Jack605

Keep the Precious happy in order to maintain your happiness.

croaker

I'm hoping to meet you and your car one day.

doorgunner

I'm trying to get it roadworthy/Inspected by the end of this week...and then put some miles on it to see what needs a little more attention.

It will be easy to recognize......new interior/"old school-look" chromed Harley mufflers centered under differential/incorrect front & rear caps/terrible black paint/driver with smile from ear-to-ear wearing Saints cap.

persuader

I like what you are doing with your car. I have been quietly lurking and learning a couple of things along the way. Thanks
Keep up the good work!

doorgunner

Thanks........(learning/me, too...LOL)....

but remember---the V.A. meds sometimes have me asking myself the next day "Why did I do THAT?!"

persuader

My meds have me asking the same thing.

doorgunner

persuader.......

BIG LOL!

I really need to re-install my rebuilt trailing arm ........................................ ........................................ ........................................ ......................

but.............................

one more cup of coffee first while I put fresh batteries in the "camraa".

doorgunner

I managed to get some work done installing the trailing arm--but had to do a few fix-its first--like chasing a few threads....






The amazing 3-handed 1pliers/2screwdriver/3camera shot.....






EEEEEEEE-brake installed..........






Trailing arm is bolted into chassis.................






The strut rod is bolted in place and most of the bolts are installed in the half-shaft......






(ARRRRGGGHHH.............Looks like it's time to de-clutter my side of the garage......................AGAIN!)




That's as far as I got tonight...hopefully the rest of the install will be done tomorrow.

doorgunner

A few things were done tonight.....the half-shaft was bolted up completely and the rotor was checked for run-out which was .005"/close enough considering that someone drilled out the rivets, but never had the rotors turned(they must have had the E-brake drum turned since it had new shoes that were never used)....








The caliper is installed and the brake line is loosely positioned until the new rubber hose is installed.....






I finally found the box of new brakes hoses....in the '34 SBC.....

MrJlr

Amazing build

You do great work!
You mentioned de-cluttering your garage......that is a CONSTANT battle for me

doorgunner

Thanks for the support....but it's daily driver quality paint job "in person"....LOL.

I thought it over.....I'm waiting until the brakes are bled and the wheels are installed....then I can degrease my side of the garage and give it a good scrubbing since the messy work will be finished (maybe even a coat of epoxy concrete paint.

I wonder if a deep-red would match the interior of the car/maybe my wife wouldn't notice

MrJlr

I bought an old school string mop and ringer bucket from harbor freight. Tons of soapy (TSP ) HOT water, cleared out all I could and mopped to holy sheet out of my garage...big difference!

Now that my new engine is actually in my vette, I can get my truck back in the garage

doorgunner

Thanks...(what's the tile of your build?)...I need to go to H.F. this week-end...I buy tools from them that I may use twice in 20 years (the $$$ saved are used to buy tools that are used on a daily basis/keep the economy going until the politicians completely destroy it... )


EDIT: I found it! http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c3-t...int-383-a.html

doorgunner

Gimme a break, Brakes! I forgot to bench bleed the M.C.

(But I did manage to replace all four flex hoses because of chafing/dryrotting)....and to think that I was going to save $50 toward the purchase of the rear bumpers by NOT rplacing the flex hoses.....good thing that I listened to you members!







So.....off the firewall and into the vice....








I removed the diverter valve block for disassembly......








The low-pressure switch had to come out first since the plunger held the piston in the correct location in the block bore...








Some tapping with a small rod from the opposite end of the block caused the brass fitting/piston/spring assembly to pop out......









I managed to find enough tubing to bleed the M.C. (the tubing was actually too long, but I couldn't cut it because it was needed for another project)......






I reinstalled the piston-less diverter block/allowed fluid to gravity-bleed from the bottom two threaded ports in the block/then plugged the ports so the M.C. could be reinstalled back onto the firewall......

....




I reconnected the two main pressure lines....one at a time....then bolted the M.C. back onto the firewall.........WHEW.....




Now......gobble down a sandwich/Gatorade......and get back to the garage (Maybe I can talk Precious into pumping the brake pedal after I use the mightyvac to draw fluid to the rear calipers.....MAYBE).


EDIT: Later that same day. Thanks to everyone for all the brake-bleeding advice/threads. Once I removed the diverter piston (it was stuck off-center again) and reinstalled everything, the rear calipers began gravity-bleeding themselves when I opened the bleeder screws. A pint of brake fluid later, the pedal has firmed up--I'll re-bleed again once the car is driven around the block a few times this coming weekend.

doorgunner

I have posted measurements and pics of what I have discovered concerning half-shaft alignment problems......

