug hub from the original 5-lug. They move very slightly so I think they need a centering ring to ensure they are centered/balanced as best as possible. They need a ring to go from 57.1mm (hub) to 65.5mm (rotor interior diameter). I cannot find a hub centric ring with those dimensions (no problem on the 57.1 to 73.1 for the wheels).

There are some from 57.1 to 66.6 which would require machining down to the 65.5 (probably go to 65.1mm for clearance). Is there another option for finding/purchasing these centering rings?

 

[Bretter]

Quick update - 1 more coat of paint on the brakes and should be able to get it sitting on all 4's really soon!

 

[Briann1177]

Would these work?

http://us.hubcentric-rings.com/size-66.6-57.1-alu/