Rally Struts: Finally Finished!

It's been a while since I've had any progress to show, mostly because the autocross season ramped up and suddenly I'm busy ALL the time. Dmitriy has been rapidly reassembling his car though, and I didn't want to be the last thing holding him up, so I've been pecking away at his suspension to finally get it done.

First, I decided that since I already got myself a big power supply for zinc plating, I might as well get the most out of it and get outfitted for anodizing so I could color and protect the aluminum spring perches. This mostly involved more buckets and a trip to NAPA Auto Parts for a couple gallons of battery acid. And making some room in the garage. After some trial and error, I got everything to turn blue with reasonable success. It took a while.

Yeah, that's the kitchen counter. I have a cool fiancée.

Next, I FINALLY got the housings back from powdercoater Bobby (my fault, not his). They turned out very nicely in blingy gold. Thanks Bobby! I don't really have pictures of the rest, but I machined the top pins of the strut inserts to fit Subaru GroupN top hats, pressed in the bushings and seals and assembled everything. Then I took some pictures!

And these are just on the dining room floor...

After finally delivering them to Dmitriy, he immediately put one on the car. It looks sweet.

I sure hope these things work!