|
Developments have... developed. More news later tonight.
|
#
?
Sep 24, 2016 03:12
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 16, 2024 20:18 |
|
|
LS developments?
|
|
#
?
Sep 24, 2016 04:21
|
|
|
IOwnCalculus posted:LS developments? Not quite, although I am still piecing together what parts I'll need and adding them to various wish lists to keep track. So many little fiddly bits... SUSPENSION developments.  Finally got the loving control arms ordered. Once those go in, I'll call the suspension done. I may eventually pick these things up, but the cross bar doesn't work with LS swaps. They've been 'working' on developing a new cross bar for swaps, but I haven't seen or heard anything about it yet. Only real bitch of it is that drat near all my October weekends are busy as poo poo already. The bars should be here next week Wednesday-ish, so maybe I can start pulling poo poo apart (again!) next weekend.
|
|
#
?
Sep 24, 2016 19:49
|
|
|
Man, ordered Sunday, shipped on Monday, fondled on Tuesday. I love it. I was initially a bit surprised to see that it was two boxes, but I guess it makes sense to split the weight up a bit. Yes, the boxes say Camaro, but first gen F-bodies and third gen X-bodies are pretty much the same car under the body.  First impressions are great. Welds look good, finish looks great, crossbars are beefy as frig. Balljoints are wrapped up all nice to keep them safe. Thought that was a nice touch. I actually reached out to the company prior to ordering to ask about what balljoints these things take because I don't want to have to get replacements down the road and be hosed trying to order some unicorns. Turns out they're the factory style balljoints for the car so I should be able to get them pretty much anywhere. Good poo poo.  Lowers look good, too. I like the hole in the end of the coil seat. Should help to prevent water pooling there. Bump stops are burly as poo poo so that's cool.  Top it all off with some shiny new grade 8 hardware and I'm pretty pleased.  I'm gonna try to start tearing poo poo apart this weekend. I highly doubt I'll get them totally swapped, but I'll get things rolling at least. Can't wait to get back out there again and turn some wrenches. Been way too long.
|
|
#
?
Sep 28, 2016 03:08
|
|
|
Got crackin' on Saturday. Nice and cool outside but humid as a motherfucker. I got so drat excited about getting this done that I put the car in the air without breaking the lugnuts loose first. Had to hold the tire with my legs and hit the ratchet with a hammer to get them going.  Anyway, I figured I'd just do one side at a time to keep my work focused and get a strategy for the second side. Didn't take many pictures of the removal process since it's fairly standard stuff.Process: Remove wheel, remove shock, undo swaybar end link, pop top ball joint, remove top arm nuts, grab the shims that you almost forgot about, remove top arm.  Install new top arm and top ball joint into spindle. Jack up lower arm to relieve some stress, pop bottom ball joint (eventually), remove arm bolts from frame, slowly lower jack to prevent spring from making a break for it.  Fight the combination of lining up the lower arm mounts and compressing the spring while jacking it back into place, struggle with that for too long, realize you can just bolt the loving arm up and then weasel the spring into place, connect lower ball joint to spindle, torque top arm mounts and ball joints, lean back and smile at the lack of nasty old components, make mental note to buy new dust caps.  Lower arm bolts will get torqued and swaybar end link will get reconnected when the car gets put back on the ground. I'll actually probably set it down on ramps to give myself some room to work while still compressing the suspension. I started in on the passenger side once this side was buttoned up and it went pretty smoothly since I had a good strategy in place. Got the upper arm totally swapped but the bottom ball joint was giving me poo poo and didn't want to pop out. I was tired enough and it was late enough in the afternoon that I called it a day and hit the showers. I've since cobbled together a ball joint separator based on GM tool J-23742 out of a bolt, washer, nut, and a socket. That should get the lower ball joint popped off easily enough and I'll get the lower arm swapped out. Probably get that done on Saturday. Once that's done and everything's torqued, I'll call the suspension DONE.
|
|
#
?
Oct 2, 2016 21:55
|
|
|
Mmm, fresh suspension bits. Nice job Boaz.
|
|
#
?
