I finally get to drive the car with the big tires.
With the major overhaul, the unknown alignment specs, and the fact that it's now dark out, I opted to make it a fairly short drive, ramping up as I felt comfortable.
I fired it up, and the exhaust was noticeably quieter. Looks like that missing clamp was adding to the drone in the cockpit.
The next challenge is getting out of the driveway. My driveway has a fairly aggressive rake to it, so getting in and out with a lowered car can take some finesse. I took the same angle out that I took going in and cleared it fine.
I'm now in the street under my own power, and driving around. Nothing has fallen off, had a signifigant bang, or tried to change direction when I didn't want it to.
I kept it to residential neghborhoods for a few miles, making sure the brakes worked, and that the almost random alignment doesn't try to step out anytime I get on the gas. I decided it was ok to step it up to the faster frontage roads.
It was here I found out how bad the alignment actually was. At this point, the car has so much toe in, loading up an outside wheel makes it actually want to oversteer the opposite direction. Not good, but it feels manageable for the remainder of the test drive. I step it up to a few laps of some on and off ramps on 394 and the frontage road. Everything outside the alignment is looking good and even with that, I can feel the tires have insane levels of grip. This is going to be so much fun once I get it straightened out.
With an adequate test drive completed, it's time to head back to the garage and decompress, and get some sleep.
[caption id="attachment_131" align="aligncenter" width="300"]
a quick night shot on the way home..[/caption]The next day I had taken off to go to Lincoln for the Spring Nats Pro-Solo, but opted to skip in favor of finishing my car. But I still had the vacation booked, and was going to use it.
I put the car back up on the stands to check for any sort of loosening or movement in the rear end, and found none. Next up was to dial out some of that insane toe in. I eyeballed it (poorly), and put it back down.
The toe-in looks much better, and I decide I may as well put some miles on it today. I had to go to Nissan and pick up the remaining bolts that I had ordered, might as well take the car.
It feels much better toe wise, and handles really well. It's daytime, so there's traffic in the way everywhere, but I still managed to enjoy a few on ramps.
Bolts aquired, I ran a few errands, and helped my Dad out shopping for a new car. At this point, I'm confident it's back together and pending tomorrow's alignment, ready to go.
[caption id="attachment_132" align="aligncenter" width="300"]
After dialing some toe out, I went putzing around a bit.[/caption]
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