here are acouple pics i took of the complete system today:



compressor retrofitted with the R-134 suction port:

 

couple pics from today:

 

its been running well this year and the a/c is holding a charge and still blowing cold! the only disappointment is the gas mileage. i'm turning in about 14mpg combined..

 

as of now its still on the road and not in storage...which is unfortunate.. but i dont drive it on snowy or salty roads. its still running perfectly and i couldnt be happier with the car!! here is the most recent pic i have:

 

still looking good

 

got the GS dug out of the snow and put back in the garage and it sits eagerly awaiting the new tokico blue shocks and struts! will keep this updated with new hi res pics of the install! the GS loves being back in the garage!!

 

i still really like this car, its kind of perfect

 

in the process of installing tokico blues now! broke one bolt off so far on one of the lower mounting bolts in the front. i'm just going to take the control arms and spindle assemblies off so i have more working room and so i can work on getting the broken bolt out. hopefully there's enough left to weld another bolt to so that i can extract it..

 

Good luck.

 

i removed the front strut assemblies as well as the control arms last night. i'm going to seperate everything today and shot blast my control arms and install the new ball joints into the control arms. once thats finished i'll por 15 or chassis paint the control arms. once the control arm bushings come in, those will be pressed in as well. this leaves me with shot blasting and painting my springs and installing the new tokick blue cartidges up front. i'll post some pics of the rear install..

 

starting the project:







left side shock ready for install:





right side installed:



both shocks installed:

 

all of my new front end parts are in and i took this entire week off so you will see some updates this afternoon!

 

Great to hear. How are you liking the blues?

That is a lot of rust on the rear end.

 

the car originally came from michigan and its not the cleanest underbody i've seen. i had to have the car because of the color..so i chose to use this car as my SE swap platform/restoration car. the long term goal is to install an 85 GSL disc brake rear and shelf this rear end. this rear end has all new bearings and brake components though and works well. i hope i'll like the blues. i hope to have everything together this week and have it down for an alignment so it'll be back on the road. was waiting on new contro arm bushings and now i'm waiting on the dealer to get mt new control arm bolts and lower strut housing bolts.

 

i've got some pics of my current progress. my major hangup is aquiring the retaining nuts that hold the tokico blues in the stock housing. they should be on the way and when they arrive i'll be able to make more progress as well. i also just picked up my new control arm bushings and new control arm bolts which i will post pics of later tonight!

 

Awesome! I had to call Tokico to get those strut retaining nuts on the used pair I got years ago too. Seems like everyone forgets to include them lol

 

glad it's working out.

 

ok here are the pics of where i'm at. i got new energy suspension control arm bushings and picked up all six new control arm bolts from the dealer. having my car down for so long is killing me.. but waiting on the nuts to arrive is no big deal because i still have to shot blast my control arms, press in the new ball joints, paint or por 15 the control arms and install them.

 

my new strut nuts came in today overnighted straight from tokico. i'll see what i can get done before work tonight and post back!

 

ok, here's where i'm at. i went to my buddy's race/machine shop and i pressed out the old ball joints, shot and sand blasted both control arms, sand blasted both tie rod/ball joint arms, powder coated the arms, pressed in and welded in the new ball joints and when i came home tonight, i por 15's the control arms. here are the pics of my progress:

new tokico hardware kit for the tokico blues. tokico overnighted me the kits:



new tokico blues installed and both lower holes tapped to original thread size:





the blasted control arms and powder coated arms:









control arms por 15'd:

 

I love the look of sandblasted metal! lol
Looks good, glad you tack welded them in there, I had a few come loose years ago, now I always weld em.

 

got the car back together this evening. glad to have it fully operational again. i haven't taken it for a test drive yet, due to the rain and it being past 3am..and me being tired. went together smoothly and i look forward to driving it tomorrow. lets pray for dry skies. took a few pics. i didn't take very many because i was working intently to get this done tonight and forgot to take them as i was putting it back together.

starting the passenger side(driver's side was already done at this juncture):



finishing up by putting the tires on:



all parts installed:



a couple angles of the car before the initial drive:

 

Looking good Dave, really makes me miss my L6. Stupid woman and her Durango... Wish you were closer, I've got the GSL rear end you're looking for left over from my -SE swap. :/

 

wish i were closer too! not only for the GSL rear, but i'd be working with mostly rust free 7's, i wouldn't have to deal with six months of nasty cold weather and heaps of snow.. though i do hope to aquire a GSL rear this summer. if it were economical i'd have you ship it to me..

on the initial drive, the car handled exceptionally well! pulls to the right slightly but after i install new inner and outer tie rod ends and get an alignment, it should drive like new. it already feels like a new car after the shocks, struts, ball joints, and bushings!

 

did you rotate the strut tops? the racers choice is maximum negative camber/max caster, so the strut should be as far rearward and in as possible