Oct 3, 2016 21:44
|
|
|
So I left this thing with a stubborn bottom ball joint holding back progress on the passenger side. I beat on the spindle until I went half deaf and gave up for the day. Hit it with some panther piss and set some heavy stuff on the arm hoping that maybe it would just weasel itself free over the course of last week. No such luck. GM's process for popping ball joints involves the use of tool J-23742. Drawing here:  I've seen this tool online going for anywhere from $50 (  ) to $180 ( ). Astute readers may now be thinking to themselves, "It just looks like a bolt and a long nut..." You're right. And there's no loving way I was paying any kind of money for that. Luckily, as most of us do I'm sure, I've got multiple containers of various sizes of hardware and fasteners so I set about cobbling something together to do the same job. Bolt + big nut + big washer + 5/8 socket =  The socket goes over the top ball joint and presses against that nut and the bolt sits on the lower ball joint with the nut threaded on for more surface. Hold the bolt with one wrench and run the nut out with another to make the device longer. Run it out 'til it's tight, smack the spindle a couple times for good measure, give it another half a turn or so and the ball joint popped right out. I'll definitely be using this thing next time . Then it was just a matter of the two bolts holding the arm in. Run those out, replace arm, new bolts in, spring goes up, jack up arm, fasten ball joint, and install shock.  Now somewhere in this process I managed to lose a loving socket. 1/2" drive 3/4" deep-well impact socket. Not small. loving vanished. No idea where it went. Somewhere between snugging the control arms bolts and finishing the shock it just hosed right off. No idea where it is. Luckily I've got another 3/4" deep socket but it's non-impact and I'm still pretty cheesed off about the whole thing. Anyway, put the wheels back on and dropped the car on the ramps so I could have the suspension compressed but still be able to work. Torqued all the arm bolts down (rears are always fun) and moved on to the swaybar end links. When I started putting them together, they didn't really want to line up nicely. I think the holes in the control arms are out a little farther than they should be. I think I'm going to have to end up making some new holes to get this thing installed properly, but in the process of loving around with it, I actually managed to break one of the end link bolts. Oops. Now I guess I'll be buying another 7/16" x 7" bolt and lock nut. Oh well. Sometimes different parts from different manufacturers don't really play too nicely. Hopefully I can get that wrapped up next weekend, but October's a bit nuts for me. Thanks for looking.
|
|
#
?
Oct 9, 2016 23:34
|
|
|
I've got a few spare grey pneumatic in that size if your interested. Tell me where to send it and it's yours? My old boss gave me a bunch and I already had a bunch.
|
|
#
?
Oct 10, 2016 00:24
|
|
|
Dang that's looking real good.
|
|
#
?
Oct 10, 2016 14:35
|
|
|
Well, I went hunting for a bolt this weekend and came up empty. Ace has grade 8s up to 6" long, but I need a 7". Inch short. Story of my life. Bolt Depot's got them, but I really don't want to spend 8 bucks to ship a 3 dollar bolt. I may end up doing it anyway, though. We'll see. Picked up some step bits from HFT. Hopefully this one will last for the two holes I need it to make and not end up like my last one. If anyone has a 7/16" x 7" grade 8 bolt laying around not being used...
|
|
#
?
Oct 17, 2016 20:10
|
|
|
Boaz MacPhereson posted:Well, I went hunting for a bolt this weekend and came up empty. Ace has grade 8s up to 6" long, but I need a 7". Inch short. Story of my life. Bolt Depot's got them, but I really don't want to spend 8 bucks to ship a 3 dollar bolt. I may end up doing it anyway, though. We'll see. Picked up some step bits from HFT. Hopefully this one will last for the two holes I need it to make and not end up like my last one. Did you try Fastenal? I've only had middling luck with them in the past, but they at least claim to carry those. The size of your local store will probably determine how much of the less common stuff they'll have on hand, though.
|
|
#
?
Oct 18, 2016 00:52
|
|
|
Raluek posted:Did you try Fastenal? I've only had middling luck with them in the past, but they at least claim to carry those. The size of your local store will probably determine how much of the less common stuff they'll have on hand, though. Son of a bitch I totally forgot about them. I think there's actually one not too far from work. I may have to go check them out tomorrow.
|
|
#
?
