BlueShadow

Hi guys,

I thought I'd post up a quick how-to on a FR tracbar install. I also swapped in a fluidyne EG half sized rad and a slim fan. I got the Fluidyne radiator from summitracing, and the fan I used was FAL p/n 108 which can be bought at summit, but I got it at my local NAPA. I'm not doing a write up on the install of the radiator because it is pretty straight forward. Plus I ghettorigged my radiator, so you guys might not wanna do that.


anyways, on to the install:

-make sure the coolant is not too hot. You can work on removing the stock crossmember while the engine cools off.

-loosen front lugnuts, jack car up or place on lift, remove front wheels

-remove underbody splash shields

-loosen four front crossmember vertical bolts halfway

-remove two front radius rod nuts, washers and rubber bushings. These will not be reused for FR x-member

-If radiator is in the way of passenger side radius rod bolt, slightly loosen two front crossmember bolts on passenger side to lower crossmember

-once two radius rod bolts are removed, remove four vertical crossmember bolts. Be careful as the crossmember might fall off when bolts are removed. Four bolts are not reused for FR x-member

-remove front crossmember by pulling forwards and downwards. You may have to slightly bend down the forward part of the radius rod and pull on the crossmember

-remove damper fork lower bolt and nut for both sides and set aside

-remove four radius rod bolts at the LCA by using a 17mm ratchet wrench for the rear bolts, and a 17mm box wrench for front bolts. One of the bolts is directly underneath the axle and will need to be loosened/tightened with a box wrench. Other bolt can be reached with a ratchet. Take four radius rod bolts and set aside, radius rods will not be reused

-If the car was running earlier, coolant should be cool by now. Use a towel on the radiator cap and loosen it to relieve pressure. Once pressure is relieved, remove radiator cap

-unplug radiator fan then drain radiator fluid

-once fluid is drained, remove upper and lower radiator hose, and also unplug coolant overflow line from radiator fill neck

-remove upper radiator mounts (2 mounts, 4 bolts), these will not be reused

-lift radiator out of engine bay

-with a sawzall, or dremel cut off the two lower radiator supports.

-remove front tow hooks on either side (3 bolts each), set six bolts aside, tow hook plates will not be reused

-test fit your FR x-member, and make sure the front part is not hitting the frame of the car and that the lower radiator supports are completely cut off

-install just the crossmember (no radius rods) in place. Use two long bolts and washers for the vertical hole, and reuse six tow hook bolts. Gradually tighten all the bolts at the same time. TQ spec for vertical bolt is 47 lb/ft or 564 lb/in. Not sure what the TQ is for the six side bolts, but probably between 30-40 lb/ft.


Now on to assembling the FR tracbar, for now we will be assembling the y shaped bracket and the adjustable radius rods

-FR x-member comes with 8 silver spacers, 8 brass washers, and 4 bolts with nylon nuts which will be used to attach the radius rods to the x-member and suspension

-install Y shaped bracket onto heim joint ends as shown HERE

-the order the washers go in: NUT - BRASS WASHER || SILVER SPACER <FONT SIZE="5">O</FONT> SILVER SPACER || BRASS WASHER - BOLT

-install Y shaped adapter onto LCA where stock radius rod was removed from. Reuse four stock radius rod bolts and tighten front bolt with 17mm box wrench and rear bolt with 17mm ratchet. TQ spec for radius rod bolts is 40 lb/ft or 480 lb/in, but is is hard to get in there with a TQ wrench

-adjust radius rod length and ensure there is an equal amount of thread on the front and rear heim joints. Install front end of radius rods onto the front crossmember and use remaining 2 nuts/bolts, 4 silver spacers and 4 brass washers

-adjust radius rod length by "eyeballing" the axle angle. Start with the driver side...look at the intermediate shaft and see if the driver axle is forward, rearwards or straight. Adjust the radius rod until axle is straight with the intermediate shaft. Do the same for passenger side axle

-for cars with no intermediate shaft, adjust axle until it comes out of the tranny straight.

-once axle angles are striaght, keep the 4 nuts on each heim joint loose because the radius rod length will have to be adjusted again later.

