JohnZ

At the inboard ends of the strut rods, don't forget the little hardened steel caps on both ends of the bushing inner sleeves, or you won't be able to set camber.

climbabout

Thanks John - they are already in although I have yet to fine tune the camber - I just have them set fairly neutral. My assembly manual has been invaluable for all the little details - I don't know how anyone can work without one. I got a fair amount done today - shocks, half shafts, french locks, and strut rods, end link bolts and cushions, installed the brake drums and tires temporarily and weighted the suspension and torqued all bolts - next up is to rebutton up the exhaust system, reinstall the valance, reinstall the brake innards and then align the rear. Enough for today - company is on the way and tomorrow is another day.
Thanks again all for your help,
Tim

A-Snake

An addendum to my post above.

Attached are photos from the '69 AIM UPC 4 B3. Notice the cotter pins were a revision during '69 production.

JohnZ

The AIM showed the change during '69, but it wasn't actually implemented in production on cars (slotted shims and long cotter pins) until late 1970 - early 1971.

TheSaint

When reading this thread i come to think of my own car.
The first thing i did was to change the rear spring and the spring i recived was a "heavy duty" spring.
I suppose that is a 9 leaf spring?(the car is in winter storage)

JohnZ

The standard spring had 9 leaves (3 flat leaves on top, 6 curved leaves below the flat ones).

climbabout

Hey John - that's what mine looks like now! Hope to finish tomorrow night or Saturday - just have to put the TA shims in, button up the exhaust and install the valance and spare tire tub. Hope to post some pics of the end result.

Thanks again all.
Tim
p.s. - the "heavy duty" suspension spring was actually 7 leaves

climbabout

Just about done with my spring project - all that's left is to button up the exhaust, rear valance and spare tire tub - anything look out of order? - keep in mind, this is not an NCRS car

















Thanks for all your help,
Tim

JohnZ

Looks great to me! The curved/dished washers on the lower shock mounts should face the other way - large ends facing inboard.

climbabout

John - you mean these?



they are listed as a "retainer" in the AIM - they are cupped I assumed to mate with the lower shock bushing - these should be turned around?

Tim

JohnZ

Yup - turn 'em around.

climbabout

Thanks John. That's why I posted the pics - the AIM is not detailed enough and I made the assumption that they cupped the bushing underneath.
Will change them tomorrow.

Tim

climbabout

BTW - the "stance" on the car is much improved over the way it sat in my avatar. Although I understand it will settle a bit in the coming months - but still a huge improvement.
Tim

58n65

How did you compress the leaf spring in order to bolt it to the trail arms? That's where I am and I'm confused.

58n65

TheSaint

Great looking car

I am pretty sure that i would have put on the washers the same way(wrong way)

Good to know John

58n65

Oops nevermind. I saw your last post on page 2 of this thread. I'm trying to do it with the body off so there's no weight to hardly help compress the leaf spring. Oh well....I'll try again later.

58n65

JohnZ

Put a floor jack on top of the differential crossmember and wrap a chain or tie-down strap around the spring and jack lift pad, and pump the jack. Use a C-clamp on the spring so the chain or strap can't shift inboard while you're compressing it.

58n65

Thanks John!!! When you say around the spring, am I going from side to side or do you mean to do one side at a time (yeah I'm stupid)?

My setup right now looks like the picture in post #46 of this thread.

58n65

dkleather

Put the chain around the spring as close to the outside bolt hole as you can. Loop it up around the crossmember on both sides and over your jack pad. Complete one side at a time. Put the clamp inboard on the spring next to the chain to prevent the chain from slipping up the spring arch toward the differential. Dave

58n65

Thanks Dave!!! I was laying in bed and thinking about it when I realized that I asked John the question to fast. I don't know why I was even thinking about the strap going from side to side. I'm

Can't wait to get more time to try this!!!

Thanks again,
58n65