Lots of work but little to show for it since the last post. I installed, uninstalled, and reinstalled the subframe because the rear subframe bushings were compressing suspiciously. I made several forum posts, sent quite a few e-mails, and made several rounds of phone calls before being told by an Energy Suspension rep. that it was okay and wouldn't hurt anything. I'm still not 100% sold on that, but I don't really have a choice right now.
After I installed the subframe and torqued everything down, the first drive revealed a very loud noise coming from the differential area. More troubleshooting, e-mails, calls, and the general concensus is that either I aggravated the already-bad pinion bearings by dropping the subframe, or the subframe angle changed enough as a result of the new bushings to aggravate the bearings. Either way, there was not enough time to replace the bad bearings, so I am going to hope for the best and take it on the drive.
Tomorrow and Sunday I will be driving to Oklahoma, then Texas to college at Texas Tech (me in the Z, them in the Honda Pilot with a U-Haul 5' x 8'). It's a 1,200 mile trip...wish me luck. Once it's down there, I'll have all my tools at my apartment, so anything can be fixed, but getting there's the trick.
Unfortunately, I also don't have my sub box ready for the trip, because it was made to the old JL opening size of 9 1/4" instead of the newer 8 3/4". Once I get settled in, I'll have to make a 1/2" 'sleeve' that fits in the hole and provides the right mounting size to install my W7.
What's that? All negative, nothing good from the past few weeks despite plenty of work and money on parts? Well, during the (very loud thanks to the bad bearings) drive to fill up tonight, this happened:
One of these days, I will be able to start the Z up and drive it around, and not hear any strange noises, feel any engine vibrations, smell any burnt oil, and just be able to enjoy the drive. Sometimes it is the only light at the end of a seemingly endless tunnel.