The next article in my car part series is going to concern buying parts to upgrade and maintain your vehicle. I will also include information on how to get parts for projects on the cheap. This is a follow up to my original article Buying Car Parts on the Cheap
Maintenance and Repair
So you have a nice daily driver that’s fun to drive or you have nice project car and you need to do maintenance on it. There are many paths to approach this and you can replace with OEM or OEM-equivalent parts or you can do some upgrades in the process.
There are many parts that can be upgraded in the process of maintaining your vehicles. Brakes, suspension and drivetrain are great places to upgrade if they need maintenance anyway.
Once again, I am going to user my 05 Cadillac STS as an example of items that can be upgraded in the process of doing maintenance and repairs. When I bought the car, it was making some noise from the rear differential so I investigated and found that the differential had play internally and the front bushing was basically destroyed so I set off to replace the parts.
1. Check the part model interchange to see what other models may use the same or similar parts. In my case I found that the STS-V, CTS-V, CTS, SRX, and Solstice use the same or similar differential.
2. Check OEM parts. I checked the differential online and found that a new unit would be about $900 and a new OEM bushing would be $21
3. Check OEM upgrade parts. I found that the CTS differential would be an upgrade as it had the same ratio but was Limited Slip compared to my OEM differential. New cost was $1200. I also found that the STS-V bushing was slightly stiffer and held up better and was $30
4. Check aftermarket parts. I found that there were aftermarket LSD options in the $900-1200 range but it would also require about $200 in other OEM parts to rebuild. There were a few aftermarket bushings in the $50-70 range but were too stiff for my daily driver application
5. Check junk yards. I found the LSD CTS differential going for $200-300 in local junkyards with good mileage
6. Check eBay. I found the LSD CTS differential on eBay for about $160 shipped with good mileage
In this case, I opted to get the LSD CTS differential on eBay as it was most cost effective and offered an upgrade at low cost. I matched that with the STS-V bushing and new axle seals before I put it in. Total cost for the repair/upgrade was about $220. My driveline noise was gone and I upgraded to an LSD in the process
Project Car Upgrades
There are many ways to approach project car upgrades. You can always buy parts from aftermarket companies that have been made for the vehicle that you are working on but there are also ways to build and match items yourself.
In this example we are going to use the V8 Miata that my buddy and I built. It has a 5.3L LS motor backed by a T56 manual transmission and makes about 3 times the power it did as stock so we needed to upgrade the brakes. There are aftermarket options but they are either not matched to our goal or way out of price range so we set out to build our own.
1. Measure the factory parts. In this case we measured the size and thickness of the rotor. Hub Size and lug pattern. The size of the caliper, size of the pistons inside the caliper, the size of the brake master cylinder and pad area. We recorded these measurements and made calculations for clamping force and pressure.
2. Search for similar vehicles. We found various brake rotors the matched the lug pattern of the Miata that offered a larger rotor. We settled on the Mini JCW rotors as they were about 1 inch larger but had the same hat offset. We found the rotors on Amazon for about $70 for the set. Next up was the brake calipers, we looked at various options that were 2 piston and 4 piston. We made calculation for each one and settled on Nissan Sentra Spec V Brembo 4 piston calipers as they were within 2% of the Miata clamping force so they would not change brake bias but offered larger pad area and better cooling. The calipers were found on eBay for $250 for the set.
3. Find supporting parts. The brake lines were measured and stainless versions made locally at a hydraulic shop for $60. Performance brake pads were purchased on Amazon for $60
4. Put it all together. We removed the spindle from the vehicle and installed the rotor and mocked up the caliper. We found the caliper offset matched well but the mounting bolt holes were slightly off so we had one of the holes welded up and drilled and tapped a new hole to match the Miata mounting. We installed the whole setup and filled and bled the brake fluid
5. Test it out. We tested the brakes in the area behind the shop at first to make sure it was working properly. We found a little mushiness and bled them again. The next test showed the pedal feel was again at proper level and the project was done.
6. Sell the factory parts. This Miata had the factory sport brake option so the old brakes were sold on the Miata forums for $80
The total project investment was around $490 minus selling the old set, we ended up at a total cost of $410. This price is cheaper than most of the brake upgrade kits available commercially and increases brake performance but has the added benefit of using OEM parts that are fully serviceable.
There are many ways to approach upgrades and using non-conventional methods and some research you can come up with great upgrade for a low cost.