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I’m going through the same thing.
As I put mine back together it seems like the number of boxes on my shelves increase as well.
Greg,
You haven’t experienced the “joy of restoration” until you have two (or more) cars completely blown apart at the same time! I’m dealing with this now (1969 and 1970) and I think that Joe is too (1968 and 1969). I truly can appreciate your comments about the space required to store all of the parts. At least my 1970 is slowly coming back together… A couple of weeks should see the body back on the frame. Car has been off the road since 1978 so I’m getting pretty excited! I only wish that I was moving at the same pace as Joe is!
After I removed the trailing arms due to a bad bearing on the passenger side, I cleaned them up by blasting in my media cabinet.
Painted them in black semi gloss and then let them cure for a couple of weeks.
I took my spindle to a local machine shop to check run out and found the passenger side was bent slightly. So I found a NOS on EBay,
Ordered all the bearing, bushing and seal stuff I needed to rebuild the TAs, and yesterday I tackled the job with the help of my buddy Jack.
Took us all day, but it’s done.
Took a lot of specialty tools, and it helps if you have a press with special bearing press tools (Jack made his out of 1” angle iron that he notched the corners.
I was able to preserve the galvanized patina on my dust shields by lowering the pressure in my blast cabinet and holding the nozzle a distance away from the shields. It cleaned them up nicely.
I ordered all my Timkin bearings from Vette Products.
I also removed the horns, tested them (they worked!) cleaned and painted them.
Replaced the rear back up light lenses with NOS as mine were broken.
Sourced an original diff drain plug tag because mine was broken.
Lastly, I picked up a NOS set of F41 rear shocks off eBay.
I think I mentioned it earlier in this thread that this car came from the factory with F41 suspension (7 leaf spring, correct front coils and shocks) and it had the “born with “ assembly line shocks on it with the correct dates, numbers, and decals.
Except…. The rear shocks and mounts were NOT F41 shocks but had the correct dates and assembly line part numbers for non F41. So clearly they either ran out of the shocks or there was a screw up along the line.
Either way, I decided to return it how it should have been.
Busy couple of weeks.
Pulled the newly rebuilt trailing arms because I reversed the shock fork pieces.
Took them apart and swapped the parts. Put them all together again and one of the arms had too much endplay. Put in a different shim and was too tight. 3rd time was perfect.
Re assembled everything and I’m glad that job is behind me.
Everything in the back of the car has new GM bushings…sway bar, leaf springs, new shocks etc. Even NOS GM leaf spring liners.
Finished the rebuild on my steering box. Cleaned out the old grease of which there was not a lot of.
Cleaned the case and sourced a rebuild kit from Corvette Pacifica as they were the least expensive.
Researched some old threads on this forum and utilized the overhaul and service manuals.
The biggest help was an old post from Gary R. that someone had quoted before he had deleted it.
I found a Snap On 30 in/lbs dial torque wrench on EBay for $150 and it was local to me so I was able to pick it up.
I’m not sure how you rebuild these steering boxes without the correct feeler gauge and this dial torque wrench. Beginning Kit from Corvette Pacifica Dial torque wrench Completed
Hello Joe,
It looks like you're having BIG fun!!
You jinxed it though!!!!!!
You wrote COMPLETED after the last photo.
That insures it'll have to come apart once more!!!!
Regards.....
Man that looks great..............but should have painted the diff cover to match the rest of your amazing artwork while you had it all apart
......
I know…. It sticks out like a sore thumb.
At this point, just cleaning, medi blasting and painting what comes off.
I did change the gear oil though ha ha
I get what you’re going through.
I’ve spent so much time cleaning, prepping and painting old parts that I don’t want to do it any more.
I don’t have room or budget for any equipment so everything is done completely by hand.
I’m working on a 2000 Jeep as well as my Corvette.
The Jeep is not near as bad but it’s bad enough that I know my next project won’t be restoring or building another old car, motorcycle or boat.
It will be an all new ground up build with nothing but clean new parts.
I get what you’re going through.
I’ve spent so much time cleaning, prepping and painting old parts that I don’t want to do it any more.
I don’t have room or budget for any equipment so everything is done completely by hand.
I’m working on a 2000 Jeep as well as my Corvette.
The Jeep is not near as bad but it’s bad enough that I know my next project won’t be restoring or building another old car, motorcycle or boat.
It will be an all new ground up build with nothing but clean new parts.
ha! I hear ya Greg!
I have one more car to do after I finish the 2 I’m working on.
Then I’ll be aged out
My buddy says
“I’ll get dirty taking it apart, but I won’t putting it back together”
ha! I hear ya Greg!
I have one more car to do after I finish the 2 I’m working on.
Then I’ll be aged out
My buddy says
“I’ll get dirty taking it apart, but I won’t putting it back together”
