just off to do the ball joint rubber, won't take long...

[britlude]

well that was the plan!!!!

didn't go quite like that!.....

it started with a rubber that had given up after 26 years....
IMG_20180518_153051 by jon sutherland, on Flickr

so the car was jacked up, axle stands and all set to go...
the bits to go on..
IMG_20180518_153929 by jon sutherland, on Flickr

compliance joints are a bonus as the castor adjusters on mine are seized... no surprise there!!!!

anyway.... fairly quickly it was well on the way to stripped!!!
IMG_20180518_154600 by jon sutherland, on Flickr

alas once i got to the ball joints, they didn't want to play... the 2 splitter i had and the one i borrowed had all failed in the bid for success, yielding to the mighty sticktion of 26 years of being bolted together!!!

hence the call for options last week!

thanks for the offers, but my thinking is that i've got to replace my damaged tools, and if i borrow one, break that, i've still got to buy one to replace the borrowed one......

[britlude]

so, fast forward nearly a week, and 2 new tools have arrived... one that is 'LGV' quality turns out to be the same as one already bent, you can never tell the size on the internet!!! anyway the second should be ok, certainly looks meaty enough.....

so again on the axle stands...
IMG_20180524_163643 by jon sutherland, on Flickr

gets to this stage in half an hour!!!
IMG_20180524_164820 by jon sutherland, on Flickr

new tool in place, wind on some leverage and...... somethings moving..... a little more tension..... nope, tools bending!!! bum

so a little more extreme measures.....
IMG_20180524_190523 by jon sutherland, on Flickr

and so we get this....
IMG_20180524_190548 by jon sutherland, on Flickr

that can be put on the bench and bashed accordingly!

[britlude]

so, eventually, 4 HOURS LATER it's split.....
IMG_20180524_212027 by jon sutherland, on Flickr

the only way to get the bottom joint was to take the joint out of the upright... the tool i had wouldn't play with the joint in position, angle the joint to get the tool in at the base left insufficient room at the top, and vice versa.... probably what the honda tool allows for!


and the offending joint....
IMG_20180524_212045_1 by jon sutherland, on Flickr

although it doesn't knock, it's a bit floppy.... those in the know will know what i mean!

cleaned ready to reassemble!
IMG_20180524_220239 by jon sutherland, on Flickr

IMG_20180524_220255 by jon sutherland, on Flickr

[britlude]

the front ball joints rubber on the compliance linkage bar thingy ... just for reference....

IMG_20180524_220436 by jon sutherland, on Flickr

it fits on a 36mm diameter an the base, 16mm at the pin and uncompressed it's 25 mm tall.....

[goldnsx]

Thanks for the write-up and the impressive pics. I hope that I won't have to do that soon.

No offense but it reminds me of the saying: if you're buying cheap you're buying twice. As it doesn't have to be the expensive tools for every case in this one the Honda tools are a must.

What balljoints did you use and did you went with the Honda rubber? There's a wide range of rubber quality and you want to do that work every five years...

[britlude]

ball joints are 'rare parts' items from the states, fitted into a spare set of uprights.... i have bought some generic after market rubber boots for the wishbone/compliance bar joints... a case of who's got them in stock in the right size.... as the car is going back together this weekend.


the passenger side is done and back together.....

depending how the drivers side goes, i might be able to swap in a replacement steering rack, as mine is showing most of the wear signs that D1guy lists as reasons to rebuild.... granted the replacement s/h one may not be any better, but i KNOW the one currently in the car needs attention!

[britlude]

Day 2, or first full day…..
Now’s time for the drivers side…. Knowing what I learnt from the passenger side, take it all off and go from there!!!

