Some pix. Bespoke Ground Control top mounts, lovely machined and anodized aluminum pieces, with very stiff rubber bushings, no pillow ball mounts. The pic only shows three coz I had to re-press in one of the rubber top mount bushings that had popped out.

Ground Control supplied their own bump stops too. About the only thing that I'll need to salvage off the stock pieces are the dust covers. Spring rates are standard 340 front / 380 rear as recommended by Ground Control.

I 'refurbished' everything with new OE lower mounting bolts, new hardware kits from Koni, and had new nuts welded onto all four Konis as the originals were getting a bit tired (hence the bead blasted, unpainted bits at the bottom of each shock). Gonna hafta paint those later. Never mind my big toe at the bottom of the picture.

Now just waiting for the diff shims to arrive, and to find a spare weekend, then I'll be getting stuck in...

 

Nice! I really do respect people who can piece together their own parts properly and know how it all works and why it works...rather than people who just buy the most expensive thing they can afford and have no idea what they're really paying for.

Props!

 

Or as Ali G would say, "Ree-speck!"

Took delivery today of the Comptech version 2 front sway bar from Shane (Underwhelmed here on the forums). Wow, nice piece. This is one of the serious sway bars. Not gonna put it on yet though, I wanna drive the car on the Konis and Ground Controls first, then try the effect of the bar later. I did get about halfway on the Konis and Ground Controls in the couple of hours I spent on the car.

Fronts went in and out very easily, rears came out pretty easily too. Rears aren't gonna go back in yet - Tuesday the prop and driveshafts will come out, followed by the diff. Gonna do the inner driver side-by-side swap, have my friend rebuild the diff with the 4.57s and all new bearings and seals, and then get it all back together.

Then I need to borrow my friend's dad's GPS, my other friend's fender roller and away we go!

 

Some more pix. Fronts installed, it's too bad not more of the gorgeous top mount is visible, but look closely and you can see the Ground Control label! Then just a pic of the Comptech front sway bar, thanks again Shane!

I forgot to mention in a previous post that the reason for the top mounts is not to have blingy anodized and machined aluminum under the hood (though of course they look nice), but the Ground Control top mounts move the upper mounting point upwards an inch, to regain any lost suspension travel.

Spent most of last night pulling out the diff. Prop shaft bolts would not budge, they required 'persuasion' with a specialized Snap-on Tools bolt remover after the allen heads rounded. Diff is at my mechanic friend's place now, and the 4.57s should be installed by the weekend so I can get everything back together. Motul SA90 gear oil ready to go in too, should be fun stuff! Then will need to spend some time getting the ride height where I want it, and some fender rolling and then back on the road!

 

nice

 

Nice stuff Vince, especially the sway bar . Any plans to put an aftermarket rear bar on too?

 

Hmmm...not just yet. I'd better drive it with the front bar first, and see what's what to get a feel for things before I start buying more parts. For now I'm quite happy.

The only thing on the wishlist in the future is the Stoptech big brake kit. Probably overkill for my purposes, but when I park next to the boss's Boxster S everyday, I get caliper envy...

 

Much to my surprise, my mechanic buddy had my diff rebuilt with the 4.57s in just a day. Picked it up tonight, and had it back into the car in about an hour, including filling it up (on the bench) with Motul SA90. Then spent the rest of the evening 'roughing in' the rear suspension, driveshafts with swapped inner drivers and new axle nuts, and of course the prop shaft with new bolts.

Should have everything buttoned up again Saturday, the next chance I'll have to work on the car. Now if only that fender roller would get back from the guy my friend lent it to...

 

Finally lowered the car on Konis and Ground Controls last weekend. Lowered maybe 15mm all around, I think I may drop the front just a touch more. Right now it's a 'tight' two finger gap, maybe 1.5 finger gap come to think of it at the rear, and a 'loose' two finger gap at the front.

No fender mods needed so far, though the rear rubs justa justa over large bumps, and only on the plastic part of the fender / bumper. I may trim it a bit. No metal rubbing.

Also got the 4.57 final drive installed. They whine more than I anticipated. I actually had the diff out again already to redo the backlash settings, but it still whines. Not really bad with the top down, but with the top up, you can definitely hear the gears working. I could live with some whine, I just didn't think it would be that constant. Some guys like it, but the part throttle / cruising whine is a bit much for me.

So...just ordered a set of cryo treated 4.44s from Hard Top Guy. If anyone wants a 4.57 gear set, it'll be available in a few weeks!

Oh yeah...acceleration with the 4.57s is excellent. Revs pile on much more freely! And the car feels torquier too.

Here's the latest pix: