Start of summer update. Finally got my Cusco front camber plates in that are the right size for my Koni's(12x1.25mm). The pillow ball collar nut is the perfect size and threads down perfectly. Also, the stand-off is the perfect size to allow for proper articulation without contacting the plate. These should look pretty sick with the Cusco front strut bar.



Bob at Precision Points machine shop did an excellent job milling down the rear plates for me. In the picture above, there is a "cup", which is supposed to hold a 70mm spring. Since I am using 65mm springs and upper spring perches, it really serves no purpose for me. Articulation would be limited using the mount as the perch, but with separate perches, it allows full articulation like in a coilover setup. I would have had to use long spacers just to clear when fully articulated, which would have reduced travel. Bob just milled out to the edge for a clean look. The plates appear to be stout and should hold up just fine. Thanks to Curtis for the advice.



Rears complete. I flipped the pillow collar to get the proper spacing and used the shorter washer for the top of the plate. Bob at the shop machined the pillow collars and washers for me just a tad over 12mm to fit since they were designed for a smaller strut shaft. The shafts are perfectly centered and do not move around. Finished off with Koni nuts.



Fronts complete. Bob machined the upper spring perches to a tad over 14mm to fit over the square shoulder. Shafts are also perfectly centered within the bearing.



I really hope that these are going to work for me since they were built piece-by-piece. Thanks to OptionZero at zilvia.com for the awesome custom Koni thread. I used the link as a reference when building my own setup, albeit using different parts. Also, thanks to Bob at Precision Points, Curtis, and KC for hooking me up on the struts. Still waiting on the turbo and a few parts from JNZ.

Beautiful!! Should be awesome. Looking forward to hearing how the perform!

Keep up the good work. It looks like you're going to have something really enjoyable when it's all done.

David - I will for sure let everyone know how the suspension performs.

^Thanks. It's almost been 4 years since I've had this car and I hope to be able to drive it around this summer/early fall.


Little bit of progress. Removed the E316G and got to see a preview of my billet wheel GReddy 18G/20G hybrid. Compressor cover needs to be bored to fit the wheel and the turbo still needs balancing. The cover might need to be clocked and I still don't know what to do about the elbow. Hotside intercooler piping will need to fabricated as well.


I ordered a pair of the correct size Tein pillow ball collars(PMP04-98469: 22mm OD, 12.5mm ID, and 10mm tall) to space the rear upper spring perch away from the rear upper strut mount. There is still full articulation and no contact, while being as close as possible to the strut mount.



Did some digging around at Archer Racing and found a few pairs of 1G non-ABS AWD knuckles. I thought these were FWD based on cross-referencing, but I was wrong and no one called me out. At least they will make doing the 5-lug swap easier since I don't have to unpack the bearings out of the knuckles on the car. Plus they are probably nasty and these are clean and rust-free. Will also make the ABS delete "cleaner", but only because there won't be any sensor mounts.





Finally finished acquiring all the sh*t needed to do the 4-bolt rear. New OEM driveshaft to diff bolts, cups with hardware, axle seals, rear diff front seal, drain plug, and fill plug.



New(not refurb) Surtrack left and right rear axles(MI-8195 & MI-8196). Rock Auto had these at $130 shipped I believe for the pair, which isn't bad. I made sure they work with non-ABS, M/T, and LSD.



Still plan on getting a new Koyo copper radiator and waiting on a few more things to come in from JNZ. Also, waiting on a Raybestos rear caliper that I ordered months ago. I have the other 3, but have been waiting to paint them.

Are the 4 bolt parts still available? Do you have part numbers?

It is coming along very nic. Im' sure you will love that suspension setup!

faqinshiet - Kind of. The cups are NLA in the U.S. Part numbers are in the pic. Check with JNZ.

Martin - Thanks. I sure hope so.


Trying to make a big push to get the car going. A few more items came in.

New Koyo radiator. Part number is W0133-1816199. It hurt me inside to run the car with the old radiator, so now I am happy. It's no blinging aluminum Koyo, but will get the job done. My old radiator fan won't come off the old radiator, so I may decide to run some sort of puller slim fan setup for more room.





New Whiteline caster bushings, ES tie rod boots, OEM inner tie rods, and OEM outer tie rods.



New OEM Evo 8 brake booster hose. According to JNZ, the stock hose is NLA, so this is what they are selling as a replacement. Needs to be cut down a bit.



New OEM transmission mounting bolts, transfer case mounting bolts, front strut to knuckle bolts, rear strut to knuckle bolts, front and rear strut tower bolts, and pressure plate bolts.



Jumbo Dampachi doll. Who knew a coilover could be so cute.



