Speaking of saddles...

Making some progress with the IRS, the pumpkin is back in the 'saddle' and some of the other pieces installed.  One of my sources recommended installing the mounting bolts in a 'sequential pattern' like one would do with tightening the lug nuts on a wheel, then pull one out and put the locktight on it and retighten.  Repeating the procedure on each one, then lock wire the bolts.

This is the IRS housing with the differential mounted to it, next I had to flip it over and start putting it back together.

Checking the endfloat on the hub after the axle was installed and the nut torqued to 140 ft/lbs.  When your putting the axle back in make sure that the split pin hole lines up with the hole in the hub otherwise you'll never be able to get the split pin back in and you'll have to break it back down and start over.

Coming together, need to find something that I can use for a dummy shaft to hold all the pieces in place for the outer fulcrum shaft, need a piece of dowel .42" diameter so off to Home Depot tomorrow morning.

Cheers.



6hrs

Back in the Saddle again....

After a two week hiatus I'm back at it and hoping to get some movement on this project.  I received the new rotors from SNG and they fit! Turns out this was a transition car with the 4.2 style rotors instead of the 3.8 that one would have expected.  Spent a fair amount of time installing, removing and installing the rotors as it seemed like I had too much run-out on them.  I flipped them around 180 degrees and reduced the run out to an acceptable amount by doing that.  I think that the run out was related to the output flange on the differential rather than the rotors themselves and so "it is what it is".

Installed the rebuilt drive shaft (prop shaft for those of English decent) and made sure that the nuts are tight and secure with Nylocks and lock tight, they were loose when I disassembled it not to mention the U joints were shot and the engine or rear suspension have to be out to get to it.

Also got the new shocks prepared for installation by installing the spring on their perches.  A some what tedious job with a spring compressor that is slightly spooky since there is a lot of pent up (potential energy if I recall my basic Physics class) energy in those compressed springs.

Refurbished drive line with new paint, U joints and rubber sleeve 

Definition of 'potential' energy, compressed spring getting installed on the shock absorber

The rear drive unit with brakes, parking brakes installed, next step is putting it back in it's cage....

Should really make some progress tomorrow, the springs, shocks etc ready to go.

Cheers,

6 hrs

I'm tired of being the bug...

....I want to be the windshield/windscreen!  Was going to assemble some of the parts on the differential this morning after I put the cover on it, however it became very apparent that the new rotors wouldn't work.  I took a picture of them to try to show the differences but it comes down to the difference in location of the 'access' holes. The new ones do not line up with the holes for the bolts.  Will clean up the old ones unless SNG has some bright ideas and use them.  Next I had to hone out the inside diameter of the oil seal race to get it to fit on the axle shaft. This got me a sharp whack on the  wrist from the hone but I got it to fit.

A couple of bright spots in the day, got the brakes parts from White post today and they look very nice, helped Terry T. with his carbs and they seemed to be working well when we were done.

Show how far off the access holes are for the caliper bolts, can't use a socket on the bolts even if I can get the bolts started.

Installing the axle shaft in the hub, the bearings are greased and will press the axle into the hub

Rebuilt caliper pistons, ready to install.

A couple of caveats for the day, the metal for the grease seal race on the hub is very soft so be very careful with them, it is 'impossible' to replace the grease slingers on the hub axles. I removed them so that I could pull the bearing off the axle shaft thinking that I could just press them back on-can't do it as they are 'pined' in place.  As best I ca tell they aren't mandatory and won't affect the function or safety of the axle.

Cheers.

5.5 hrs  

Electrical issues

Took a little time yesterday and today to get the cooling fans set and working.  At some point an extra fan was installed and the relay for the fan was removed and in its place a switch was installed.  The original fan and otter switch were disconnected and I now understand why.  I re-wired the fans to have a circuit breaker and a relay to carry the switching load (both fans will now work).  The fans will be triggered by the otter/temperature switch and the under dash toggle switch so RJ should run cool (we hope).

The challenge today was trying to figure out why the otter switch keep blowing the fuses and it turned out that the otter switch wires were shorted out in the loom.  

