Worn out from last night and today's fun. Started working on the front brakes last night. Stupid rotors were a pain in the a$$ to get off. I will take the rotors in beginning of next week to get them turned. Still need to work on the rear setup before the week is out.
Removed the front and lower torque rods. The rotors were a piece of cake compared to these things. Could not get enough leverage to break the bolts loose, while guarding myself from pushing it so much that I might knock the car from the jack stands. Finally, they gave way. Needless to say I survived and the mounts came off. I started with the front one, then removed the Ingalls powerstick and ETD setup that I installed a few years back. Which by the way is what cause the front mount to fail. Just too much stress on the mount with the top being so rigid. With the top and front out, the bottom was much easier to work with. I propped up the front of the engine just a little which gave a enough room for me to pull the lower mount out. Everything will go back in reverse order.
Cleaned up the torque rods (upper,lower,and front) and prepped for making them solid mounts with 3M Window Weld. Messy stuff to say the least. Your supposed to wait 5-7 days to let them cure, but you can accelerate the process by setting them under a heat lamp. One tube of 3M WW is all I needed for all three. Probably on Sunday I will do some trimming and cleanup on them and allow the curing process to continue through into next week.
While things are curing, I can get my front rotors turned, but also its a chance for me to clean up the calipers so that I can paint them. Nice. If I had more time, I might also take some time to paint the stock rims too. I think I will be going for white. I think it will really stand out that way.
Something else happened today that was very cool. Like an idiot, I threw away the brake pad covers (oem stock). Stupid. Went to the dealer today to see if I could buy them separately.... ummm no. You have to buy the pads as a complete kit. Crap. The dealer doesn't carry ceramic pads, so I didn't want oem. As luck would have it, the tech pulled a nice one on me. Took the covers from a kit he had and gave them to me no charge. The only thing he asked was to remember to come back when I need service. Fair enough. I am over due for my 60k mile checkup... so that might work out too. Maybe I can get my timing belt tensioner upgraded with an aftermarket one that is better while I am at it.
All that being done, I was fortunate enough to get the part delivered for our gas mower. I spent some time installing it, but no luck starting so far. I will have to look at this weekend some more. So I broke out the reel mower we recently bought, and commenced to mowing the backyard before the rain set in. So far it hasn't started raining. Need to do some touch up plus the front yard tomorrow.
Can't wait to see how the car behaves once I get everything back together. Just in time for May 15th.... AutoX event in Louisville, KY - Papa John's Cardinal Stadium. It will also be nice to stop hearing my exhaust and catback banging up against the frame everytime the engine lurches forward... since it won't be moving any more, or rather very little at all. It should also be a significant improvement on shifting as well. I figure they will last a few years before I might have to do them again. Maybe by then I might consider upgrading to something like the Innovative mounts instead.
Well thats enough rambling. Calling it a night.
