> I'm attempting to replace the CV joints on the better half's Turbo colt. The
> kits that were provided had these cheesy clamps that I am having trouble with
>-
> they are Band-It retaining bands that consist of a clamp on several loops of
> steel band that you are supposed to just pull on to get tight.
I hope you mean the CV joint *boots*. As far as I know you have to replace
the whole half-axle on the colt if joints are pooped. At least I did.
Since I only discovered the problem *way* too late, I never did the boots
on that car. The bands do sound like the ones we replaced on my Olds, though.
The tightening bit is a little square metal loop that you're supposed to
pinch and flatten. It's not immediately obvious. This works best with front
cutters (like a ceramic tile biter) but we managed with regular pliers and
a couple of nails as spacers. You're supposed to pinch the sides of the
square in (near the boot), leaving the top intact. If this isn't the right
style of band, ignore this.
The interesting thing is that one of the original boots was clamped with a
*zip tie*. I don't know why this was on an original boot, (perhaps the
original clamp met its end at some point, I doubt GM used them at the
factory) but there it was, a very old and still intact zip tie.
> Ob. britcar content..
>
> How do you guys in the midwest deal with the rust? This Colt came from
> minnesota, and a lot of the bolts were quite rusted, thank you
I had two Colts, and 84 and an 82. The second one was a really amazing deal
or I would never have bought it. The bolts were horrible for snapping and
the electrical connectors disintegrated if I looked at them funny, usually
in the winter. Ever try to solder a terribly corroded wire when it's -20?
I got rid of it when my dad offered me his '82 Olds Ciera. Much better,
corrosion wise (both body and electrics), and doesn't burn oil. We patched
some holes in the doors and the side wells of the trunk (you know, the bits
that don't exist on new cars but make a good spot to keep a litre of oil
in the LBC), but the galvanized rocker panels only lost their paint.
Wonderful stuff, that.
So how do you prevent rust in the climate of a salty, slushy mess?
a) Get a car that disintegrates the least (lotso plastic, fibreglass or
galvanized steel, I suppose you can't tell about electrics until it's
too late). I know, this is a useless suggestion!
b) use anti seize compound on every nut and bolt unless there is a compelling
reason not to (this stuff is amazing)
c) rust treatments (Rust Check, Waxoyl, whatever)
d) wash (your car) often. At least spray the salty mess off the underside
and out of crevices. We looked at an XJ12 that was remarkably well
preserved even though the owner drove it every day. He washed the trouble
spots frequently.
Once you have rust, don't ignore it! You must cut it out to really get rid
of it but you can slow it down with c & d above and
a) paint rusty bits with POR15 or equivalent. Bondo and regular paint or
slapping on Tremclad is only somewhat better than nothing. The super-hard
rust paints must be better. We used POR15 to soak fibreglass cloth in
instead of the usual epoxy resin. That appears to work very well. I
wouldn't subject an LBC to that, but winter cars don't have to look nice
or last forever.
b) slop tar (undercaoting) in areas where sealing is a problem and looks are
not. Don't block up any drain holes!
Rust is a royal PITA, and I'm not talking falafel.
Thank goodness our TR7 came from Georgia.
Jody Levine ---+--
jlevine@rd.hydro.on.ca | |~|
Toronto, Canada | |~\ 7 The Mobile Doorstop
|