Oct 18, 2016 03:04
|
|
|
Fastenal came through for the end link bolt. Thanks Raluek. Shipping kinda killed me on it, but when you need it you need it, right? Anyway, I'm feeling a lot better now so I went out to try to get those end links finished. Stepped into the garage and my first thought was, 'seems a bit swampy out here...' Good reason for that:  85% humidity. In late October. In northern IL. I accepted my fate of a sweaty mess and moved on to the task at hand. I had to hog out the end link holes in the arms a bit to get everything happy, but it all went together. Didn't really surprise me that much since they're different parts from different manufacturers, but that doesn't really make it any less annoying.  Once both sides were torqued down, I hit all the new ball joints with the grease gun and called it done. So that's it. New springs, shocks, swaybar, control arms and ball joints. All brand new and shiny.  Only thing left is an alignment. I'd like to get it somewhere close to where it needs to be before I take it somewhere, though. Any of you guys have a good guide on garage alignments? In other news, about a week ago I did some work for a potential new client for where I work. Transmission shop .Once I finished the job and was done going over things with the manager/POC, I semi-jokingly told him to let me know if he has any T56es come through. To my surprise, he actually seemed to be willing to do that. He told me he can usually get them for about a quarter of what they tend to go for on ebay, so if that's actually the case I may have to take him up on the offer. Gave him my info and he's going to keep an eye out. Definitely an interesting prospect. Sorry updates are so sparse, but lack of new parts tends to slow down progress, you know? Seats are obviously a priority, but there's plenty of things to actually buy. I guess we'll see what the immediate future holds.
|
|
#
?
Oct 29, 2016 19:57
|
|
|
Time for a super-late and mostly unrelated update. Progress has kind of stalled a bit as it tends to do when there are no parts to install. Either way, there's always more to be done in the garage. Washed the Mazdas last weekend and as I was scrubbing the wheels on mine, I realized that squatting sucks so I went to go grab my little stool. If you've been paying attention to the pictures in this thread, I'm sure you've seen it here or there. You can actually see it in the last picture of my previous post up there, too. So I went to grab it out from under the Nova and when I pulled on it, it didn't want to move. Not good. Turns out I'd lowered the loving car onto it when I put it back on the ground after all the front suspension was done. Once I was done with all the washing, I jacked up the Nova a bit and pulled it out. Luckily, I'd really only kinda squashed one of the corners.  Ancient rubber caster didn't fare too well, though.  Figured this was a good opportunity for a teardown, clean, and rebuild so I took it .Six screws and 3 nuts later:  Hit it all with the Simple Green and a green Scotchbrite pad and it all cleaned up pretty well. I was going to do some fresh paint, but I don't have any red. I may pick some up and do it anyway.  So that's where that sits. Need to get some new casters and then I'll put it back together. The one caster is pretty much trashed but the other two aren't much better really. Missing maybe half of the balls from the bearings. I guess several decades of use will have that effect. This weekend was an oil change for my Mazda. Picked up supplies yesterday and found that Purolator has changed their filters. Their 'ONE' filters previously had a yellow finish that was textured. I don't know about you guys, but I appreciate the extra traction that offers when spinning filters off. They've moved completely away from the textured matte finish and have gone back to a high-gloss finish that actually has loving flake in the paint. For fucks sake.  In other news, I've actually managed to sell a couple things that I've been trying to get rid of. Guy came and got the LQ oil pan on Friday night and I finally got rid of the bench seat out of the Nova today. .That's a few hundred bucks into the budget. I probably won't buy new seats until the new year as expenses tend to pile up around the holidays, but I can feel them inching ever closer. Had a guy email about the wheels and tires off the Mustang, too. It'd be real nice to finally get rid of those. That's all for now. As always, thanks for looking.
|
|
#
?
Nov 20, 2016 23:20
|
|
|
Impressive that the stool can carry that much weight. Who made it?
|
|
#
?
Nov 21, 2016 03:55
|
|
|
Seat Safety Switch posted:Impressive that the stool can carry that much weight. Who made it? No drat idea. No markings on it that I can find. My dad gave it to me and he had it forever. A while back, I saw some clown on etsy selling one as "vintage" but he didn't have a manufacturer listed.
|
|
#
?
