chrisNY

thanks foe everyone's help so far, just wanted to start showing so updates on how the rebuild is going:

here's the inner bearing spun and seized which caused the spindle failure:



heres the rear diff that I was going to pull this winter anyway:



completely stripped everything off all the way to the tranny, here's the drivers side TA back in after the rebuild



got a lot more done, but I will update more when I get back on Sunday, have a great weekend everyone.

chrisNY

the rear diff before I rebuilt it:




after the rebuild, new stub axles, seals, pinion shaft, absolutely no play anymore and hopefully no leaks



here she is back in with everything rebuilt, all new bushings on everything, new brake lines, calipers, etc, etc, etc

JCare

Chris, can you give some details on how and what you did to clean all of that up and make it look new?

what about your TA's, did you rebuild them or find someone?

chrisNY

I had Bairs rebuild them (just outside of Pittsburg. Pa) 375 plus 300 core per side they will rebuild yours or replace them with another rebuilt set that includes rotors. When theyggot mine my other spindle was warped so good thing I got it done. Every thing else I blasted and encapsulated then repainted, the aluminum bat wing and diff I degreased, acid etched and repainted with high heat motor paint like you would use on a intake, I degreased the entire under carriage and did the same thing but used under coating on the frame rails and cross members, I still have to touch up spots that I missed and chipped during the installation, but it is getting closer

chrisNY

So far with the new TA s and rebuilding the diff and all new bushings, lines, hoses etc etc etc I am in it for about 2 grand that includes new bilstin shocks

chrisNY

here's the rear suspension done, brakes bled, spring in and everything aligned to where I had it before:



heres my donor quarter, with a huge THANK YOU to go vette go, and allc34me. go vette go, donated the quarter from his awesome project to replace mine, and met him at allc34me house to pick it up, THANKS so much, it looks like it will work perfect :



heres a better shot of the damage to my quarter:



cant wait to travel down there in the spring to show you guys the result, hopefully catch a car show with you. cant wait to see "vader" in person

Go Vette Go

Great meeting you Chris - it worked out great meeting at David's house!!!

I am glad the quarter panel will have a new home. Better then just sitting here collecting dust in my shed!!!!

I will send you the links a couple shows - Springfest (April) in Allentown, PA and Vettes for Pets(August) in Easton, PA as soon as the flyers are available.

Thanks for posting the picture of the damage from the back - I think your plan will work perfectly.

I plan on making a lot of forward progress on the Darth Vader Vette this winter. Waiting for a heater the garage!!!!

John

chrisNY

I have the damage cut back to the rear bonding strip tonight and cut down the donor quarter to fit front to back, just have to remove the tape on the top and see what I have to bond to there, its going to be close I wish there was a little more of the smc on the top, but it will be ok, not worried about the strength, but will be a bit more work blending it. will post a updated pic soon, hopefully with it attached, before I start blending it in

chrisNY

damage removed back to the bonding strips;



dry fit



bonded

70BBvert

Looking good Chris You'll be back on the road by spring, better than new

Jim

Go Vette Go

That is a great dry fit Chris!! It looks like your plan is going to work perfectly.

Great work buddy!!!

John

briankeery

Have to agree whole heartedly........talk about making lemonade from lemons. Full repaint, or will you blend the quarter?

larryg3

wow that is coming along very nice!

chrisNY

going to have a paint shop take the damaged piece and get them to mix the paint and get it ready so all I have to do is put it in my gun and shoot it, going to try to blend it first and see how it looks, than decide if I want to re shoot the entire back clip, in a perfect world I would do the entire car, but I only have a few chips in the back clip where the bumper cover meets the clip from years of flexing, but it would be great to have the paint closer to being perfect but I put about 5000 miles on it every year so some damage is always going to work its way threw. so paint will be my next big decision.

chrisNY

starting to blend in the patch, and sand off the original paint from the donor quarter:





figured while I was at it, I might as well set the e brake right since the TA's have all new e brake hardware again, couldn't get it right, so decided I might as well go a little farther down the rabbit hole and replace the rear cable, because mines stretched and the boots have long since gone past the point of keeping anything out of the cable, so had to pull the calipers off to get the lines off, but was able to get the bolts out and move the caliper enough without having disconnect the lines and have to re bled them again, but should have done it before I put every thing back together but what are you going to do lol

TedH

Thankfully, I smelled the melting grease from my left rear bearing assembly before that happened. However, I did damage the spindle from the heat/wear.

Looks like the bearings failed and seized on the spindle. If you can afford it, I would have both bearing assemblies rebuilt and rebuilt half-shafts (or new depending on your budget). Perhaps even have the differential refreshed while at it.

Good insurance and peace of mind. Had mine refreshed from 1998-2000 and never worry about it now. Van Steel did all of my work.

chrisNY

yes I did both and rebuilt the diff, and everything, theres pics at the beginning of the post the half shafts were fine, just did new u joints, blasted and painted them as well as the main drive shaft and tail seal on the tranny. everything from the tranny back is new or rebuilt now. when the other spindle was checked that was warped too, most likely would have failed very soon after the other

Smadoo

Cool. I have never had any work done by them, but several years ago (okay, probably 8 or 10 years ago) I was passing through the area on vacation and he gave me a tour of his facilities. Really nice dude with a cool shop.

chrisNY

What I really liked was you actually work with the people that are doing the work, if you need a TA worked on you talk to the guy who actually does the job. And they were great to work with, really know what they are doing. I will certainly go back to them again

chrisNY

got the new e brake cable in and everything back together again, more blending and took her for a drive to make sure everything was working where I wanted it before I go any farther I am getting very impressed so far. seems like the 2 steps forward and 1 back have slowed down a little lol:

more blending:



test drive, put my old aluminum rims on the back instead of my good cragars:



test drive: