Dave K

How'd you all do it... I've been using a reciprocating saw and going through blades like crazy. I'm going to try to find some better quality blades but maybe there's an easier way (The lt1 tabs are a lot of cutting).

Other than that the C5 brake upgrade/ Upper & Lower control arm upgrade is going pretty much according to schedule... which is to say it's taking forever.

I decided to change the upper ball joints while I had it all apart (the lower ball joint came with the UMI arms)... and of course one of the two parts was wrong and had to be reordered (you'd think the parts store could order two identical parts without screwing it up).

I wasted a half hour trying to get the hub off one side before realizing I could probably do the whole upgrade without taking it off. I don't know if those are pressed it but the umi instructions and my haynes manual don't mention having to get them pressed out... but they damn sure don't come out easily.

I wasted another half hour trying to get the sway bar endlinks off the lower control arm... the sleeves are rusted firmly in place... ended up ordering replacement Energy Suspension parts (I'm pretty sure these already were ES... came with the suspension techniques swaybar). I'm going to lube the crap out of the sleeve this time and maybe it'll hold up a bit better, I also got the bushings with grease fittings... the bushings that came with the bar didn't have em and were as dry as a popcorn fart.

It's a good thing I enjoy working on this car so much or I'd start to thing that this was a lot like work.

On the plus side, the C5 brakes look pretty awesome, the cool and somewhat unexpected thing was how light they are, maybe half the weight of the stock calipers... can't wait to try em out.

always faster

Have you tried with a grinder and a good cutting disc?This would be my choice

They ship my C5 kit on friday(the umi one too) and im waiting it like a kid that want is new toys

OBE1 95Z28

A fresh blade on my sawsall cut fairly easy.

Dave K

Must be I bought junk blades... I just got some from a different manufacturer, I'll see how they work. Just in case I also bought a metal disk for my angle grinder.

wrd1972

Sounds like crap blades to me.
If it were me I would use a disk grinder with a cut-off wheel before the sawzall.

Bud M

I went through 2 sawzall blades when I did mine. Be sure to keep the blade oiled as you cut and a sawzall works fine.

Dave K

The new blades worked fine. Ya gets what ya pays for.

The disk grinder worked great to clean up the cuts but the disk was too wide to cut well (I couldn't find a thin 4" metal disk at the store I went to)

NOSCaMaRo

There just a pain to get off the first time thats all, once there off they will come off easily the next time if needed. I ran into the same problem the first time I did a install like this too.

Lazlo

AMEN BROTHER!!! The harder the job is to do the more satisfaction you get when it's done, and it's never wasted time if you learned how to do it better/easier next time.

I'm not sure that they would work with the adapters you got but the 98+ steering knuckles don't have any of that extra material on them, and you can get em pretty cheap from a junker(probably cheaper than a stack of blades).


I just did the 98+ upgrade and it was night and day difference, those C5 brakes are gonna throw you out the windshield. Do you mind giving a quick overview of what you had to do, and what things cost to get everything squared away?

LWillmann

A rubber mallet on the bolts to the hub will make all the difference in the world.

Simply back the bolts out part way, and hit the bolts with a rubber mallet so you don't damage the head of the bolts. Move from bolt to bolt as you work the hub out of the spindle a little at a time.

Dave K

This year I'm doing a couple things to get the car back in shape... stuff (like the brakes) that I've let slip for years. First thing is the hardware and costs:

UMI Performance: $1500 and change
- C5 bracket, caliper and rotors, no lines
- Upper and Lower control arms, all rod ends.
- Short shift lever.

Susquehanna Motorsports : $330 or so
- Hella 90mm headlights with brackets and connectors

Tire Rack : $800 or so
- Firestone Firehawk Wide Oval - 265/40/17 F, 295/35/18 R

Autozone : $80
- TRW Upper Ball Joints

Home Depot : $30 or so
- Loctite, sawzall blades, sanding disk, grinding disk, Red Rust preventative Paint for the swaybar.

LWMotorsports : $70 or so
- Energy Suspension Sway Bar Endlinks and greasable bushings.

