02 Base for my son

[Snowbound]

Radio install is pretty basic and straight forward. I got all the adapters from Crutchfield along with the speaker mounting brackets. Jack came by on Saturday from his moms house and connected the radio harness to the adapter harness using heat shrink but connectors. I was still pulling the rear suspension at that time so I wasn’t gonna have him solder and heat shrink like I normally do when installing radios.
I made him take the dash apart and pull the factory radio and speakers without doing it for him. Told him that how you gotta learn. He started to struggle a little bit figuring out how the speaker brackets worked. They needed to be trimmed a little and I had to show him how some of the tabs were made to snap off depending on application. That’s about as far as he made it before he wanted to run off with his girlfriend.
After I had all the parts off the rear I went ahead and installed the passenger door speaker using the trimmed bracket and wiring adapter. Went to the drivers side and when I was plugging in the adapter I noticed the green wire with black stripe was going to the positive on the adapter. The wires that attach to speaker have one small female spade connector and one big. I could cut them off and put on new but I’d rather have the negative to black and positive to white so I’m gonna swap the pins in the connector. Then I realized the passenger door was probably the same so I pulled that speaker back out and it sure was.
I was getting tired, the wife wanted to go to her girlfriends house for a few drinks so of course that means I gotta go too and make small talk with her friends guy. But before I went and cleaned up I took a look at the harness Jack put together and it was all good except for the wires going into the adapter harness didn’t match the factory plug. Remote wire was to a speaker wire, illumination dim had nothing on the factory side and all the speaker wires didn’t go to the correct speakers if at all. So I unplugged that and thankfully the key was never turned on so nothing got messed up. I’ll have to repin the adapter harness also. I’ll contact crutchfield and let them know it wasn’t right just so nobody else gets screwed.

Yesterday when I got home from work Josh came out to see if he could help. I had him at sandblast cabinet which was awesome. I pulled the tweeters and had to make a mounting bracket for the new tweeters. While I was doing this I got a call from work telling me afternoon guy called off so I had to go in early. That cut is short but I did get the brackets made.

Here’s what I had to work with.

This is how the factory tweeter was mounted.

I found some 1/8 thick plastic sheet and cut it for brackets.

 

[Snowbound]

Finished product. I’ll get more pics today when I put the rear speakers in and fix the harnesses.

 

[Snowbound]

I think Jack will be happy with that car. Good job Jim. Also good job as a dad to take care of the lady he hit--him paying you back says what kind of kid he is!

Thanks brother. He really is a good kid. Sometimes I’m a little tough on (guess I can’t say hard 0n) him about stuff but only because he has a brain and I know what he’s capable of. I know we all learn by making mistakes but teaching him accountability is just as if not more important.

Love your stories and tenacious determination for absolute completion of a task. And mad skills across many projects.

I second all of Tony’s comments above.

So much good work and concern for many others.

Inspiring and complimentary.

I really appreciate that. You all know I can be long winded but as I’m putting my thoughts to the post I’m trying to be specific and cover any questions that I think I would have. As much as I would like to be upgrading and modifying my stuff daily, there’s always a lot of stuff that has to get done as well. I probably share too much stuff on here being a Tahoe/Yukon forum but I enjoy seeing other projects or jobs and how people work thru them. The interactions I have with you guys are uplifting and supportive. When I’m absent from the site for awhile, it’s only because I don’t have 20 minutes to post. But I do check in and read up on you guys.

 

[iamdub]

I really appreciate that. You all know I can be long winded but as I’m putting my thoughts to the post I’m trying to be specific and cover any questions that I think I would have.

This! It's why most of mine are long-winded.

As much as I would like to be upgrading and modifying my stuff daily, there’s always a lot of stuff that has to get done as well. I probably share too much stuff on here being a Tahoe/Yukon forum but I enjoy seeing other projects or jobs and how people work thru them. The interactions I have with you guys are uplifting and supportive. When I’m absent from the site for awhile, it’s only because I don’t have 20 minutes to post. But I do check in and read up on you guys.

Nah, you don't over-share. Your posts are never boring and often inspiring.

 

[Tonyrodz]

This! It's why most of mine are long-winded.




Nah, you don't over-share. Your posts are never boring and often inspiring.

Agreed, 1,000%!! I really like what you share with us, and how you explain things that are being done, or that needs to be done to complete the job correctly. That goes for you too @iamdub. Keep posting!