The passenger's side halfshaft had 1/2" clearance between the mounting flange and the spindle-yoke flange when I unbolted it from the spindle flange.

The driver's side half-shaft was in a bind between the spindle flange and the differential side-shaft yoke after I removed all the bolts from both ends of it, causing me to need a prybar to pop it out of it's location.....



After I measured/remeasured/re-re-measured everything, I corrected the problem, and these are the measurements that I ended up with.....


The Driver's side rotor face to frame is 6" (including width of measuring stick)





The Passenger's side rotor face to frame is 5 & 15/16" (including width of measuring stick).......








The Driver's side Hub edge is 18 & 1/2" from floor as a reference point only to compare measurements on passenger's side..........




The Passenger's side Hub edge is 18 & 9/16" from the floor........






The distance from the Driver's side spindle yoke face to edge of spring-centering hole is 22 & 1/4".......





The distance from the Passenger's side spindle yoke face to edge of spring-centering hole is 22 & 3/16".........




SO.....basically, ALL THE LEFT-SIDE AND RIGHT-SIDE measurements are within 1/16" of each other......WHICH IS GOOD!


HOWEVER......IF I HAD NOT REDRILLED THE MOUNTING HOLES IN THE DIFFERENTIAL CROSSMEMBER to relocate the differential.........all the measurements would still be more than 1/2" off total after shimming the trailing arms between the left and right sides--the differential would be 1/4" closer to the left trailing arm.

Again.....this is something I noticed with my car when I was reinstalling the half-shafts.

I'll drive the car this year to get any mechanical problems worked out....this coming winter I will remove the body to repair some frame rust-through.....and also have the frame checked--straightened if needed.

doorgunner

Flashback!






Good news.......the spring-end is no longer about to rub the wheel on the passenger's side. Now that I have relocated the differential, the 295-15 tires that were already on the car will have enough clearance....

The spring assembly cleaned up nicely--about 4 hours start to finish---with a small delay of chasing down a new bolt because the original bolt popped aloose as I was about to re-install the spring pack onto the differential.....






I remembered to not torque the four main spring-mounting-bolts until the weight of the car was on the spring!



Tomorrow's Check-list:
Buy a set of rear shocks
grease all the u-joint fitting
recheck the differential oil level
re-install the exhaust pipes
clean the wheels, balance, re-install them
re-torque the 4 spring-mounting-bolts
level the suspension & half-shafts to prevent binding...then....
run the car in drive on the jackstands for a few minutes to check everything.

(Man! That garage floor is a mess!)

EDIT: The Check-list is postponed another day.....the riding mower got bumped to the top of the "fix-it" list.

doorgunner

After being on this Forum for 6 months, and learning more about "what I have....and what I don't have" .....

I would like to thank all those who have not bashed me or my poor car!

Jack605

I would like to thank you for your inspiration, seeing what can be done and is being done helps me with my confidence of tearing into something. Putting it back together is another issue.

In the words of my Father in law "Someone dumber than you put it together""What's the worse that can happen its already broke"

doorgunner

Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhahahahhaaaaa!

I've fallen down laughing....and don't care if I get up!

Thanks.......I needed that!




On another note.....I copied this from another thread...

This is off the subject, but I have some info about all those "dead Nam Vets" stories.

We were 18 to 20 year olds pulling in $00.25 cents per hour/24/7 plus $60 per month combat pay and 3,000 rounds of ammunition per day for our M60s. The "Government" allowed us a $10,000 life insurance policy which could be changed "at will" (which was a huge some of money for a blue-collar-patriot in those days who didn't "know" a Congressman who could keep him out of Nam). Later the Army stopped the "at will" ability to change your beneficiary.

Any time a "short guy" (someone who's tour-of-duty was nearly over) would receive his "going home orders", all his buddies who were still "in country" would assign him as the beneficiary of their life insurance policies in case they "didn't make it home"....with the condition that he use the money he might receive from the death of one of his buddies to buy a "brand new Corvette to remember them by".

That was life in Nam....mind-wrenching/gut-wrenching/immature/very little hope...and then....a lifetime of nightmares.

Maybe one of you really does have a "honorable special Vette" bought with a buddy's blood....Maybe that's what made me buy my basket-case?



(I think I'll make a copy of this and hand it to each person that tells me the "Dead Nam Vet story" on an FYI basis)

croaker

I can't really tell by your pic's of your half shafts,you do know you should use french locks or something along those lines.If you knew that all ready forget I said anything.