The Great Pumpkin - '71 Duster
Tackled the bent control arm situation this week. The new LCA is all restored and rebuilt. The old control arm I had on the shelf was rustier than I had thought so it needed to be sandblasted. Went back to the dealership where I used to work to use the crappy sandblaster they have to clean it up. Somehow I'm still the only one that knows how to make it work. Anyway, finished it up with the wire wheel, primed and painted it to match the existing one.
Initially I had thought I had an extra LCA bushing on hand but I actually have three extra upper control arm bushings instead and no LCA. So, down to my local old-school parts store that is good at getting me this type of stuff, paid the man for a new bushing and I was on my way.
The install mostly went smoothly, it's all back in. Frankly, it sucks to deal with torsion bars lying on the floor on your back. Maybe one day I will have a lift.
What all this means though is that I am past the latest setback and have managed to make some good progress toward getting the car back on the ground. The brakes are finally installed, only thing left to do is bleed them. I had to finish the brakes since I would not have been able to get the motor in the car until without the brakes - the car needs to roll backwards out of the garage to have enough room to swing the hoist around.
In any event, The Wilwoods are really light. I believe I shaved about 8-9 lbs per side over my previous set up with the SSBC aluminum KH type calipers on otherwise stock components. Hopefully they stop better...
From this...
To this.
Wheel preview
While the control arm was out, I decided to install the Flaming River manual steering box I've had on my shelf for what seems like 10 years. I bought it for one of my old project cars that I sold but managed to hold on to it. I remember painting it with cast blast on my stoop in Brooklyn when I lived there which was between '04-'08.
I can feel the difference in the wheel already, smoother action with the right amount of tension on it. Yeah, it's heavier than the OE manual box since it's cast iron but I guess the trade off is modern components and feel. Only issue with it was that the roll pin didn't want to go in, guess I have to futz with it a little.
Not much peripheral stuff left to do, whittling down my punch list.
More to come.
Tackled the bent control arm situation this week. The new LCA is all restored and rebuilt. The old control arm I had on the shelf was rustier than I had thought so it needed to be sandblasted. Went back to the dealership where I used to work to use the crappy sandblaster they have to clean it up. Somehow I'm still the only one that knows how to make it work. Anyway, finished it up with the wire wheel, primed and painted it to match the existing one.
Initially I had thought I had an extra LCA bushing on hand but I actually have three extra upper control arm bushings instead and no LCA. So, down to my local old-school parts store that is good at getting me this type of stuff, paid the man for a new bushing and I was on my way.
The install mostly went smoothly, it's all back in. Frankly, it sucks to deal with torsion bars lying on the floor on your back. Maybe one day I will have a lift.
What all this means though is that I am past the latest setback and have managed to make some good progress toward getting the car back on the ground. The brakes are finally installed, only thing left to do is bleed them. I had to finish the brakes since I would not have been able to get the motor in the car until without the brakes - the car needs to roll backwards out of the garage to have enough room to swing the hoist around.
In any event, The Wilwoods are really light. I believe I shaved about 8-9 lbs per side over my previous set up with the SSBC aluminum KH type calipers on otherwise stock components. Hopefully they stop better...
From this...
To this.
Wheel preview
While the control arm was out, I decided to install the Flaming River manual steering box I've had on my shelf for what seems like 10 years. I bought it for one of my old project cars that I sold but managed to hold on to it. I remember painting it with cast blast on my stoop in Brooklyn when I lived there which was between '04-'08.
I can feel the difference in the wheel already, smoother action with the right amount of tension on it. Yeah, it's heavier than the OE manual box since it's cast iron but I guess the trade off is modern components and feel. Only issue with it was that the roll pin didn't want to go in, guess I have to futz with it a little.
Not much peripheral stuff left to do, whittling down my punch list.
More to come.