"Underneath", installment #4
The past week has been a bit more quiet for the suspension
rebuild on the Garage Queen. Mostly, ordering the things I've forgotten
to get, and waiting for the items already on the way. Some packages have
already arrived.
Thursday, I took most of the parts I'll be re-using to be
dipped, which will remove the paint, rust, etc., from the crossmember,
A-arms, spindles and the various small parts. For some reason I've
decided to sand-blast the front hubs and perhaps the Panhard rod; the
rest will set me back $100 at the dipping shop and I'll get it back in
7-8 days. In the meanwhile I'll need to pick up a bottle of Metal Prep
the treat the parts before the next step.
That Panhard rod had me stumped for a few minutes as I couldn't
find it. It turns out I had left it attached to the car on the right
side, it just took WD-40 and a few minutes to extract it; the bushings
on both ends were _wasted_, though.
Another fun projectlet was gathering up all of the bolts, nuts &
washers all over the garage floor and my workbench, identify them and
sort them into labeled plastic bags so that when I shop around to
replace them I'll know how many of each size to get and what to do with
them once I start reassembly. Actually, even tossing in the crossmember
shim plates and various ploy bushings, all the bags fit in a 8x8x8 box;
it just looked like more laying on the floor.
Speaking of poly bushings, they look pretty good, but somewhat
cruddy. I wonder if Energy Suspensions can advise me on how to best
clean them; I'll check out their website.. I have the upper and lower
suspension snubbers, swaybar bushings, and _some_ shock bushings, I'm
wondering if I should convert 'em all over.
The shocks are about the only thing ready to bolt back on. For
some reason, I decided to wax them (Zymol, no less), as I thought it
might help them to shed dirt. Cannot imagine a downside, I don't think
it would hold in heat or anything. Oh, my, how pretty, maybe the next
step could be having the crossmember pinstriped or something. :^)
Lawrence R. Wright
Purchasing Analyst
Andrews Office Products Div. of USOP
lrw@aop.com
Ph. 301.386.7923 Fx. 301.386.5333
|