EYY's HJ Ute

[WazzaVN]

Still got reg. Man there's so many options for engines and colours lol. First things first though which is getting it roadworthy and in my name. I might offer to do the roady and get it a bit cheaper.

Yeah man I can appreciate a good home built ride like yours. It's always good to see what can be done at home without throwing millions of dollars at a performance shop.

Respect yo!

 

[EYY]

Haven't updated this thread in a while, but not much has happened.

Finally made the trip down to kingswood country with Sandman to get a few parts for the utes. Ended up buying new rear end bushes, 1.5" lowering blocks, bonnet stabiliser rubbers, front brake hoses and front & rear shock absorbers (just the cheap ultima's).

Replaced the spring eye bushes and shackle bushes, painted the springs and lowering blocks and put it back together with the new shock absorbers.

To fit the front shock absorbers I needed to make the hole bigger in the lower control arm with the die grinder, since the new ones are 'heavy duty' and are larger in diameter.

Turns out that I had the wrong steering arms. There are long arms or short arms. The long arms are used for manual steering, and the short arms are used for power steering. The longer arms with power steering means that there's not much feedback through the steering wheel and it feels quite vague and ruins the turning circle(I had no idea, I thought that's just how they were. I've never driven another one).

Overall it handles much better and seems smoother. I'd still like to add another leaf to the rear to make it a bit firmer.

Since that pic I've fitted new centre caps and polished the wheels again. Ended up buying a whole set of wheels just for the caps just need to sell those wheels now lol

 

[the_boozer]

the longer arms with power steering makes the steering shithouse too light and a bad turning circle.I've Done that before I think that came about with RTS before that they were all the short arms I once done about 20 laps of a dunger yard to find a hz with power steering to pinch the arms from for mine where I could of pinched the arms off a hq. There was heaps of hqs in the yard so now you all know how long ago that must of been.
EYY why not get the springs reset it doesn't cost that much? I never liked lowering blocks.

 

[EYY]

the longer arms with power steering makes the steering shithouse too light and a bad turning circle.I've Done that before I think that came about with RTS before that they were all the short arms I once done about 20 laps of a dunger yard to find a hz with power steering to pinch the arms from for mine where I could of pinched the arms off a hq. There was heaps of hqs in the yard so now you all know how long ago that must of been.
EYY why not get the springs reset it doesn't cost that much? I never liked lowering blocks.

Yep, i got these ones off a HQ since they all have the short arms.

I'd much prefer to have them reset, it's just a question of money

The thing I like about the lowering blocks is that it's an easily reversible mod, especially since I do put a bit of weight in the rear of mine when we go away (bikes, esky, gear etc). Sandman made some inquiries a while ago and a couple of quotes came in at around the $300 mark IIRC. I've heard that it used to be much cheaper, but like everything I suppose prices have gone up in recent times. Does anyone have any recommendations for anywhere that resets springs? It's definitely something to consider down the track.

On another note I have a set of commodore cup heads and a set of YT bolt on platinum roller rockers lined up. Hopefully I can get my hands on them within the next month or so.

 

[the_boozer]

I was going to ask why 1 would lower a ute. In 2011 I payed $120 a spring to get a set of hr springs reset I think it was at the spring shop.
The Spring Shop

 

[Sandman]

Sweet, thats close to home so I'll give them a yell. With my ute the springs are already fairly flat so could probably go about another inch lower tops and all the quotes I got for that were $300-450. Which is a lot for 1". That said I'll probably still have to use blocks to get the height I want in mine, but I don't cart much around in my tray like Eyy does.

 

[WazzaVN]

My buddy had his xy springs flattened in keysborough somewhere for about 200, have you got a forklift? haha I can ask him the place on Monday if you want.

Lowering blocks do the job but they can give you axle tramp sometimes. That's probably the biggest issue. Lookin good anyway man. Looking at yours makes me wanna hurry up get mine off dad he's holding it for me.

 

[WazzaVN]

Hey mate the place was better truck and car springs in dandenong. 9791 3357.

It wasn't as cheap as I thought it was 280 but they were sandblasted as well as re set. My workmate said the guy was good and seemed to know his stuff. The car sits real nice too.

Just another option for ya.

 

[EYY]

$280's decent including blasting. C'mon man, I want to see another kingswood build on JC

Anyway, went to YVCB at chirnside park on Friday night then cruised to BP afterwards with Sandman.

Managed to lock myself out of the ute... Luckily somebody else knew how to get in haha.

 

[Sandman]

For anyone still wondering I had the leaves in my HQ done at Betta Springs in Dandenong a couple of weeks back, $220 for the pair with a lick or paint and height was spot on.