ProwlerGT's 3000GT Revival Thread - Start Up

[ProwlerGT]

I think I understand now what people mean about "low clearance" ball joint press and removal tool. Does this look like it would work for me? Seems like it would not unless I'd remove the CV axle and AutoZone of course told me it was a Universal ball joint press tool.




Also, I checked for hub play and there is none, but do ya'll think that the boot is leaking there? IF so what would it leak? lol

[Alex3000GT]

You have to completely unbolt the ball joint from the lower control arm. Can you get the nut off? If not, get a second hand in there, with maybe a crow bar or breaker bar, and push down on the lower control arm just enough to get the nut off the top of the ball joint. Then you have to push the lower control arm down while you pull the hub assembly up and off of the ball joint. Then, remove the circlip from the ball joint, did your new ball joints come with new circlips? The old ones will probably get bent out of shape when you pry them out.

Then take your ball joint press tool, and put one of those little pipes on the bottom, and loop the hole on the top over the ball joint and start cranking, it'll *pop* right out.

That is the exact same kit I rented from auto zone. I hope my explanation helps at least a little. Here's a rough MSpaint picture of what it should look like when you press the ball joint out.



You WILL require a second hand to hold the hub assembly out of the way for you.

edit: I had to take the axle nut off for this one. The best way to do that is remove the cotter pin, to put the wheel on (take off the center cap), stick your 32MM socket with a breaker bar on it, and push like hell on the breaker bar.

[ProwlerGT]

Excellent Alex. Thank you for that MsPaint and description. It helps a lot to see it like that.

So do I just take off the upper ball joint self locking nut and remove the assist link and then does the control arm drop down to the floor for me to use the big ass c clamp tool? Cause if it does couldn't I use the ball joint tool sorta slanted sideways..... cause otherwise i"m going to have to jack the car WAAy up huh?
As for a second hand - Think I could wedge the edge of a hydraulic jack under the hub to keep it up?

[ProwlerGT]

Originally Posted by Alex3000GT

I painted stock 94 3000GT rims white. I used 2 cans of primer, 2 cans of white, and 1 can of clear coat.

I pretty much did everything you did, and they turned out very nicely. I even left the silver lip.

245/50/16 Yokohama Avid V4s. Very very nice tires.

The center caps are hard as hell to paint, I ended up painting them white, then hand brushing the red mitsu logo in. Taping out the logo was just too time consuming for my patience.

Alex - When you did this did you notice the paint spreading out in splotches (circles) even after you'd waited for the primer to dry? I can't figure it out. The only thing I can think of is the weather but we were lucky enough to have 36% humidity today. Its just in the 50's too and clear. Did I put on too thick a coat ya think?

[Alex3000GT]

Yes I had to have my front end lifted probably 2 feet off the ground for JUST enough clearance to fit the breaker bar and socket onto the end of the clamp tool. If you can't pry the control arm down much to get the hub up and off the ball joint, then you can loosen the bolts where the control arm connects to the frame of the car to help give you some leeway. Just remember, torque everything back to spec with locktite!

[Alex3000GT]

Originally Posted by ProwlerGT

Alex - When you did this did you notice the paint spreading out in splotches (circles) even after you'd waited for the primer to dry? I can't figure it out. The only thing I can think of is the weather but we were lucky enough to have 36% humidity today. Its just in the 50's too and clear. Did I put on too thick a coat ya think?

The whole process took maybe 3 hours, I had to put the paint on in very thin coats (sprayed from maybe 8-10" away?). Then dry, then paint some more. I stopped painting once the wheel was a solid white (or silver in your place), then I put some clear coat on, let it dry, and a little more clear.

edit: remember, just light coats when spraying and it shouldn't run

[ProwlerGT]

Originally Posted by Alex3000GT

The whole process took maybe 3 hours, I had to put the paint on in very thin coats (sprayed from maybe 8-10" away?). Then dry, then paint some more. I stopped painting once the wheel was a solid white (or silver in your place), then I put some clear coat on, let it dry, and a little more clear.

edit: remember, just light coats when spraying and it shouldn't run

Yeah my impatience caught me I guess. I've not been doing thin coats. I can't stand just seeing tiny spotted bits of paint on there in one coat. Oh well. I will repaint again tomorrow as its still setup for such. Thats what I've been doing all day AGAIN. Tonight I will now tackle the suspension seeing as now I know this ball joint tool will actually work.

[ProwlerGT]

Other painting tips: Do not paint over a newspaper or cloth surface. Recommend mobile wood or metal figuring you'd be painting outside and want to bring the stuff in at night to dry.

Evaluate whether or not your old calipers (funked pistons) and rotors (worn down near end of spec limit) are worth painting. No need to clean up and sand items that are not going to last much longer and on most of our cars the stock setup is likely in that shape assuming most do not flush their brake fluid as often as they should and apparently how much dirt gets in the lines (at least on the NA stock brake setup). Painting new parts eliminates TONS of time and so much I can't stress it enough. If you do paint old parts then use the wire wheel acid to clean them first like that dude did in the camaro caliper paint link a couple pages back, but be careful with that stuff.

[ProwlerGT]

Painting footnote: NEVER SPRAY PAINT INTO A THIN PLASTIC CONTAINER AND THEN COVER TO SEAL FROM AIR WITH MASKING TAPE. Apparently at least the DupliColor Annodized Metalcast coloring is HIGHLY HIGHLY TOXIC enough to melt some thin plastics. I had come up with an idea (which didn't work) to fill in the diamonds on the center caps by dropping the paint into them with a dropper and so I plugged a plastic container (the kind that come with pepto bismol) with tape on top and before I knew it about 5 minutes later the paint had chemically burned through the container onto my mom's plastic (with cloth backing) table cloth..... THEN it started to eat the table cloth ! I'm definitely following the respirator guidelines from now on especially now since I've seen what it can do to physical objects. I guess the whole key here is to have AIR to the paint at all times..... but man... I totally didn't expect that shit. Now my mom's table cloth has a big wrinkled up (from the burn) white spot on it from me rubbing it out with paint remover. Mom's not home yet..... lol. We'll see what goes down. I'm just lucky that the other day she'd cut the table cloth in half because half of it was really worn out so the hell that breaks loose shouldn't be too bad. lol

[Alex3000GT]

hahaha Oh man, this painting thing sounds like fun. Yeah that stuff is very toxic, had to keep the dogs away for this one. Most of it is also flammable, so keep your shop lights away.