MildSeven
Legacy Member
Day ~43-47 – Rear Sub-Frame Refresh, Headlight Bucket Refresh, Engine Seals
Rear Sub Frame Reassembly
Finally, the rear trailing arm spring perches have been repaired (using some steel tubing + a flat sheet of metal), the entire rear sub frame has been stripped and painted with POR15.
I reassembled the sub frame with Energy urethane bushings & bushing inserts (for the carrier mounts).
...with the addition of a 19mm ST Suspensions anti-sway bar.
One of the hard brake lines had broke during disassembly so I bought a new one and bent it to shape (using a empty beer bottle).
I replaced the rubber portion of the brake lines with the stainless steel offering from CA Tuned. I reassembled the remaining pieces on top of some scrap plywood/2x4s on casters to make the attachment to the chassis easier when the time comes.
Front Sub Frame Reassembly
Headlight buckets, Refresh
The headlight buckets were in decent shape only some slight surface rust here and there but I decided to strip them and paint them as well.
Engine Seals
Paint Update
Rear Sub Frame Reassembly
Finally, the rear trailing arm spring perches have been repaired (using some steel tubing + a flat sheet of metal), the entire rear sub frame has been stripped and painted with POR15.
I reassembled the sub frame with Energy urethane bushings & bushing inserts (for the carrier mounts).
...with the addition of a 19mm ST Suspensions anti-sway bar.
One of the hard brake lines had broke during disassembly so I bought a new one and bent it to shape (using a empty beer bottle).
I replaced the rubber portion of the brake lines with the stainless steel offering from CA Tuned. I reassembled the remaining pieces on top of some scrap plywood/2x4s on casters to make the attachment to the chassis easier when the time comes.
Front Sub Frame Reassembly
I started refreshing and reassembling the front sub frame last summer (2015) but never completed it due to an obstacle (and other priorities), I screwed-up the thread to connect the pit arm to the roller shaft. During the winter we had it re-threaded (thanks to one of Ernest’s machinist friends), so I once again reassembled the steering box. Can’t remember if I previously mentioned this but the front sub frame received the same treatment as the rear, POR15 coating, Energy urethane bushings and a 22mm ST Suspensions anti-sway bar.
Headlight buckets, Refresh
The headlight buckets were in decent shape only some slight surface rust here and there but I decided to strip them and paint them as well.
Engine Seals
The motor was leaking oil from all over the place, so I purchased the top end and bottom end gasket sets from bluntech. People were saying to leave the head gasket alone if it’s not leaking but I had the head gasket and I also have a hard head, which I might end up regretting in the near future but only time will tell.
Kosta and Ernest had come over to aid in the disassembly of the motor. Kosta was calling Jason, who we generally call when building bikes or cars for expert advice.
1st discovery, the previous owner listed the car as having a IE mechanical timing chain tensioner, that wasn’t so.
2nd discovery, the oil pan stock baffle and additional baffle had both broken off.
3rd discovery, the pistons had a good amount of carbon build-up, especially the two on the right (photo doesn’t do the carbon ‘thickness’ justice).
I read if there wasn’t significant carbon build-up to not bother cleaning it but I found it to be pretty thick on two pistons, plus I was there.
I also cleaned the cylinder head which was more difficult so I didn’t do such a fantastic job.
Since I was there, I repainted the block in gloss black and the timing chain covers + other crap in the closest I could find to oem aluminum finish (unfortunately the actual paint had more of a 'bronzie' hue than the paint cap).
Kosta repairing the broken oil pan baffles, one is stock, the other, I assume was added by the previous owner.
When removing the timing chain, we marked the chain / cam sprocket and the chain / crank sprocket, but what we forgot to do was to mark the distributor position *mad*. During reassembly, we re-lined up the marks and installed the chain in it’s original location with cam and crank . I was not able to find the TDC mark on the cam hub so I’m a little concerned about the orientation of the two. I’m looking to see how to accurately find TDC on all 3 (cam sprocket, crank pulley & flywheel) before installing the distributor. Any advice on this would be welcomed.
We reassembled the motor using the new gaskets with a high tack gasket sealant (from Permatex as recommended by eurotrash), then popped on the intake manifold with the refreshed Weber DCOE 45s.
So, I still need to reinstall the distributor and the starter before tossing the engine aside for a while.
Kosta and Ernest had come over to aid in the disassembly of the motor. Kosta was calling Jason, who we generally call when building bikes or cars for expert advice.
1st discovery, the previous owner listed the car as having a IE mechanical timing chain tensioner, that wasn’t so.
2nd discovery, the oil pan stock baffle and additional baffle had both broken off.
3rd discovery, the pistons had a good amount of carbon build-up, especially the two on the right (photo doesn’t do the carbon ‘thickness’ justice).
I read if there wasn’t significant carbon build-up to not bother cleaning it but I found it to be pretty thick on two pistons, plus I was there.
I also cleaned the cylinder head which was more difficult so I didn’t do such a fantastic job.
Since I was there, I repainted the block in gloss black and the timing chain covers + other crap in the closest I could find to oem aluminum finish (unfortunately the actual paint had more of a 'bronzie' hue than the paint cap).
Kosta repairing the broken oil pan baffles, one is stock, the other, I assume was added by the previous owner.
When removing the timing chain, we marked the chain / cam sprocket and the chain / crank sprocket, but what we forgot to do was to mark the distributor position *mad*. During reassembly, we re-lined up the marks and installed the chain in it’s original location with cam and crank . I was not able to find the TDC mark on the cam hub so I’m a little concerned about the orientation of the two. I’m looking to see how to accurately find TDC on all 3 (cam sprocket, crank pulley & flywheel) before installing the distributor. Any advice on this would be welcomed.
We reassembled the motor using the new gaskets with a high tack gasket sealant (from Permatex as recommended by eurotrash), then popped on the intake manifold with the refreshed Weber DCOE 45s.
So, I still need to reinstall the distributor and the starter before tossing the engine aside for a while.
Paint Update
No update. I'm scared to call or pass by the shop because I heard he's busy. I will try to find time this week at lunch when it's nice out.