No pictures yet, but I made some good progress this weekend with more to go.
My friend Mike came over to help me get the rear axle and springs out, which we did. My camera batteries were dead, so no pictures but they are charging now. I'll get pics as I reassemble.
We opened the rear end while we had it out. It was surprisingly clean inside with no apparent wear on the gears or bearings. The carrier assembly was gooped in with liquid gasket instead of a proper paper gasket, so I suspect that the previous owner may have done some updates or repairs, which is why it looked so good. We reassembled with a proper gasket, and scraped off about 30 pounds of road grime. I took a wire wheel in my drill to it last night to clean up the grime, and in the process took off some of the original finish. So for now, I sprayed flat black Rustoleum on it just to protect the bare metal. Sometime later I will take the entire axle to be refinished, but for now I just want to get the car on its feet and on the road.
We counted gear teeth, and found 44 teeth on the ring and 16 on the pinion, which means a 2.75 gear ratio. I have no idea what the car came with, but I will be putting lower gears in it. I'm guessing 3.5 or 3.73, somewhere around there, but have some time to do some research.
It's colder than hell, at least for Texas, but I'm going to work on it some more this afternoon with the goal of getting the new rear springs attached and the unit back in the car.
I'll post more later.
Sunday, February 12, 2012
Friday, February 3, 2012
Some minor set backs
I had most of the driver side suspension back in the car, but it just didn't look and feel right. The UCA us rubbing a bit against the shock tower. This can either be an installation error, or I have the control arm shaft backwards. I called John at Opentracker for advice, but only left a message. I hope to hear back from him real soon. Either way it will be an easy thing to fix.
The Global West adjustable strut rod, upon closer inspection, did not line up correctly either. I call Global West and spoke with Doug, who was extraordinarily helpful. The bottom line is the strut rods I have were not built for a 1971 Mustang, but a 1970 Mustang. To top it off, Global West does not build adjustable strut rods for a 1971 yet! Somehow there was some confusion when I ordered the parts from them.
Luckily the 1970 and 1971 Mustangs are very similar. All I need to do, in theory, is get a new spacer of the proper OD and thickness, and fabricate a bracket of some sort to keep the clevis from spinning. Again, like the UCA, this sounds easy. Doug will help me with the spacer, and I have some ideas on the bracket that I need to fabricate. Quite literally, another fun fabrication project.
The end result is I took all of the front suspension components back out of the car this afternoon. While I am waiting for parts and advice, I'll start on the rear suspension.
As usual, more to follow!
The Global West adjustable strut rod, upon closer inspection, did not line up correctly either. I call Global West and spoke with Doug, who was extraordinarily helpful. The bottom line is the strut rods I have were not built for a 1971 Mustang, but a 1970 Mustang. To top it off, Global West does not build adjustable strut rods for a 1971 yet! Somehow there was some confusion when I ordered the parts from them.
Luckily the 1970 and 1971 Mustangs are very similar. All I need to do, in theory, is get a new spacer of the proper OD and thickness, and fabricate a bracket of some sort to keep the clevis from spinning. Again, like the UCA, this sounds easy. Doug will help me with the spacer, and I have some ideas on the bracket that I need to fabricate. Quite literally, another fun fabrication project.
The end result is I took all of the front suspension components back out of the car this afternoon. While I am waiting for parts and advice, I'll start on the rear suspension.
As usual, more to follow!
Wednesday, February 1, 2012
Getting front suspension installed
Got to spend just a few minutes on the car tonight, but they were very productive. I got the lower control arm and strut rod on the driver side installed, and attached the spindle. I'm ready to install the spring, shock, and upper arm but I need to borrow or buy a spring compressor to finish the job. I'll get the tool tomorrow, probably going to buy since it would be a good thing to have.
So far I am very impressed with the Opentracker Racing upgrades. The original stock lower arm was sticky and hard to move. This new one moves in all dimensions very freely due to the spherical joint. Here is a video of it working. The Global West strut rod is already attached, which restricts the movement up and down, but I think you can get the point. Notice my daughter Alyssa is only using two fingers to swing the arm.
And here is a pic with the spindle attached. More to follow this weekend, when I hope to have the entire front suspension reinstalled.
I also did some searching for wheels tonight, and I think I am going to go with the American Racing Mainlines in 16 x 8. What do you think?
So far I am very impressed with the Opentracker Racing upgrades. The original stock lower arm was sticky and hard to move. This new one moves in all dimensions very freely due to the spherical joint. Here is a video of it working. The Global West strut rod is already attached, which restricts the movement up and down, but I think you can get the point. Notice my daughter Alyssa is only using two fingers to swing the arm.
And here is a pic with the spindle attached. More to follow this weekend, when I hope to have the entire front suspension reinstalled.
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