JCMC64

I already have all new shocks and springs, so just MAW remove entire front suspension, clean it all up from black top coat that peels off pretty easily due to improper metal prep, shine it all up with wire wheel...leave what parts are supposed to be unpainted metal the way they should be, paint the rest...which now leads me into the Frame and undercarriage. God help me, im out of control!!!
But first to revisit rear drums.

JCMC64

Ripped out the rear drums, removed axles, decided Im going with rear disc upgrade. After adding up the cost of each, not much more just to upgrade.

Used the reverse drum trick to remove the axles. Driver side came out quick, Pass side was a PITA!!









Now that I got the axles, MAW go all the way and do the rearend rebuild, right?? To be continued...

JCMC64

Removed all the garbage brake lines, original and crapola.



Also removed the wrong size parking cables, more crapola... and need a TH400 setup anyways. Intermediate and rear cables pretty straight forward.
But that front cable was major, Royal PITA. Stupid hard to remove.

JCMC64

In between all this, I did first step on the rear wheel wells. Second step will to undercoat or POR15.

Before:, crazy overspray:



After, Seriously cleaned with degreaser, then primed flat black...was already pretty clean under there. Just first step:

JCMC64

Now...MAW do the Rearend rebuild since axles are out, and do the Posi upgrade and better gear ratio, right?!

Removal-Already started paint strip test on axle tube. More crappy paint job just painting black over un prepped metal
and grime.

JCMC64

More

JCMC64

More-
Before - Partial prep done. (Much more has already been done since these pics)

JCMC64

More...Removed the dry rotted Diff housing bushings:




Almost completely done with prepping rearend:

JCMC64

Rearend prepped

JCMC64

AFTER #2- (future pics of finished rearend go here)

JCMC64

Now that all the suspension parts are pretty much removed, the frame is begging for attention! (I need an intervention for serious case of maw...)

Before, fresh Black paint job on poorly prepped metal:

JCMC64

Beginning stages of removing paint, and then degreasing







Notice below the steering linkage and sway bar also in progress (these came out very nice after stripping, degreasing and wire brushing)

JCMC64

Halfway point on front frame areas, (side rails are also being done...the rear frame was pretty good in comparison, may just get away with some degreasing and some chem etching).

Allan R

Jim, that's coming along really nice. Great update bud.

EDIT: you may as well pull those inner liners to get better access to the front frame and parts. Then, drop out the sway bar and put in new link kits and front stab bushings. You'll prolly have a heart attack when you see what's there (unless its been changed out recently)

JCMC64

Hey Allan.
Yep, I already considered pulling the liners many times. But once I do, that will tend to make me put repops back on. You know how that goes. Old on new...not so much!

btw-The front Rad support core was done pretty good by PO. Might leave that. And yes the front sway bar has been up and down several times as the MAWs got deeper. Its off now and those areas are well on there way.

JCMC64

Front Floor boards:

Before
(I know they look pretty good, but again the front end of entire car, the metal was poorly prepped. So areas like here the paint
just peels right off with scraper. So might as well do it right since this is mostly labor and little cost wise. But back half of car is solid.
Got a great idea of condition of the car's metal too doing this as well. Overall pretty solid metal with minor issues here and there.
I'll rest better knowing the cond for sure now and that its coated right.)




Halfway-





Again rear floorboards and trunk were done pretty good, just a degrease and cleaning and I'll undercoat whole undercarriage again.

Allan R

Jim, don't do repops on the liners - just a lot of wasted $$$. Degrease, clean any paint with mild solvent. Then use steel wool (ending with very fine) to 'refinish' them. They should look like almost new when done. If you want you can also put a coat of plastic finish on it for a more glossy look.

JCMC64

Actually the liners are pretty good, seen way worse.
Thx for that info, I will try and spruce them up some, see how they come out.

JCMC64

Dropped gas tank while back, its in solid shape. I think it could use a new sender unit though. Whats the trick to get it off off? I see the groves where is spins off, but its not budging. The problem is the pipe into tank is real loose, and wiggles back and forth too much, and a gap is there and you can smell gas coming out of it. Shouldnt this be a tighter fit?

Allan R

No, the locking ring is holding it in like it should. Use a brass drift or screwdriver and seat it against one of the locking ring 'slots'. Give it a sharp whack to release.

See...

JCMC64

New Performer Intake and Orig Carb. Carb still needs rebuilt, but is in amazing orig cond. Just a mock up

JCMC64

Thx Alan, will try it tonight.

JCMC64

Hey Alan, The fuel sending unit came out with a rap of the baby sledge. It was really really stuck.

Progress report: Rear end is all prepped and ready for paint. Frame is 70 percent ready for paint. Under body is already for undercoat. I need to seal up a few areas of previous patches on the floor boards -need to seal them with some kind of sealer and then undercoat entire under carriage. Its been Weeks of scraping and sanding.

Allan R

Most stuff on a 42 year old car is really really stuck. Been there done that, bought the t shirt. Welcome to my world.

oldsguybry

wow , you're really getting things done ! Great job !

JCMC64

Update:
Over past month or so, been doing all sorts of things. Getting bolts and hardware right (cleaning, stripping, organizing, etc) stripped all the black over the steering linkage, gear box, fuel line Im going to keep (keeping only the fuel line since I cant get it out of there, polished it nicely though through lots of elbow grease), finishing up prep of frame for POR15, wiper motor restore, found source of rear tranny leak - Tailshaft housing issues, so pulled drive shaft, yoke, tailshaft housing and replacing both U joints while Im at it, redoing oil pan gasket, redo on the cowl area, on and on and on. At bottom starts the long chain of pics.

