Around June of 2023 a friend was in need of a daily driver as his wagon was having issues. I was able to trade him my 93 940 Turbo for his 91 245. He had owned the car for around 5 years and was heading in a drifty direction with the build (stickers, BC coilovers etc.) He included a decent stash of uninstalled parts including IPD bars, IPD poly bushings for the front, new control arms and more. Ethan had a good start on the car with a fresh cylinder head, IPD NA cam, BC coilovers, Bens upper torque rods and panhard bar. The wheels are on loan until I get tires mounted for it. A couple of the known issues that needed to be addressed before hitting the road in the wagon were a leaking steering rack and a major vibration in the front end.
How it arrived in June of 2023
I didn't intend on this car becoming a project car per say. The original goal was get it on the road and use it as a backup daily driver. First item on the list was addressing the front end issue. I cleaned up a steering rack I had sitting around and installed new boots and tie rods that Ethan had bought for the car. While it was on the lift, I cleaned the front suspension up as everything was soaked in power steering fluid and oil.
Some before and after shots
After cleaning things up some, I installed the replacement rack, new lower control arms, IPD bushings, and the IPD front sway bar. On the first test drive, the power steering worked, but the death wobble was still there. A 4 mile round trip to the gas station revealed that it had some serious brake issues as the front rotors were pouring smoke and locking down. I ordered a new master cylinder as it seemed it was sticking and not letting the calipers relax. Unfortunately the new master didn't fix any of the issues. During a full brake inspection, I found that the right rear caliper had lost both pins and the pad had shifted.
After fighting entirely too long and bending a couple sets of pins, I realized that this was a Girling caliper and the other side had an ATE. Knowing the pads were smoked, I ordered all new rear brakes as well as new parking brake shoes. I felt better at this point with matching rear caliper, but the braking issue still persisted. I finally broke out the Motive power bleeder and completely flushed the brake fluid. I was leaning towards a proportioning valve issue at this point and after a couple rounds of bleeding in the correct order, the front brakes released and the car was finally drivable. I still need to install the new front calipers and rotors but haven't made it that far yet. Another issue that has arose is the rear end whining. I was hoping it was a symptom of the brakes dragging and the sound being transferred by the BNE arms on the rear a fluid change says otherwise. I have a spare rearend at the house already but its not bad enough to swap yet.
How it arrived in June of 2023
I didn't intend on this car becoming a project car per say. The original goal was get it on the road and use it as a backup daily driver. First item on the list was addressing the front end issue. I cleaned up a steering rack I had sitting around and installed new boots and tie rods that Ethan had bought for the car. While it was on the lift, I cleaned the front suspension up as everything was soaked in power steering fluid and oil.
Some before and after shots
After cleaning things up some, I installed the replacement rack, new lower control arms, IPD bushings, and the IPD front sway bar. On the first test drive, the power steering worked, but the death wobble was still there. A 4 mile round trip to the gas station revealed that it had some serious brake issues as the front rotors were pouring smoke and locking down. I ordered a new master cylinder as it seemed it was sticking and not letting the calipers relax. Unfortunately the new master didn't fix any of the issues. During a full brake inspection, I found that the right rear caliper had lost both pins and the pad had shifted.
After fighting entirely too long and bending a couple sets of pins, I realized that this was a Girling caliper and the other side had an ATE. Knowing the pads were smoked, I ordered all new rear brakes as well as new parking brake shoes. I felt better at this point with matching rear caliper, but the braking issue still persisted. I finally broke out the Motive power bleeder and completely flushed the brake fluid. I was leaning towards a proportioning valve issue at this point and after a couple rounds of bleeding in the correct order, the front brakes released and the car was finally drivable. I still need to install the new front calipers and rotors but haven't made it that far yet. Another issue that has arose is the rear end whining. I was hoping it was a symptom of the brakes dragging and the sound being transferred by the BNE arms on the rear a fluid change says otherwise. I have a spare rearend at the house already but its not bad enough to swap yet.
