Front Brakes

The caliper needs to be rebuilt

Parts cleaned and painted

With the driveaxles in and the back of the car now looking very spiffy, it was time to turn my attention back to the front and to the assembly of the front brakes.

I started by rebuilding the brake calipers.  After taking them apart I discovered that the seals were shot, so I ordered a rebuild kit that came with new seals and the snap rings to hold them in.

These front discs are shot

It's all back together

Of course, when I read the directions for the rebuild kit, the first thing it said was "Do not disassemble the two  halves of the caliper."  Hmmm...too late.  I cleaned, buffed and painted the two halves, then put in the new seals, snap rings and bolted them back together.

Backing plates need to be cleaned

New, freshly turned rotors

Next came  the backing plates.  These had to be cleaned, primed and painted before any assembly could commence.  I also painted parts of the new rotors I purchased some months back.  The old rotors were far too pitted and grooved to function properly, so I bought a used set and had them turned on a lathe at Austin VeeDub for $50 apiece.

The new bearing is on

Time to mount the rotor

Once the backing plates were dry and in place, it was time to mount the rotors.  I bought new bearings, so after packing the interior of the rotor with fresh grease, I put in the new bearing sets and slid the whole thing onto the spindle.

Amazingly, it went on without a hitch and it even spins freely.

It works!

Next came the rebuilt calipers.  These, like the rotors, are heavy pieces of steel, so once these parts get put back on the car, it really begins to weigh it down.  It's also beginning to look like a car again!
As is my habit, I somehow managed to put the calipers on the wrong sides at first, and in response to the scraping sounds that it caused, I took them off and switched them around.  Voila!

  It was a perfect fit with no scraping at all.  I also got new brake hoses and brake lines, but these, along with the new master cylinder, will have to wait to go in another day.

Driveaxles Named Desire

Ready for the driveaxles

With the front beam, transmission and trailing arms all back on the frame, it was now time to rebuild and install the driveaxles.

Before I could get to that, however, I had one more small detail which I mistakenly thought was going to be no more than a 'cosmetic' re-installation: the cover plates and bushings for the rear torsion bars.

Off by quite a bit

The torsion bar cover

The covers and bushings came right off, but of course the old bushings were all deformed and it did not occur to me that these new bushings would throw off the alignment of the cover plate, but of course, that's exactly what they did.  After a few minutes of frustrated observation I decided that this was one of those 'stuck' moments and I decided to simply put it off until I think of a solution.  I have some ideas, but there is no pressing reason to put these parts back on at the moment, so I'll just let it simmer a bit in the back of my brain.

The new cv joints look good

Especially when on the axle

In the meantime, there is plenty to do, starting with those driveaxles.  I tore down the old ones some weeks back, but concluded that for such important parts of the drivetrain, it was worth the expense of buying brand-new constant-velocity (cv) joints.  The parts I took out look ok, but tolerances run in the thousandth of an inch and given how key these little parts are, I want it to work right the first time.

Ready to assemble

Ready to install

The driveaxles themselves were just fine with a buff and a coat of the rubberized undercoating paint.  I installed the new cv joints and the fresh new rubber boots that cover them, then smashed the graphite grease that came with each joint in and around all the bearings and moving parts.

The gooey mess...

Installed!

Then I had to take the whole sticky gooey mess and mount it into the nice clean space between the transmission and the trailing arms.  This was nearly a disaster, as the cv joints on one end managed to fall apart as I was lifting the other end into place.

Despite the drama...

The scene was straight out of A Streetcar Named Desire:  I was on my knees in the driveway, covered in sticky graphite grease, holding the broken bits of the cv joint, and almost literally weeping with frustration.  Fortunately before the neighbors came running over to find out if I was having a heart attack, I managed to seize control of my emotions and the damned joint, muscling both into position with a great sigh of relief and a furtive look to see who had witnessed the sorry scene. Fortunately it looked like I was alone in my chagrin as I loaded up all the freshly cleaned and buffed bolts (the object of much difficulty on removal).  Before long the driveaxle was officially installed!

The job is done!

As is my habit, this first half of the job was completed just as the sun was going down, so I turned my attention to the other side with no time left on the clock, so to speak.  However, with the experience gained and without the emotional meltdown, I managed to work quickly and efficiently, installing the other driveaxle without incident and just before it was too dark to see.  This sort of thing always leaves me in a state of doubt, but on my return the following morning, I found the work to be done right.  Woot!  I cleaned up the excess grease and checked this task off my list.