Jumbo Fukotaro doll. This creature is one of the mascots for Cusco's Junior Rally team. He's kind of cute too.



New OEM JDM hood badge for the trunk and white MMC badge with raised letters. Thanks to G. Pic of JDM MMC badge for size reference.

when you do the brake booster hose make sure to not cut out the check valve in it.

Thanks Shane. I made sure I knew where the valve was and the hose was also marked with paint pen to make it easy.

More goodies have arrived. Getting real close to getting the car towed down to a shop. Ended up choosing an ACT 2600 Xtreme clutch kit with sprung street disk. Probably didn't need the kit since I ordered an OEM TOB, but it won't hurt to have a spare.



Did some searching and found an 1/8"NPT to -4AN oil restrictor with a .075 opening for the 20G since I am feeding from the OFH.



Found a NOS grille on eBay thanks to the link idreamidrive posted. This brings the grille total to 8.



Mocked up one of the NOS JDM rear 1/4 window shades I got from Ahmad. Thanks Ahmad. Not sure if I'm going to put these on quite yet. Probably going to either remove the rear 1/4 sticker or just get rid of the GalantVR4.org part to stay on the sleeper theme.



After seeing G post about his adhesive removal wheel, I decided to get a 3M version and try it out. Took me a bit to figure out the sweet spot, but I got all the caked-on trunk badge adhesive removed. There's still some orange stuff left, so I'll see if I can clean it up some more.





Waiting on a few OEM goodies and also some new injectors.

Looks like Christmas every time I open your thread!

Where did you get the restrictor from? I should probably get one.

Thanks Shaggy. I got the restrictor from eBay. click


New injectors came in directly from FIC. Decided on 1120cc low-z. I figure that this will give me a little room to grow. Plan is to stay on 91.





Flow sheet.





New OEM TOB, retaining clip, fulcrum ball, clutch fork, 1G clutch master cylinder, flywheel bolts, and stainless master to slave line. I already have a stainless master to slave line installed that I bought from 4nmuscle. I think JNZ made a mistake while packing, so I'll have to see if they want it back.



Still waiting on the snail. Apparently the wheels were sent to the wrong place to get balanced, but my friend just got them in earlier this week. Just needs to be assembled. I might decide to get a Punishment Racing recirculated O2 housing with Tial MVS, since it looks like it offers the most clearance with a stock radiator.

Lots of nice shiny new parts. Looking forward to seeing how they all come together in your build.

Tentative appointment for service and tuning is September 14th. The guys are busy with racing, so I will be able to bring the car in after Proving Grounds 2. I was hoping for this weekend, but it is what it is.

Did some major work on the car and removed the ABS motor and lines. I was able to He-Man all engine bay hard line fittings off with a flare wrench. I'm glad I didn't pay a shop to do this because it wasn't so bad once I fully committed to it. Didn't need a torch at all, but I have yet to remove the last two fittings that meet the rubber brake lines in the front fender wells. Those will probably need some heat to bust loose. I'd like to remove the harness and trunk computer, but I don't really know how to go about it. No rush to remove them, but it would look a lot cleaner. I feel like I should use that huge empty space where the ABS motor sat for something.



Non-ABS prop valve ready to go. I bought the JNZ ABS-delete kit that comes with stainless lines.



Changed out the clutch master cylinder to a new 1G DSM tall reservoir unit because I am going with the ACT 2600. Will need to make sure the slave is a pink, but I bought it new from JNZ a little while ago, so it could be a green. Will check and get back on that one.



Unfortunately, 1G DSM and GVR-4 brake master cylinders are NLA. I like the 3G MC, but I am sticking with stock brakes for now. Beck/Arnley is known for reboxing, so I ordered a MC from them and it came in a Tokico box and was a made in Japan, Nabco unit. Ended up being the wrong bore(7/8"), so I ordered Beck/Arnley 072-8554. Didn't end up being an OEM rebox, but it was worth a gamble. I really have no OEM options, so this will work for now. It is a 2G AWD, turbo, non-ABS, 1" bore MC. Ziggy at RTM Racing says they are identical minus the reservoir tubes and works on any DSM. The part number for non-ABS and ABS MC's is different, so I went with non-ABS. Bolt's right up and the lines are the same thread. Front goes to driver's side forward port(right) and rear goes to passenger's side forward port(left).



Here's how everything looks once new. I got new brake fluid hose for the reservoir. Ended up getting 3/8" ID Wilwood remote reservoir hose, which is actually just a Gates Adapt-a-flex hose.



Cleaned up the power steering pump and painted it along with the pulley.



New OEM power steering pivot bolts(MF244882: driver's side). I replaced the passenger side pivot bolt(MF244880) with a stainless one.



New OEM 2G heat shield.



