front crossmember swap and RWD

[MilesFox]

so my sedan had bent suspensions due to the previous owner ditching it once, a tow truck who pulled it out of the mud by the tie rod, and from donuting into a curb from the first snow.

 

I had just changed the rear trailing arm the day before the babe patrol car took a dump so now i am driving my sedan again. the steering was poor with its ill alignment. I had a crossmember from an 88 wagon to swap.

 

the existing power steering lost fluid and one of the boots was torn on the bad tie rod.

 

i unbolted the radius rod and parking brake cable mount from the passenger lower control arm. the control arm itself is being replaced. the original was bent and the nut for the ball joint was sheared off, and good ol' RUST was the only thing holdint it together! the axle was shot, the inner boot was gone with metal flakes glittered to the thick coating of molybendum all over the place. this axle has tolerated better than 10,000 miles in this condition.

 

i then on the driver side took out the bolt for the lower control arm pivot and undid the swaybar link as if you were changing the axle using edrach's method:). this control arm was staying and i was too lazy to battle more rusty bolts on that side.

 

having since undone the motor mounts and the exhaust i jack the car by the crossmember and place a jackstand under the tranny, so when i lower the jack the motor is propped up off the crossmember. then i undo the steering joint at the column end.

 

after all this i undo the ps lines at the pump, and the 4 nuts and away she goes. it all came out rather quickly, in just over an hour since i walked out to the car to begin with.

 

on the other crossmember i go to remove the lower control arm for the driver side so it looks like the one i just pulled. the pivot bolt was seized so oi had to cut the nut off and the head of the bolt to remove it. but this does not matter since i am using the hardware original to the car.

 

this swaybar on the new crossmember is bigger being from a 4wd wagon as the one on my sedan was orifinally FWD and missing a bushing.

 

i installed the new crossmember with washers stacked between it and the body of the car, to lift it off the frame by about a half inch. i stacked 6 washers for each bolt. this should allow for a little better than an inch lift on the strut tops without making the axles too inclied. the car feels taller now.

 

so yay, i swapped this on all within the span of a few hours and drove my car to u-haul to take off the axle nut and swap in an outer cv for rear-driveyness!

 

so now my car drives straight but the steering wheel is upside down!

 

the car has absolutely no torque between 2000 rpms so i replaced the exhaust gaskets and 2 studs, and bought a flex-o-pipe to complete my cherry bomb setup to the tailpipe. but then i notice my JB weld plug was missing from the egr port on the head(carb heads)

 

the intake is a stripped down spfi so i have check engine lights on all over the place but i think the o2 sensor is out. i am considering swapping on a straight pull-off intake from the 87 wagon to bring back egr and charcoal purge functions

 

all in all it feels great to drive my car again after it has sat all winter with bent suspensions and flat tires. it still had a full tank of gas from when i let my roommate drive it and it took a dump right after he filled it.

 

that is my story of the day, now that i have finally got around to working on cars again.

[daeron]

[MilesFox]

well now my car is all front-plowy it feels like too much negative camber when cornering, although the rear has no swaybar and i have half a front suspension floating around in the trunk

 

i plugged the egr port with jb weld equivalent and swapped on the MAF from the 87 gl wagon. the one that was on there i believe was from a 92 loyale, as the component itself was shaped differently, but now my car seems a little more throttle responsive.

 

i would like to put a swaybar in the back if anyone has any ideas beyond a stock ea82 rear sway.

 

my camper has a rear swaybar across leaf springs with clamp on end link mounts. something like that