Courtshark

It begins 5/21/11, the day it was all supposed to end.

Location: Gaithersburg, MD (Viking Automotive; my brother's shop)

To build, first we must deconstruct. Spent much of the morning taking the Kraken and my black '88 apart. The Kraken was tougher as it had most likely never been apart this way! We removed the front shocks/springs & stock brakes from the Kraken to swap them onto my black '88. Got everything reassembled on the black one (so I could drive home), but the Kraken had to wait. In all, we spent a good 8 hours wrenching on both cars. Many thanks to Fraggle Mike for stopping by to lend a hand!

To R&R the shock/spring assembly, we removed the lower A arm on the right side, but discovered we could swing the other out of the way; not straight down, but side to side. I found an old post that recommended allowing the lower A arm to drop, basically fold down. This should not be possible if your lower A arm bushings are in good shape. Am I wrong?

Anyway, we repeated the swing method on the black one with equal success, and everything went back together beautifully.

As you can see from the underbelly photo, she needs some refreshing down below. Considering doing a pan gasket since we're doing the rack for sure (mysterious power steering leak must be hunted down, too, which is not coming from the rack). What's the best source for a pan gasket? Shouldn't have given away that one I won at Frenzy two years ago...

We also wanted to swap out my 928 Specialists cooling fan over to the Kraken, but the Kraken's fan is in remarkably good shape, such that it won't come out. Need to do some research as I know there are lots of tricks for that job. We loosened the radiator but without removing the upper radiator hose. I think that needs to be off. Should probably do a coolant flush while I'm at it.

The goal is to get the Kraken roadworthy for SITM. We're confident we can do that, my brother more so than I. Trying not to get my hopes up...

At the end of the day, I had to debate whether to keep the GTS wheels on the Kraken, or install what I've got on my black one on the beast (see profile pic). What say you?

Next up (in order):
- installing front shocks/springs (Bilsteins/Eibachs) & Big Reds (done)
- swap rear suspensions (done)
- pan gasket? (looks OK; gasket ready when time comes)
- motor mounts (look OK upon further inspection; sold mounts on hand when time comes)
- steering rack & bushings (done)

Hopefully all this week! (uh, no)

To Do List (as of 6/13)
Exterior:
Front fog lenses
clear corners
clear side markers
LEDs?


Interior:
carpet - Classic 9?
floor mats?
stereo/sharkwoofer (need a new head unit?)
dash - cover or replace?
console?
steering wheel (swap in the Momo?)
headliner
driver's seat bolster


Engine/mechanical
Short shifter
Blackbird intake? Or wait for turbo...
AC - hopefully just the control head

Long term:
Paint!
Turbo!
motor mounts
pan gasket
timing belt
water pump

Cheers,
Mike

Jadz928

Alright, this is great!
I must've missed the backstory of The Kraken, so I will ask...
You picked up a new 928? and...
Why are you taking parts off your black 928? I thought that one was pretty well put together, the last time I saw it.

Anyway, good luck with the R&R! Will be following along.

Courtshark

Hey Jim,

Yep, picked up a 5 speed. Always wanted one after driving Dad's 82 5 speed. Really love the auto, (especially mine!) too, but the 5 speed was just a must for me since all of my other cars are autos. I've been paddle-shiffting my 9-5 Aero lately; just not the same.

Reason for the swaps: I'm going to sell the auto when the Kraken is done. I'm leaving the headers/exhaust on, as well as the autothority chip as I intend to turbo & sharktune the Kraken eventually.

Manfred

Ok, must've missed something too. Why, "The Kraken"?
Wheels are a tough call. I always tend to lean towards keeping thing original looking but the wheels on your black one look nice. Will you be modifying other things or basically keeping the car original (carputer, etc)?

Courtshark

Hi Manfred,

"The Kraken" comes from these events: http://www.wbaltv.com/news/27454746/detail.html

My friends dubbed me the Kraken afterwards (as in don't **** off Mike, or he'll come after you with everything he's got!). Plus the car is lagoon green (though it looks blue to me, except under flourescent lighting) so it's sort of the creature from the (green) lagoon.

Can't make up my mind on the wheels. The ones on the black car are 18s; GTSs are 17s.

As far as mods, yes, I will be doing lots of fun things to it. First up for interior/stereo is installing an ipod controller to go with the flip screen already in the car. I'm also installing a Sharkwoofer, hopefully at SITM. Amp & woofer enclosure ordered. Just hope I get a chance to run wires.

JHowell37

To fold the lower control arms out of the way you loosen the mounting bolts.

Jon B.

Well if you decide to take off the headers/exhaust I'd be VERY interested.

I'll be following this thread as well, I love these types of threads.

Bill Ball

Yeah, I just remove the bolts to the body and swing it out of the way, leaving the balljoint intact.

Mike, in the original post you are correct, that the lower A-arm will not droop down much after the balljoint is removed (but leaving the body mount bolts on) if the bushings are intact. The front bushing is bonded to the arm (unless it is broken) and does not rotate, but only flexes. Same with the upper A-arms. They act like springs to some extent.

Courtshark

Thanks for the confirmation, Bill. The original threads/suggestions I read made it sound as if the lower A arm folded straight down 90 degrees once the proper bolts were removed. Swinging it out with the ball joint in tact made a helluva lot more sense, and made putting everything back together much easier.

Courtshark

Not a chance, Jon! Installing those headers was a PITA not to be repeated. Plus, to me the stock headers are a nice simple but efficient design, and get the job done unless you're going for far more HP than I am.

Jon B.

Hey, you won't know unless you ask! I'd like them to complement a supercharger install actually.

chrisdaniel1

I have an idea for the GTS wheels, take them off and sell them to me

Courtshark

No worries Jon, I totally understand! Buy the whole car & supercharge it!

Chris... tempting. It's so hard to find nice looking wheels (I'm extremely partial to 5 spoke designs)that fit over the Big Reds, though. The black one has no need for Big Red-fitting wheels anymore, so I'm hoping my old dishes turn up so I can put them on the black one and keep both sets until I can make up my mind!

mickster

You look far more professional on camera than in person I like the comments re: paint at the end of the article. That's a lot of stripping, prep, labor and a lot of matching, clear-coating, etc. I don't think people have any idea. You've got metal and plastic which means strip to a similar level, prep-then spray. It ain't Maaco or Earl Schreib...

Courtshark

Hey Mike,

Yeah, people were all upset by the estimate! I didn't write it! It's a very expensive truck, too, so it wouldn't shock me that with all of the labor and parts involved it could have come in at $10 - 12k. In the end a shop near me did it for just under $6k, and they did an awesome job.

But don't dis Maaco... there's a brand new one right near my brother's shop. They did his '66 Corvair, and it looks insanely good. I believe they're franchises, so it's up to the franchisee how to run his show. This guy is amazing.