slowbert

Started laying out the shiny new powder coated suspension pieces.  

In the living room, of course.

Thanks for having a look. 

Those thin, formed sheet metal pieces get distorted easily when removing them.  Obviously, since they *used* to put them in a rebuild kit.  I'll re-think my reluctance about RTV, too.

Good suggestions.  I had not thought about silver solder - or RTV.

Other than not being a 'pure' restoration, my worry about RTV is getting the sealing area clean enough so that the RTV will stick.

But at least I have some options...

Thanks for the quick replies.  It looks to me like the previous owner used a can opener to try to open the cap and punched a hole in it.  No luck hunting online for the replacement kit.

The new CV joints all seem to be available without *either* cap.

Next stop: try to find one in my spare parts pile, which is at my ex-wife's house.  If that doesn't work, buy an axle assembly on eBay just for the 50 cent end cover.

If not that, some hammer and dolly and maybe a weld to fix it, although I worry about the grease leaking out over time.  There are some high centrifugal forces that would force grease out of the seal - and making my newly powder coated suspension dirty.

In rebuilding the CV joints, one of the end caps to the CV joint had been damaged.  The repair kit 33219067911 Repair Kit Bellows includes this cap, but the kit is NLA. I have new bellows and clamps, but just need the end cap.  (I can't find the part number on RealOEM, either.)

Anyone know where to get just the end cap? 

On 8/4/2022 at 11:04 AM, popovm said:

 

 

 

Good point. I need to check the ball joints in my pile of parts and see if they come with the nut. 

The ones I got from Ireland had a lock nut, not the castle nut.

Agreed.  Of course, all hack jobs on the car were due to the previous owner.

When I bought the car 30 years ago, I just drove it and drove it, then let my kids drive it in high school.  It sat for 15+ years before I finally began a full restoration this year.  I'm uncovering countless little 'hacks' like this as I go.

On 4/29/2022 at 4:04 PM, John76 said:

Steve,

This might have been caused by the hood adjustment after your paint job.

If the rubber bumpers or the latch bar are too tight, it puts a flex on the radiator support when the lock lever is drawn tight.

Just a though....my car never showed signs of this until after my paint job at 113k miles. Readjustment was the cure.

John

Excellent point.

I noticed the dimples/cracks when I replaced the nose piece, but previously I had found this huge, unexpected crack in the hood latch bar during disassembly.  I'm now thinking they are probably related...

Got the car up on the redneck rotisserie. 

Made some progress wire brushing the underside.  Goal is to get the underside complete so I can (hopefully) send it out for paint in September.

20 minutes ago, Dudeland said:

I am the guy that would rather blend into the background.  I have had many bad experiences with things getting broken into/stolen/vandalized.  

 

 

Agreed.  I thought about painting mine Inca orange for a while - then decided to go with the original: agave green.

I would prefer not to drive around with a big orange sign saying "pull me over."  Blending in the background has a lot of advantages.

Just don't place a big order with many parts. 

1.  IE will charge you *huge* FedEx shipping charges for all the individual pieces (my current order of $1700 had over $250 FedEx shipping tacked on).

2.  IE will wait *forever* to ship because one little item held up the entire shipment (my current order has been there for almost 4 weeks before shipment and it just shipped this week but has not arrived).  All for one $.50 seal that was missing in one refurb kit.

I ordered one item from IE that I missed in the big order and got it in a week.  In the meantime, I placed a similar sized order with Blunttech and it was here in a week (with only $30 shipping charges for an oversized item).

I just finished replacing the gas tank area on my '72 this weekend with replacement sheet metal.

This was a *bear* to get fitted.  Much more work than I anticipated. 

Originally on my car, there is a 1/4in+ gap between the structural sheet metal and the fenders on both sides - filled with seam sealer.

I drove US 50 a couple years ago from Reno to I-70.  Take note of the "No Services for 100 Miles" signs.  They are not kidding.

It was a fantastic drive.  Scenic, road in great condition, lots of space.  Makes you wonder why people choose to live in crowded cities...

Could it be for right here?  These are the holes for the gas line(s) through the firewall.

I had the same problem, but hood would only open from driver's side.

When I started disassembling for a full rebuild, I found this unexpected problem.  The shaft had broken and twisted.