-check and make sure all radius rod bolts and all crossmember bolts are tightened

-reinstall damper fork lower nut and bolt and TQ to 47 ft/lbs or 564 in/lbs

-install your radiator using custom brackets, zipties, bubble gum, whatever. Install upper and lower radiator hoses and radiator overflow hose. <FONT COLOR="red">Stock overflow hose would not reach my EG radiator, so get a long length of 5/16" fuel hose to replace the stock one</FONT>. Dont forget to refill your coolant and burp your coolant system

-reinstall your wheels and check the fendergap towards the front and rear of the tire. adjust radius rod until there is an equal amount of fender gap in the front and rear fender gap. Once correct fender gap is found tighten 4 heim joint nuts

-car will still need to get an alignment, but for now eyeballing the straightness of the axles and fender gap should work

-take the car for a test drive. I took mine out and did some very light swerving gradually increasing it till I was swerving hard. Test your braking by first lightly tapping the brakes, then by jamming them on. Do some figure 8's in both directions, and find some inclines to go up...the kind that are steep and the kind that you have to drive up onto one wheel at a time. Do some slightly hard launches, but no clutch drops at 8K RPMs...maybe a 1-2K launch close to WOT.

-make note of any odd squeaks or noises, if you think something is wrong take a look at your nuts and bolts. After driving for a few miles check your x-member again. Dont forget to get the car aligned


<FONT COLOR="blue">13 March 05, EDITED: switched a few things around, fixed a few minor typos, and went a little in depth on a few things</FONT>

<FONT COLOR="blue">26 March 05, EDITED: made some changes on how to adjust the radius rod length</FONT>




Modified by BlueShadow at 4:52 PM 4/25/2005

BlueShadow

5 Apr 05-took some more pics as promised and installed the PWR shorty radiator.



HEIM END ASSEMBLED


CTR N1 CRANK PULLEY


CTR N1 CRANK PULLEY FROM BOTTOM


OLD FLUIDYNE BEFORE I TOOK IT OUT


OLD FLUIDYNE BEFORE I TOOK IT OUT


PWR SHORTY / FLUIDYNE / OEM EG radiators


PWR INSTALLED, STOCK UPPER BRACKET USED TO HOLD IT DOWN


PWR FROM TOP, ZIPTIES ARE "JUST IN CASE", CUSHION WAS FROM WHEN FLUIDYNE WAS INSTALLED


GREDDY WATER TEMP ADAPTER and NAPA RAD HOSES


PWR BOTTOM VIEW, USED STOCK RUBBER DONUTS FOR LOWER MOUNT TABS






Modified by BlueShadow at 4:17 AM 4/23/2005

GreenBean

Great post, I want more pics...

BlueShadow

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by GreenBean &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote"> Great post, I want more pics... </TD></TR></TABLE>

I'm gonna get my car back on the lift today to see if verything still looks ok. I'll bring my camera and take some pics while I'm at it. Check back after about 2 PM PST.

b16_madman

zipties.....

wow man, fab up some brackets out of some thin metal or something

Iceycrx

Great write up


Anyone have pictures of using the stock rad? Or when using the full-race bars you have to use the EG and a differant fan? I am looking to upgrade to the full-race bars but I know I wont have money for the rad/fan at the same time.

BlueShadow

PICS ARE DOWN

they will be back up around Apr 4-7



Modified by BlueShadow at 5:24 AM 4/1/2005

bbarbulo

nice post indeed

W O T

This lucky bastard has a lift!!

BlueShadow

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by W O T &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">This lucky bastard has a lift!!</TD></TR></TABLE>

yah, but it costs $5 an hour to use :eek: it used to only be $2.50 an hour then they raised the rates.





Modified by BlueShadow at 3:06 PM 3/11/2005

ICeDoUt

for the zip ties, thats how my rad is in
toyo proxes Ts-1 or whatever?

BlueShadow

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by ICeDoUt &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote"> for the zip ties, thats how my rad is in
toyo proxes Ts-1 or whatever?</TD></TR></TABLE>

They are Yokohama ES100's. The zip ties are only temporary until I can get some sort of vbracket made up. Either that or I'll wait until FR offers a shorter radiator that can fit into x-member tabs.