Nov 21, 2016 04:42
|
|
|
Here we are in a new year. A new year bringing promises of new seats, registration stickers, and burnouts. Can't believe this thread hasn't fallen to the archives yet. What's the limit on that, 3 months? 4? Anyway, not a whole lot to report as there hasn't really been any progress on things. It's tough around the holidays what with big credit card bills and the possibility of other people getting me parts/money for parts. Once the new year really gets rolling and we get the credit card monster fed, I may get things going again. Got a little Christmas bonus from the boss that will make a hell of a dent in some new seats. Since I was off today and the weather was halfway nice this morning (40 degrees before the rain rolled in this afternoon), I thought I might try my luck at the yard. Website's still down so I got no idea what the inventory looks like so it was a bit of a recon mission first and foremost. They completely refuckulated the domestic lot. Ended up walking drat near the whole thing. Had a 2000 Camaro but it was a 3.8L. No six speed there. Didn't see any GM trucks at all though, which was weird. Asked the counter dude when I left where they all were and he told me that all the trucks got moved to the new yard about 8 miles away. Ok then, away we go. New yard is a bit of a mish mosh. Hopefully they'll get some better organization soon. They do have all the GM trucks at one end though, so that's something I guess. I found a 6.0L 2500 there and started to kind of attack the wiring harness, but I realize I don't really know what I need or how to get it. There's a big snake of wires that comes from the computer and goes pretty much straight to the fuse panel under the hood. Don't know what I really need from there. Also, I'm curious if I could get the harness from a 4.8L or 5.3L truck as well since 6.0s are usually more rare and picked over by the time I get to them. 5.3s are everywhere. I'd appreciate any input from you guys out there with LS swaps. I did end up grabbing some valve covers off a 5.3, though. Well, a couple 5.3s actually. One had the coils and intake stripped off so the valve covers were ripe for the taking .Unfortunately, someone had managed to put a hole in the passenger side cover. Grabbed that one off a different donor. Note: the rear coil bracket stud on the passenger side cover SUCKS to get at. Both covers are fairly crusty, but they're straight and they'll clean up nicely enough once I spend the time to do it.  That's about all for now. Not much of an update, but oh well.
|
|
#
?
Jan 2, 2017 22:32
|
|
|
The archives lock was broken for a while. I think it might be running again but since it depends on Radium code, who knows when it will break again.
|
|
#
?
Jan 3, 2017 02:31
|
|
|
As far as I know, all truck harnesses are the same. Look at one of those swap guides to see what harness bits you need. I haven't started that yet, so I don't have a good resource to point you to yet, though.
|
|
#
?
Jan 3, 2017 05:59
|
|
|
Looking through old posts in here and thought I'd update the list I made in like the second or third post. - Get rid of the garbage-rear end manual drum brakes. They sucked on the ’72 and they suck on this one. They gotta go. Power GM discs front and rear. Bled and ready to rock. DONE - New wheels and tires to fit said brakes and give me some more responsiveness than the BF Goodrich T/As that are on it now. 17" Soft 8s and some BFG Comp2 Summers. DONE - New suspension all around. Drop it a couple inches. Shoot for Pro-Touring. Springs, shocks, sways, A-arms, bushings, subframe connectors, and mounts. DONE - Tighten up this steering somehow. It’s got all the steering feel of my friend’s old Town Car. Steering box out of a 3rd Gen Z28 and new tie rods with billet adjusters. DONE - New rear end. LSD with shorter gears is a must. 8.2" out, 8.5" in along with factory Pontiac LSD with 3.42 gears. DONE - TH-350 out, T56 in. - 350 -> 383. Maybe a Gen III/Gen IV? Gen 3/4 indeed. Block is acquired and other parts will trickle in. Trans and auxiliary systems to follow. - Cooling system, fuel system, exhaust to all match the power. - New wiring everywhere. This poo poo is 40 years old and it sucks. Not yet, but maybe this year. We'll see how the interior goes. - Interior. Currently lime green to match the exterior. Eventually switching to black with full instrumentation and some nice seats to replace my front bench. Redo the back bench to match whatever I get in the front. New headliner, carpet, speakers, and dash pad. Dash painted and door panels broken down for replacements. Need new front seats, door panels, seatbelts, and then do something with the back seat. I'll get a console built and a head unit installed too. Instrumentation can wait for the new drivetrain. - Top it all off with paint/bodywork. Eh. Lots of stuff done, so that's pretty neat. Pending stuff is all going to be pretty pricey so that's not very neat though. I really need to get some seats so I can at least drive this thing around the block and go get an alignment.
|
|
#
?