Next:  Brake system, beginning with the front rotors and calipers.

Paint, Transmission and Trailing Arms

Once the underside of the frame was finished, it was time to turn it back over and begin work on the top half.

Rust...

...insidious rust

Basically, the work was the same as it was on the other side.  First I had to remove the spots of rust that had spontaneously appeared on all the bits of freshly exposed steel.

Cleaned and sealed

Ready for painting

Next came the top side silicone seal which effectively blocks any moisture from working it's way into the interior via the floor pans.

Primer for the fresh bits...

Undercoating over all

Then, I sprayed some primer on all the bare steel spots and finished off the whole deal with another couple of cans of undercoating.  Even though there were a few spots where the paint wrinkled up a bit, for the most part I got a nice smooth and even coating.

Both sides now

Paint looks good

Although it looks good, it's hardly finished.  I will be putting down some sound-deadening material on the interior side of the floor pans, as well as another thicker silicone seal for the edges that will really make it a tight fit.

Time for the tranny

In without a hitch!

With the frame finally painted, it was time to begin re-assembly.  I started with the transmission.  First I had to fill it with fresh gear oil.  Next I assembled the mounts and cross brace, fit the new rubber nose gasket into the frame and lifted the whole thing into place.  It slid right in and when the big bolts on the front were tightened down, it looked perfect, just like a brand new piece.

Still painting things

Trailing arms are ready to install

The next day, it was on to the trailing arms, which had to be re-painted and installed.  Because I'd done this twice already, it was an easy job.  Both sides went in just before dark.

Front beam repainted

...and reinstalled!

After that, the front beam, also freshly repainted, went back on, with the help of Valery and Madelaine.  Previously I had thought I could just paint the beam and leave a lot of the parts (like the nuts and locking screws) unpainted, but even though we've been in a drought, when it finally rained last month, all those unpainted pieces developed a fine patina of rust.

All the bits were painted

No more rust!

So, I had to carefully wire wheel and sand off all the rust then coated the entire beam with a fresh coat of hard gloss black paint.  I also cleaned up all the bits and pieces, painting them separately before putting them back on.  The end result was most impressive.  It really is starting to take on the quality of a rebuilt machine.  It's not a show car, but all the pieces are there, all painted and perfectly assembled.

Next: driveaxles, re-assembled and installed.

Flipped, Sealed and Undercoated

With the floor pans welded in, my next task was to seal up the gaps left around the welds.

The frame is flipped over

Gap between the center beam and pans 

The pan rests on an inch wide shelf, but even after it was welded in, there was a space between the surface of the pan and the surface of the shelf.

Of course, this has to be sealed, or water will get in and the whole point of replacing the pans will be moot after the first rain.

Rust already

Beam and floor pan intersection

In fact, because it took a couple of weeks (one of which was rainy) to get to this, a very small amount of rust had already formed on the freshly ground and welded spots.  It took some doing but I managed to clean up all the rust and injected a bead of silicone sealant all down the length of the pans on both sides.

The primer cracked on the beam

After primer on the bare steel bits

I'll have to seal up the other side when I turn it back over, but for now it was time for the paint.  It's undercoating, actually, so when it dries it has a sort of rubberized surface that will hopefully resist the chipping and cracking from rock and road debris.  I am going to spray the entire frame with undercoating at this point, leaving the parts that go back to be painted with a more conventional high-gloss black paint.

Sanding it down helped

The new undercoat is smooth

The first coat on the bottom side I put down wasn't really a coat at all, but a targeted use of the primer to cover all the really bare metal spots.  This worked well enough on the bare metal, but when I laid it down on the previously undercoated center beam, the result was a crackled mess.  Resolving not to make matters worse, I elected to just let this dry and when sanded it down lightly before repainting it with undercoating it looked fine.

Even on the center beam

One half is done

I used three cans of undercoating.  One went on the center beam, and the other two went to the sides.  By the time I was finished, it looked better than I had expected.  There were a few wrinkled spots where I hadn't cleaned up some substance or other, but even those spots eventually dried nicely.

Voila! Both sides now!

It really does look slick

It's not like they are going to be visible anyway.  As I've said before, my objective is not a show car, but one that it well assembled, clean and tight.  So far, so good.

Next, we'll turn it back over to seal and paint the other side.  Then it's on to re-assembly.  The freshly repainted front beam and trailing arms will go back on and that transmission, long ago re-painted and now filled with fresh gear oil, will finally be re-installed.