Cpt.Fred

thanks, Tod, i'll see how it goes. i think a little bit of thin oil might be helpful, just a tad... sooo, i put the plates on and tried the hubs. as i thought, the felt was too thick in the first try, so i had to do it all again. not the first time this happens... now it's all fine and bolted in place. a drop of locktite, just in case, and everything fits like a glove. finally...

a little black paint to match the other parts. i hope i get them assembled by tomorrow evening to see how much of the felt will have to go. guess i should put a little oil on the felt rings when i put them in, right?

cleaned up the backing plates and braces for some special paint treatment. look at the nice work bench. need a new rubber mallet, though... now i'm going to have a beer, sit around in the lonely shop and look at my treasures. here's a soundtrack. have a nice sunday evening everyone!

first, the pics were taken at my buddy's shop, and second...rather will the sun rise in the west! that applies to both our benches.

new rings fit nice and snug: punched in the new screw holes: i plan to use these tiny screws instead of rivets: i made the middle hole a little smaller, since i didn't have the hub and drum assembly with me when i went to my friend's shop, turns out maybe a little too small... we'll see...

I made my move on the darn backing plate dust seals today. my friend and club "president" of Misanthropes C.C. had all the things i needed lying around in his shop. he found a nice thick piece of felt that i could use. welcome to uncle fred's tinker time... drilled out the rivets: parts seperated: genius circle cutting tool: shaping the new felt rings:

Pete, it all depends on the springs you're going to use. a pretty good overview of the dos and don'ts of lowering can be found in some the threads i've done on here... if you're using your old front coils, be careful. if you're not afraid of trial-and-error, start with 1/4 of a coil, put them back in, and ride around the block. you'll see. i cut old front springs one full coil and it was brutal. no good. now i got new Moogs in there and they were too high up, so i started with cutting 1/2... pm me for a longer conversation..

Thanks, 40plyrod! Bmartin, thanks for pointing that out. i got a pair of these: http://www.summitracing.com/int/parts/gab-81676/overview/ Gabriel Guardian Shock Absorbers 81676 they're dirt cheap so i'll just try them out...

weeeeellll.... maybe four? just tell me how much the shipping is i should really consider inserting your name into my last will, just in case. but how are we going to get the car over there? let me try to get some here, i'll send you a mail if i don't succeed. bearings and seals are back in:

DJ is right, i was stupid enough to put the spindle in on the wrong side in the first round. the steering knuckle support is the same part for both sides, the spindles are not. steering stop bolts have to be on the rear side of the king pin. i had to laugh when i noticed what i did and then took it apart again and took new pics. Andy: my manual seems to show the normal nut as the original part? I don't have any spare castle nuts that could fit, but i think you might be right about this, so i guess i will put on some locktite tomorrow and maybe go for a bigger safety pin... edit: i just went back in the thread an found, that the normal nut is shown in the drawing i stole from Don's pictures, see post #28. in my manual, see post #37, it is actually a castle nut... hmmmm. confused...

nobody found the error in the pictured assembly? tststs... everything is back in, springs are shortened 1/2 coil, which should move the nose down about 1". bearings and hubs are next, followed by the backing plates with the stupid felt rings and rivets...

afterwards put the coils in and connect lower a-arm and steering knuckle support with proper seals and connect the sway bar to the upright at the other side of the lower shock mount. since i'm going to shorten the coils first and don't have enough seals now i'll do that tomorrow. last one is just for kicks. the whole thing can get a little tricky with the left-and-right thing... find the error in this picture:

but back to the front end. i put in the upper arms: then i got this nice fat ring of rubber from the auto shop down the street, it's from some mercedes model and fits very well, so i'm going to get me 3 more of those tomorrow. they're 2 EUR a piece. That's about 2$ right now, damn it! this hobby is getting expensive because of world finance, honey, i'm innocent. the lower end of the steering knuckle support will go in like this: note position of the bushing's head, it's screwed in from the back. and don't forget the rubber seals before screwing that long bolt all the way in! but first, i have to attach the top end of the upright to the excentric bushing on the upper control arm: screw it on there (mind the rubber seal): and put the bolt back in it's place. i don't tighten it yet because i'll need to adjust everything later on.

greg, forgive me for being childish here but i gotta keep my good humor while putting in repop parts... classic example, this critter here is 15$ a piece plus shipping at Andy B's: not only does the thread lack the square base that keeps it from rotating while being tightened, not to mention it comes without new nut and lock washer... it's a metric thread, and of course it comes loose inside the rubber piece after the slightest touch. the upper bumper has imperial thread, by the way, but everything else is the same. but i don't care, because i'm in a good mood today and they'll fall off after 20miles anyway. the other project, if you mean the flathead harley, is running strong and is back on the road since last week. great fun!

alright then, back in they go! since i have grown accustomed to this thread as the "Fred'n Andy Show" i decided to give them names before i put them back on. please note that the younger looking one is Andy. and here they are, back on their mysterious duty: no one can foresee what wonders they shall come across on their journeys... *orchestral music*

hehehe, and you forgot to answer that mail, too... but alright, i'll stop now... forgiveness for my impatience. here's a few pics of the wheelhousings before and after... scraped and brushed them clean yesterday night and painted them with Owatrol. while i scraped the crud off i found these puppies, stuck to the frame at the rear mount of the passenger side lower control arm: anybody seen anything like that before? maybe they slid them under the pivot bar to compensate slight frame warpage? i looked everywhere, but that was the only place where i found those. the car rode dead straight and i didn't have any issues regarding tire wear, so i guess i just put them back in there, right? waht do you guys think?

Oh Andy, we've been over this... T'was a price thing, i got them real cheap on the dealer's account of a friend. Had to wait for the other stuff, anyway. Will start cleaning for reassembly this evening!

most people tell me i own a brown car, but i say no, it's just a grey car that is a little rusty. the original color i am referring to as "battle ship grey". anyway. a buddy snug these out of the US and into the EU in his suit case on the flight back home: whoohoo! that means i can finally move on with reassembly! i'll clean the frame and undercarriage in the next days and start putting things back into place. finally! the new shocks and the truck shock mounts didn't fit into the suit case, so i'll have to wait for them a little more, but i have a feeling that i'll be having fun with the steering linkage until then, soooo....

thanks, guys. still too much work and playing the waiting game... working on the motorcycle as a displacement activity. the plymouth serves as installation art in the middle of the work shop and blocks everything. i have to keep myself from piling too much stuff on top of it. hope to get back to work after the easter holidays...

not too pretty, but without any rustholes since day one shiny... only in the oily parts.

yep, and i just answered, hehehe. and you know, i'm really proud of all of ya keeping the kangaroos out soooo long. thanks, greg!

Aaaaalright... i finally found the time to get back to work on the Plymouth. Pressed in new king pin bushings: Reaming took forever... ...but in the end everything worked fine and the pin slid through the bushing by its own weight nice and smooth. test fitting: final assembly: next step is to adjust the bump stops, or whatever they are called...

well thanks to you i got tea in my keyboard now

Haha, true. Well, i didn't make one yet, but maybe i should... LFT, didn't want to hijack your thread. Looking forward to the adjustment pic.

That looks spotless, Tod! Very cool. That or something very similar is my goal. So, no luck on the parts, nobody seems to have them, Us, Canada, Turkey, and what not. Guess i'll have to do as suggested and build them from scratch. Packed everything up in the trunk yesterday to make sure nothing gets lost, i'll be away for about two weeks now and go on rebuilding afterwards...