This season I was detirmined to get the car finally back on its wheels. I always feel like I’m working slowly – and I am – but the results are worth it and I can’t see anything changing. This will take me a long time to complete but I am enjoying every hour in the garage. A large piece of the puzzle was the new shocks from Koni made availavble by MSA. The timing was perfect and I took advatage of the pre-order as soon as I could. The fit and finish is fantastic but obviously it’ll be a while …
Suspension Detail
Immensely satisfying to be finally assembling components instead of cleaning decades of grease off them. This is what I was picturing all those years ago when I set out to restore a car. The reality is not far from the fantasy in this case. A smile grows to a grin each time the roller door winds up. Hopefully I can keep up the momentum now that I’m on a roll. Get it?
Steering Rack Rebuild
Like a lot of things with this build, it takes me a long time to complete components but in the end I’m happy with the results and I feel it’s heading in the right direction. I first picked up the steering rack in July 2018. It has sat in one corner or another since early 2014. Months later it started to resemble a steering rack. I had a small issue with the pinion bushing which frustrated me to no end but all things considered it assembled well and operates very smoothly. The OEM rubber bushings for these racks are NLA …
Summer 2019
Spring Break is Over! This has been the longest break I’ve taken from the car. A whole 6 months! While I know breaks like this severely delay the completion of the project, they are necessary, healthy, and sometimes unavoidable. How can you resist that little adorable face!? Her birth coincided with the start of my break and you can see why. Discussion over. As the year ticked over I made my way up the coast to meet with a dear friend for the first time. We had been in contact for a few years talking cars and finally got to …
Stepping Up From Rattlecans
Painting is effing hard! To do it right anyway. I’ve rattle canned my fair share and I can shake a can with the best of ’em. This time I thought I would invest in a spray gun and all the gear that goes along with it to get a hard wearing and lasting finish on the suspension gear. Upfront costs equate to paying someone else to do it but it’s an investment in my skills and it’ll pay for itself the second time I use it. The diff, axles, and fuel tank are all in need of a similar durable …
I’m Back… For a While
Starting to get back into it this week. I’ve disappeared into the garage each night and I don’t hear much complaining from my wife. I think she’s glad ‘that smelly thing on the couch’ is gone… I needed something simple to get started since I’ve been away for so long. The steering coupler and shaft seemed like a good place to begin so I knocked that out quickly and was on to the filthy rack next. I’m repeatedly reminded at how serviceable all of this old stuff is and the rack was no exception. Strip it, clean, inspect, new paint, …
The Tired Brain and the NLA Inner Tie Rod
One of these is not like the other… Murphy’s law dictates that the bent one must be the NLA tie rod while the dead straight one is readily available. Guess which one is which. I beat it with a hammer, torched it, pulled and pushed it with long bars until it cried out but it didn’t budge a millimetre. Also crying out must have been my annoyed neighbours as it was well past bedtime. Behind me a 20 ton press stood quietly, snickering at my madness. Why it didn’t speak out earlier I’ve no idea. I blame my tired brain …
Winter 2018
It’s Getting Crowded In Here You go through life thinking you’re a tough bugger and then you watch your wife give birth. What a humbling experience. We welcomed Lillian to our little clan this Winter. She’s a bundle of joy. 🙂 Chipping Away After fumbling around with the heater box a while ago the blower was an easier task. I tried the molasses trick to remove the rust and had less success this time. I only left it in for a week where last time it was two weeks so I’m guessing that’s the difference. I’m finding that the most …