Sometimes things actually work out. I had three days off this week and the
weather in Nashville has been gorgeous. I decided to actually do some of
the work I've been accumulating parts for.
The brakes on the new redcar were terrible when I bought it and I ran
across a great sale on brake parts from the Proper MG. The hubs were shot,
too, but I couldn't transfer the ones from the yellowcar since it was a '69
and the '67 has a banjo axle, so I had to buy a pair of those, too. I think
I got the last two in the US.
The fun really started when I got the half-axles out and discovered that,
completely unmentioned in any of the manuals, the hubs are press fit onto
the axle shafts. I called up Olson's and JD said he had a 6 ton press and I
should com on down and give it a try. First we took a good half hour trying
to get the welch plug out. After whacking at it with a cold chisel for a
while, it finally broke into pieces. I can't believe that's how the factory
boys did it, but it worked. Then we almost broke his press. I took the
thing home for another try in the morning. The first shop I called said
their insurance wouldn't allow them to work on automotive stuff, so I
called the place I usually take the Honda to just on the off-chance. We
tried Larry's 12 ton press and still no luck. I'm not sure why the
engineers decided to put that goddam welch plug in there; it couldn't have
been to seal the end of the half-shaft - There wasn't ANYTHING getting
through between those splines.
Larry forwarded me to another shop called Auto Bearings and ask to speak to
'Maggie'. When I got there, 'Maggie' turned out to be an old guy with long
gray hair and beard and a good sense of humor. I guess he needed it. We
tried his 50-ton press. We finally got some movement, but only after
loading up the joint and then whacking the top of the press with a BFH
several times. THEN the thing started to move. I think the left shaft got
scared - it came out without the hammer.
Luckily, Maggie had taken a depth reading before attacking the left half.
There's no indication of how far you're supposed to insert the shaft into
the new hub. We got the right side to within .025 of the reading and called
it quits on that one. Then we started in on the left side. It went in and
stopped about 1/8th inch shy of the other side. Wouldn't budge any further.
I figured that since the hub flange fits right up to the bearing flange
anyway, an eight of an inch wasn't going to show up whe the tire hits the
road and called a stop. I took the pieces home and threw the righ half in -
PERFECT! Threw the left half in - suck. The shaft bottomed out inside the
diff and left, you guessed it, about 1/8th inch between the hub flange and
the bearing flange. Back to the shop, setup the press again and this time
whacked it with the hammer. Movement. Picked up a little over .175 and
stopped. Took it back home and it fit like a glove.
Then as I was re-assembling everything, I discovered that the brake drums I
salvaged off the yellowcar and had turned at Pep Boys weren't the same as
the ones off the earlier axle either. They're shallower than the earlier
drums. So, BACK to Pep Boys with the original drums and another $15 later,
I had a working rear end again. And I found a nice aesthetic; instead of
painting the drum gloss black, I decided on some bright red caliper paint I
found at Pep Boys. Very nice effect. Not only do the spokes look cleaner
than they are, the entire car looks faster.
With all of the work and new parts; new linings, turned drums, new hubs,
cleaned and lubed adjusters, new braided steel hoses, new master cylinder,
rebuilt hand brake cable adjuster, fresh oil in the diff, Spax shock
conversion, new springs - and I haven't really started on the front end yet
- you'd expect the car to handle a little differently. This morning I was
doing the dishes and cleaning up the kitchen and made the mistake of
stepping outside to let the dog out. Blue sky, 65 degrees. Screw this. Took
the car out through Warner Park. Beautiful. I KNEW this would be a good
car. No more clunk from the rear end at start and stop. In fact NOW I can
hear the king pins clunking. But halfway through the park I stopped to see
if a fallen cyclist needed help and the car stopped without pumping the
pedal. And about a mile farther in a yearling deer ran across the road in
front of me and I didn't get frantic - I just pressed on the brake pedal
and the car slowed down and I watched it run off into the forest.
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Glenn Schnittke
schnittke@mindspring.com
Home: 615-385-2800
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