Thread: underbody overhaul

I'm sure you're aware but be careful on the lift, WRT the steering arm's, flexy brake pipes, shock length, length of prop shaft, angle of the 'A' frame, etc.

Don't go mad with the hard bushes as they not only transmit noise into the body of the D1 but put a good deal of strain into the chassis where the arms (etc) mount, it's not unknown for the chassis to crack IWO these bushes. As a rule of thumb only use the hard bushes on the axel side of things and keep the OEM bushes next to the chassis.

Also don't go mad with the body underseal as you can trap moisture in and cause greater problems in a few years time. Use a soft underseal as this helps reduce stone chips to the paint system.

thanks MMEJ,

sadly I have already purchased the Superpro bushes....for the price I paid it would be a shame to shelve them in favour of OEM.....from what I had read to date, superpro was superior to other poly bushes, hence why I went that way.

However, thanks for you advice and I will look further into this now - would appreciate any one elses experience on that topic also.

Today I spent 2 hours at the truck wash steam cleaning the underbody and engine bay - it took an hour to get all of the dirt out of the chassis rails yep, 30 minutes each rail with a high pressure hose in and out of all the holes to flush out the gunk.....the mud under the disco at the end was an inch deep in places when we were done

This weekend I will be prepping for the first coat of POR-15....

EDIT: I have had another look through many threads discussing superpro bushes, many people have used them at the chassis with no problems - I think I will be OK. There are however, many comments about problems arising with poor quality poly bushes used at the chassis, but these are different to superpro

Originally Posted by MMEJ

I'm sure you're aware but be careful on the lift, WRT the steering arm's, flexy brake pipes, shock length, length of prop shaft, angle of the 'A' frame, etc.

Yep, I have gone to 3 inch springs/ shocks....already have longer brake pipes, it may require a wide angle prop shaft...and with the spring lift in, castor is now .05 degrees, it should be 3.0 degrees.... I will be putting in 3 degree radius arms to compensate....I am also looking at slotting the swivels....

the whole suspension lift thing is really because I wanted a project....to be honest, I would tell people to stay with a 2 inch lift as you are right - going over 2 inches brings in all sorts of other complications.

Originally Posted by MMEJ

Also don't go mad with the body underseal as you can trap moisture in and cause greater problems in a few years time. Use a soft underseal as this helps reduce stone chips to the paint system.

I am taking my time with this job - I am not using a bitumous sealer on the chassis rails etc, I am using POR-15, which is a paint - no chance of blocking the holes in the chassis rails with it, so it wont lead to any moisture trap problems, but thanks for the advice.

You'll be fine with Superpro anywhere.

The "other" brands aren't up to scratch.

spent about 5 hours under the disco today with a scrubbing brush and a spray bottle with 'marine clean' the recommended degreaser for use with the POR15 paint system.

Holy smokes.....it's a bloody big job - even after going to the truck wash for a steam clean it takes a lot of work to prep before painting...but all of the surface rust I have found all over the underbody tells me this job was well overdue.

One more day of degreasing to go, then I can start with the 'metal ready'....then onto the POR-15 - I think I will be spending the next month of weekends in the garage under the disco, have to laugh about it really

at least yours fits in the garage i have to settle for a driveway of rock instead of the concrete due to low roof on the garage and high lift on the disco. I'm stuffed if i have any major works to do to it

Originally Posted by nicho

at least yours fits in the garage i have to settle for a driveway of rock instead of the concrete due to low roof on the garage and high lift on the disco. I'm stuffed if i have any major works to do to it

LOL, mine is the same actually, lucky I now have a carport that I rent which it fits under.

It was a crackup when I put the larger springs in, I did it in the garage, which has a four meter high roof, only to find I had to air down the tyres to near flat in order to get out 2 metre door

Lol I left my stockies on until I got it out of the garage. Now I'd have to remove my roofrack and put the stockies back on if I wanted to get it inside. Lucky for me mine was an offroad virgin when I got it so it's still A1 underneath after a jet blast. Keep us up to date with what your doin mate I'd like to know if it makes a difference when cleaning up after run. Any time saved is a bonus for me these days