Michel's 72 coupe rebuild

denpo said:
From what I've read here and here, the oil residue is a deliberate coating that you can ask not to be applied.
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I read that too but seems to me, with the attitude, is that they are interested in more industrial parts.

I dont know, I still have time to look around, but powdercoating seems to be cheaper and I know it will be tougher stuff than what was on the car anyway.
 
Ok today was a good day to start playing on the frame again.
My friend Phil was here and helped me to turn the frame around so I could make the last patch .


I tought the pitman arm was a little close to the frame so I made an endentation to make a bit more space for the pitman arm.

Sooo here we go.....

First we had to get the rear of the car out of the way.

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We then took out the front suspension out to get some of the weight off.and flipped the frame around.

Then I installed the steering box and checked what I had to do to make a bit more room for the pitman arm.


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I had allready made a cut in the quarter inch plate that holds the box, all that was left to do was to make a piece to block the void.
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Once that was done, I decided where to cut went ahead with the cut.

Each time I cut into the frame, I'm thinking about what somebody told me once.
"It takes cahooneys to cut a frame"
Actually, all you need is a grinder and a cutting wheel!

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After the cut, I made a carboard and a little patch.
Trimmed it, formed it and welded it in place.

cute little patch huh?
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Before welding it, I reinstalled the box into place and checked it the pitman arm had enough clearance.

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Once satisfied with the fit, I welded it and plugged the holes.
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Cleaned up the welds.
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Soo I can call the steering box install

DONE!

We then flipped the frame around and put it on the dolly and put back the birdcage where she belongs on the frame
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Mocked up the firewall to check the steering box fit

Even if everything is loosely mocked up, everything lines up pretty good.
I'm happy with the fit.
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SOO next,
I'm going to install the front and rear suspension, install the engine, tranny and diff to make sure that theres no interference with the frame gussets.

At the same time .I'll cut the transmission crossmember and make it removable.

Start up the engine, then break down the frame and suspension components for powder coat.

Everything is ready
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Cant wait to see a roller!!!!!
 
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Yup, today was one of those days where you're just in the mood to work in the garage, the weather is nice, and you're feeling fine. No stress to get things done, but slowly checking things off the list. It's been a while since I've had the chance to get my hands dirty, and it was great to be able to help out.
 
Fastphil said:
Yup, today was one of those days where you're just in the mood to work in the garage, the weather is nice, and you're feeling fine. No stress to get things done, but slowly checking things off the list. It's been a while since I've had the chance to get my hands dirty, and it was great to be able to help out.
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And there was NO blood shed!
 
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After seeing MYBAD79's thread about his rear suspension, I didnt make any brackets but cut a angle and welded it there.

It's a bit overkill but this area was so badly welded that a bit more support wont hurt. (not that my welds are any better:sick:)



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When time comes to look for parts, I get a little worried.
In my chaos, I was affraid I'd loose track of them.

But looks like I prepared well. (in my little world, this is good LOL)

Each basket is labeled about the bags in the basket.

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And each bag was labeled with info on the parts inside.
in the bag on the left, the label says that one of the hanger is scrapped.
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I'm not bragging here, I didnt invent this.

And trust me, I'm far from beeing organized.
I remember when I was dismantling, I tought I was over doing this labeling thing.
Today, I'm glad I did it this way.

Soo if anyone is following this, when dismantling,
LABEL EVERYTHING LOL
 
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Ok I gathered all the suspension parts so I can reassemble everything.

It's a bit more work but I want to make sure that everything is there and by mocking up the frame I can see if there any ajustements to make before the paint.

So got the front in line
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And the rear, got to tell you, I have 2 diffs, and both were on the top shelve.
80 pound a piece going down the ladder.... that was fun LOL

Anyway heres the rear ready for clean up and reassembly

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Later I think I'll have a few parts for sale huh?

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On the shelves I have the original set of springs, 2 steering box, a diff an old intake and the one of the carb that was on my Nova loooong time ago, it was on top of a 302 that came out of a Camaro.
This thing reved like crazy.
I dont think I'll sell that one.
Makes good garage art LOL
 
Eh, each his own work habits, but for decades all I have done is toss bolts into a bucket and dowse with gasoline to degrease, and sorting is simple, I go over the lot and wire brush them down, then divide them out by size on a piece of plywood, obviously a bunch of lets say head bolts for a SBC they all go by length and count in one area, the rest go by dia/length into other piles....

all like size bolts/nutz in a pile....

so upon assy again, I see I need 16 con rod nutz....easy, only two LARGE bolts for the rear mains....easy....etc....

I swear I could take any entire car apart and toss the fasteners into a couple drywall buckets, divided between large and small, and hardly miss a bolt...

I dunno, just used to it I guess....:surrender:

now when it comes down to some car I dunno about and it's going to take months to put it back together, I can understand marking some of the mystery parts....the ones you look at and say WTF was on their minds, the silly bastards....:eek::surrender:
 
I know what you mean Gene, but I cant trust myself with this LOL

If the bolts is not tagged and baggd, it's on the part it came from.

For example, on the diff, here..
half shaft, drive shaft, crossmember support bolts, I know where they are.

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When time come to clean up , paint etc, usually I do them one part at a time so fewer bolts to loose.
 
So, this morning I started to mock up the rear suspension.

The frame is sitting on a wood buck and is a little high, the diff is about 80 pounds sooo a PITA to get it up there, hold it and put the bolts in by myself....

So looked at the little bench I was sitting on, it has an hydraulic lift....I then "transformed" it into a small lift LOL

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All I had to do is to lift the little paddle and up the diff went, almost into position and was then way easyer to bolt on..

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Did the same thing with the spring assemply.

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Starting to look like a Vette rear end huh?
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Now as I started to assemble the cam for the camber ajustement, I notice something that doesnt look right.

on the hanger side everything's ok
You can see that the rods are not the same as the originals but the diameter for the hanger is the same on both

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My concern is on the cam side,.
The cam bolts are significantly smaller and the rod is floating in there, is there a sleeve that goes in there??


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Both rods are the same, I dont have the old one to compare and in the GM assembly book theres seems to be no sleeves.

What am I missing here?

Maybe the cam isn't the right one, was too rusted to be saved and I didnt keep it to compare the size of the cam bolts


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Yes, the cam bolts are 1/2" you need a sleeve or get some proper adjuster sleeves and throw away the cams and drill out the hole in the camber bracket & use a square plate w/a 5/8 center hole to secure it.
 
Twin_Turbo said:
Yes, the cam bolts are 1/2" you need a sleeve or get some proper adjuster sleeves and throw away the cams and drill out the hole in the camber bracket & use a square plate w/a 5/8 center hole to secure it.
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Sleeve part ok but the hole and the sqare bracket...
Not sure I understand Marck.
 
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I have a set of these struts and poly ends leftover .... i got the square plates too, pm me if you' re interesseted .....
I don't really like poly but it's good enough for a year or two, keep an eye on it ....
 
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Well, it's been a while since this thing been standing on her own wheels.
I assembled the frame everything seems to fit allright.

Next I'll install the engine and trans to check if any of the gussets needs to be trimmed to fit better.

I want to check if theres any parts that needs to be changed.

Everything on the suspension is new, except the lower control arms bushing, sooo I'll change them.

Also I'll check if the sterring links work proprely and wont interfere with the oil pan and such.

At the same time it will be a good time to start the engine.

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Haaaa what the hell??

I couldnt resist seeing it partly assembled.

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Just fun to see it look like a car again

And by the way, the steering work just fine, no issues and nothing is in the way.
 
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