Wagz'z Wagon

[VrWagz1]

Well it has been a little while since last update, but have been busy doing a few things.
Few things i've done to the car recently.
I have replaced the rear upper trailing arms.
Put on some race type brake pads for the Oran park
Changed the engine oil and filter
Put in a better CD player and fixed it up so that its not wedged in with bits of timber

Anywayz now post Oran Park, i think i've busted the passenger engine mount again and the brakes are shagged. So now i've,
Changed the brake fluid in all the lines
Put the original acdelco pads back on
Now everything is back to normal, but i still may have to do an engine mount yet.
One thing i did under estimate was how hot the rear brakes were gonna get, i've got blue rings around the rear rotors now.

Heres a few pics of the Pre mentioned L3 cluster and shagged trailing arms and Oran Park pic.

 

[Surfwagon]

I love the way urethane advertisers say that the stuff will last forever comparing urethane against rubber bushes but look at yours.
I should have researched more before doing mine as I would have left the main 2 bushes ( the front inner and the rear lower front bushes in rubber) as these two sets don't have as much to do with steering and stablilty but more to do with ride quality.
Would still use urethane in the panhard rod, the rear top control arms and both ends of the front Radius rod bushes .
SW

 

[VrWagz1]

Yeah, the pics are proof urethane definatly dosnt last, and i dont expect the new ones to last forever either. They were only a few years old i think and they are pedders ones. But as i get time to go around the car and replace bushes i will be selective on which ones will be rubber and which ones will be urethane. As you say with ride comfort, i dont want to compromise it but i do want to make sure the car feel stays responsive.

 

[VrWagz1]

Put my electric aerial in the other day. Was a bit of a pain to pull the old one out. Theres a hidden screw in the front gaurd that you can only get to by oppening the passenger door and you can see it half way up in the gap the door makes there. Just to make it harder its loctited in too. Lucky i just happened to have a right angle screw driver set to get in there. Little tip, wrap some electrical tape around it so you dont scratch anything.
But i havnt wired it up yet, ive just plugged i the coax cable. I gotta put in the aerialbuttons yet and work out how im gonna wire it up. I want the auto down feature but besides that i dont want the radio controling it, i want full manual control over it in that respect.

 

[Feralprick]

sweet ride man...go the old skool v8 wagons...

 

[VrWagz1]

Cheers buddy. Yeah i love the wagon. Dunno if its just me but sedans just dont feel right after driving wagons. They only feel like half a car.

 

[Feralprick]

yea thats tru ey...i also have a v8 wags..mines a vr but only an auto.i have a full kit on it like urs...and it looks hot all done up...wagons are they way to go for customising..they look more unique than sedans

 

[VrWagz1]

Long time no update, so done nothing with it. Just been letting little clunks develop so i can fix them later. There getting pretty bad now. Need new sway bay links bushes and rear lower trailing arm bushes. Still havnt hooked up electrics to electric aerial yet, so it just sits at half mast permanently.
I have no time atm, i am doing a back yard reno and iv started studying again and it just dosnt leave alot of time for the old donk nowdays.

 

[Surfwagon]

As you know I did my front and rear control arms a while back.
Well after talking with a suspension expert (father of one of my daughters friends) I rebuilt my original front lower arm leaving the inner rubber bush and only using urethane for the Radius rod both ends and the ride is heaps softer than when using urethane on the inner bush.
It now thumps over concrete joins instead of that crashing/ banging feel.
Now, again from his advice I am looking to use rubber front bushed rear lower control arm, currently urethane.
This guy loves urethane but only when used for control purposes and prefers rubber for ride points.
He is 50/50 whether you should use rubber or urethane for the rear upper arms but does acknowledge that the rubber ones do chew out pretty quick.
He also said that cars that leak lots of oil are better with urethane because it is oil resistent.
Good luck with the renovation and the study, the car will survive if you don't push it too hard.

SW.

 

[VrWagz1]

Thanks SW. I recon urethane in the rear uppers is good. I think it gives a slightly better power delivery as it dosnt let the axle roll forward as much when you give it a boot, but its minimal and i could be imagining it too. But as you know they flog out easy and a fair amount of stress goes on them.

I think there is alot of over hype with urethane, it has its places but its very hard and compromises comfort if its over used. I'm planning in the future to go urethane in the panhard rod, Rear uppers(done), and sway bar links. The rest ill use rubber.