E21 Project Thread - Part 2

[Bassboy3313]

Frame & Axle Services Co was the first place I went to see if they would shorten the axles for me. They don't do that kind of work and referred me to Machine Service in Waukesha/Pewaukee that I mentioned earlier. Them and a couple other people referred me to Machine Service as well, but they didn't want to take that project on either. This is why I am now doing it myself. If Ray is unable to dynamically balance them at his work, I was going to go back to Frame & Axle t osee if they can static balance them. 

A few people that had the idea of shortening their own halfshafts or have actually done it said they weren't even gonna bother balancing them anyways. This is more of a peace of mind thing for me it seems.

[Bassboy3313]

So, I did a thing after a few guys here mentioned to try it.

Tried out some lamin-x on my taillight lenses since new ones are crazy expensive if you can even find them. Turned out decent. Didn't hide the cracks and blemishes as well as I hoped, but still better than nothing. Debated on leaving the reverse light lense white or not (not like they work anyways). What do ya'll think?

[straight6pwr]

looks great! i think it hides the cracks pretty well, at least in that photo

[Daggerty]

#Insta famous 

like the red but if you could get rid of the amber marker and do red with just the white reverse.... coming from a e36 guy so that might be my reasoning. 

I can do the axles for you, I do a lot of welding I can give you some nice beads but you have to take your shirt off.

Id be using a 252 millermatic.

[Jeff]

I can't find the cracks. They look good

[Bassboy3313]

Daggerty said:

#Insta famous 

like the red but if you could get rid of the amber marker and do red with just the white reverse.... coming from a e36 guy so that might be my reasoning. 

I can do the axles for you, I do a lot of welding I can give you some nice beads but you have to take your shirt off.

Id be using a 252 millermatic.

It's all a one piece lens, so can't just get rid of yellow signal portion. As for the axles, they have been machined and are in process of getting welded already. Thanks tho

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[Bassboy3313]

Axles all welded up. Time to get them balanced, painted and start assembling the cv joints.

[Jdesign]

The taillights turned out great. Nice job! It might just be my eyes, but those axle shafts look oblong, I would certainly make sure that when they are balanced, they are not off by a large amount. Maybe turning them in a lathe to make sure they are completely centric if that's the case.

[Bassboy3313]

It's just your eyes  Everything checks out within 0.005".

[Bassboy3313]

Since mitch asked, here is what I had to do to "rebuild" the shortened cv axles.

First thing was to clean all the old grease out of the cv joints. I soaked them in a can of parts cleaner for 24 hours then blasted them with my air sprayer in a can of mineral spirits. Blew them off with air hose and let them air dry.

I taped off the mounting holes and inner spline hole, then proceeded to pack them with new grease. I used half the pack of grease that was included in my new boot kits from W&N.

Once they were all packed with grease, I installed the rear cap and boots. It was nice that W&N pre-installed the boot and clamp so I didn't need to buy a clamp pliers. I put 3 of the mounting bolts through the holes to line it all up, then tapped it on lightly with a hammer.

I then went ahead and painted the axles.

Installing the joints onto the axles were tricky, but once I got the first done the last three became easier. With the remaining half pack of grease, I put half of that into the boot and the rest on in the other side of the cv joint. Slide clamp on, put axle through boot, lightly but firmly tapped the cv joint back onto the splines of the axle, installed c-clip, and tapped outer cap on with hammer, done.

[Jeff]

Them axels look amazing. Nice work!

[Bassboy3313]

Thanks Jerf!

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[m42b32]

I'll be doing this soon, thanks for the write-up!

[Jdesign]

Those look damn good. Nice work!

[Jeff]

What's next?

[Bassboy3313]

Jeff said:

What's next?

Lots!!!

Hoping tomorrow I can get the subframe and diff mocked up so I can mark where the diff hanger mounts need to be welded in. Make the mounts, burn them in and coat them. Then I can install the rear end for good after that. 

Still cranking away on the body work. Picked up some epoxy primer that I will be spraying all the bare metal with before doing the body filler. Been reading up on it and have asked a few body work guys and they all say the same thing. Whats left is welding up the holes for the rear side marker deletes, cut/weld the wheel arches for flare fitment, then fix all the small areas around the car. Epoxy primer, skim coat body filler, sand, sand and more sanding. 

Also still need to fix the fuel leak between the oem fuel line fitting and fuel hose to rail, fix the exhaust leak at the manifold (i'm suspecting), install the headlights, and finish control panel wiring. 

Once I get my tax return, tires will be first on my shopping list too.

[Bassboy3313]

Subframe and diff are temporarily (possibly permanently depending on if they're in the way or not) installed, thanks as always to Brian's help! Ran into a few snags, mostly being the stock diff mount had to be cut out for the diff to fully seat. Got that done. Looks like I'll need to do some slicing and dicing to the frame brace. Diff hangers are already touching that brace and don't want any vibration problems.

Plan of attack is sectioning the frame where the mounts need to be and boxing it all back in once the new hangers are welded. Welding/boxing it all in will give the rigidity back to the structure. Oh how I wish I had a lift to make this a lot easier. Sigh!

[Bassboy3313]

Got some epoxy primer sprayed down on the rear valance to keep it from rusting and also give a protective base before body filler. Still have a few spots to grind/sand smooth too. Pretty close on the color just for fun. [emoji4]

Also, ordered some goodies, but alas, my bad luck with shipping shows through again. Only 2 of the 4 were delivered. What the crap!?!

[B C]

Those tires look badass!

[Jdesign]

MEATS! Nice, I cant wait to see the pair mounted