OUTFXD Posted May 17, 2022 Report Share Posted May 17, 2022 Great work! I cant wait to see the finished product! Man, if I had all your gear... I'd have a ton of really expensive stuff that never got used! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sidevalvepete Posted May 17, 2022 Report Share Posted May 17, 2022 1 hour ago, OUTFXD said: Man, if I had all your gear... I'd have a ton of really expensive stuff that never got used! Well Jim, your rotisserie and mig I see are courtesy of having generous, like minded mates and from reading your thread you have years of learnt skills from fellow enthusiasts and night school. Getting this big old girl back to former glory takes commitment, time and all of your learnt skills. I commend you and think your posts will be a great help to others contemplating or doing their own rebuilds. Look forward to seeing more...? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OnlyMopar Posted February 23 Report Share Posted February 23 Wow, what a project,thanks for sharing. Truly inspirational for those of us crazy enough or determined enough to try to restore these beauties. Will wait yo see if my efforts are a labor of love or "bull-headedness". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westaus29 Posted May 30 Author Report Share Posted May 30 (edited) In my last update I told about completing major repairs to the body shell in 2020, but to help the story flow I skipped the years 2015 – 2019 where I gave up on the rear body as too hard. So now I am filling out that gap. The following chassis part may be boring to some. To do the rear body repairs properly I decided the body needed to go back on the chassis which needed to be mobile. The bare chassis had been sitting in etch primer since 2012 and needed to be cleaned up, de-rusted, reprimed and painted black. There were many brackets to be cleaned and painted. Very glad that I took photos before I stripped the chassis so I know where they go. Lots of nuts, bolts and washers to find too. Engine front mount Gearbox and rear engine mount. I ordered new rear mounts from Roberts but they had to be modified to fit. Body mounting hardware had to be sorted and painted. Extra rubber mounts were needed for the 7 passenger body, not cheap! Working out which went where was a major exercise, using photos from disassembly. They are shown here in order, left to front. The second last mounting stud behind the rear seat is inserted from inside the chassis and was quite interesting to install! The front prop shaft and centre bearing and support were restored, with new bearing and seal obtained locally. The support mountings were re-rubbered in Perth WA, very similar to engine front mount. Being close to a major mining industry hub has its benefits. I built a jig to align the centre bearing then injected black roofing silicone, which I have found has many applications. If it does not last I may get it done professionally in Perth WA. The front springs had collapsed and the local spring works didn’t want to repair them so I replaced broken leaves, cold reset them on my 20 tonne press and installed new bushes and hand made leaf clamps, with a thin coat of “never seize” between the leaves.. This shows the reshaping process – used a “good” leaf as a template, done by feel. The finished product. I had collected plenty of new bushes and links over the years. The rear springs were in better shape but I treated them the same way then later found the body was too high and the diff did not line up with the prop shaft so reset them with 75 mm or 3” less set. The upper rear bushes screw into holes in the chassis which were badly worn. I shimmed them with brass and cemented them in with Devcon, same process that I used last time back in the 1980’s which stood the test of time (needed oxy to remove them). The front axle was restored in 1980’s and in good condition, just needed stripping of paint, wire brushing of 95% of rust, treating with dilute phosphoric acid, prepping with Fertan rust preventer and painting. New wheel bearings and seals from Roberts were installed. Drums and linings were as new. Interestingly the axle was stamped “7 PASS” Front springs and axle were installed. I initially put the axle in backwards! Front drums came up well. Edited May 30 by westaus29 deleted misplaced pics Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westaus29 Posted May 30 Author Report Share Posted May 30 (edited) Next cleaned up rear axle, fertanned for rust protection and painted Installed axle Cleaned up drums and backing plates. Assembled brake wheel cylinders using NOS pistons and springs and new modern seals (not bled at this stage). Note the cask of throat lubricant at top left. Wheel cylinders and master cylinder were resleeved in gunmetal years ago. Today I would ask for stainless as the gunmetal reacts with the aluminum pistons Cleaned up and installed tie rod Anti sway bar Wheels on and chassis mobile! Edited May 30 by westaus29 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andyd Posted May 30 Report Share Posted May 30 Great work.......have not heard of sleeving wheel cylinders with gunmetal........when I 1st started to restore the Dodge in 1972 the wheel cylinders were resleeved by Better Brakes in Brass but I think that stainless is the go to material now............nice job overall..........andyd Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westaus29 Posted May 30 Author Report Share Posted May 30 Thanks Andy. We have just returned from 2.5 weeks in Victoria where we drove our 1929U 4 cylinder Plymouth almost 1800 km in three tours as part of 100 years of Chrysler. Smallest car to participate in all three. Ended up at Chrysler on the Murray - what a blast! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sidevalvepete Posted May 30 Report Share Posted May 30 Glad to see this post added to. Great work all round. Interesting reading about your work on the springs. My project spanned many years with large periods of inactivity. I had all the springs refurbished back in the mid 1980s by a local old time engineering firm. Over 30 years later when I was finally getting good progress on the reassembly, I was worried how high the body was sitting with those rebuilt springs under them. Slowly, as more weight got added with doors, guards, bumpers, interior etc it would come down. The weight of the trunk lid is surprisingly heavy too. Lots of trim pieces all add to it. Everything is metal or glass. No plastic. Handles, lights, even the badges. In the end, the old German engineer, George Ottens, was spot on. By then he had long passed so he never saw the finished job. Thanks for sharing this Jim. Glad you are out driving another old girl too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westaus29 Posted May 31 Author Report Share Posted May 31 Thanks Pete. The 7 pass rear springs are much heavier than the sedan, more leaves and very little flex in them. Time will tell, can always redo them, only takes a day. I recently heard there is a firm in Perth 60 km away that does old cars so may have that as a backup. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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