I also dropped the driveshaft off at the driveline shop in the hopes that they could replace the worn out U joints and balance it.  We'll see if they can find U joints for it.

I cleaned up the differential previously and replaced the seals, today I decided to see what was inside the unit and replace the rear gasket.  The bottom of the unit had a fair amount of sludge in the bottom that I cleaned out.  The cover was cleaned/straightened and painted (wasn't painted originally but it was rusting so I decided to paint it.

inside the cover after cleaning

outside after cleaning and prior to paint

This picture is notable for what you don't see, the tangled rats nest of wires that were hanging under the top frame rail.

Cheers.

4hrs

TGIF

Worked on the upper control arms of the rear suspension and installed the U joints in them.  These pieces serve as the upper control arm as well as the 'axle'.  A very impressive design giving the car it's exceptional  four wheel independent suspension and handling that is very good even by todays standards.  

Also installed the bushings in the radius arm for the left side too, this is where having a press makes a difficult task relatively easy.   Removed the antiroll bar yesterday and cleaned and painted it.  The bolts got run through the tap and then used the die to clean out the captive nuts on the frame.  If not done the possibility of stripping them out is increases dramatically and it would be very difficult to fix them.  Will use Locktite on the bolts when they go back in.

On little trick with putting the u joints back together involves packing the 'caps' with grease so that the roller bearings don't fall in and jam between the cap and U joint.  That can ruin the U joint and your day.

Next week will take the Prop/drive shaft to the local shop and have them rebuild and balance it.  Of interest the U joint on the front was vert stiff and likely to fail very quickly if we hadn't caught it. Again the drive shaft can be serviced only if the engine or IRS is out of the way.

Till next week...

Cheers,

5hrs

Short day, lot's of pictures.

Today was broken up by a variety of things and so I didn't get near as much done as I had hoped.

The radius arm bolt was stripped so I had to 'make' a new one.  They should have safety wire on them so they need a hole drilled in the head (they did not have safety wire from the last rebuild)

Don't know if you can see it but the original bolt's threads are stripped

Chasing the hole with a tap to make sure it's 'good'.  I think this time consuming procedure is good practice for all old fasteners

This is a picture of the rear IRS mount attached, the rear ones are fitted to the frame and the front ones are mounted to the cage during installation.

An issue came up with the new mounts, the corner had to be ground down to allow the bolts to fit, the corner that I'm pointing to kept the bolt from lining up.  Pays to pre-fit critical pieces.

Old vs new tunnel plugs

Removing the prop shaft bolts through this opening was a bit like operating through a small opening, decided to make a larger incision through the top and removed the transmission cover.  Noticed that there wasn't any foam noise/heat insulation so needed to come off anyways.

It was held on by only 5 fasteners, 4 on the firewall and one at the back.

should have a foam 'pillow' here to keep out noise and heat.

Prop shaft on the counter, may send it to the shop for balancing and replacement of the U joints.  Of interest the bolts holding the flange to the prop shaft were all loose.

Removed the anti-roll bar for cleaning and replacement of the bushings.

Cheers,

4 hrs

Shocking....

Ok, not really shocking but just a shock.  Using my trusty spring compressor I took the springs off the old shocks today and cleaned up the springs and 'shield'  (new shocks don't come with this part or the lower spring mounting piece so don't throw them away thinking you'll have them in the new shock box or it will be shocking).  Many discussions have been had on JL about spring compressors and the dangers there-in.  This one is a HF special but it hold the spring very securely and I think is quite safe, just be careful because there is a lot of energy in the compressed spring.

Left side IRS components getting ready for paint

While I was waiting for the paint to dry I installed the new seals on the differential, put in the pinion seal and the 'O' rings on the output shafts (had already installed the seals on the output shafts).  

Some times I forget and wake up in a panic thinking did I tighten down those bolts or use locktight? Well this helps me with that (plus notes in RJ's notebook).

Painted pieces.

Reassembly of the IRS is starting, was going to paint the differential but it's really hard to tape it off so may just pass on that task?

Cheers


4hr