I borrowed a pressure washer from a friend and was blasting off the gunk and grime from my front and rear suspension. Man. once you start using one of these, it is really hard to put it down. If it hadn't run out of gas, I would still be spraying crap.

When I blew off some gunk from the passenger side frame rail, I found these numbers painted on the frame. Kinda cool. The date is 2 days before my 16th birthday. I bought the '82 because it was my dream car when I turned 16. This car could have rolled off the assembly line, on my 16th birthday.

 

Where are the numbers located exactly??

 

The plant should have fired that guy...look, he held the template upside down.

 

It is between the firewall and the inner fenderwell. It is much easier to see with the nose off the car.

 

They're all like that Dude. If you buy the reto-stencil kit for chassis marking, the intructions tell you to place the frame marking on the right side, just behind the front wheel, up-side down.

 

Even the grease pencil marking is still there. Great find...
Eddie

 

Hah hah, that car has air ride technology huh?

 

Yeah, getting in and out lets me know what a 4WD Vette would be like.

I should have the brakes done tomorrow, and get her back on the ground.

"I wanna go fast!"

 

How are the rear bearings, trailing arm bushings, and yoke wear? This would be the best time to handle all of that.

 

The factory built most of the rolling chassis up-side down then fliped it at the end the line.

 

I have done the normal bearing checks with a prybar, and everything is tight, no play. The front wheels will spin forever. The bump stops look brand new, but have never been off the car. The spring bushings are cracked, but look good. I will buy a kit for it later. The shocks have been replaced.

The bearings in the U-joint look new, and the grease is still in good shape - no discoloration or moisture.

The front is out of alignment, and I think it might be the drag link bent or maybe a bent tierod. I will do a string alignment, to get it on the road, then have it checked on the computer, to make sure there is no bent suspension pieces.

The steering system is original, and doesn't leak! The more I dig, the better I feel about the car.

When I rip into the brakes tomorrow, I will take a look at the races. The bearings are like $5 from Advanced Auto. I might go ahead and replace and re-pack everything.

I am like you...while I am in there, I might as well... The problem is, I get a little impatient sometimes, and put some things off for later.

My goal tomorrow is to do a shake-down run on the tranny and brakes. Then the car is getting the alignment and frame check. After that, I will rip off the inner fenders, and get them bonded the the outer fenders, and get it ready to be bonded to the firewall.

While I am doing that, I will be ripping off all the tacky red wirelooms and the fake braided steel lines, and getting the engine bay back to original.

 

Great job bud. Sounds like a very fun project.