I also pulled water pump, timing cover, just on a hunch. I was glad I did. The water pump is very old and cruddy, maybe swapped over from the old 350 after 455 was rebuilt. Not happy with condition of timing cover either, and timing cover seal was older too...more evidence they PO just ran out of money and took short cuts everywhere at the end of his restore. .So all this is going to be replaced. As with allot of the "restore" finishing touches the previous owner did, just not up to par for my standards.

But along the way, I decided to pull entire front clip.
Now Im just step away from swapping bushings out while im this far into it.
The only thing stopping me is the fear of mount nuts spinning and the hassles that bring...Advice - opinions? Im right there at that door!

It will take me days to post all the pics so hang tight

JCMC64

Update:

JCMC64

Removed Wiring harnasses (of course found even more crack and dry rotted wiring all over -- cha ching, cha ching $$$), removed booster and wiper motor, cleaned up the general mess:


With everything stripped of this motor it sure doesn't look that big anymore!

JCMC64

On to Cowl.
Looks decent right?...




But closer inspection shows the PO used a RTV for the rubber hood seal, even though it was all clipped in. Seal looks fresh, but looks like he used the rtv because he used a different modded cowl screen type. Different screen looks ok, but its not wide enough to tuck under rubber seal and under the tab clips. So he RTV it all to keep cowl screen down. Another head scratcher as a new cowl screen is what, $20 bucks?

JCMC64

Cleaned up most of it, the rest got to use some sort of solvent on.
Shame he made a mess of this as he did a decent paint job on top part of cowl.
Probably need another coat to make look clean again.
Just cant catch a break.

Any suggestions on a solvent to try and clean up mess and save a repaint?

Allan R

Jim, great work! I had no idea you were going to go this far with the amount of work and detail.

Now you may want to pick up something and throw it at me when I say this.... You're NEVER going to have a better time to remove/recondition the A/C box and intermediate steering shaft. (after 41 years the grease around the anti rattle clips could prolly use a change, and that also gives you a chance to restore the rag joint. It was much easier than I thought when I did mine.

Rob has an EXCELLENT detailed description of the A/C box and system overhaul he did on Lady. You still have the interior gutted right? That will make it uber easier.

You prolly will need to reshoot that cowl area with some satin black. Don't know an easy way to get rid of that crud the PO put on it. (take off the WWs when you do that. They are not that hard to do - found out this March).

Keep up the great work - you are an inspiration to many of us!

JCMC64

Had a bit of a setback. Dropped the gearbox on my big toe. Not a pretty sight. After a couple hours wreathing in pain, went back and did a little bit more on the car... but that didn't turn out too well either. Looks like I'm gonna have to stay off my feet for a couple weeks. Have to do sit down projects. Did paint the wiper motor cover though , came out decent enough
The injury will Give me time to catch up on all the photos.

JCMC64

Alan thanks for the kind words, but I really have no idea what the heck I'm doing!

The gearbox and steering linkage is already off the car and being done. Tie rod ends are shot the inner ends are okay. Center link is good.

Steering intermediate Shaft has been started and it looks like I'll probably need a new rag joint.
A/C Box is already in consideration. But a bit more technical of a job... need to do more homework first. But I'm pretty good at ripping crap out!!

Allan R

Jim, the rag joint is prolly good. It's basically a piece of tire (see all the steel cording?) that's cut to size. Take the rag joint apart and have a good look. chances are that it's really still good under all the metal.

Tie rods - count the number of threads that are exposed on both ends of the sleeve before you take it apart. That will give you a good reference how many turns you need when you put the new outer on. It should be a LOT closer than measuring between grease fittings.

JCMC64

Rag joint is compromised. Its much thinner at the two bolt areas, and kind of overall dry rotted too. Dont really want to go this far and put compromised parts back on if I dont have to.

Just cant keep myself out of garage...hopping around on one foot. I took steering column seal and support off, got a new seal. It had all kinds of yellow and black over spray, and was also dry rotted and no longer sealing. In process of prepping and spraying the seal support , or whatever its called. After taking old seal off it practically crumbled in pieces.

Whats the trick to putting the new seal on without removing the gear selector collar?
So far I see no other way than to make small cut at the top where there is little seal area needed, then duct tape the slit. The support metal covers it all up anyways. But whats the right way, even if you pull the whole steering column that gear collar is still in the way from sliding seal onto the end...?

Allan R

Not exactly following you on the seal. Can you post a pic showing what you're describing? I'm thinking of the cowl seal for the column. The metal flange that holds that should come apart - there should be two bolts holding it as a unit.

Take a look at the pic on the bottom left side of page 102 on this link. Is that what you're describing?

JCMC64

Hey Allan,
Looks like we have the whole place to ourselves!

Here are the pics of the area:



Picture 4 is of the new seal. I used Por 15 metal prep on the flange metal you called it, and going to shoot it black tonight.
(was it black originally? or unpainted metal?)

JCMC64

Picking up where I left off on the picture process:

Damage tail shaft- the inner sleeve bushing is compromised, as is
the seal casing area. The seal looked ok, but this area was leaking. The Yoke was nasty but that was hit with 400 grit and came out pretty
decent (pics in next post).





The copper or brass bushing is damaged in several places. It is also ridged significantly as you wipe your finger over it

JCMC64

Here is a short shaft TCI tailshaft housing I had stashed away that will be good to use here along with governor cover plate. Going to also refinish the drive shaft at some point along here.




TCI Housing uses bearings instead of bushing

JCMC64

Talishaft housing flange prepped and taped off. Going to wait till frame and undercoat is done to put new one back on.