 

[TollKeeper]

Damnit... I woulda come and got that Windstar this weekend! (assuming it was relatively rust free)

 

[Snowbound]

Damnit... I woulda come and got that Windstar this weekend! (assuming it was relatively rust free)

It was rust free. At least what I looked at. I didn’t crawl underneath it. Ran good but was dirty inside and I couldn’t open the sliding doors on either side. Most likely because they haven’t been opened in over 3 years. It had the rear entertainment and rear heat and ac. It was a limited so it was fully loaded but I wasn’t gonna get into it. I know someone would have given them $1500-2000 for it the way it sat with the way the used car market is. Few dings and scraps but there wasn’t anything creased or major. The last picture is deceiving because it looks like it’s dented up and I thought maybe it was but in person, it wasn’t all. It’s the reflection of the car next to it.

 

[Snowbound]

This! It's why most of mine are long-winded.




Nah, you don't over-share. Your posts are never boring and often inspiring.

Agreed, 1,000%!! I really like what you share with us, and how you explain things that are being done, or that needs to be done to complete the job correctly. That goes for you too @iamdub. Keep posting!

I appreciate you guys. Good dudes up in this place and I’m honored to be a part of it.

 

[Fosscore]

I appreciate you guys. Good dudes up in this place and I’m honored to be a part of it.

All the above as noted and wrapped into part of the old guard still hanging around this joint sharing their life experiences, kids, Vets (thanks your service), knowledge, experience, quips, and not just related to the ethos of this forum. So much more and enjoyable. Spinning a yarn to break up the day or share with other like or not-like minded individuals is cathartic and we can all learn something new or confirm what we already knew. Thx man.

 

[Snowbound]

I ran a tap in all the threaded holes and used a 9/16” drill to ream out the hole for the long bolt to pass thru. The bolt is a 14mm which measures out to 35/64” and a 9/16” is 36/64” so that’s what I used. Mounted the spindle and bolted the brake caliper on each side but parts haven’t shown up yet. Figured out what wires need to be moved where on the radio harness and then came inside to shower eat and now going to sleep.

Edited: 14mm mic’d to 35/64 not 36/64.

That’s all the pics I took for now.

 

[TollKeeper]

It was rust free. At least what I looked at. I didn’t crawl underneath it. Ran good but was dirty inside and I couldn’t open the sliding doors on either side. Most likely because they haven’t been opened in over 3 years. It had the rear entertainment and rear heat and ac. It was a limited so it was fully loaded but I wasn’t gonna get into it. I know someone would have given them $1500-2000 for it the way it sat with the way the used car market is. Few dings and scraps but there wasn’t anything creased or major. The last picture is deceiving because it looks like it’s dented up and I thought maybe it was but in person, it wasn’t all. It’s the reflection of the car next to it.
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Man... To bad its likely gone now.. I sure as SH|T would have came and got it.

Not a Ford fan, but I need a mini-van.. And the Sienna that my wife wants its WAY over budget!

 

[Fless]

Man... To bad its likely gone now.. I sure as SH|T would have came and got it.

Not a Ford fan, but I need a mini-van.. And the Sienna that my wife wants its WAY over budget!

You can write "shit."

 

[TollKeeper]

You can write "shit."

LOL.. Never know with the language police

 

[Snowbound]

Not sure what happened but I couldn’t get on the forum. Kept getting a 1020 error code saying access denied. Thought maybe I was kicked out but all I did was shut my phone off for a couple hours while I was working and turned it back on. Just letting it reset is all it took.

I woke up about 8pm and didn’t have it in me to go out in garage for a couple hours before work. Ended up passing back out until 9:20. Felt good not having to come to work early and getting some much needed sleep.
My parts showed up so I threw them in the truck and off to work I went.

The forward lateral link bars are non adjustable from factory but the Mevotech replacements are adjustable and use the same link for both. The trailing arm is not adjustable and I had to go with a Delphi unit because the Mevotech ones weren’t in stock. They had some economy ones but they weren't round bar, they were C-channel and I didn’t like that. So this is what I have.

First thing I did was anti-seize the threads and then threaded the ends in all the way making sure the ends were facing the same direction.

Then to adjust them the same length as what came off I used a 9/16” bolt on one end and had to use a 15/32” drill for the other end. One side is 14mm and the other is 12mm so a 1/2” bolt was too big and a 7/16” bolt too small. I didn’t bring the bolts with me but this worked fine.

After I adjusted it to same length I marked the new link with where it belongs. I only had to mark the rear links because those are the only ones that were adjustable which sets the rear alignment. The good thing with having the forward bars adjustable is it allows a finer tuning on alignment. I guess when you only have the rear link to adjust toe its give and take because it will effect camber. With both links being able to adjust you can get it in spec as opposed to 1-2° acceptable limit. Just what I’ve read while looking into it.

