BUILD THREAD Project long time coming

[Streetbu]

I'm sorry I am rambling here. I have rotos only at the front with poly rear. It seems like you have one spacer on outside of each?
Wouldn't it be better to have smaller spacers on each side? Which is what I believe I have at the front end of uppers.

No spacers at all. I think what you're seeing is the center of the rotojoint, which has a built in offset to the portion that the bolt goes thru..

So the only thing I can think of that would have caused over articulation is when I installed the rearend after it was rebuilt. If I had installed the upper arms first, then the lowers, maybe the rearend pivoted downwards too far and damaged the joints before the rear was fully installed... I can't remember what order I did it in, but I suppose it's a possibility :/

 

[scoti]

No spacers at all. I think what you're seeing is the center of the rotojoint, which has a built in offset to the portion that the bolt goes thru..

So the only thing I can think of that would have caused over articulation is when I installed the rearend after it was rebuilt. If I had installed the upper arms first, then the lowers, maybe the rearend pivoted downwards too far and damaged the joints before the rear was fully installed... I can't remember what order I did it in, but I suppose it's a possibility :/

I can't see that happening from a static weight perspective, but I suppose anything is possible. Did they request a return of the worn units so they can possibly autopsy them?

 

[Streetbu]

I can't see that happening from a static weight perspective, but I suppose anything is possible. Did they request a return of the worn units so they can possibly autopsy them?

They did not. The more I think about this, the more I can't see any way this could've happened besides me screwing them up when I installed them. Well, not when I installed the actual bushings, but rather when I installed the rearend. I don't remember in what order I bolted the rear end into place, but if I started with the upper control arms first then moved to the lowers, it could have easily moved around enough to force the rotojoints past their intended range. So I sent Ramey an email and wanted to pay for them. I don't think it's their fault. Oh well, lesson learned. Time to eat some crow.

In other news, I was able to measure my pinion angle today. Had about 4° downward on the transmission and 4° upward on the rearend.

Not good at all. Had to shorten the upper control arms to pull the top of the rearend forward and drop the pinion. Ended up going as short as they could go and was able to get the pinion pointing down to about 3°.

I know the pics may not look like the numbers are correct, but with the car on the floor I didn't have much room to look at the angle finder so I had to use my phone LOL

Took the car for a drive and it's so much better! Most of the noise is gone, imagine that, vibration is gone, smoother. Much more enjoyable now. Another checked off the list.

 

[Rt Jam]

Yes the broken one is a UMI. Yes they were pressed in correctly. Fairly certain the set screw is still in place in the broken one and it stripped the threads off the outer part as it backed out... I was so disgusted I had to just walk away from it.

When you make the final adjustment. The position of the two joints or the assembly needs to be able to float. Clockwise and counterclockwise with the jamb nuts tight.
Why does the center bushing not look centered? The angles do not look right.

I also have UMI rotor joints in my UMI lower control arms. Another problem I found was the joint was too tight out of the box. When installed in the car. After torquing the front bolts on the frame. They are meant to pinch the center bushing and hold it still. My roto joint was so stiff, I could see the center bushing rotating with the arm and not staying stationary in the frame.

I removed the arms. Totally overtorqued a bolt and nut in the center sleeve. Rotated the bushing, alot. Added lube and eventually got them spinning with a drill. I'm confident without doing that the sleeves would have just wallowed out my mount.

 

[Tony1968]

When you make the final adjustment. The position of the two joints or the assembly needs to be able to float. Clockwise and counterclockwise with the jamb nuts tight.
Why does the center bushing not look centered? The angles do not look right.

I also have UMI rotor joints in my UMI lower control arms. Another problem I found was the joint was too tight out of the box. When installed in the car. After torquing the front bolts on the frame. They are meant to pinch the center bushing and hold it still. My roto joint was so stiff, I could see the center bushing rotating with the arm and not staying stationary in the frame.

I removed the arms. Totally overtorqued a bolt and nut in the center sleeve. Rotated the bushing, alot. Added lube and eventually got them spinning with a drill. I'm confident without doing that the sleeves would have just wallowed out my mount.

Nice observation and fix. Are you driving with them yet? Guess I'm going to check mine before flight.

 

[Tony1968]

They did not. The more I think about this, the more I can't see any way this could've happened besides me screwing them up when I installed them. Well, not when I installed the actual bushings, but rather when I installed the rearend. I don't remember in what order I bolted the rear end into place, but if I started with the upper control arms first then moved to the lowers, it could have easily moved around enough to force the rotojoints past their intended range. So I sent Ramey an email and wanted to pay for them. I don't think it's their fault. Oh well, lesson learned. Time to eat some crow.

In other news, I was able to measure my pinion angle today. Had about 4° downward on the transmission and 4° upward on the rearend.

View attachment 226617

View attachment 226618

Not good at all. Had to shorten the upper control arms to pull the top of the rearend forward and drop the pinion. Ended up going as short as they could go and was able to get the pinion pointing down to about 3°.

View attachment 226619

I know the pics may not look like the numbers are correct, but with the car on the floor I didn't have much room to look at the angle finder so I had to use my phone LOL

Took the car for a drive and it's so much better! Most of the noise is gone, imagine that, vibration is gone, smoother. Much more enjoyable now. Another checked off the list.

I'm a little confused. Will that give you a minus 1 degree?

 

[Streetbu]

Tony ideally the two numbers should be the same, but in opposite directions. This was as close as I could get it. Much better than before when they were the same. Meaning my diff was pointing upwards instead of down.
Yes I took it for a quick spin into town this afternoon. About 8 miles round trip. What a difference... much better than before. Of course that is to be expected when the upper bushings were falling apart and the new ones are nice and tight.

 

[Streetbu]

When you make the final adjustment. The position of the two joints or the assembly needs to be able to float. Clockwise and counterclockwise with the jamb nuts tight.
Why does the center bushing not look centered? The angles do not look right.

I also have UMI rotor joints in my UMI lower control arms. Another problem I found was the joint was too tight out of the box. When installed in the car. After torquing the front bolts on the frame. They are meant to pinch the center bushing and hold it still. My roto joint was so stiff, I could see the center bushing rotating with the arm and not staying stationary in the frame.

I removed the arms. Totally overtorqued a bolt and nut in the center sleeve. Rotated the bushing, alot. Added lube and eventually got them spinning with a drill. I'm confident without doing that the sleeves would have just wallowed out my mount.

Yes the arm is now centered after adjusting the length to change my pinion angle.

 

[Streetbu]

So every Friday of Labor day weekend, our company has a party. Basically don't accomplish anything in the morning, then we start around 11am with games, food, and finally prizes around 3pm.
I was able to get a little time on our laser engraver today and make a unique item for the Malibu.

Before

After

I have a few things to check over and do this weekend before the trip to LS Fest next week.

 

[Streetbu]

Checked another item off the to do list. Upgraded my interior rear view mirror. I now have a compass, outside temp, and it's auto dimming! All for $8.64 from my local u pull it yard!

Slides right on, I did however need to get a 1/2" long 10-24 set screw because the mount on the windshield has a divot where the setscrew seats. The original screw that came with the mirror wasn't long enough and allowed the mirror to slip off.

Mirror needs a keyed power, ground and two wires for the temp sensor for it to work. Compass and auto dimming are built into the mirror.

Auto dimming working

Used an existing hole in the core support for the temp sensor to snap into.