Underneath, installment #8
It has been over a month since the last installment; delays,
travel and a bit of apathy are at fault.
I finally got the crossmember back, via a friend, from the
welder two days before I went to San Diego; just enough time to drop it
off at the powder coaters. Except, five minutes after the friend left, I
noticed two cracks the welder missed even though they were clearly
marked. Eek! Out of time! Well, it was too late to route it back to the
"certified" welder, so I walked over to a neighbor's house, he had some
equipment and agreed to try it. This was for two little cracks at the
very outboard ends of the steering-rack brackets.
The next AM I rolled the x-member over in a wheelbarrow and his
welder was sent up in his driveway (220 outlet on outside of house!).
Another neighbor who had welded before offered to do the honors. The
welding rod was old and damp, hard to control, and at one point we had
an undesired hole elsewhere on the x-member for a moment before he got
it closed up. But it was done, and a little work with a grinder cleaned
it up.
The next day I scrambled back to the powder coater to drop off
the x-member, 4 control arms (reinforced) and the Panhard rod. The shop
owner was away and only he could quote me a price; so I was off to San
Diego w/out knowing the cost, although the painter (coater?) said he'd
recommend a discount due to me being a repeat customer. Anyway, I
returned a week later, and was pleased. All was medium silver, as
requested, and they clearcoated it too "because they had some in the gun
anyway", at no charge. The bill for everything was $234 and this time no
undesired surfaces were coated.
Sorry, I cannot tell you much about the rear axle assembly. In
3-4 visits, the fellow working on replacing everything has done
everything but make incantations and sprinkle holy water on it; and I
don't follow much. Mostly it's measure-measure-measure, with the
placement of the pinion gear, its shaft and bearings (2) for-and-aft in
the housing being particularly critical (he says). Along with the pinion
was shipped a little woven plastic mesh tube, just the size of the
shaft. Packing material? Critical part? I have no idea and he doesn't
either. Do you?
Small stuff is moving along. I've cleared out the threads on
most parts; I've been using taps but today I bought a nice set of
'chasers' that theoretically don't cut away any unnecessary metal.
Cannot get the upper balljoints in, they'll have to be pressed. I cut
down those Moroso studs for the front hub to the correct length, but it
took one hacksaw blade per stud before the teeth were gone. And, boy is
my arm tired! :^) The "bearing shells" on the a-arms looked less than
perfect, so I dug around in the tool box until I found an old brake
cylinder hone I had laying around, and put it on my drill. Worked fine,
they look much better now.
Last night I made up a "bolt board", a piece of corrugated
cardboard with holes to accept the bolts. One of each type went in, that
hole was giver a letter code, which also went on a piece of masking tape
on the bolt head. A sheet of paper listed, next to the letter code, the
quantity needed and what they were for. Then, today, I went over to the
commercial fastener place I've been visiting for years. They had most,
all in Grade 8, but the bigger sizes tended to be in odd lengths like
3-1/4" they didn't have and I didn't want to sub another length. Ideas?
I'm about ready to bolt it all together. I haven't called Dale's
yet to talk to Mark; I need some written/verbal instructions on some of
the 'bits' and I wanted the info to be fresh in my mind. I wonder if I'm
too late.
Lawrence R. Wright
Purchasing Anlyst
Andrews Office Products Div. of USOP
larry.wright@usop.com (new)
Ph. 301.386.7923 Fx. 301.386.5333
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