Jan 10, 2017 23:35
|
|
|
Dude..if you lived closer to ohare I Would align it for free. But I doubt you wanna drive this car to save 60 bucks. But if you need help wiring let me know.
|
|
#
?
Jan 11, 2017 04:43
|
|
|
Just popping in to say I'm glad you're still going gangbusters on this project, and I still freakin love that color green.
|
|
#
?
Jan 11, 2017 17:17
|
|
|
Six weeks? I suck. No real news to speak of, but things should be moving along with the front seats before too long. Holiday spending is all recovered, we'll have some furniture paid off, and the wife got a bit of a pay bump as well. I was originally going to pick up the seat brackets next month so I have some time to play with those and make sure everything's going to fit as it should. I ended up picking up a tool cart so we bumped the brackets back a little bit. Probably do brackets in April and then the seats themselves in May. I'm still looking at seatbelt solutions that both don't suck and won't break the bank. I may end up throwing the factories back in just so I can actually get in the car and drive it a bit. I think that may actually happen this summer. I picked up some longer rear shackles for the leaves as the rear tires are really drat close to the quarter panel. Like, really close. The shackles should buy me enough room to make me a lot more comfortable about it. Stupid me, however, only bought a "pair" of shackles. A pair does one side. Duh. Second order has been placed already. I'll conclude this boring and ultimately disappointing post by telling you that I did make one other purchase that's currently en route to me. Unfortunately, it's not scheduled to get here until Monday so no progress over the weekend. I'll let you use your imaginations: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002NF3110/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
|
|
#
?
Feb 24, 2017 15:45
|
|
|
As for ballpark alignment, seriously just eyeball it. Use some straight edge like a concrete seam or something to just set the wheels pointed so they look straight. That or tape measure between treads on the front and rear of the tire. Obviously you want to get it to an alignment shop earlier rather than later but Caster and Camber won't matter at all and toe is all you'll need to set for tire wear and basic handling. And even if your toe is horrible it won't wear the tires unless you drive a thousand miles without aligning it. Great progress still. More than on my project.
|
|
#
?
Feb 24, 2017 17:27
|
|
|
LloydDobler posted:As for ballpark alignment, seriously just eyeball it. Use some straight edge like a concrete seam or something to just set the wheels pointed so they look straight. That or tape measure between treads on the front and rear of the tire. Obviously you want to get it to an alignment shop earlier rather than later but Caster and Camber won't matter at all and toe is all you'll need to set for tire wear and basic handling. And even if your toe is horrible it won't wear the tires unless you drive a thousand miles without aligning it. poo poo, man. You're working on turboing a car that's already been swapped. I'd say you're well ahead of me.
|
|
#
?
Feb 24, 2017 17:44
|
|
|
Boaz MacPhereson posted:poo poo, man. You're working on turboing a car that's already been swapped. I'd say you're well ahead of me. If it helps, my project has just been sitting in a field waiting for me to have time and money simultaneously for several years. Empty engine bay. You're doing good.
|
|
#
?
Feb 24, 2017 23:49
|
|
|
Boaz MacPhereson posted:I'll let you use your imaginations: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002NF3110/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 WWI Naval style dazzle camo paintjob!!!!
|
|
#
?