I'm probably going to buy new brake lines, because I don't like the idea of bending the bracket to get the LT1 lines to have enough length... that'll be another hundred bucks.


As far as the 'do' part, I jacked the car and put it on stands so I could do both sides at once.

1) Pulled the old calipers and rotors - piece of cake... I let the fluid drain, I'm changing it all out anyway.

2) Unbolted swaybar endlinks, bushings (had to remove a number of screws from the lower fascia and also remove a metal cover to get one bolt out). Removed swaybar and gave it to my boy to strip and paint.

3) Tried to remove swaybar endlinks... rusted to ****... ordered new ones and left the old ones in place.

On the drivers side:

4) Unplugged the ABS sensor and removed the hub bolts. Whacked on the bolts a few times and failed to release the hub... decided I'd leave it on unless it got in the way.

5) Whacked off the two tabs on each steering knuckle (biggest pita of the whole job). Ground the cuts so they don't look quite so nasty.

5) loosened up a-arm ball joint nut and broke the ball joint free (easy with air tool and fork).

6) loosened upper ball joint nut and broke that ball joint free

7) removed lower shock bolts.

8) unbolted shock tower brace and loosened the bolts holding the upper control arm assembly. Need a torx socket and also need to unbolt the master cylinder to get to one of the bolts.

9) removed both ball joint nuts, removed shock tower bolts and pulled shock tower assembly out of the car.

10) swap out new upper control arm, everything fit nicely, bolts weren't too hard to get out. I also lubed up the upper ball joint at this point.

11) while shock and upper control arm are out of the car you could swap out the lower a-arm... but then you need to make sure the steering knuckle is supported. I chose to bolt the upper assy back in and loosely bolt the steering knuckle onto the upper ball joint for support.

12) Remove lower A-arm... apparently these bolts can be a pita to get out... I just whacked mine a couple times with a hammer and then used a smaller diameter bolt to pop them up throught the lower holes... they came out easily after that.

13) Install new lower A-arm, I have not yet tightened the two bolts because I was going to ask about where I should put them for a not too crazy alignment that'll get me to the shop for a proper alignment.

14) Bolt up lower shock mount, lower ball joint, and torque them as well as the upper ball joint to spec.

15) Mount the Brake bracket, torque hub bolts to spec.

16) slide rotor on... make sure you get the right one, the vanes are directional and should be blowing air out from the middle when going forward.

17) Mount brake retainer cage (or whatever it's called), torque to spec.

18) lube the sliders and install with dust caps, mount anti-vibration spring and pad guides on the caliper and install the caliper, bolt and torque.

19) bolt the brake line up so it's not hanging... realize it's too short and go '**** I've got to buy brake lines'.

20) connect the ABS Sensor.

Still to do:

Repeat 4-20 for the Passenger side.

Reinstall freshly painted Sway Bar using new hardware.

Replace the brake lines with ones that are about 3" longer.

Flush out any old brake fluid and bleed the system.

Install the 90mm Hellas, fabricate some sort of black surround for them so they don't look totally dorky (I ultimately don't care how dorky they look, the headlights on our cars suck THAT bad.)

Take the car to the garage for Tire mount/balance and front alignment.

dsmith

try using Milwaukee blades. I used one blade to complete both sides with some wd-40 as lube, then use a grinder to smoothen the sharp edges out.

dsmith

Be sure to wear eye and ear protection while cutting the ear off. I had to deal with a ringing sound in my head for a couple hours because I don't need no stinkin ear protection

Bud M

DaveK, you will love those Hellas. The install can be a big project, though.
I have several pics of how I did mine in my sig if you need them.
Good choice on tires too.

Dave K

Cool... your setup is right along the lines of what I was contemplating... I never planned on going back to stock so I was going to significantly modify the bracketry.

You don't have a problem with the deep setback of the headlights cutting off the beam? I was thinking about putting them a bit forward of your position but of course then they interfere with the shelf thats a part of the front bumper (I figured i'd have to modify that some).