2002spaceodyssey

With the rear subframe back under the car, it was time to focus on the front end. Merry Christmas to me! I've managed to have my wife, my elderly parents, and my adult Son buy me 2002 parts.. It's wintertime. Fire up the propane heater. First order of business was to press out the old bushings. I bought a bushing puller set. The nuts below were solid mounds of rust. I had to take these parts to a machine shop to grind them off. The gland nuts on the front struts didn't want to let go. I bought a 24" pipe wrench and mapp gas. That did the trick. The strut inserts didn't want to come out. I used a slide hammer with vice grips to free them. The KYB inserts were severely rusted in the bottom of the strut housings.It It's POR-15 time again Getting pretty comfortable using this POR-15 stuff. Billy HDs There was so much rust in the bottom of my strut housings that the Billy HDs wouldn't go clear in. They stopped about 3/4 inches short. I had to get a cylinder hone on an 18" extension bar and run it down inside the strut housing for a very long time in order to seat the inserts. I ordered a special bilstein gland nut wrench so I could torque the nuts, but they were the wrong size, so my Son welded some longer tabs onto the wrench. ST Sway Bar Coming together. I took my struts to a local BMW motorcycle dealer and they did the speedwire for me (for a price.) As I put the control arms and tension struts together, I noticed the front tension strut bushings were very loose. I had bought Energy Suspension urethane bushings, and no amount of tightening would snug them up where they mounted to the car. I took everything apart. The Energy Suspension bushing measured about .950" between the bushing halves. I realize that not all 2002s are the same, but my 2002 front tension rod mount measured about .900", so these bushings were never going to fit snugly. I bought a set of Ireland Engineering Urethane bushings, and the front tension strut bushings were at about .850", so they fit snugly. Time to replace front wheel bearings. Mlytle's article was most helpful. New calipers and Porterfield pads Bleed the brakes and let's drive this thing!

NOTE: This blog post is not new -- it's a thread I posted to the FAQ in 2017. I copied it into my blog for completeness. I want the blog to contain all the work that's been done. I just completed the front suspension and brakes, which I will post to this blog soon. Mike G- Yes, when Peterman welded new rear upper spring perches in (see my Rear Subframe Redux post), he noticed the shock tower welds could be better, and he spent some time working on the welds. I'm hoping now that they are POR-15'd and the car is stored in a dry garage, the weld repairs will outlast me.

I bought a 1974 2002 from a friend who restored the car in the 1990s. It has had previous rust repair in many areas (driver's front subframe rail, driver's floor, rear shock towers to name a few.) It was painted a very dark green (Nissan color) in the 1990s and clear coated. The exterior has had all trim removed prior to painting and looks pretty nice. I bought the car a year and a half ago and have done a few basic things to it. I removed a roll bar and 5-pt belts (it has seen some track time at Summit Point.) I installed retractable seat belts from Blue Devils, an S14 starter, a nice set of E21 Recaros, plugs, wires, rotor, cap, fluids, repainted E21 turbine wheels with Toyo tires. It drives well. I noticed some rust bubbling from the metal floor plugs underneath the car, so I finally pulled out the carpet. I found a repaired driver's floor section and intact-looking black tar sound deadening in the rear and passenger side. I used dry ice (thanks Dry Ice Ice Baby article!) and discovered that all the metal plugs have rusted through (most fell out leaving holes.) One of holes is perilously close to a rear suspension mounting point. The floor is intact where it meets the inner rocker panels save for a 6" section along the rear driver's side, where it has rusted through. The outer rockers appear sound. I'd like to have these rust holes repaired/patched. I don't know if I should buy a new floor section for the driver's side rear where the damage is worst. So I bought a rear driver side floor panel. I dug a little deeper. I found the inner inside fenders (which were covered with sound deadening) have rusted through as well. I also removed the cardboard-like stuff on the passenger firewall and found another hole in the floor there. The inner rear fenders (next to the springs) appear to have been repaired in some manner. And I've added a picture of the previous driver's frame rail repair, which now has surface rust. I bought new driver side rear and passenger side front floor panels, and had East Coast Restorations in Finksburg MD do the welding work. They also fabricated metal to repair the rear shock towers, which were rusted clear through. I then used the POR15 process: degreaser, metal etch, POR15 black paint, and finally grey POR15 top coat over the entire floor. It wasn't too expensive, and I'm fairly happy to have the rust and holes gone! Pics above. I bought new driver side rear and passenger side front floor panels, and had East Coast Restorations in Finksburg MD do the welding work. They also fabricated metal to repair the rear shock towers, which were rusted clear through. I then used the POR15 process: degreaser, metal etch, POR15 black paint, and finally grey POR15 top coat over the entire floor. It wasn't too expensive, and I'm fairly happy to have the rust and holes gone! Pics above.