Once again stripping things down….
IMG_20180526_095505 by jon sutherland, on Flickr

Handy tip…. Do NOT try to prise the abs sensor out by the flange is it’s stuck… it’ll break off if you’re not careful…. No I didn’t do that, but I had a failure previously whereby the corrosion effectively clamped, then separated, the sensor…. If it’s tight it’s got corrosion, so proceed with caution. I pressed mine out from the bearing side, as the bearings were off already
IMG_20180526_101053 by jon sutherland, on Flickr

Soon it was on the floor….
IMG_20180526_103506 by jon sutherland, on Flickr


Here’s the meaty splitting tool… (this was just for the pic, it’s pushed over the joint more in use!)
IMG_20180526_105204 by jon sutherland, on Flickr


I say meaty, but the passenger side ball joints still managed to bend it , the top beam was straight to start with!

[britlude]

In this case, it all separated as it should, with reasonable forces, rather than ridiculous ones!
IMG_20180526_110927 by jon sutherland, on Flickr

This was the reason for the ‘late in the day’ decision to replace the wishbone ball joint rubbers….
IMG_20180526_111400 by jon sutherland, on Flickr

the rubber boot, although sealing was definitely on its way out!

Washed and ready to assemble, save one tiny issue….
IMG_20180526_114107 by jon sutherland, on Flickr


The replacement compliance bar has an insert missing…… it was like this when I got it, obviously the insert escaped with the ball joint when it was removed…


So the choices are….
1. Free up the recently removed caster adjuster, and re-install
2. Salvage an insert to fit in the new free moving compliance joint….


We did give option 1 a good try, obviously with the aluminium, and rubber content of the compliance joint we couldn’t get too happy with the blow torch, and bearing in mind that the adjuster didn’t move when caster alignment was attempted several years ago, I wasn’t holding much hope……


Option 2 it was….. for those of a nervous disposition, look away now….
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IMG_20180526_123017 by jon sutherland, on Flickr


But it does mean I have a complete, and moving, compliance bar now….. I added a little retaining compound when I pressed the insert in, just to make sure, but it does have a tapered bolt going through it to hold it onto the aluminium too!

i took the insert from the adjuster end.... should there be an issue with the other compliance bar later i still have the bar, just not the adjuster, and the way it was refusing to move, it'll have to be cut off anyway....

[britlude]

whilst it was apart, i spotted the suspension cup was looking a bit crusty,
IMG_20180526_114212 by jon sutherland, on Flickr

so a quick wire brush and rust-cure should hold it back a little longer....
IMG_20180526_123428 by jon sutherland, on Flickr

i'm told that's the date code, so it's more than likely the original suspension!!!!


i had planned a little for the weather, and had some shade for most of the day...
IMG_20180526_114613 by jon sutherland, on Flickr

so it was all put back together, started 10.35, all buttoned up by 4! with a break to watch some of the Qualli!

[britlude]

so it's 4pm... what next? the car's on axle stands......

a clue.....
IMG_20180526_155439 by jon sutherland, on Flickr

another clue....
IMG_20180526_165158 by jon sutherland, on Flickr

yup, steering rack.... mine is making pretty much all the noises D1guy references when diagnosing if a rebuild is necessary, and as i had bought one ages ago (from australia, with my spare gearbox i think...) i thought it time.....

looking on the interweb and youtube, the video shows it takes 11 minutes to remove, tho i think there may be editing involved....

so spare, spare bracket, battery, battery support removed, a few bolts here and there and it's ready to drop out....


however...... they didn't have this to contend with.....
IMG_20180526_172236 by jon sutherland, on Flickr

and not much better with a flash....
IMG_20180526_172247 by jon sutherland, on Flickr

you know how the NSX is famous for dissolving the nuts/bolt heads on the exhaust system.... well mine has managed it on the steering rack... they should be 2 nice M6 nuts.......

fortunately the replacement came with a pigtail for those bits, so i have spare terminals and rubbers.... i tried a dremmel on them, but there's not an awful lot to work with, and as the covers had decided not to be rubber any more, I snipped the wires at the terminals, and i'll splice in the new extensions.....