have just "nolathaned" the vt wagon. part of which was using one of the diff inserts. the only way to get in and get all the nuts out was to lower the diff. I did this while the front crossmembers were still attached and scribed around the edges of the diff carrier. it has gone back together where the marks are but i'm curious/cautious about the aligment. is this a holden service thing or can a normal alignment place do it, or is close enough good enough cheers
Nolathane camber kit I bought a complete Nolathane kit and thought I could fit front and rear kits on a Saturday. Boy what a bugger of a job blowing out in to Sunday as well. Front was relatively easy with spring compresors and a air rattle gun, but the back, I'd pay someone next time! In the end I undid the 8 allen keys from the CV drive shafts and found I still couldn't get the trailing arm low enough to get the bolt out from the outer bushes. I scribed a line around diff's current position and then had to remove the sub-frame mount points, both LH & RH sides, where it bolts to chassis rails. That allowed me to drop frame so that outter bush pivot pin could clear channel. Took the hold trailing arm out and drilled a stack of holes through the rubber bush. Then with a large 24mm socket and an 8 pound sledgie, bash the Christ out of it to remove bush inserts. I cann't imagine how you would do it in-situ. A 20 tonne press would have been handy. New nolathane bushes went in easy with the lithium grease supplied. Fitted arms back in and bolted the CV's to hub only to find the Diff holes wouldn't match back up. Loosen it all of again, then replaced diff, match to scribe and secure. Then tighten sub frames insulating mounts. Took it to Straight Steer at Chatswood who did front alignment $55, and set correct rear chamber $38 to IRS. I had seen Holden alignment jig on Ebay once marked as being nessecary if you remove sub frame but mine fine after alignment. Just try to get Diff back to the same spot it came out of.:thumbsup:
yes, it all seems like a good idea at the time!! when i did the outers with the camber kit had the same drama with the bolts...fixed with a small grinder and cut them off. the diff is back pretty much as close to the marks as i can get it. was thinking last night that i did each side at a time so might put it up on stands both sides and see if it is easier to move just to be sure. do you think the nolathane kit was worth the effort??
Nolathanes, worth it, possibly??? This is my first own holden as I've previosly had, and always lowered & Nolathaned, Fowl-coon's. They have a wishbone arm which at normal height, that is sky scraper tall, means you get too much body roll. Lowering my Fords meant that the arms stay horizontal so cornering forces were straight axially back against chassis rails. Make a Ford go from steering like a super tanker to a proper car. The trailing arms in commodores are pretty stiff anyway so while lower height does help, the gain is not as obvious. I fitted the Monroe GT gas shocks all round and Nolathanes. Can't say I noticed a big difference as I retained FE-2 height. Being a stiffer polymer it can make the ride a little harder and bump steer. I'd did it 'cause I wanted to see how everything bolts together. I hadn't noticed the "scrubbing out rear tyres" problem that so often dictates fitting adjustable camber kits in VT's but since it came in the kit, might as well fit them. If you really want to do something, the Radius rod bush just under the radiator would be the go. Original equipment ones are fluid filled and proned to leaking. You'll notice how the front wheel would come closer to rear edge of guards under braking which alters steering geometery. Harder polymers means less slop but more road vibration as they're not fluid dampened. Surprisingly my wheel alignment specialist suggests sticking with the original bushes !
i have a series 1 vt wagon. the neg camber on the rear was an issue when i lowered it so i had already done the camber kit. have now done all the rear bushes on the sway bar and links and the rear crossmember fronts. have done the front radius bushes and did notice it was a bit better under braking. might do the radius to cross arm bushes and leave it at that i think. after all it is only a vt v6 wagon... not skaifies ve v8 supercar!!!! does the job though
