OK...So, I have completed phase 1 of the project and Im pleased with how it turned out. This Time I have a few pics to help tell the story.
Phase 1 was to be the "streetworthy" phase. When I got the car the motor ran like dogshit. It had a huge off idle stumble and surged and bucked at cruise. I checked and repaired as neccessary the standard stuff like points, plugs, cap, timing, vac leaks, etc. but the problem was still there, and in fact I might have made it a little worse. One Redline rebuild and jet kit for the weber later, the motor runs fantastic.
That put me onto the real meat of pahse 1 which was the steering, suspension and brakes. Driving the car to Corvallis from Springfield after I bought it was what I refer to as Mr Toad's Wild Ride. The steering was loose with as much as 1/4 turn of freeplay in the box and the brakes made all kinds of funny sounds and would jerk you to the shoulder with a hard enough stab of the pedal.
Basically I ripped everything out and assessed from there and decided with the exception of most of the steering hard parts I would just replace everything. Here is what it looked like part of the way through deconstruction:
Strut rods and sway bar also came out as did the remainder of the steering gear for cleaning and painting.
Control arms before:
ready for paint:
painted and ready for new bushings: (I kept the ball joints as there was nothing wrong with them and I simply re-greased them)
If there is one thing I am nervous about its another (obviously amature) mechanics brake work. The pads looked to be at 75% or so and the rear shoes were 90% or more but I found one of the springs in the back in the wrong place and it was rubbing on the axle shaft and the front rotors looked like they had been cooked in a grease fire so I just replaced it all. The wheel bearings were the only thing salvageable so I cleaned and repacked those and put in new seals.
The calipers were cleaned, and rebuilt and I took the opportunity to smooth the castings a little:
I also replaced the strut rods and bushings which were improperly installed with severely frozen nuts. Sway bar bushings and end links are also new, as are all the soft hydraulic hoses. New wheel cylinders, shoes and drums were installed out back. I used stock parts in most cases as this is intended to be a daily driven street car with more "resto" than "mod". The only real "mod" parts are the springs and the RCA's
I admit I didnt really document with that many pictures the process along the way, but here is the end result:
Ride height on the King Springs (I have no idea on spring rates, but let me say, with just KYB GR2's in the tubes, this thing is rock hard):
Side note: Jody the shop dog complained alot about the working conditions until I fired up the woodstove. I caught her snoring away a couple times after that.
NEXT: Phase 2 - Engine bay: Pull the motor, clean/polish/paint as needed. Clean up several ugly wiring issues. Another "more resto than mod" phase.
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