A little update on the brakes and the overall project.
Last week I ordered up in axle tube seals and installed them over the weekend. this also gave me a chance to pull the pumpkin out and make sure everything was looking good. I installed the seals and pulled the hubs apart one more time to repack the grease. In general the install took a while but was uneventful. I also cleaned off the pads and rotors really well. It was a snug fit for the seals so hopefully I don't have to pull them out anytime soon...
I also changed out the 1/2" rear wheel spacers for 1/4" spacers. After I got it all together I took it for ~10 mile drive to check it all out. Got home and sure enough more grease was on the rotors. Good news is the outer tire was not rubbing anymore. Plan was to head to an autocross on sunday but after seeing that I opened up a few beers and called it a day....
Next day I put the car up on stands and checked it out again. I didn't see any visible leaks from the seals so I decided to just clean the hell out of everything and try it again. I also noticed the wheels were actually rubbing on the inner wheel wells now... I was shocked since there is ~3/4" clearance. I assume under hard cornering there is a bit of body roll since the pan hard bar should be holding the axle very still
I picked up ~5 cans of brake cleaner and sprayed the hell out of all the rotors with focus on cleaning the vanes and the pads. I also decided to go ahead and use a butane torch to heat the pads in case oil/grease is embedded in the pads. Sure enough while heating them up I could see a slight amount of oil bubbling out of the pads. After al this I also bled the brakes one more time to ensure it was completely solid. I bolted the wheels back on and went for a drive.
Sure enough the brakes were MUCH better. The pedal was more firm and the car really slowed under hard braking. I got them a little warm but I don't think it was enough to put some real heat in them. I got home and sure enough no oil on the rotors... SUCCESS... ( I also followed this up with a commute to and from work...still no oil)
