"Underneath"; installment #6
This'll be a short weekly report as I was away Friday through
Sunday, treating Susan to a birthday trip at a B&B; clearly, I need to
keep her happy if I intend to keep on dropping $$$ on the Garage Queen.
:^)
The crossmember and a few other parts were completed at the
Magnafluxing shop on Tuesday. The spindles and lower A-arms passed with
flying colors, the crossmember had 3 cracks-- and not where I expected
them. Two were on the surface where the aluminum wedges sit on it, at
the rear of the crossmember, near the mounting holes. The third is under
the left end of the steering rack. Actually, I'm pleased as I expected
more damage. The tower measurements seem OK, by my iffy estimations of
where to measure (see my post of last week), so the next step will be
welding and reinforcing.
Amazingly enough, even after dipping, I cannot get the nuts off
the old lower balljoints. I then tried a torch, _still_ couldn't break
them loose. Tonight, I hope to use the air die grinder on these and that
nut on the Panhard rod adjuster. This is the 1st time I've actually seen
my Craftsman 1/2" breaker bar bending. Whew!
I received a few more packages. The first is from CAT; I placed
an order on 2/28/98, the night before my membership expired (yeah, I
also mailed in a dues check), and the package showed up 03/05/99. That's
5 business days for my check to cross the country once, and for the
package to cover the same distance back. Amazing! So now I have a new
set of front spring insulators. Also a few sundries and a CAT
sweatshirt; the CAT T-shirt I bought a few years back lost its
silkscreen in a few months, so this was a gamble, but the sweatshirt is
a nice Hanes with the logo embroidered on, much better.
The second 2 packages were from Dale's; apparently business goes
on there, hooray! The leaf springs were shipped, as I was told
beforehand, loose with no packaging. OK, but one of the studs in the
center of the springs got its threads mashed; it should clean up alright
with a die.
Everything else fit in one big _heavy_ box. The handbrake cable
for the rear disc kit is interesting; there are two cables, one for each
side, with a balance bar at the handle end. Hmmm; does anyone remember
steering brakes on old VW dune buggies? I wonder if I could fit in two
handles down there, might be a help in tight corners at autocrosses. :^)
What I haven't found yet is a packet of instructions. Well the
front rotors and the fulcrum pin kit shouldn't be too hard; the rear
discs (whaddaya know, no dust shields!) might be another matter. And
even the rear springs, as they have different ends F/R and it isn't
clear which is which.
Spell-checker giggle of the day: change "autocrosses" to
"autocracies". Gee, _somebody_ mustv'e run afowl of the Officer of the
Day at some event, eh?
Lawrence R. Wright
Purchasing Analyst
Andrews Office Products Div. of USOP
lrw@aop.com
Ph. 301.386.7923 Fx. 301.386.5333
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