Ken G's Journal

So a minor but important step is done. I finally got the Title change over finalized today.
I also cleaned up some rusty bolts and sprayed a little primer.

I think I have everything lined up to get the rear end back in this weekend. A couple more things to paint, assemble the leaf springs, and start bolting stuff together.

Hopefully I have all the bolts and nuts organized enough so I can remember where they all go...

I completed the refresh on the rear springs. It ended up being a bunch of work, all easy but pretty dirty. The springs were all corroded but with lots of work with the wire brush on the drill I was able to get them decent.
I replaced the non-stick plastic material between the leafs, primed them with rustolem rust primer and with rustolem semi-gloss black. The primer worked great, but I'm not sure about the long term quality of the paint to stay on. It seems like it scratches easily. I'll keep an eye on it and consider switching to VRT or something else if needed.
Before and after pictures added

I'm seeing new springs from Moss is $116.00 (plus shipping) which did have the new bushings installed. I ended up spending $18.00 for the new liners, new upgraded bushings (which I would have gotten anyways, some paint and a wire brush. So maybe $30 max. I bet I spent 3 hours labor on each spring.

Was it worth it, I think so I saved about $200, and it wasn't hard work just messy. I suspect that springs I clean up are not as good as new ones but they are now in much better shape then they were. I plan on watching them this summer and when I do my full tear down this fall I inspect them and reevaluate them.

With the spring refresh completed I started working on the install of the rear end. It is strange how some things that seem like they should be so easy to complete can take so much time.
My step one was to install the new flexible brake line at the main metal line. Well the old hose was totally rusted into the bracket, I ended up having to remove the bracket, put the hose in teh vise and swear off the old hose. Then bend the bracket into it's correct shape and cleaned it up.
I had new split bushing for the leaf springs and getting those into the brackets was a test of will power and determination. The ones to the front of the car didn't seem as bad as the ones in the rear. Maybe because there was more room to work but the bushing for the shackle plate were a pain.
So that was pretty much the afternoon on Sunday. I did notice that I installed the bottom plate that attached to the shocks upside down and backwards so I'll flip those off and correct that. With that done I should only have to reattach the drive shaft and rear (broken) sway bar, shocks, brakes and wheels. Then I'll drop if down and tighten everything up..

Made some more progress on the install of the rear end.
-Connected the drive shaft to the axel, (so much easier with new bolts)
-Got the brake line reattached from the car to the axel
-Installed the shocks and return straps to the car.

Tomorrow I plan on doing the final connections, fitting the brakes and tires back on and then do the final tighten up.

Oh so I was looking at the tires, they need replacing. They have great tread but there is a little bit of cracking. However when I looked at the date I was a bit shocked. If I read this right these tires were made in 1990.

It seems with this project I have gotten myself into I have bad days, so so days, and a few random good days. Today feels like it is one of those random good days.

Today saw the final connection of the shocks, and straps, the correction of the correction of the hand brake cable routing, and the install of the rear brakes. I'm pretty happy I'm at the home stretch.

Tomorrow or Sunday I'll go over all the connections and verify tightness and torque, put on the tires, lower the car off the stands and finalize cinching up the bolts on the springs.

Pretty happy, I finished up phase three of this project. The rear suspension is all installed, brakes are on and the car is off the jack stands and back on her own four wheels.

Looks like my next phase is going to be the front brakes, front suspension and the steering rack. Going to work on that plan of attack of the next few days.