The reason I'm always broke - Dustin's Supercharged 86

[Dustin]

Originally Posted by chriscross_tnt

coming together nicely. hope too see more

Thanks!!

[Dustin]

Bought a few small items. I purchased the ForcedFab transmission mount stiffener and the Whiteline positive shift kit bushing. Tomorrow, however, I am making my first purchase that I believe will be the biggest change to my car so far. A new 4.56 final drive that I believe I will be the first one to test this particular brand. I'm ordering that and a solid pinion spacer. Before I give too many details I want to test it first before throwing any brand names out there. It will come eventually with either a positive or negative review. Stay tuned for updates!!!

ForcedFab transmission mount stiffener. A very well machined piece. For the price you can't beat it. With the Perrin, which is an excellent product as is all of their's from what I've seen, you pay a little bit more for a "better looking" piece. They have them anodized which makes for a prettier finished profuct. This, which doesn't look bad at all, is more function than form. But the time and thought put in to the little details of this piece makes it a steal for the cost.



@ForcedFab_Jon - I will be getting in contact with you fairly soon with some measurements in case you wanted to produce some that will work with the Whiteline bushing.

[mfbmike]

RH's

[Young_makaveli]

Originally Posted by Dustin

New wheels and tires.

They look insane on the car

You have specs for the wheels?

Im shopping around too

[Dustin]

Originally Posted by Young_makaveli

They look insane on the car

You have specs for the wheels?

Im shopping around too

Thanks!!

They are 18 x 7.5 with a +42 offset I believe.

[ForcedFab_Jon]

Dustin, Already on it!! We ordered a bunch of white line bushings in to the shop the same day it was mentioned. They came on Friday and I have already started measuring and coming up with a plan. I don't know about machining the stiffener down. I am worried that taking material off the cylinder part will not leave enough material after tapping. the side wall will be a lot thinner and weaker then we would like. This part is taking a bit of vibration and I wouldn't want to see it pulling threads or splitting apart there. We may end up machining a punch die setup and punching out bushings and selling them as a packaged kit. I will run the new part through some FEA in solidworks later today or tomorrow and see what the results look like. I may not have time today as i have a half day for the kids first soccer games and I cant miss those!

Thanks

Jon

[Dustin]

Originally Posted by ForcedFab_Jon

Dustin, Already on it!! We ordered a bunch of white line bushings in to the shop the same day it was mentioned. They came on Friday and I have already started measuring and coming up with a plan. I don't know about machining the stiffener down. I am worried that taking material off the cylinder part will not leave enough material after tapping. the side wall will be a lot thinner and weaker then we would like. This part is taking a bit of vibration and I wouldn't want to see it pulling threads or splitting apart there. We may end up machining a punch die setup and punching out bushings and selling them as a packaged kit. I will run the new part through some FEA in solidworks later today or tomorrow and see what the results look like. I may not have time today as i have a half day for the kids first soccer games and I cant miss those!

Thanks

Jon

Granted I haven't pulled anything apart yet, but wouldn't the side wall be the same thickness as the factory piece since the Whiteline bushing was designed for the factory piece? If the factory piece is strong enough, I would imagine yours would be as well. But if it doesn't work, it doesn't work. I would just think that if I were in your position, I'd try to modify my own part before modifying someone else's. That's not a jab at you by any means. It's just really what I would try to do first if I were the one looking at it.

Either way, I'm sure what ever you come up with will be great. I can't emphasize enough how well your part is machined. You guys did a great job. Just one question, what kind of tool did you guys use to make such a small engraving of your company name on the side of the stiffener. It is such a fine (small) engraving that the tool must have been tiny!!

[ForcedFab_Jon]

Originally Posted by Dustin

Granted I haven't pulled anything apart yet, but wouldn't the side wall be the same thickness as the factory piece since the Whiteline bushing was designed for the factory piece? If the factory piece is strong enough, I would imagine yours would be as well. But if it doesn't work, it doesn't work. I would just think that if I were in your position, I'd try to modify my own part before modifying someone else's. That's not a jab at you by any means. It's just really what I would try to do first if I were the one looking at it.