Autoworks

APEX CRX

COOL, did you get BAR'ed yet?

tolnep

Any suggestions for adding some sort of protection for the radiator and headers? somehow ziptieing that thing looks like its level with the bar or a little below it and therefore an unfreindly rock or even bad stump may jump out and bite your car when you least expect it. I occassionally drive on old dirt roads (I have no choice in the matter) and having vital organs like that exposed would make me nervous

W O T

Thats what you get when you slam your car

Your choice

You could always bang out a sheet metal small guard but it will always take hits

For my eg 1/2 size dual core, I just tileted to top back about 2" so the bottom was out of the way, its beautiful for function but looks odd in the engine bay I guess

BlueShadow

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by APEX CRX &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">COOL, did you get BAR'ed yet?</TD></TR></TABLE>

hehehe, no not yet. I'll probably do it in the next couple of days. I'm on vacationfrom the 7th til the 21st, so I'lm taking the time to work on my car.

tolnep, I was thinking about getting a U shaped piece of metal to use as kind of a skidplate to go in front of the radiator. it would protect against flying debris, but it isn't gonna help anything if I bottom out. or go up a steep driveway.

something like this:

<FONT SIZE="3">__<FONT COLOR="white">--</FONT>__
<FONT COLOR="white">__</FONT>U<FONT COLOR="white">__</FONT></FONT>

EDIT: the flat pieces would be connected to the top of the U. The flat pieces would get bolted to the sheetmetal in front of the x-member. The lowest part of the U would be as low as or lower then the part of the radiator sticking out below.

88 rex

that header looks like a good reason to get an an-r or bisi...


Nice crossmember

Burlyirishdude

one word.....badass.....

BlueShadow

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Burlyirishdude &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">one word.....badass.....
</TD></TR></TABLE>

yah it is, the only thing that sucks now is that my 16" rims are rubbing more then they were before. Probably something to do with the front end being more rigid. Or then again it's probably cause my front tires need a little air in em.

One other weird thing I noticed now that my full sized radiator is not there. I can feel the hot air rushing into my foot area. It looks like that big *** opening is letting in air that is pushing all the hot air to the back of the engine bay.

BlueShadow

<FONT COLOR="blue">13 March 05, EDITED: switched a few things around in the first post, fixed a few minor typos, and went a little in depth on a few things</FONT>

BlueShadow

For those of you complaining about the zipties I replaced them...with BIGGER zipties. hehehe

I went back to the nearby NAPA and got the strongest zipties they had which was still narrow enough to go through the fin area.I was able to tighten these down more and I got the radiator all snug against the x-member. I also made a loop and put it around the lower radiator neck. Then I made another loop and daisy chained them until I could get the top loop to go through the top part of the frame.

The radiator and radiator tabs no longer hangs down below the traction bar like in my above pics.

BlueShadow

Hey guys,

I just thought I'd post a little update on my Full Race install. I had to install a JDM CTR crank pulley because of the clearance issues I had with my car which is dropped (2 finger gap), and the HCP mount kit.

If you car is low enough then it is possible for you B swapped EFs to have your crank pulley rub on the radius rod. This can happen if you car is too low, and your mount kit sits the engine lower. I have the Full Race tracbar, but the Lcon probably has the radius rod sitting close to the crankpulley too. You would have to get the driver side wheel pretty tweaked though, but it has already happened to me twice. I went ahead and took off my stock GSR crank pulley since I dont have AC or PS and replaced it with the JDM CTR crank pulley which will not hit my radius rod unless I bottom it out 4-5 inches. hehehe

FYI/FYAI I was able to get a 640mm belt onto the crank/alt pulleys. I dont know if I could have gone smaller, because right now with my alternator all the way forward the belt is very tight.

GreenBean

The pics aren't coming through CAPT

BlueShadow

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by GreenBean &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">The pics aren't coming through CAPT</TD></TR></TABLE>

yah I was cleaning up my imagestation storage bin the other night and I mistakenly got rid of these pics. I also deleteed them off the floppy disk, but in about a week or two when I go back to install my Full Race EG/shorty radiator I'm gonna post pics of that on here.