ESP Camaro

[birdie2000]

How did it go? Was it as intimidating as everyone makes it out go be? Been debating on doing my own too.

Sent from my XT1080 using Tapatalk

[landstuhltaylor]

How did it go? Was it as intimidating as everyone makes it out go be? Been debating on doing my own too.

Sent from my XT1080 using Tapatalk

It was quite the pain in the ass. I'm not very good at reading the paint so the depth gauge helped a lot. Probably the biggest pain was with the solid pinion spacer, I noticed that if I changed pinion shims it also wanted a different spacer which ended up doubling any changes I made. The next time I do it will be pretty painless, but I felt the learning curve was very steep. Definitely tons of wasted time just figuring how to do the things I knew I needed to do and frustration crept in. I honestly don't see how it's possible to do the job without a press and the correct bearing puller unless you are one of those people that throws the stock pinion shim on it and hopes for the best.

[birdie2000]

Thanks. Are there any steps/tools that are 10-bolt specific or is this stuff pretty universal? I have a friend who is an engineer for American Axle and in the process learned how to set up a ring gear in some test situations, but never done it on this axle. How much would you say you've spent just on tools?

Sent from my XT1080 using Tapatalk

[landstuhltaylor]

The bearing puller that won't damage anything was $270 from PEM and the pinion depth tool was another $300, both can be used on just about anything. Any other tools can be rented from Autozone. If I were to do this all over again I would probably expect 3-4 hours if doing a gear change. If you reuse the gears that are in it the process is much, much easier and faster.

[landstuhltaylor]

Going back in tomorrow



Sent from my LG-D851 using Tapatalk

[formula218]

This might be a dumb noob question, but i've got one of those covers to put on with the load bolts like that one, how hard is the install? i know putting the cover on is just swapping them but what about putting the load bolts in?

[Lucky SOB]

Look up TA Girdle instructions. It will tell you how much to torque those bolts (pretty minimal as I recall). It's very easy.

[formula218]

Look up TA Girdle instructions. It will tell you how much to torque those bolts (pretty minimal as I recall). It's very easy.

Finger tighten till they touch, then torque to 5ft/lbs. Thanks for that tip!

[landstuhltaylor]

Finger tighten till they touch, then torque to 5ft/lbs. Thanks for that tip!

Lock nuts are then either 20 or 25 ftlbs I believe.

Rear end is in. Still need to finish the brakes and install the sway bar. Going to tack weld the weight jacker in place on the axle once it's back on the ground.



Sent from my LG-D851 using Tapatalk

[landstuhltaylor]

Welded the sway bar reinforcement brackets in and painted everything I've been working on. Also installed a new clutch line and trouble shooted some issues I've had with suppliers on the brake lines and rear bar.



Spent a few minutes trying to figure out where this connector went until I realized it probably had something to do with all that extra room from getting rid of the AC.



Sent from my LG-D851 using Tapatalk

[nooncha]

Question, has anyone bent the sway bar brackets before just from track use? The only time I've ever bent/broken one of those was when I curbed my front end.

[landstuhltaylor]

Yes, quite a few. I know of one person who had them last a full season of autocross with a big 36.5mm hollow bar, but they did eventually bend. Easy enough to find in a junkyard though.

[landstuhltaylor]

Getting close to a test drive. ATI underdrive pulley should go on tomorrow and then it's just bleeding the brakes, finishing the fuel harness and setting front toe. I'm going to try the 4"OD Magnaflow muffler but I will probably also pick up a multi-core XR1 to bring to events just in case. The last picture is the 315 on the front with the wrong spacers. The right one should bring it under the fender another .3". Maybe I should convert these wheels to 17x12 and use 335s....







Sent from my LG-D851 using Tapatalk

[formula218]

I love the fitment!!! and the wheels!

[landstuhltaylor]

I'd love to say I'm making real progress but sadly that hasn't been the case. For the last few weeks Hellwig has been completely unable to supply sway bar body side brackets that are actually manufactured correctly. After no response this time around I had to just waste my time to drill the holes out myself so that they actually work. It doesn't bother me that supposedly a plasma tip blows out and makes some bad parts. What does bother me is when they personally contact me and say they will send a new set and that they will personally inspect them, yet when I get the parts they have the exact same problem. They also sent two of the wrong size bolts, but at least they managed to rectify that quickly. I've also been having some issues with the front bar, but that's just due to old crusty threads and nobody elses fault.

On top of that the brakes have been a pain in the ass. Driver side caliper had the bleeder screw seize in it. Went to pick up some new screws and tried to remove the old one today, only to have it snap off. A trip to NAPA yielded two new front calipers, but the passenger side caliper has the wrong threads in the mounting bracket bolt holes and will not work. Going to have to hope the one they bring in from another store doesn't end up having the same problem.

On the bright side I do have a clutch pedal stop in the car now. If only all the other dumb shit stops getting in the way.