Either way, I'm sure what ever you come up with will be great. I can't emphasize enough how well your part is machined. You guys did a great job. Just one question, what kind of tool did you guys use to make such a small engraving of your company name on the side of the stiffener. It is such a fine (small) engraving that the tool must have been tiny!!

The OEM part is solid steel and looks to be made from a single part including the threads on the stud. Our part is aluminum and has a female thread. Much different in strength when getting the side walls down that thin. I know cutting up another part isnt the ideal way, but unless we machine these from steel it maybe the only way. It also possible that you wont need the urethane once you try our stiffener. Non of our test cars had purchased urethane so we didn't even think to try it out.

the engraving was done with a tiny tiny endmill lol. It is quite odd looking when taking in the size of the machine and seeing the cutting bit on the spindle. lol.

[Dustin]

Just got my 4.56 final drive from Weir Performance. I also purchased his solid pinion spacer. He supplied shims for both. Can't wait to get this installed but I need to buy a few more parts first. Anyone looking to do this mod should get in touch with him. Including the solid pinion spacer I got everything for under $400 shipped!!! We've used his final drive, axles and solid pinion spacer on my brother's AE86 and they are top notch!!

[Dustin]

I installed my Whiteline Positive Shift Kit bushing today. The pictures in the instructions provided are not very good to say the least. But there is a very good write up provided by @F1point4 with detailed pictures that makes it a breeze. Doing this mod by itself, I'm finding I have to concentrate really hard to notice a difference. I haven't really noticed an increase in NVH as some have stated. If there is any it is hardly noticeable. There are times when I think the shifting is easier, but other times it feels just as clunky as before. I'm hoping this combined with a few other things I am about to try will make a difference.

Link to DIY for bushing install ----------> www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=19782

[Dustin]

I recently purchased the ForcedFab transmission mount stiffener and the Whiteline Positive Shift Kit bushing. I knew the stiffener would not fit the bushing and wasn't content with the idea of taking a knife to the bushing to make it fit. So after pulling everything apart and taking some measurements, my brother modified the ForcedFab piece. Jon at ForcedFab was a little worried about the structural integrity of the part itself and about pulling the threads out if the piece was modified. After seeing how much material was left, there is no need for worry.

Original ForcedFab part



Modified part by my brother






The only thing I would suggest, and not just with this modification but with the original part as well would be to get a longer bolt or if @ForcedFab_Jon would provide a longer bolt. With the part bolted in all the way, there is approximately 1/4" to 1/2" of threaded space left for a bolt to hold to. Will the bolt hold the part just fine with the amount of threads it is holding to? Yes, but there is more space to distribute the load to and it couldn't hurt to have a bolt that is a tad bit longer.

[ForcedFab_Jon]

Dustin,

did not even dawn on me to only machine up that far... DOH... That makes more sense now that i see it lol. Let me know how it works, I have another order for later this week I may have change the drawings and do half a batch like that. Ill order some longer bolts as well. Thanks for keeping me in the loop! nothing like customer interactive feedback!

Jon

[BlueDubbinTDI]

Review on the lowering springs? I like the drop

[Dustin]

I just finished installing them both together. It went in smooth like butter. I'll do my drive tomorrow and give my initial review on how they are together.

Originally Posted by BlueDubbinTDI

Review on the lowering springs? I like the drop

I like the look, but you do have to be careful. I'm not worried about a little scrape here or there on my bumper so it doesn't bother me but if you're one to worry about such things, get a spring that doesn't go as low. As with lowering any car just by doing a lowering spring, you do sacrifice ride quality. Is it unbearable? No. But can you tell a difference? Yes. Especially on bumpy roads. Luckily where I live the majority of the roads I travel on are smooth.