After a lot of swearing, cursing, and collective problem solving the 850R went back on the road today. The progress towards fully stock, aka Stage 0, has made many leaps and bounds in the past few days. On both sides of the car we have installed brand new sway bar end links, control arms, tie rods, stainless steel brake lines, rotors, and pads. The final piece that we competed was flushing all the brake fluid, which was something that should have been done a long time ago. The brake fluid in the lines was so full of particulate that the initial pumps sent out a jelly like substance before any sort of fluid. We also discovered a flaw in the 850s stock brake lines (a common issue as mentioned on the forums), they had built up so much pressure, and were caked with so much road grime that they were fully fused to the brake hard-line. Luckily, like the bolts on the passenger side, we were also to use the Dremel to cut the lines and remove them for the new steel brake lines. It is also worth mentioning the CV axle was re-installed as well, as has worked great.
A shot of the new Brembo discs, along with the stainless steel hard-lines and new hadware installed.
What wheel cleaning fluid and steel wool can do to remove road grime and splattered axle grease. Unfortunately the Pegasus wheels we have still need major repairs for the curb rash that they have developed over time.
A shot of the installed CV axle with the new boots. You can also see the new tie rods and sway bar end links.
With as much as we have completed so far, there is a lot to go. A falling headliner, and a mysterious oil leak still need to be remedied. A fluid flush of the cooling system may be in order, along with new oil. In the more short term, we need an alignment, and plan on getting many more bits and pieces from some donor cars to fix pieces on the interior and exterior.