Thanks to all for the replies. I decided to vacuum my carpet and then used a Bissel Pro-Heat carpet cleaning machine which uses hot water and cleaning solution. I then used Oxi-clean to remove a couple of stains. I figured if the carpet fell apart I would buy a new one. The carpet survived OK. Nice and clean and fresh smelling. As you can see in the pictures, it is really faded on the transmission tunnel where the console doesn't cover it. I noticed '76mintgrun02's shows similar fading. There is no text left on the bottom of my carpet. I see what looks like some smeared black ink, but it is lost to the dry rot. You can also see where a heel pad used to be stitched on. I know it's probably sacrilege, but I'm wondering about a coat of spray dye to give it a uniform color?

As I'm restoring my 2002, I planned to clean and re-use my original 1974 tan carpet for the time being. I may do Esty's carpet in the future. I've had rust repaired, put down Rammat and soon Ensolite. I took my molded carpet to a local dry cleaner who cleans rugs, and was quoted a price of $35 to clean it. A couple of days later, the cleaner called and said they cannot clean it due to dry rot.....it would not survive the cleaning process. I picked my carpet up and I don't see why it can't be cleaned (although I'm not a carpet expert.) There are no tears or holes in it, except for some cuts the previous owner made to clear a roll bar. Any suggestions about how I might clean it gently? Should I use water? Foaming carpet cleaner? Advice welcomed! Pics below.

I know this question has been raised before on this site, but I can't recall a conclusive answer. My ATE master cylinder came with 2 rubber grommets installed where the hoses from the brake reservoir go in. There were also 2 washers included in the package. I've heard different opinions: 1. The washers are not needed/people never use them 2. The washers should be installed under the rubber grommets My old M/C had the washers in it, and some pictures in my manual show washers, but seem to only show single-line M/Cs. What I don't get is why ATE would put them in the package if they're not needed. I pulled the rubber grommets out of my new M/C, and there are no washers pre-installed. What's the deal? Thanks, Doug

Pete- So sorry you lost your dog. We lost our black lab a number of years ago. I agree with everything you said (emotionally childish.) Your metal working skills are awesome, and, as far as I know, self-taught. Hope you find a rescue to fill the void....

Thanks for your advice, everyone. I believe ATF it is! What a great website.

I'm rebuilding my front end, and I'm about to install new Bilstein HD strut inserts. When I took them apart, one side appeared to have oil in the strut housing, while the other side was dry (and rusty.) What should I use to keep my new inserts from rusting in the tubes? Oil? I'm thinking about using anti-seize, just not sure. Thanks.

This is my first blog. Last May (believe it or not) I decided to drop my rear subframe and rehab everything. I didn't fully understand the scope of the project or what a rite of passage it would be. I used cyclopticgaze's series of articles as a reference. Right away I realized there were a couple of rust problems that had to be overcome. Peterman here on the FAQ helped me out by welding in new upper spring perches while Steve at Blunt hooked me up with a used pair of trailing arms with sound lower spring perches. I had the rear subframe and trailing arms media blasted and then used POR15 on them. The first project was new rear wheel bearings. For some reason my hubs were extremely tight on the stub axles. I had to take one to a machine shop because I couldn't pull it. Even after they were off, they were very difficult to get back on the axles. I bought a bearing driver set and a 4 pound hammer to get the old wheel bearings out and the new ones in. My 16 oz. craftsman claw hammer wasn't going to cut it. The bearing drivers are aluminum so you don't damage the bearings while hammering them in. The bearings are then greased. The spacers go between the two bearings in each trailing arm. New seals cover the bearings. Next up were the 4 CV joints. Like most aspects of this project, I had no previous experience with CV joints, but managed to clean them out with brake cleaner, pack new grease in, and fit them back on the repainted axles. The boot clamps I had required a special pair of pliers (called boot clamp pliers, appropriately enough) to cinch the metal bands down tight. (Cyclopticgaze's rear subframe article has a link to a great piece on redoing CV joints.) Next I had to show my stock differential some love. I cleaned it up, installed new side oil seals, and used RTV for the cover gasket per mlytle's excellent rear diff article on the FAQ. I also gave it a quick paint job (with very little prep.) New Red Line lube too. Getting there. S&T Sway Bar. Cunifer brake lines from AceAndrew. Polyurethane trailing arm bushings and rear mount bushings. New rubber subframe bushings from Blunt with polyurethane inserts. Most hardware new from Blunt although some of the original bolts, etc cleaned up really well with EvapoRust. The rear subframe mounts have metal inserts that must be cut out before you can put the new bushings in. I rented a transmission jack from Sunbelt rentals. $35 per day and I only needed one day. I would highly recommend the transmission jack rental for lifting the subframe back into place. Bilstein HD shocks. H&R Springs. I'm experimenting with an aluminum strut spacer in the rear to increase rear ride height. I may end up removing it if I don't like it . The zipties to hold the spring rubbers on is an idea from cyclopticgaze that seems to work well. (The shiny black paint is POR15 covering rust repair sections welded in.) New wheel cylinders and brake shoes. My first exposure to inserting the W-shaped spring was today. They are IN! Here are some tools I recently bought that I never felt I needed in over 40 years of working on cars. I highly recommend you find these tools if you're redoing your rear subframe. The previously-mentioned 4 pound hammer and bearing driver set, a seal puller, and the boot clamp pliers (middle bottom). The needle nose vice-grips are great for brake springs. Thanks for reading! Next up is the front end....