7.5 to 8.25 swap findings

Back in for a quick break. Swap is going pretty straight forward. I'm doing it myself so things go a bit slow, but then I'm pretty slow as it is.

Rolled the rear behind the car on the wheels. Lifted each side one at a time and put it on a jack stand. Removed the wheel and then lifted the rear down on the floor. Did that both sides. I then rolled the rear end under the car with the jack. Had to lift it a bit and balance the centre on the jack to stop it falling forward and to miss the spring arch the further it went in. Once jostled around in place I pivoted the front up to match the spring angle (remember that I had the rear spring perches taken off the car with the two bolts so the spring would swing down at the back) and put the U bolts and shock plates on. I reused the shock plates and U bolts that originally were on the Scamp. I got those in the price of the rear end from the salvage yard. Just cleaned them up, painted them and chased the threads. I tightened the U bolts/plates on each side back and forth to make sure all was in straight and all the pins (spring to rear perch and plate to spring bottom pin were aligned and correct.

What worked for me was to get the U bolts started good with the plates under them. I then jacked up the rear end and jiggled the plate etc. around until all the pins were aligned. I then tightened this down a bit and continued to jack the rear up until the rear spring perches aligned with the body/frame holes. I popped the two bolts in either side and tighened them down just as planned.

I then torqued down the spring shock plates/U bolts in place all the way. All is in and very nice.

I've run the emergency brake cables over and hooked them into the factory plate that is on the driver side of the car. I still need to hook the adjuster plate onto them and adjust them down.

On the brake hose, I'll have to get one. The '71 Slant 6 hose might work with some more surgery to the hard lines that run along the rear, but as it is the long line will bolt in as factory, but the shorter (driver side) line wants to bolt in where this '71 line has no hole. The hole is around the other side so no go and I don't want to rebend my nice new line to try and rig it so I'll order a hose. Sounds like most places around here it is going to take 2-3 days to get one in to fit a '75 Scamp.

To answer some of the others who were kind enough to post on this. I went ahead and put new hard lines on the rear while doing the brake rebuild. Was just too cheap not to. I think the short line cost about $1.50 and the other was maybe $2.50. Just got the old tubing bender out and matched the old route of the old lines.

Good tip on the hose clamp for removing the emergency brake cables. I used a pair of needle nose vise grips and a flat blade screw driver. They came out without too much bother. I was more bothered about not noticing that the cable systems were different and I'd just put all the new drum brake shoes, springs and wheel cylinders together on them. To take the old cable off and put the new on I had to dismantle my just completed work.

I also have used a deep socket to get emergency brake cables off. Just slid them over the cable end and had them so that they were just big enough to slide on the retainer at the backplate and push the retainer pins in.

As far as the yoke goes I don't believe I have to get a new yoke???

I measured the yoke from side to side where the u-joint fits in on both rears and the measurement was the same. I'm going to double check it, but I thought there were only two u-joints and one would measure longer than the other? I'll look on the car, but I think the driveshaft u-joint end will bolt right in what I have. I just need to get the shaft shortened. Just called and looks like $85 plus tax to shorten and dynamically balance.

Well, back out to finish off the job apart from the brake hose. I have to agree. Apart from the surprise of the emergency brake cables and the brake hose alignment to the lines being different it has been pretty straight forward and bolt in.