| 04-03-2012 |
The problem with the transmission bolts ended up being bolts that were the wrong size. I went down to the parts house and found some metric bolts that fit and they tightened right up. While I was at it I went ahead and elongated the holes in the transmission mount. The rubber from the transmission mount was sitting a bit sideways from needing to be about another half inch further back and I knew that would cause premature mount failure. I tried using the angle grinder but it wouldn't cut the metal without cutting other parts of the mount. I was surprised at how easy the file cut through the relatively thick metal.
The springs continued to be a big problem. The spring seemed to want to bow out to a large extent and the spring compressors I got from AutoZone were a true pain to work with. I had the spring chained to the lower control arm because I'm not a big fan of severe body injuries and emergency room bills. The compressors slipped and slammed quickly to one side of the spring, catching my thumb and pinning my glove between the studs and the spring mount. It turned my thumb black and blue but luckily didn't pinch it.
As you can see here the spring just seemed too big.
You can see where the shock was rubbing on the inside of the spring.
I'm not sure why companies do this but the shocks provided in the kit had bushings at the bottom that were too wide to fit in the lower control arm so I had to use the grinder to shorten them.
After trying to install the spindle first, this is still what I ended up with.