Feb 27, 2017 00:50
|
|
|
Here we have a Cragar Soft 8. 17x8. Understated. Subtle. Cool. Perhaps, a bit too understated. It needs just a little something. Hmmm...  That's better. There's a couple little waves and wobbles but I think it turned out okay for a first time effort. Did the rear and it turned out even better. Once I can get this thing out of the garage I'll do the other side and probably redo the front with some better technique. Overall, I'm pretty pleased with how they turned out and it took all of 20 minutes to do both wheels. Majority of that time was spent cobbling together a little applicator tool out of plastic and cardboard. Best part is, since it's 3M vinyl, it will peel right off if I ever want to get rid of it or change the color . 
|
|
#
?
Mar 1, 2017 20:02
|
|
|
Looks good, although I'm surprised you didn't use red like the old SS stripes.
|
|
#
?
Mar 1, 2017 23:39
|
|
|
^ I was thinking the same thing, but as a tribute to redline tires.
|
|
#
?
Mar 2, 2017 00:00
|
|
|
That looks awesome.
|
|
#
?
Mar 2, 2017 01:55
|
|
|
  Order is still "Processing" whatever the hell that means, so I'm not really sure when they're going to show up. Once they get here I want to throw them in the car to see if they're actually for 3rd gen X-bodies as they claim. I'm guessing I'm going to have to drill a few holes since my car came with a bench and only has 2 holes on each side for mounts. Once I do get all that poo poo figured out, though, I'll be able to bolt them to the seats and then throw them back in the car. Seats probably won't show up until early June once the wife gets her summer checks (teacher) and pads the accounts a little bit. When these brackets show up, I should have another update to go with it. Sorry this thread's been so dead. When I finally do the console and the door panels, I should be able to get some good posts together then.
|
|
#
?
Mar 13, 2017 22:30
|
|
|
Those wheel stripes look really great!
|
|
#
?
Mar 14, 2017 20:20
|
|
|
Love those wheels, great choice especially with the stripe. I'm actually thinking I might get some for my car now instead of normal steelies. Shipping to Australia isn't cheap though, I'd end up paying $1000+ for a set.
|
|
#
?
Mar 15, 2017 11:22
|
|
|
Oh gently caress yes.
|
|
#
?
Mar 16, 2017 18:55
|
|
|
Brackets are here!  I was right about the fastener situation. I'll need to make 2 new holes for each bracket and then get some hardware in there. I got a bunch of poo poo to do tomorrow so I'll start bolting and drilling on Sunday.
|
|
#
?
Mar 18, 2017 05:32
|
|
|
Today was a bit up and down in the garage. Main thing I wanted to do was get the seat brackets ready to go. They'll be coming back out once I get the seats as they suggest seats to brackets and then brackets to car. Makes sense to me. I just wanted to have the new holes and hardware ready to go so it would be one less thing to wrestle with when the time comes. First step was to bolt the bracket in to the existing holes on the outside with the factory hardware. I taped around the other two mounting points so I knew where they're gonna go.  Pull the bracket back off and cut out the carpet to make way for the drill. I'm sure I don't have to tell you guys this, but for anyone who may not be aware, DON'T DRILL THROUGH CARPET. The bit may grab a thread instead of cutting through it and pull a bigass length out of the carpet. This will leave a bit long line and you'll feel like an idiot. Luckily, I've managed to avoid doing that on this project.  I drilled the holes with a step bit and they went pretty quick. I was only going through sheet metal here so it didn't take much. Now's a good time to get the hardware squared away. Grade 8s in the same size as the factory bolts. The top circles there are rubber washers. These are going to be exposed on the bottom side so I figured a nice tight rubber washer would act as a bit of a gasket to try to keep some water out. Bolts are 5/16" and the rubber washers are 1/4" so they're pretty snug to the threads.  Bolt the bracket in and see if it actually works. It does!  Did the same process for the passenger side but didn't even bother bolting it all the way in. After all, they're coming back out when the seats show up. With that done, I wanted to see if I could make any progress on the new rear shackles I bought. I wanted to get a little bit more room between the rear tires and the fenderwells so I picked up some longer shackles. Compared to the old ones, I should get about 3/4" of lift so that should be just about perfect. As I'm wrestling around with the jack trying to get the car up in the air (again), I realize that anything having to do with that jack takes about twice as long as it should because it loving NEVER wants to engage the gears when I turn the handle. I'm out there fighting this heavy prick and swearing at it when my wife comes out to see how things are going. I complain about the jack and she brings up a really good point of "So go buy a new one." So I did. HF's got a coupon for their 3-ton that ends today. I didn't need a low-pro or an aluminum one so this was perfect. Somebody actually managed to have a good idea and replace the wonky-as-piss gears with an actual loving U-joint for the handle. Hail Satan. You twist the handle and it just loving works. What a concept. So with that done, getting the rear end of the car up on jackstands took all of 2 minutes. Popped the top shackle bolt out to drop the leaf and it didn't really move much. "Odd," I think to myself. No matter, the new shackles actually need their holes hogged out a bit from 1/2" to 9/16" for the monster bolts that came with the Hotchkis springs. Using the same step bit that I used earlier, I started blasting out holes. Well I got 2 done and I'm pretty sure this bit is now dull as gently caress and completely useless. I reefed on the third hole and made next to zero progress. Sucks. It was then that I realized that I need to disconnect the drat shocks and undo BOTH sides' shackles to get the drat leaves to drop. Been too long since I've hosed around with the suspension so my order of doing things is all hosed up. Anyway, a lack of a way to make 9/16" holes in stuff pretty much ended my day. So long for now.