Wiring the stereo adapter and tweeter now before I go home and put this thing back together. Fill you later.

 

[Snowbound]

I had a few other things to do today but I did manage to get the link bars installed.

On the trailing arm that runs toward the front, those brackets were pretty rusty and I blasted and painted them but where they mount to the underside didn’t look all that great either. So I spent a little time knocking off some surface rust and hit it with some paint just so it had a good clean surface to mount to.

Every threaded hole on spindle, or underneath body that I pulled a bolt from got a tap run thru it. Those threaded holes in underbody in above picture took a little work to tap. Removing the bolts took a little time trying not to break them. In and out more than a few times on each bolt to finally get them removed and the threads didn’t look that great on the bolts due to rust that formed above the threads. Sprayed oil on threads then worked them with a tap and they were good again. I also used some ear plugs in the threaded holes when spray bombed the underside.
Every bolt had a die run over it and every nut was tapped too. I just didn’t want to be hung up because of a cross threaded or stripped thread.
So both sides are mounted along with both new sway bar end links but I have to put the parking brake levers back on the cables and couldn’t find my parking brake cable spring tool. I think my brother has it so I’ll run there in morning and grab it so I can put brakes and hubs back on. Then it should be done besides putting rear speakers in and bypassing the factory amp.
Oh I do have a new serpentine belt and ac belt that I have to throw on. That is not gonna be fun, that front accessory drive setup is close to the e-fans and you can barely see down in there. Maybe it’s time for Jack to learn what sheet metal and sharp plastic can do to the exposed hands. Lol. I’ll finish it up in morning.

 

[Snowbound]

Picked up my tool and here you can see why I needed it. I wasn’t gonna fight this cable on when it literally takes 5 seconds with the right tool.

 

[Snowbound]

Did it to me again, error code 1020 and access denied. Might have to update my phone or something.

I did get the car finished yesterday. I sprayed them parking brake pivots points with some dry graphite tires keep them from sticking. One was rusted and stuck before I blasted them and I had to work it to get it to move freely.
Once the cables were on I could then put the backing plates on. For some reason the backing plates were sealed to the caliper brackets. I have no idea why but since it was there before I went ahead and sealed it again.

Then the parking brakes went back on.

Had to look up the torque spec for the hub bearing nut which was 125ftlbs and I also used a new cotter pin.

 

[Snowbound]

Then I put on the rotor and adjusted the parking brake to a slight drag then just barely backed it off until it wasn’t touching. That should be good enough, they aren’t self adjusting but it’s only a parking brake. Then the calipers went on.

Next thing I had to do was put the rear speakers in. I made sure the wiring was correct, I had to swap the pin in the connectors for the front door speakers for some reason. They were the same wiring adapters. The rear deck carpet went back in followed by the side trim and then the rear seat. Pretty simple.

The amp had to be bypassed which was a little challenging. There’s not a lot of slack and trying to use but connectors was a pain because 2 of them had the wire slide out as I was crimping them. So I decided it was easier to use spade terminals and so I could crimp them while the wire was sticking straight out and then plug them in to the corresponding wire. The wires change colors from the radio to the amp and then from amp to speaker. But I figured it out.

This is the amp tucked up against the kick panel. Be a nightmare to have to remove it. I left the power unplugged and tucked it behind the kick panel when I put it back together.

 

[Snowbound]

Finished installing the radio and put the dash back together.

Car is done! Leaving work now and I’ll go take it for a test drive after I torque the rear lugs.

 

[Snowbound]

I don’t know why this keeps happening. This time I changed my location to New York in my VPN and was able to get on. Has something to do with the firewall setting on the site.

But anyway, I took the car for a ride and it does feel tighter back there but when I hit a good bump there’s a noise. It almost sounds like the top of the strut is not seated and hits in the tower. Really strange. I pulled the rear seat back out and had Jack take me for a ride and it’s definitely coming from the left side and the noise is high like the top of the strut. I was able to get my hand on the top of the strut thru a cut out in the bottom of the rear deck and the strut does not move at all and I can’t really feel the noise in the top. I can’t reproduce the noise by bouncing or extending the rear of the car. I yanked on the strut spring but it doesn’t move. I rechecked all bolts and can’t find anything.
I went over by my brother’s and had him listen to it. He said it’s definitely up top like I thought. He even pulled on strut and tried getting something to move in the links but nothing.
So now I’m gonna pull the tire, loosen the link bars and pull the strut down. Might have to remove the strut completely to get a good look up there to see what I can find. Nothing like doing the job twice. But at least I know things will come apart this time.