Alapor

Well, been a few weeks but I finally got time to get some of my projects done. So, up she went on the jack stands. 3 projects, powder coating my wheels black, new solid urethane tranny mounts and replacing some underbody studs.

First, took my wheels to my tire guy to peel them off the rims. Will be dropping off Monday to powder coat. Why powder coat? Plenty of guys have had great success with paint and pc. My decision has to do with my environment. I live in coastal Alabama. Humid as hell and salt air corrosion. Powder coat holds up better in these conditions. That is why salt water boats have all metal powder coated instead of paint. If I lived somewhere else, I may have painted, but I found a great powder coater and decided to go that route.

Tranny mounts- was getting a clunk everytime I let off the gas and stepped on my gas. Put a lift under the tranny in it went up a good ways, so I knew my mounts were smoked. When I took them out, they fell apart. Going with a solid one but has a pretty low durometer of 60a. This is the lowest duro I could find in a solid. Most start at 75 for tsport and 90-95 for track. I went with the Tarrett Mounts. (see pic) Hopefully this will keep noise and vibration away. Plenty of opinions on this too. Saw a thread on 6speed where a guy centered the sleeve and used windshield adhesive all around it. Kinda made his on bushing. Seeing the oem mounts, I do want something more robust. If I get too much nov, I will replace with stock, but I felt this was worth a shot. Need to find a shop with a press who will let me press the net mounts in the housing. My old mounts literally fell apart when I removed them (see pics)

Underbody studs. I have three broken ones. Some are tack welded better than other. Two were broke when I bought it, I broke a third one and barely put any pressure on it. I can weld decent enough, but the floorpan metal is pretty this and the studs are small. I found a thread with the attached pic stud that fit the P well nuts. Good, big base. Will prep the floorpan and JB Weld them. (see pics)

Well, hopefully by Tuesday I will have my new black wheels on, tranny mounts installed and studs on. Will update.

Alapor

Got the tranny mounts in. Did not use a press. Not gonna say how I did it, but lets say some cutting torches, chisel, a vice and some other things got the old ones out and the new ones in. I feel you need a rich vocabulary of curse words as I used about everyone and some no one has ever heard of....lol I will say getting the mount out is much easier than putting it back in. Just a pain to get the holes lined up. You need a floor jack and a stout punch. See pics

The studs went on real nice too. Tried to break one off and they are STOUT. Could not budge it and I put a lot of force behind it.

Of course I did all this laying on my back with the car on jack stands. Good lord I would love a lift. Been under this car way too much without one.

Got my rims peeled and ready to drop off at powder coaters tomorrow. Hopefully will get everything back together on Tuesday and see how it all came out.