I also installed the FIC 1120's onto the fuel rail. Still waiting on a driver's side rear caliper, radiator fan, more OEM stuff, and the snail, which should be here early next week. Also, going to order some new front lower control arms, maybe some adjustable rear upper control arms, and also the Jay Racing active toe delete. My friend Matt G. was not able to rig up an internal wastegate setup, so I will more than likely have to purchase a Punishment O2.

Snail is here. Custom GReddy 20G Built by my friend Matt Gesch who was a former turbo builder at MAP. I think jeverts can maybe vouch for some of his work. Anyways, the compressor cover has been bored out to accept a 20G billet wheel. I think the bearing housing is aftermarket(same kind that MAP uses), but it has been bored out to accept a larger 360 degree stell thrust bearing. I need to clock the turbo back in the downward position because we ended up finding the misplaced wastegate that will bolt up. Will also need 4-bolts for the O2 housing to bolt up since this snail has no studs on it. The elbow outlet has been cut off, but I have a straight section that will be welded on tomorrow.



Close-up of the billet wheel. It is a KTS(Kawasaki Turbo Systems) 6+6 MHI 20G wheel sourced from MAP. The blades are longer than the MHI cast unit, but I'm not too sure on the complete specs.



Had the turbine housing ported out.



As I mentioned earlier, still keeping the internal gate for now. Turbine wheel is a TD06 SL2 wheel.



Replaced all the calipers with Raybestos reman'd units except for the one on the far right, which is a Centric. I ordered all 4 Raybestos calipers back in April, but the rear right has not been in stock for some time. Not a fan of mismatching, but this will do.



Bought some gloss black G2 caliper paint to coat the calipers with. Seems to have pretty good reviews and is more durable than aerosol caliper paint. It is self-leveling, which is nice too.



Took about 2 hours and 2 coats to do all the calipers, but I tried to get every little spot I could. There was still a little paint left over, so I used it on other parts.



Looks good so far. I think these will look pretty good with the green Project Mu pads installed.



My buddy Charles is coming up from the Twin Cities tomorrow with a trailer to bring me to a new shop down there on Sunday. We are going to finish up wiring the AMG corners, get the JDM front bumper installed, and button-up any loose ends before the 2.5 hour haul.

Car is officially at SM Speed in Blaine, MN thanks to the recommendation from Jason Everts. Kind of ironic, since I bought the car in Blaine four years ago and now it is back. It was quite the struggle trying to get an appointment, but we are good to go now. Unfortunately, my buddy Charles' truck experienced some mechanical issues on our way out of Duluth going up the big hill. As soon as we got to a stop, the car was idling like crazy and his vacuum gauge was bouncing out of control. Luckily, his sister's BF came up with a Duramax to finish the tow. Thanks Charles, I really appreciate the kind gesture and am sorry about your racerback truck. The car should make it into the shop later this week, but it is sitting outside at the moment. The tuner owns a weapons manufacturing company, so the car is super safe sitting out in the open. I will try to keep up to date on the progress of the car. I ran into a fitment issue with the oil restrictor. Apparently, the bearing housing uses a M12x1.5 thread and not 1/8" NPT like I thought. I will need to get a M12x1.5 male to 1/8" NPT female for the restrictor to work.

looks good. cant wait to see what you make for power.

No update on the car yet. It's just been sitting out in the rain, snow, and shine at the shop. Acquired a couple items in the mean time though.

Dorman Control Arms. I got sent the wrong ones the first time despite ordering what was pictured, but the right ones did come in. The reason I went with Dorman is because of a great article on Tooners. In a nutshell, a Tooner member complained to Dorman about the welds being weak and Dorman ended up revising the arms with beefier welds. This just goes to show how good their customer support is. Dorman Control Arm Article



Looks nice and thick. The bushings will be replaced with the Whiteline caster bushings I have.



Big thanks to David(ApexHunter) at HeelToe for supplying these Feal brake line mounts. I will be using these on the rear Koni's.

Nice man.... you lucky got much New Stock....

Not much progress on the car. I heard from the tuner that they plan on getting the car out of the shop in a month or so. I have been dealing with the loss of my first dog, so that has been emotionally draining on me these past couple weeks.


Installed the Whiteline caster bushings.



Bought some Project Mu G-Four brake fluid from Japan. I think this should be enough to do both the brake and clutch systems.



Swooped this guy from JMF during their Black Friday sale. I talked with someone from there about doing some other items this spring, so we'll see if they back it up.



After searching for a couple years, I finally found a blue GReddy oil cap NIB. It's a real deal too.



Once I get the car back home, I plan on trying to swap the suspension, diff, and hubs.

Those caster bushings look so much better in black then ricer yellow