Popular Post AALAWS Posted January 17, 2022 Author Popular Post Share Posted January 17, 2022 Right after my last post I had an op to repair my ACL and knee cartilage so I wasn't able to do anything for a while - add to that a lockdown - so by the time I was able to get into it again, I couldn't get the repair certifier to sign off on the work so it just sat there taunting me for months......until now She's fully seam sealed along where the new floor and roof went on, and a few of the other new patch panels. Once it's cured I'll go over the it with the underseal again and get her off the spit. 25 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post AALAWS Posted January 29, 2022 Author Popular Post Share Posted January 29, 2022 Mixed bag the last few weeks. Seam sealed up the last few bits and painted the underseal over them again - looked good, except i should have given it 2 days to cure, not one. Some of it is ever so slightly tacky now. Will need to try the heat gun or scrape some of it back and try again. Not a major but a bit of a shit. It's been SO LONG to get to this point that naturally I've been so excited to start putting things back together. I got in a mindset of 'should be finished soon' ha ha....oh boy. lots of little things got in the way like needing a some new nuts, cleaning up and painting extra little bits, bushings not fitting, finding the right grease, putting things on upside down......just gotta slow down and enjoy the process. Painted some bits, bolted up a few bits, bought a few more bits....should hopefully have it on its wheels again in a few weeks...... This plasticote paint goes on pretty nicely - probably the best rattle can paint Ive come across 13 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AALAWS Posted February 1, 2022 Author Share Posted February 1, 2022 Too feckin hot to get on with scuffing back the underseal yesterday so onto some easier jobs. Assembled the steering, greased up and fitted the rest of the new bushes and front subframe. Will fully tighten up the castle nuts insert the split pins when it's mounted. Took the powdercoating of the contact surface for where the struts meet the steering arms. Ready for the strut to be mounted once it's off the rotisserie. had a spare retainer left over from each side on these sway bar bushes - Gregorys manual didn't have them and my parts car had it this way so figured it must be right.......unless its meant to go underneath where the bush seats against the suspension arm? Just like one does on the top? The parts listings online all show these with the extra retainer - but they give you the impression one needs to sit at the top where it goes through the actual sway bar - any ideas fellas? 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AALAWS Posted February 7, 2022 Author Share Posted February 7, 2022 Ended up having to strip ALL of the seam sealer where it was put on the underseal/stoneguard. I suspect these two don't like each other - I'm researching all the chemical properties etc/emailed the reps.....trying to get to the bottom of the science. Found a few small rust holes/minor issues so I get to remedy those. It's all primed over again.......waiting for the answers before laying it all down again. Fuk. 6 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post AALAWS Posted May 1, 2022 Author Popular Post Share Posted May 1, 2022 Milestone! Chassis is off the rotisserie! I finished RE doing the seam sealer and underseal. Turns out the underseal has two variants - water based and solvent based. Anyhoo, moving on..... I did want to get it on its wheels again this weekend but one of the handbrake brackets has broken off one of the leafs so I will get a spare welded on this week. I also need to get a torque wrench for the front ball joints as they are locked away under the RCA's/steering arms. So - plans are: All torqued up front subframe Repaired hand brake cable mount Mounted rear end Front hubs On Wheels!! 18 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AALAWS Posted May 4, 2022 Author Share Posted May 4, 2022 Progress......maybe?? Well the rear axle/springs are all in and torqued up, as are the front hubs........and she has some wheels on..... But I can't drop her onto the front wheels - the offset is all wrong and the tyres are touching the strut so I need to sort some different wheels for now ha ha. There is some good poke on the rear wheel, maybe some room for more with the flares on. BUT the rear wheels are not centred in the arch......Is this a MAJOR? My first thought was maybe an over reaction?? "Shit the front mounts are too far forward from the new floor being swapped in"....has anyone experienced this?? As per my manual I torqued everything up while it was on the jacks.....would this cause the issue? Oh boy....hopefully not a major!! 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AALAWS Posted May 4, 2022 Author Share Posted May 4, 2022 looking at the pics, one side is worse than the other, maybe it's just a simple alignment issue with the leaf spring perches? EDIT - turns out the shitty old tyres are a different profile so it is exaggerating the issue - but after measuring everything up, it is all even but sitting a bit far forward. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AALAWS Posted May 5, 2022 Author Share Posted May 5, 2022 went up home with the worker to measure everything up based of the repair manual..... Everything was square and nicely aligned etc BUT Leaf spring mounts are sitting 10mm forward based on factory specs.......which isn't cut and dried because the image of the chassis in the manual was of the 2 dr sedan so meh! Anyhoo - rear wheels (which had different profile tyres and exaggerated the issue) were swapped to the front to get her rolling - I'll sort the rear axle "issue" another day. 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post AALAWS Posted January 21, 2023 Author Popular Post Share Posted January 21, 2023 Now to list ALL the things I have done to this in the last 6 months......not much. I've struggled for motivation due to many things, but am starting again with a little by little approach. I've wasted too much time trying to figure out the perfect plan and what to do next, then second guess myself and think "oh this needs to happen before I can do that, but then I'll actually need to do this first" and so on and so on around in circles. I've avoided doing stuff because I don't want to do things twice, or keep taking bits on and off, but today I just said stuff it - just do some stuff, little by little and get moving. Today I simply fitted my doors and fenders and made a plan for a few other things. over the last few months I have achieved this: 1) Turns out the crossmember I purchased years ago with the modified mounts for a 4age were actually completely wrong! My reconditioned AE86 engine mounts and brand new cusco mounts will now be up for sale....so I cleaned up a factory crossmember I had and fitted it with the KE Conversions kit. 2) tyres kept going flat, fitted some inner tubes 3) cleaned up and primed the inside of my doors 4) bought a parts gearbox to swap the tail section onto my T50 - this is to maintain my factory shifter position and centre console. 5) cleaned up and painted a petrol tank 6) cleaned up some fuel lines next, I'll order my flares, get my steering box rebuilt and then start fitting the dummy engine etc to see what firewall holes/brackets are needing modified deleted etc. 17 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AALAWS Posted February 25, 2023 Author Share Posted February 25, 2023 POST ONE of Three: I have two steering boxes so i stripped one to get the gist of it, cleaned it up, bought a few new seals etc, gave it a lick of paint and it'll be ready to go once I set the backlash and fill it with oil. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AALAWS Posted February 25, 2023 Author Share Posted February 25, 2023 POST TWO of Three: Also gave the dash area and inner firewall a coat of black - having it body colour means potentially having some orange showing through. So like the front headlight panels, having it black makes for a better finish IMO. It was then time to modify/recreate the firewall panel to account for the new hydraulic clutch and brake booster mounting holes. Took the old one and marked out a new one, added a few new holes, a lick of paint, reattached the insulated backing and we're away... 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post AALAWS Posted February 25, 2023 Author Popular Post Share Posted February 25, 2023 POST THREE of Three: I got some thicker heavy duty shrink wrap of a sparky mate to be the dust cover on my outer steering column - looks pretty noice. Fitted my new smaller brake booster and master, clutch master. It's pretty dang close to the strut tower, but a little manipulation of the firewall should pull it out a bit more. Fitted the steering column dust seat and the outer column along with the new hydraulic pedal box.......all fits very nice. Once the steering box is in it will be ready to roll/steer and the final panel touch ups/flare fitting can be done before I figure out my plan/$$ for paint. 15 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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