[drwillb]

More progress:

1. diff is out- very easy once I switched to the slow leverage method as above.

2. old bushings out, new bushings in- extremely easy thanks to the HPA bushing tool. I don't have a lot of time to waste tinkering in the garage (although I seem to do a lot of that) so being able to swap all four bushings in a matter of minutes was a huge bonus and worth the rental fee of approx. $100 after adding shipping. Picked up some O ring lube at home depot, plumbing department, and installation was a breeze.

3. sway bar and links out- seems like crazy engineering to have a screw at the bottom end of the link that is so long that it bumps into the casing for the CV joint when you try to back the screw out. I searched the net for an hour trying to find some secret but it seems that just cutting then end that protrudes from the hub carrier and then the actual screw head is the only way to get the thing out.

No progress: that one stinkin' ball joint on the front end just won't let go. I may have to concede that one.

One more thing: I've been keeping a spreadsheet on parts, part numbers, and cost. After adding the latest round of parts bought, it seems I am somewhat, extremely overbudget. I think I can attribute that realizing that the donor car lead a hard life and it's visible in some of the parts. Also, my mantra of "do it once, do it right, do it with new parts" can always be heard repeating itself in the background noise inside my head. My goal of doing a budget based conversion is gone, far gone.

I have given in to my inner OCD and will end up purchasing all lower arm joints, inner and outer, for the rear end. That includes purchasing the special tool for compressing the bushings for insertion. I'll probably end up getting new front bearing/hub carriers since one of mine is not playing along. However, I'll reuse the hubs from what I've already got.

In the end, the front end will be full M3 with only the sway bar and hub/bearings being salvage parts. The rear end will only have the two lower links re-used but their bushings will be all new and the three upper links will be all new. Diff and subframe bushings are also all new. All nuts, bolts, and screws will be new.

There's also a Dinan Stage 2 tune going in two days from now and an ER Competition oil cooler is on order.

Yeah, over budget.

In the end, it's all peace of mind. This will be a mixed use track car for the next year or two and then will become a dedicated track car. By using new bushings and arms I know that risk of failure is drastically reduced and it also resets the clock on maintenance/replacement intervals for these parts. In 60 track days I've never missed a single session due to mechanical issues and I like to think it's because of my methodical (OCD) approach.