Well I fubar'd the screw on my perch. It's pretty round in there now. What's worth trying? I don't think I have a single screw extractor around here (but if I dig I might find one). I do have a bunch of drill bits. My car's in pieces and I have an appointment with Jeff at 10am tomorrow morning. If anyone can take a moment to guide me on getting this screw out I'd be very appreciative. It's recessed, so that's a PITA. I've got a slightly larger hex - should I heat this up and pound it in a try to turn it? I don't have any epoxies to glue a hex in and try and turn it. The screw's not exposed anywhere, so I can't cut it in half. And there's like no extra material in that perch, so I can't really overdrill it a helicoil it or anything it doesn't look like (imho, maybe I'm wrong).
Side note, what struts are those on? I would first try to drill the head off so you can get the adjuster off and on a bench to extractor it. If not is there enough room to cut the bolt at the relief? I have a set of those sleeves and I was disappointed at how small the head on that hardware was. I also hate socket head cap screws for anything that requires any sort of torquing.
They are on Tokico D-Specs. This is partly my fault for installing them 3 years ago with no protection (no boots or anything) on a car I DD year round. Drilling the head was a no go. It looks like it might work because the first part is not threaded, but any bit large enough to really eat the head ended up digging into the perch and I ****ed up the perch beyond repair trying. Also, I suck, that's part of it. And of course the bolt seems hard as **** when you're trying to drill it (versus soft as butter with it strips). I tried cutting through at the relief, but I wasn't making any progress. A 1/32" disc I had on a dremel wasn't going anywhere. And while cutting through will get the perch off, I still have a screw stuck in it that's no easier (and probably harder) to get out. I was actually able to pound the whole sleeve and perch off the strut, so at least I could get it tight in a vise to work on. Lotta good that did. So I just took the angle grinder and cut one fubar'd perch off last night. Did it without damaging the threaded sleeve. The perches aren't that expensive ($20 ea.), but I'm supposed to leave town in the car on Monday. Overnighting stuff is expensive I'm just going to cut through the other two that are stuck and I've ordered new perches (and new front springs). I broke 2 extractors today trying to get the bolt out without wrecking the perch.
That's no fun. I learned the hard way on my DMS 40's you have to keep them very clean and running them in the winter is a very bad idea. Did you have to do any sort of sleeve between the strut and the GC sleeve on the D-Specs or do they fit fine? My AGX's are past blown and a new set would cost the same as the D-specs these days (I miss the $350 sets). I just haven't looked very hard to see if the GC's will fit on the strut bodies.
Lessons learned: use lots of anti-seize, don't over-torque, and start earlier on projects. The strut bolts were slathered in anti-seize and they came off much easier than I was expecting. I almost wonder if we did something bone-headed like used loctite on these set screws when I installed them. Of course, they saw so much grime it's no surprise. And yes, cap screws suck in this application. But it's working out. My stack height was more than I expected with the thicker plates and the spacer I had to use - I was looking to drop a bit but even after grinding the big perch off the strut and going as low as I could with the adjustable I was still about 1/8" higher in front than before.. So needing to replace some perches gave me an excuse to order new front springs, too. I was running 308 lbs/in front & 273 lbs/in rear all 9" springs. I've ordered 8" 275 lb/in for the front. Tough call, I needed shorter for sure, but rates are hard to pick and I worry about bump travel. A good number of people like the old Impreza's with even rates (and the RS is near even stock, but half the rate ~150 lbs/in). Also, some math I did a few years ago suggested that my rear springs should be as high or higher rate than the fronts to acheive a good F/R ratio of natural frequency.
A layer of duct tape between the strut and the GC sleeve works great. The D-Specs and GC sleeves makes a great setup imho. But it's also a mixed bag. By the time you get it all together (and especially if you use tender springs to take up the slack), you're not really all that much cheaper than a set of proper coilovers.. And I've certainly spent enough time futzing with them to make up the difference in cost. On the other hand, you can swap out spring rates or if your struts go you can replace just them, etc. fwiw, they actually held up really well being run through 3 winters totally open. I think with a boot or cover these will be just fine through winters. And really these stuck set screws might have been an install error like over-torque or possibly (can't remember for sure) loctite as much as from dirt and grime. They weren't rusty.
Damn that sucks, Q. Can't really cut a slot into the head to fit a screwdriver with it being recessed like that. Did you try a torx bit or a the old bang a center punch counter clockwise in the groove till it hopefully loosens trick? Lesson learned anyhow.
Ya, trying the torx was a joke. I had a hex that fit perfectly - so snug a ratchet broke before the screw stripped. They'd been hit with PB blaster several times over a couple days, and yesterday they were practically soaking in PB and then ATF for hours. Tried torching, tried soldering iron on the bolt. The recess doesn't give you room for a center punch, but I banged on the screw a bit to try and loosen it up too, while hot and while cold, etc.
Well Jeff can't get me in this week anymore at all, so at least I canceled the overnight shipping and saved $60. Guess I'll have to fix my van at least that just needs brakes (not sure if its the fronts or the rear drums though). Also, I will reiterate, with the exception of this set screw (which may have been installation error), the Ground Control perches have held up very well for being totally exposed through a few winters. No rust at all.
I've heard a few horror stories with ground-control sleeves. The perch is made of aluminum, and the adjusting bolt is made of stainless steel. There's an electrolytic reaction there that seizes that in there solid. I went out of my way to coat the $#!+ out of the lock bolts with anti seize in mine. And very careful not to overtighten. They will also get some dirt bagz (or probably some homemade equivalent) before winter.
Funny thing is, for about the last 2 years (since we bought our house), I've barely been here at all or done anything to the RS. I'm just finally settled enough to tackle a bunch of projects this spring - that and I can't stand looking at these nice top plates sitting in a box year after year. It's funny, there was zero rust on them. None.. It was dirty and grimy, but not so much to make the bolt stuck like it was. The first one came loose, but with a big sudden pop and after a couple creaky, stiff quarter turns, then it was fine. It really made me think did I do something dumb and put loctite on that bolt when I put them on (which would be odd, we slathered the strut bolts, etc, with anti-seize - and that really helped too, they came out easy as pie). If not loctite, could be something like that, a disparate metals reaction that didn't show up as visible rust but seized them two together. I managed to grind the bolt through with a 1/16" cutting disc on my angle grinder, and the cut is small enough that they could be reused if the bolt could be removed - but that's never happening. There's a chance one could drill through and retap it - if you had a drill press and could clamp it in place lined up straight.. but for $20 it's worth just getting new perches imo.
Lol. I do need some coilover condoms though... I'm wondering if there's a tough fabric, like a canvas, that would hold up - something I could make to fit over the spring maybe and over the bottom of the camber plate to protect the bearing from the elements.
Here's a shot of the covers that my mom made me They were some kind of waterproof, tear resistant fabric. Held on with zip ties at the top and bottom and velcro down the side. I only used them in the winter. They did a great job keeping dirt/salt off the coilovers. They looked completely clean when I took them off.
My girflriend said she's going to make me a pair of these once she gets her new sewing maching set up http://www.dirtyimpreza.com/forums/showthread.php?t=17181
It's a mix of carbon kevlar, unobtainium, and cotton. No, there are a lot of durable waterproof fabrics out there. I imagine a canvas material with a poly coat would work well for this application (like an outdoor car cover or rag top material used on many convertibles).