|
|
#
?
Mar 19, 2017 22:47
|
|
|
Finished up the rear shackles last weekend. Bought another step bit from HF and with the help of a little oil to keep things cool and moving, I got through the rest of the holes no problem. Everything's back together back there and I'm definitely feeling better about tire clearance now. I can always go another hole if I need to. Today I was out in the garage working on something for the wife. Finished that up and it was still early enough in the afternoon and hadn't started raining yet so I figured I'd scrub on those valve covers I bought on my last trip to the JY. Had to pull them off 2 different trucks as the passenger side cover on the first truck had a bit hole in it somehow. You can see where I rubbed off a spot of grime on the bottom one just to make sure that it actually is that goddamn gross and not painted.  Hit them both with the Green and started on the top one. Brushes, Scotchbrite pads, paper towels.  After some work on the bottom one.  And after going over the middle grooves in the bottom one and giving the top one one more pass.  Considerably less nasty. I may end up buying some aftermarket ones eventually that don't require coil brackets or something but these will do just fine for an initial build. I've been kinda racking my brain on figuring out front seat belts. I wanted some more modern (red "Press" button) buckles/latches, but I think I'm going to have to go with the more classic silver metal setup. From what I can find, Morris Classic is the only manufacturer to offer the top shoulder mount in the same 2-bolt style of the OEM belts. Everybody else just has the 1-bolt mount. I wanted to go with Corbeau belts as I like the buckles and material, but I don't think that's going to work out. Oh well.
|
|
#
?
Apr 2, 2017 22:15
|
|
|
Birthday goodies!  Wheel, marker light lenses, and some LED backup bulbs at the top of the picture there. Swapped the rear lenses and the bulbs since they're all easy to get to from the trunk. The fronts will have to wait until I feel like clearing all the poo poo off the hood of the car so I can get to them. There are foam gaskets that go between the lens bodies and the back of the body panels of the car. I managed to peel the old ones off for reuse, but I'll get new ones eventually. Most likely years from now when the car gets painted. Still need to pick up the adapter for the wheel and then that can go in. I think the new wheel combined with the seats will really change the feel of the car. Can't wait for all that to happen.
|
|
#
?
Apr 9, 2017 20:03
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 16, 2024 20:18 |
|
|
Wheel hub adapter was ordered on Sunday but might not even get here by this weekend. lovely. I'm going to need a puller to get the old wheel back off but a coworker's husband might have one that I can borrow. If not, I got a bunch of oil that needs to get dropped off at a parts store so I can always 'rent' one from there. Should take all of a half a turn to get the thing popped off, but I can't loving budge it as it is. Thought I'd take a little before/quasi-after shot now just for grins. New wheel is maybe 1.5" smaller or so once you take the awesome Sport Grip® out of the equation. I'm pretty sure that thing's structural now.   The angle looks weird in the first one because I took the picture from the back seat. Once the hub comes in, I'll get another post up.
|
|
#
?
Apr 19, 2017 02:55
|
|