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I was going to keep posting updates to the "What did you do to your GT car today?" thread - but decided I may as well make this an ongoing build thread instead!
First - memorializing some old posts for the next few...
4/7/2023
Got her registered, and got her the bunk bed I’ve always wanted!
Replaced the old leather seat inserts with new Alcantara inserts + new foam courtesy of Gert, finally adjusted harness to fit, and changed the oil. Now I understand what you lot mean about how fast the oil comes out of the pan/sump!
Swapped in OEM shifter cables for the Cup cables that were on the car (the sound of my gearbox chewing rocks at idle is cool, the buzzing they caused everywhere else was less so), rebuilt the shifter with the Function First Shift-Right kit, and changed the trans fluid (Motul 75W90).
Discovered the car had an OEM 7.2 GT3 short shifter and not a Cup shifter as I’d thought, so the FF parts were less of a change than expected, but it’s a rather nice bit of kit regardless. The clearance between the shift cradle and the locknut that holds in the shift yoke is hilariously tight, but it works.
The rubber grommet holding the shift cables was much less painful than feared with the help of WD-40, an old socket, and a rubber mallet. I would not have wanted to do this job without a lift though!
My two other small tips - 1) make sure you (or your neighbour…) have snap ring pliers for the FF kit install, and 2) when installing the shift cables, lock the clips into the shifter housing first, and then lock them into the brackets on the trans side - easier to align that way.
I decided over the summer that I'd to do a full suspension refresh on the car. No leaks or anything of the sort, but the OEM suspension was demonstrating its 13+ years of age and track miles. In classic "while I'm in there" fashion, I thought that if I was going to modernize some bits, I might as well do it all - so every shock, top hat, arm, bushing, nut, bolt, and washer would be replaced, save for the uprights themselves, and then both inner and outer tie rods for good measure.
After loads of research and considering my ~60/40 track/street goals - I landed on Tractive R&T/DSC with 100/150 springs via TPC Racing, RSS LCAs, front outer tie rods, and rear toe links, Powergrid swaybar endlinks, and new OEM everything else (inner tie rods, thrust arms, and rear dogbones).
So I started ordering parts...and they started showing up...
With everything finally arrived and a free weekend ahead, I laid out all the shiny bits and made an appointment for an alignment the following week. My wife happily(?) helped with the temporary art installation, but also couldn't understand why all this cost as much as a used Camry, yet couldn't get us to Costco.
It turns out my hope of getting everything done in a single weekend mostly by myself was...ambitious. This is a big job, painful at times, but ultimately a fun and rewarding one. It's also a testament to the impressive engineering that went into the suspension of these cars, which I and various muscles of mine that were rather sore on Monday are now intimately familiar with.
Quite a few lessons learned:
- Contorting myself between a cage and fixed-back 996 buckets to access the rear shelf and shock mounts was as hilarious as expected
- A basic pickle fork and hammer won't always do it. We needed an extra tall fork and 30-50 hits with a bloody 10lb sledgehammer to get the rear ball joints to pop off (I'm fortunate to have an exceptionally helpful neighbour). I don't plan to repeat that experience...but I can't imagine there's many other photos of a sledgehammer and a GT3 around?
- Getting the thrust arms lined back up was the toughest bit of reassembly. Lots of fiddling around, prying, loading with a floor jack, etc.
- RSS bits required 27mm and 30mm sockets to torque everything down
- If the upper shock mounting bolts aren't lining up to the chassis in your Tractive top mounts, move the bolts to the other holes. The bolt pattern is a 5mm difference so impossible to see visually, but it's there. Thanks to Tom @ TPC for the Saturday night response that saved my weekend!
Really love this thread. You are a man after my own heart! You should look into a sliding trolley jack that goes in between the ramps on your four post lift. I have one so I can get wheels off the ramps when the car is on the lift and it is priceless!
04-08-2023 | 01:50 PM
