Well, I kinda forgot this thread. I haven't done a ton to the car since the last post, but I have done something.
1st, the exhaust leak has been resolved. A quick swap of a flange gasket and problem solved. But not before the leak sooted the side of my shiny painted block. Oh well.
2nd and most importantly, I rebuilt the front suspension on the thing. The ball joints and bushings were shot! I also added a swaybar! man, is that a huge improvement in ride quality. Got a Heller kit from Summit, went right on no issues!
Of course, just like the engine rebuild, that project snowballed. The pics don't show it, but as I was putting the thing back together, I noticed that the left caliper was sticking. Long story short, I wound up replacing both calipers, pads, brake hoses, wheel bearings and seals.
While it was on the lift, an annoying trans leak annoyed me even more. So that lead to a selector shaft seal replaced.
I did the front brakes, might as well check the rear since it was in the air, right? Glad I did, too. The shoes were fine, I don't know who was in there last, but the self adjusters weren't doing a thing. The cables were present, but not hooked up. So, now that's fixed.
I was happy to see the axle seals weren't leaking, but that got me to thinking about axle lube. You guessed it, the axle lube was black, so that was changed out too.
The bill for this little exercise wasn't to hateful. Some of the parts I had in my stash, but I figure I'm $300 poorer after the dust settles.
I took the pics after the sway bar install, I wish I had gotten pics of the rear self adjusters and how the cables were set up. But thoughts are like trains, not always on time!
But thanks
@robsimmons for helping me revive this thread.
BTW, I still don't have the damn stripes on yet!